Idc how they implement this as long as it works close to this. There are crimes ranging from theft to assault to all sorts of stuff where I live but I don't hear about it unless I read the sheriff's report in my local paper. With the TES universe it should be even harder for other people to find things out.

Not to mention the severity of the crime. Killing an unknown beggar in an alley should be relatively easy to get away with. Killing a rich nobleman in his manor house should be ridiculously difficult.

well, you can also consider whether the PC has any prior crime records. the list goes on and on lol

I'm seeing high speed horse pursuits oo:

not possible without horseback fighting

There should be a witness system and a Line of Sight system with a suspicion system.

You only get a bounty for someone seeing you and then reporting the crime. Killing in a city would be risky. Killing someone, even a guard/ranger, would be no big deal...no one's there to report it.

This also leads to interesting RP decisions. Someone saw you steal 10 gold? Well, you have these options:

Kill them, can't report it if they see it happen

Persuade/Intimidate them not to report it(larger the crime the less the chance/higher disposition towards youor higher personality skill required...essentially making it extremely difficult to talk your way out of murder)

Bribe them if they allow it(only works for minor crimes such as theft...murder sends them fleeing unless it provokes an attack from them..amount stolen/severity of action + their disposition + mercantile skill factor into bribe price...they start fairly high relative to your offense)

Let them report you

So now you've got choices. Do you really want to kill someone because of a 20 gold fine? What about 500? What if 3 people saw you? Well, you're probably screwed...unless you can find a way to stop all of them.

I hate the idea that I get a bounty simply because I killed someone. How the hell does anyone know if I'm invisible? If they didn't see me?

Bounties are affected by region if applicable in the game. Individual factions have the ability to place a bounty on you as well(assuming not all guilds/factions can be joined at the same time). Piss off the assassin's guild because you lead the fighter's guild in a raid on one of their lairs? Well...they're probably pissed at you. Mages ticked off because you stole a rather important artifact? Bounty hunters might come looking for you.

Also your bounty equates to the level of response. Anyone play Red Dead Redemption? You get a few people after you with no regular response if you steal something moderately valuable. Kill someone? The search is more prudent and you're more likely to run into trouble. Go on a killing spree or rob several nobles? Well...you've got a hefty price on you and you better believe the guards as well as independent bounty hunters will be making you a prime target.

I would like there to be some sort of investigation system like the one suggested for those crimes that the guards do not see you commit or see you fleeing the scene afterwards (when they come to investigate the sceaming). Small crimes (like pick-pocketing 20 gold) should be treated as not worth investiging. Others should be based on witnesses if anything and how good you are at sneaking. Someone good at sneaking will not leave many clues behind compared to someone with no skill. We also don't really know if there are spells available to help investigate a crime.

I also like the idea of messengers. The standard mesenger may go out every day or every couple of days and when the guard checks the list (such as before going on duty) he gets the updated bounty lists. Now if there is a major crime (such as a guildhall killed off) then a special messenger should go out immediately to the other towns. (There is always the chance they do get there for one reason or another) I would like to actually see this messenger as well so I could be the reason the message does not get through. The delay would provide time to bribe my way out of the problem.

The ideas are innovative but we just need to keep it simple so it doesn't take too much time to implement it.

I always believe in choice in these type of games, if someone wants to kill an entire town without anyone noticing, i think they should be able to, but keep it realistic, if you have no personal ties to the person you kill i cant really imagine what evidence there would be other than witnesses, which you should obviously avoid. its not the developers fault if a player murders an entire town and regrets it, is it? but really this conversation is ireelevent because i have a windmill in my beard.

Could this entail Skyrim's first DLC pack? TES V:Skyrim - Need for Steed!

High speed horseback pursuits, with success dependent on the quality of your steed :teehee:

OT: Excellent idea, I love it. It'd be fantastic would be if the chances of their finding you out depended on a mix of stealth and infamy as stated above, and then if the crime/your infamy were severe enough bounty hunters would begin stalking you. What would be amazing would be the ability to become one such bounty hunter youself, and as you bring in wilder and more notorious outlaws your fame increases (similiar to this idea but for those of us who dislike murdering people, except when they're hostile or criminals...)

Oh also, the idea of messengers travelling between cities carrying words of your dastardly deeds is superb. Naturally, those craftier and less scrupolous among us would make it both a habit and an art to hunt such worthy prey

if there are messengers, what other information are they going to deliver than crime reports?

we need more discussion on this

There's no way they can get away with leaving at least some level of mounted combat out of the game. It should have been in Oblivion, five years ago. It needs to be a priority.

I like this. Say you're a petty criminal working a city, when it gets too hot, you just move on. Maybe over time people forget.