Maybe there could be different types of governements; from democratic to a dictatorship.
Another idea i like is permanent death. In this case it would prevent abuses, as a the mandate of a mayor would of course end with his death. A lot of things change in a game where PCs don\'t live forever, and it makes a lot of things possible. As for a powerfull guild, if it\'s a bit too agressive, its power miht quickly decrease with the number of its members alive.
The mayor could have the power to name the guard captain, who would have to hire guards, NPCs (for regular patrols, guarding buildings) and PCs (for the dynamic part of the job).
He could direct the developement of the town, in the style of Hereoes of Might and Magic (with the difference that in HMM you bye a building and it\'s there forever, here you would have to pay every ingame months for the building to remain here).
Another thing would be to have ressources (mines and else, like in Heroes of Might and Magic or Warcraft) that coulb controlled by the towns, or a nation to wich the town would belong. There could be wars between cities or nations for the control of these resources. In peace time these resource would be used for trade or the producing of different kind of goods.
