Idea: Materials who's only purpose is to effect the look of items and equipment
First let me provide some context. Many years ago I played an RPG game on the Atari ST called Demons Winter.
In this game you could find and buy all sorts of equipment items that were made out of exotic materials. So, for example, I might have a long sword made out of Jade. Usually items made from exotic materials would cost a small fortune but offer no real benefit over their non-exotic counterparts. I can remember travelling around for ages trying to get a full set of equipment made out of Jade. Its all about style...
So if we're looking for idea for rare resource types how about having an item property that describes what the item is made out of.
Appearance & Bragging rights
Items of a particular material look a certain way thus allowing characters and units to be kitted out to look special and unique.
Eg, some speamen (say) could all have jade sheilds and breast plates. They'd look cool. This would provide a myriad of customization options. People would wonder - "hey, what the hell are they made out of"?
It could be made so that collecting items made out of special materials was difficult, hence it would be quite an achievement if you fully kitted out a character in a Jade suit of Armour. This could also:
- provide a resources sink where players spend cash or other resources trying to source rare stuff for their heros.
- give added excitement when you find items made of rare materials
- provide trade opportunities between player (if this is possible in game?) where someone wants to acquire items or materials of one sort or another
- link into quests - say, some noble wants a onyx sword of his son, or something. (This could promote trading to acquire the items of a particular material)
- link into skills/ buildings - even if a resource was obtained, you'd still need to be able to melt/mould/manufacture it
Material ideas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minerals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precious_metal
Other possible mechanics
- vulnerabilities to certain materials - generated at random on a game by game basis.
- hidden economics where these materials have random values (multipliers) on a game by game basis, so you dont know from game to game what the market is like for Jade or Onyx
