A quick idea for a different sort of vending machine: a bargain bin. Essentially this is a random item giver - players would pay a certain amount of Zorkmids to use the bargain bin, and a random item of a type is generated according to the type of bin it is. (weapons, food, reagents, etc). All the usual restrictions on vending machines would apply, and the levels of the items spawned would follow approximately the spawning of items for the level one's on, perhaps with a little wider range. After a certain amount of uses, the bargain bin is empty and can't be used anymore. That's the rough outline of the idea - not sure how good you guys think it might be.
Reminds me of Wirt from Diablo/the gamblers (Gheed, etc.) from Diablo 2. Fun. Potential to imbalance the game a bit if a gambler scores a badass artifact though. Even funnier (at first anyway) and more wildly impractical and abusable (not to mention being a stupid minigame) would be a skill-crane machine for goodies.
I've wanted to do this for awhile. Except, instead of Wirt you'd have Thrusties. It just hasn't happened yet.
When i read this, I immediately thought of a Goodwill-like store with second-hand armor and weapons, except run by a Diggle instead of Brax. A different vending machine that works like a gamble is also good.
