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The Miners Guild - House Tekkud (Pick)

The Woodworkers Guild - House Lolum (Wood)

The Stoneworkers Guild - House Lam (Stone)

The Animal Handlers Guild- House Fer (Beast)

The Smiths Guild  - House Zuntir (Anvil)

The Jewelers Guild - House Istrath (Jewel)

The Craftsdwarves Guild - House Rigoth (Craft)

The Fishworkers Guild - House Tatlosh (Fish)

The Farmers Guild - House Ber (Earth)

The Engineers Guild - House Olon (Gear)

Handlers of the Dead - House Rash (Death)

The Military Orders

[The Minister]

If the GM imparts some kind of xp bonus to other members of the guild, I would like to see it linked to a teaching skill somehow.  Better teachers impart a bigger bonus.

If there is to be a minimum number of dwarves required to assemble a branch of a guild within a fortress, it would be cool if that requirement rose for new guilds to be established, so that to establish your first guild you only need 3 dwarves, but to establish your 10th guild you would need twenty of dwarves in that trade (for example).  This could reflect the political nature of the guild membership process.  This could give a late game challenge as it would be harder to get later guilds, and if it made a limit to the number of guilds (e.g. you can only get 8 of 10, e.g.) it would add another element of strategy and customization to the fortress.  The draw back of this suggestion is that there might be one or two guilds that nobody ever takes, so the guilds would have to be well balanced.

It would be cool if in addition to the set bonuses being discussed, there were also random bonuses assigned in world gen.  for example, it is suggested that the miners get some kind of prospecting ability, and during world gen the additional random bonus is assigned that members of the guild also do jobs associated with the guild 5% faster.  Other random bonuses could include members being tougher, members being able to spar despite nervous system injuries, the GM of the guild only needing 5 minutes of sleep a day (or the DF equivalent), etc.  This could help with the balance issue and encourage people to try different guilds as they have different random bonuses.

Similarly, it would be cool if there were requirements for a dwarf to gain membership in a guild other than just having a certain skill level in a required skill.  These could be assigned randomly or not.  Requirements could include having a certain skill level in a secondary skill associated with the guild, having a clean criminal record, being very strong, possessing a certain amount of wealth, having killed an enemy of the fortress/civilization, having experienced starvation, having lost a loved one, having experienced a strange mood, etc.

[Atanamis]

I'd be in favor of merging the full "standing production orders" scripting from the suggestions list as a guild power. This would allow things like "when <material> is greater than <number> and <quantity_unused> is less than <number> build <product>" commands. This would make the woodworking and stoneworking guilds invaluable, since it would allow you to ensure that you never ran out of barrels and always had enough furniture. It would also be really useful in the clothesmakers guild, since I'd rather set targets for how much "unused clothing" is made than have to individually queue each sock. This would fit with the idea that guild managers organize production, and can therefore process more complicated orders.

I also strongly support the idea of a guild assigning roles of apprentice, journeyman, and master. An apprentice would be capable of being trained by masters, and masters would use the "train apprentices" job as described previously to assist in the building of goods using their crafting and teaching skills (this would also increase good quality produced). The journeyman state is needed to prevent super fast progression from no skill to highly skilled, and would be similar to what we have now. The guild would manage all roles internally, so you would get a notification of an internal promotion but have no control over it. Only guilds would have these abilities, since non-guild members aren't organized enough to assign teachers/students.

[Othob Rithol]

As you can read

here, I'm really cautious about levels of production automation.

You can see bits and pieces of automation mixed into the suggested guild abilities (Zuntir and Ber in particular).

I'm all for the limited automation of tedious tasks, but I don't think it is a good idea for a whole production chain to work independently of the player.

On a nicer note: I like your take on Master/Journeymen/Apprentice.

Some thoughts:
On training:

• Perhaps the Guild could designate the member with the highest skill xp total as "Master" of that skill.
• That Master could then train/assist members that are in the lower ¹/₂ or ²/₃ of the Guild in that skill.
  
• Members in the top ¹/₂ or ¹/₃ cannot receive training in that skill.
  
• I think this leaves a nice buffer from training too far, and makes it easier to attain universal competence in a skill (like if you have all the smiths set to furnace operating).

On displayed or recorded titles:

• Using the above concept, members whose average total guild skills are in the bottom ¹/₂ are titled Apprentices. "Urist McGuildie is an apprentice in the Gilded Laddle of Tempests chapter of House Olon"
  
• Members chosen as Masters (as above) are....Masters of their skill. ""Urist McGuildie is the Master of Mechanics in the Gilded Laddle of Tempests chapter of House Olon"
• Finally the top ¹/₂ in average total guild skills (except Masters) are Journeymen.
  

