Thanks so much, that means a lot!
I'm always slightly jealous of those who played before the GE. Seeing those old images of Falador park with each little "zone" for each type of good/service looks like it'd really heighten the social experience (for better or worse!). I do, vaguely, remember playing with the old quest guide forums and crappy 144p videos, alongside sketchy rumours of hidden locations or treasures, from back in the day however.
Your ideas here are brilliant; especially your points about Food and Culture (Gnome cooking comes to mind!) and reusing NPCs. Having familiar faces is really useful in a city or town setting especially, as it allows a sense of community and interconnectedness. When writing urban encounter tables I usually have "Familiar NPC, 1d3 chance they're in immediate trouble" and that always works well. Honing in on skills too, one thing that always impressed me was how interconnected they were.
Smithing is good to make armour for your Defence level, or Herblore to clean the herbs from Farming.
Again, thanks for your input - you should blog this if you get a chance, I'd love to read more!