I'm pretty new to modding and I couldn't script my way out of a riddle cupboard (lol) but I'm willing to learn and I have an idea that came to me randomly that I don't think has been done yet as far as I know. Buying a dead persons home! It will probably take alot of time since I have to learn as I go and there's alot of NPCs in the game.

So here's my basic idea:
An NPC dies
There house (and all their possessions) becomes available to buy after a certain amount of time
You buy it
Relax in your new home!

This is just a basic idea for now and probably won't see the light of day for a while yet but tell me what you think.

I don't know anything about modding Oblivion, but from a user's standpoint I can say this is a very interesting idea. It would certainly add a lot of flexibility into the game as far as where you put your feet up and call home. :foodndrink: But it also seems like it would be a very difficult thing to do, but I'm only going on intuition there. Anything can be done with time and effort, though!

One question: Have you thought about whether or not buying the house will be handled differently if the player murdered the NPC? That's another thing I don't know how to handle, but something to think about - do you want a person to be able to hack their way into the opportunity of a new home, or would you prefer it to require them to be sneaky? As in, they only have the option of making the purchase if no one saw them commit the crime.

Theres a mod for fallout that does exactly that, so it should be possible. Before you start though, probably want to consider what mods, if any you will support with it. Not sure how exactly better cities interacts with various npcs for example.

Well it would affect interiors (ownership to be specific) so even if a house was moved by lets say better cities I wouldn't think it would be a problem but then again I might be wrong.
and yes i had thought about a murder scenario but I'm keeping it basic for now at least until I get my feet wet with the scripting.

Neat, the fallout mod I mentioned used computer terminals for the transactions, perhaps a similar approach could be used, an interactive mail-box probably wouldn't be to jarring immersion wise. Also it seems fairly plausible, see a listing of available houses, give money to the box, deed is yours. Just a thought! It seems like a great idea you have.

That's probably a very good way to approach it. Start simple, and you can always get more complicated later if you want through revisions!

I was thinking more along the lines of doing it through dialogue from certain npcs like the count(ess)s aides or whatever you call them but I'm not ruling out possibilities just yet .

That seems to be the most natural way of doing it. But if for some reason that turned out to be out of the question, you could possibly do the same thing through notices posted up in the city.

Hey can anyone point me to that mod for fallout that does this? I would like to use it as a reference, it might make this a little easier for me.

I believe I saw a similar mod recently this summer called "claim this interior" or something and I thought it gives you a spell that when cast inside makes everything in it belong to you and have the containers not respawn

I think it even allowed you to claim caves and forts too and prevented respawns in them

Yep searched it up on the nexus and so it does. I guess that kind of makes this idea kind of pointless...

Well, not entirely. It would still be a good step into modding for you, considering the functionality of your mod has been done before. So if you ever got stuck, you would have something to turn to for guidance. And while that mod does do the same thing, your mod approaches it from a different angle, which might be fun to explore.

The big question is this: Is your mod something YOU want? If so, go for it. If not, and you'd rather play with that other mod, then grab it, and maybe still pursue this one for the sake of education.

You could add a readable sign to houses in game that's pops up with a price only when the inhabitable npc is dead and allows you to purchase the property via the claim interior mod. I would love a mod like that.

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1516

Ok thanks for the link. I will probably still work on this for fun and to learn more about modding but don't expect a release anytime soon.

This would make a lot of houses available to the player even just from the NPCs that die or move in quests. Just doing quests I already have three houses in Crucible with no owner anymore. The game gives you chests in two of them already. Then there's Glarthir's house in Skingrad, the houses of those two brothers in Chorrol and Cheydinhal, Thoronir's house in the IC, etc.

Anyway, I like your idea better than the other mod. That spell is far, far too powerful, even if it does have faction implications.