By average total guild skills I mean taking the accrued xp in all skills a guild governs and averaging them. IE: (Fish Cleaning xp + Fish Dissector xp + Fisherdwarf xp) / 3

[Atanamis]

As you can read

here, I'm really cautious about levels of production automation.

I agree that we don't want the game running on auto, but with the progress of the army arc we are going to need to be able to automate more. Coming home from a war campaign against the orcs to find out that my fortress has starved due to a shortage of barrels is just silly. I'm not suggesting that I can say "make socks if Suzy needs them", I am saying "if there are no socks in the warehouse and we have enough cloth, make more". The challenge of the game shouldn't be built around keeping track of how many socks I have in the inventory.

I'm all for the limited automation of tedious tasks, but I don't think it is a good idea for a whole production chain to work independently of the player.

This isn't independent of the player, this is allowing the player to create rules for what they want to make and when they want to make them. As the player becomes more busy with other tasks they will need ways to automate the little maintenance tasks. That said, if you still disagree I'll just have to let you be wrong. 

On training:

• Perhaps the Guild could designate the member with the highest skill xp total as "Master" of that skill.
• That Master could then train/assist members that are in the lower ¹/₂ or ²/₃ of the Guild in that skill.
  
• Members in the top ¹/₂ or ¹/₃ cannot receive training in that skill.
  

I deliberately left the criteria for each rank vague in my post but something like what you describe would definitely fit. I would probably prefer to limit "Apprentice" to under 1/3 of the skill points of the most skilled dwarf, "Journeyman" to under 2/3 the skill points, and anyone with at least 2/3 of the top skilled dwarf in the fortress would be considered a "Master". There should be an expectation that a dwarf will spend some time working on their own before becoming a master themselves. (There also might be a minimum skill level for being a master. Having masters who are less than proficient just seems odd to me.)

By average total guild skills I mean taking the accrued xp in all skills a guild governs and averaging them. IE: (Fish Cleaning xp + Fish Dissector xp + Fisherdwarf xp) / 3

I think we might disagree here. One doesn't master a group of skills, one masters a single skill. You don't become a master Fish worker, you become a master fish dissector, or a master fish cleaner, or a master fisherdwarf. This is important when it comes to training, since it is silly for a master of one skill to train someone in another skill. Each skill a dwarf is among the top 1/3 in the fortress for he would be considered a master of. Ideally, masters would have higher influence in the guild.[/list][/list]

[Othob Rithol]

We'll probably never agree on automation. Seeing as it is also a currently discussed separate issue, it probably be best to let the community debate it out in dedicated threads. If Toady decides to go with it (and guilds) I am sure he will hook up any synergies he thinks is appropriate.

Your last objection: I intentionally split the training and title for a reason. Note in my model you can not become a master by having a high average guild skills. To be a Master, you have to be the best in the Guild in one skill. Having a high AGS will just make you a Journeyman, which thus far is just a title on the profile screen and maybe some social perks (apprentices should respect Journeymen). Jack-of-all-trades Journeymen would still qualify for training in their lower skills, since they probably fall into the lower category in that skill.

"Journeyman Urist DeVinci!, you are a credit to the Guild, but you need to choose a specialty! I am tired of always having to take you aside for training!"

Giving a dwarf that is Proficient in Gem Cutting and Gem Setting acknowledgment as a Journeyman seems to fit.

The Guild system should appeal to multiple play styles. Some players make specialists, but many also have certain labors shared across a few or many for redundancy. I, for example, have every farmer set to butcher, tanner, and planter. Mostly they just plant, but no matter who is on break my game gets cut up and its skin tanned. A fort with only one armor smith is just one giant eagle away from -steel schmuckmail-.

[Idiom]

We'll probably never agree on automation.

Another init.txt option?
The universal answer.

The best games I know have very customizable mechanics and play options.

[Annales]

I haven't taken the time to look into this very long thread so i may be repeating something already said:

House Rash should also give you the ability to zoom to a freshly slain corpse (ex: you don't need to scoll around the whole area looking for your hunter's corpse so that you can identify immediately his killer).

[Shades]

I tried to read through the thread, but lots of posts so sorry if this has been mentioned, however I notice on initial idea that dwarves would change guilds if they were no longer of that type. This means we could probably do with 'strange mood' dwarves being able to produce something for each job grouping.

Farmers for example shouldn't really go join a craft guild because they can't make farmer artefacts of some kind.

[Othob Rithol]

@Idiom : I won't be putting any init option stuff in this proposal. If the system is functional without it in the first place, it doesn't need to be here. Later additions can always be made to exploit synergies. Meaning, Toady could use guilds to implement all sorts of new ideas and mechanisms beyond what was initially proposed.

