I hope there aren't too many. Watching a bunch of rugrats run across my screen every five seconds will really ruin the epicness :flame:

I guess. It's going to be aggravating having little immortal tattle tales running around that you have to avoid completely if you want to be any sort of thief or assassin.

I know, it svcks either way. You should at least be able to scare them into silence. :/

Or they could just make it so that any immortal NPC beaten into unconciousness sorta forgets about your crimes due to memory loss from trauma

You can't beat them unconscious. That's harming them too. I even suggest editing your post and taking out that part in case someone reports it.

I really, really hope they don't (or haven't) gone in the direction of children's quest. While things like tracking down lost stuffed toys and dealing with childhood bullies fits into games like Fable, in my opinion it just isn't right for the atmosphere of Elder Scrolls. It would give the game too bright a feel for what is supposed to be a crumbling empire. But for things like dueling with sticks and training in guilds, It would make the world just pop and and feel alive. I'm both excited and nervous for what children in Skyrim bring to the table.

I like that idea!

Is brash still around? She would love this whole children in skyrim thing.

What happens to them if you kill their parents? are we going to have a bunch of orphan annies running around?

I said all immortal NPCs, I wasn't speaking specifically. Also in what way are 'essential' NPCs different from Oblivion? You could knock them unconcious in Oblivion.

Finding them a home could be an unmarked quest, like Bryan Wilkes in FO3.

Or maybe you could adopt them, let them live in your house?

Or maybe they have a default place to go if orphaned, like and orphanage in a big city.

That's horrible.
Killing the child's parents then claiming the child as your own? How horrible.

"Hi, I murdered your parents because they spotted me stealing their new pair of boots. Want to live with me?"

Hmm, interesting mod idea if Bethesda leaves it untouched.

Anyone wonder if your a legendary hero if they will come up to you and say "Wow! Your the Dovahkiin!!! Please good sir will you etch your name on parchment for me?"

Psh, you don't TELL them

I'm sure the orphaned children will move in with generic NPC down the road?
And said generic NPC will try and make you feel as guilty as possible when you talk to him.

If someone is to feel guilty about the children, after they've killed the parents, they could try non-lethal force instead!

I meant if someone else killed them. But there are films and books just about what you said, about people who take the child with them by guilt after having killed their parents.

Edit: I thought of some examples

The example I had in mind was:

You killed their parents because they were the target of an assassination writ, or maybe they were dishonorable, or maybe they were criminals... lots of possibilities, not necessarily evil. But now the child is an orphan. Wouldn't it be better to adopt them then to leave them to fend for themselves? I guess it depends on the circumstances.

It would be pretty horrible, though, if you were going around slaughtering parents for the sole purpose of adopting their children. If someone got caught stealing and killed their parents, I doubt the PC would really want to adopt the rugrats though, so they could go to an orphanage (which goes back to that mod idea I was thinking of if Bethesda hasn't already implemented this).

Yes, exactly. The kind of person who kills innocents for no reason wouldn't be too keen on adopting their kids anyway.

I see...

Well, if one of my character's was ever asked to murder someone with a dependant family... I'd have to think more than twice about doing it, and possibly betray the Dark Brotherhood in the name of morality.

It seems like there would have to have been a moral choice made by you prior to accepting the invitation to join the Dark Brotherhood. I mean, they assassinate people, and you have no clue what the reasons are. You are just told who to kill and that's it.

It's difficult to see how you would find killing parents with children immoral, but if they are childless, then it's okay.

And yet it happens. Many societies would adopt the children of enemy groups they've just defeated.

I'm not the last word on morality, but I find both to be 'immoral'. I want to play a pacifist.
You are right. I cannot allow double standards. What I said was naive and stupid :sadvaultboy: .


... but the Dark Brotherhood questlines are so good , and they're hiring the same person to do them again...

I must atone for my sins.

I dunno, maybe I misunderstood what you were getting at. I thought that your example meant you *would* join the DB, but you wouldn't accept a contract that killed someone with a child because that would be immoral (which led me to think you were implying that a childless target was fair game).

Although, now that I think about it more, I guess the story of an assassin who is particular about his or her targets has been done quite a lot before. An assassin with a code, basically (which by it's nature cannot fit within social morality standards). The first thing that came to mind of this was "Lucky Number Slevin." And ME2 also I guess.

Billy Creel did that in FO3.

Maybe we can have a perk like child at heart that makes the kids not want to tell on us. Or bribes always work.

I was more getting at "your actions will have more consequence".

In Oblivion, innocent NPC has good loot so you kill him and that's the end of it. No one reacts to his death, there are no pieces to pick up, the world goes on. If, as we're told is the case in Skyrim, NPCs are now integrated into cohesive family units, then the murder of said NPC would bear some weight and effect in the game world. The family would react, they may mourn, their house may have an empty seat. The abstraction of "it's just a game character" is mixed with emotion. I will see the consequences, I will see the trauma. For me, it would make me feel more guilty than if the NPC just died, leaving no evidence and no witness. More emotion is what I'm saying, seeing something or someone in pain. The townsfolk remarking on what I've done with disdain.

For example, if I slayed a bandit... and then his friend dropped to his knees in shock, dispair. Rather than his friend paying no heed, like the artifical intelligence he is.


But I digress entirely from the subject of children.