I love the Scout, Adventurer and Cartographer ideas! They could not only provide information on monsters but also on resources nearby. Great thinking, love the imagination!
I posted elsewhere about an Artistry Class chain; maybe I could elaborate on here. One of three class chains I would love to see would be an Artistry class that begins with an Artist who can paint textures and designs to make your city look more interesting but can be upgraded to a musician who could play music and increase worker speed within a certain radius. Get together more Musicians, each with a different instrument (drum, violin, guitar, harp, flute, etc) and they will become a ‘band’ whose radius increases substantially. With a big enough band on a stage/park in the centre of the city, it could boost worker speeds by say 2-5% and help the city become more vibrant with different artists in different places. This could also tie into the Cartographer class.
The idea of holding a festival could bring in randomly generated and temporary NPC’s who help bring in trade and boost the economy. Likewise, a class of Shopkeepers who can upgrade from Restaurant Owners to Innkeepers to Bartenders for taverns. Between artists and shopkeeps, it could open up a whole area of trade for not only randomly generated NPC’s but also Travellers.
Travellers would be a class of people you could create who would travel to other people’s games and come back with new items. You would give them an item to trade (maybe a resource or certain amount of money or something new you’ve created) and they would take it away randomly to a different player’s game where they would trade it. This class would tie in with Shopkeepers and they could stand in taverns and festivals with a bubble over their head suggesting they have something to trade.
These Travellers could also be upgraded to Seafarer’s who would be equipped with a treasure map that would send them out to sea to bring back either jewels, resources, armour, nothing, or die trying. On the other side, they could be upgraded to Thieves who could steal from other player’s games but would not be able to do so in a city that was well patrolled and protected.
Three very intertwined class trees I think but as usual, I think I’m getting carried away here…