@Annales : Thanks for pointing out the omission. That was actually one of original items, but I forgot to put it up as the list was being organized.

@Shades : I've argued for more diverse "moods" in a couple of threads. The problem always ends up with 1: "what does a mood cook make?" 2:"an artifact cake." 3:"Wait, we can't have consumable artifacts!".

All in all, fixing moods would be a separate topic. It would help fix a weak spot in this sub-category of the proposal.

As it stands under the current proposal, a farmer that had a woodcrafting mood would make his artifact and go right back to farming. He would have the option to change Guilds (he is in House Ber and can stay there, or he can join House Rigoth). Whichever one he leaves/refuse will dislike him a bit. If he tries to do labors for both, he will end up making someone mad.

the actual mechanic for "choosing" would probably have to involve the relationships he has in his current guild, his skills, and his "likes and dislikes".

A few examples:
A novice immigrant has joined House Fer. He has made a single friend and a few acquaintances. He has a mood, becomes a mason. Now his legendary mason skill is far higher than his novice animal caretaker, and he won't be losing a lot of friends.....so he changes guild.
New Skill > Old skill + Social

One of the original 7 has been doing the farming for the fort for some time. He has been in House Ber since it formed. He goes into a mood, and makes a stone sceptor. He could join House Rigoth, but he doesn't...why? He has many friends in House Ber, and the Legendary Stonecrafter is impressive, but he is already a talented grower ,a proficient brewer, and a novice cook from embark.
New Skill < Old Skill + Social

Through years of work, a furnace operator becomes legendary. The dwarf isn't very social, so has no friends. She goes into a mood, and makes a Feathetree amulet. She chooses to join House Rigoth because she doesn't particularly like any metals, but does like Feathertree.
New Skill = Old Skill+ Social, so the tie breaker is likes/dislikes.

Just a rough outline. I didn't mention social ties to the new guild, but they would also apply to some extent. If, for example. the farmer in the 2nd example was related to the Guild Master of House Rigoth, it might be enough to sway him.

[Draxxalon]

How about combining the idea of DF Foreman into the working GM's?  It would provide a universal benefit, regardless of house.   

IE - You get the Stoneworker GM, and he grants the ability to control all of the Stoneworker's skills at once, potentially with modifiers based on skill level (ala workshops) - ie - you can turn on stone detailing for all stoneworkers who are "Proficient or better", or turn off Masonry for anyone who is "under Legendary"

Military order reps could allow fine-control of what type of gear their members use.   So for instance the Swordsdwarf House Rep would let you specify that your training squad uses copper weapons (or even direct picking of items, ala the construction menu), and steel armor, while your crack defense team uses full steel.

[Othob Rithol]

Seeing as Dwarf Foreman integration is already a popular pick, I really wouldn't want to meld with it. Besides, the basic Foreman functionality is sort of a universal, I don't thin it would need guilds. I'll slap a note on next time I edit to a possible merge, however.

Your idea about controlling labors based on skill has some merit. Maybe you could elaborate a bit? How would the interface work? Can we do it without a major addition?

As far as using the Masters of the Orders for swapping out sparring weapons... I expect sparring weapons will go in soon regardless. My angle here was that the Masters would supervise sparring, reducing its lethality. This combined with an accelerated skill gain from training should keep your soldiers (in the Order) pretty training-injury free.

[Atanamis]

I absolutely agree that guild membership should be based on personal likes/dislikes of the dwarf rather than skill. If a carpenter hates the wood guild's leader, he might refuse to join the guild even though he is a legendary carpenter. Every item made by the non-guilded carpenter would make the guild members dislike him more, and become less happy. I fully agree that each profession should have artifacts, but that is definitely another discussion.

[Athmos]

I'd quite like to see the House of rash GM have a healer role too. Maybe the ability to cure some forms of madness given appropriate circumstances. Probably some chances to cure minor nervous system wound like a slightly damaged spine for example. I sort of like the idea of madness and death being linked in dwarf civilization.

[Othob Rithol]

Healing of some sort is needed, but is House Rash really the best choice? I mean, if you had a headache, would you go see the undertaker?

Once Toady actually develops Healing/Alchemy/Magic I think it is likely they will be tied to some skills. When that ground work is laid, it would be a simple fact to add in a Medical Guild or Alchemy Guild.

[Tormy]

Once Toady actually develops Healing/Alchemy/Magic I think it is likely they will be tied to some skills. When that ground work is laid, it would be a simple fact to add in a Medical Guild or Alchemy Guild.

Yes, that makes sense, its pointless to sort out stuff what is not even in the game yet. [magic, healing etc.]
Important in-game "mini systems" [magic system for example or even alchemy or healing] should have an own guild in the game.