Houses would be an awesome addition. When I'm searchin for RPG's to play on my comp, I try to find one that will let me own a house, town, castle, w/e... because that basicaly combines my 2 favorite game types. Simulators, and RPGs. You can simulate the living in your town, and then you can go around battling enemies if you get bored
You could simply walk up to an NPC, who's the Real Estate Agent (or unreal estate agent? Games aren't real, you know

) and you can choose to buy a house. There will be different types of houses... going like so ---
Hut (1 story) --- SRP* = 5k
Farmhouse (1 story) --- SRP = 10k
Cottage (1 story) --- SRP = 20k
Abode (2 stories) --- SRP = 30k
Manor (2 stories) --- SRP = 50k
Mansion (3 stories) --- SRP = 75k
Castle (4 Stories) --- SRP = 125k
***SRP = Suggested Retail price***
The transitions between stories would look like stairs, but they would act like doors. You simply walk up to it, and it says "Go Up Stairs" or "Go Down Stairs" depending on the way the stairs go. They would take you up or down, and of course the door would be on the ground floor
The houses would come pre-furnished, and the more expensive the house, the bigger it would be and the more stuff would be inside it. So a cottage would be bigger than a hut, but they would both only be one story.
There would be a bed, so you could sleep without paying money, there would be also be a storage system. Starting with the Farmhouse, you would have a trunk/chest sort of thing, maybe at the foot of your bed, which would store a limited amount of items. Say, maybe 15 items for a trunk/chest thing. Once you upgrade to a manor, you have a storage room, which is capable of holding twice as many items. this would take care of the whole storage system thing, which so many people want.
When it comes to owning towns, however... that's an entirely different matter. As some one said, there could be a battle for the town. Like.. you right click the town and pops up a menu that says "Travel To (name of town), Attack, Cancel" and if you clicked attack you would travel there and that town's army would come out. Wether it be a bunch of peasants or a war party, it doesn't matter. The winner would take control or keep the town. If you controlled a town, you would get discounts. Nothing would be free, but you would get, maybe, a 25 or 33% discount. 33% 1/3.
Hiring units from that town would be cheaper, and the wages would be 50% less. You would also make money from taxes and stuff. If your city was attacked, you would recieve a warning that pops up and says something like "The town of (town name) is under attack! Will you travel there and aid your citizens?" with a Yes/No answer thing. If yes, the game would teleport you near the city, so you could defend it. Or you could just leave a hero with some units there... hehe.
All sorts of possibilities with this, but houses WOULD be awesome


