It would make so much sense to include them as bands of marauders as they were introduced in Bloodmoon, and would be reminiscent of the Raiders in FO3.
Reavers. Yes. Ruthless cut throat male and female bastards you just love to kill. In the mountains, on the plains, in the dungeons. Lots of them.
I've searched and little mention of them here yet, unless I missed it. Let us cuss and discuss this possibility....

Idk. A bunch of people killing just for the evulz doesn't really make any sense. Marauders and bandits in OB/MW/all TES games are in it for the money. The dark brotherhood is essentially in it for the money. Even the Morag Tong is basically in it for the cold, hard, septims. Roving bands of psychotic serial killers don't sound like a good idea.

That's true, as the reason Raiders killed was also for money, food, gear and weapons, despite their methods being crazy. It's also more suitable to have psychos in Fallout as its a world that could make you go crazy, especially if you live in horrible conditions.
That being said, maybe it could be fun to have them in. It doesn't need to make too much sense lore-wise anyway. What if you go into a simple rat-infested cave, only to find a bunch of these hooligans attempting to raid it of its contents. Or perhaps they could be cult-worshippers, who praise some sort of false, crazy God.

I hope bandits will have evolved past wanting to mindlessly rip off your head and s**t down your neck at the mere sight of you.

they should eye you up for a while.. see if you're worth mugging.. see how much of a tough guy you are.

There is this type of antagonist in every TES game. It provides good fights and a supply of loot.
They could leave out the Rieklings & Riekling Raiders for my money. Berserkers were OK.
Reavers are more realistic 'land pirates'...imo...and their familiarity would be welcomed in my game.

So what were all those Reavers doing on Solsthiem? It wouldn't make sense not to have them in Skyrim. These are Nords we're talking about. They fight for glory, they fight because they love to fight. They don't need a reason other than the fact that they want to kill stuff.

The civil war is due to the Empire creating the reavers during an expiriment on a island colony... Todd told me.

Berzerkers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcAvVRcJ35g

Poor Firefly...

I'm sure if there in they'll be delicious...

Gorram Reavers. Don't think Skyrim's will be quite as neat, but here's hoping they're dressed in human remains.

So I had to dig up the lyrics to a song I wrote back in 2004 after Bloodmoon was released. I may have added to the image of the Reavers a bit and placed them as more seafaring bands of marauders in the tune. It's sung in a sea shanty type melody similar to a vintage OLD SPICE aftershave jingle, or something you would imagine would be sung by band of rum sodden sea men in a port tavern. You might almost be able to sound out the melody.
There will be Reavers in Skyrim....and no mistake, mate.


The Reavers Song


For the salt and the sails and the sea!
Oh, the salt and the sails and the sea!
A wayfarin' man, Oh, a Reaver I'll be!
For the salt and the sails and the sea.

Well, I left my home as a wee lad,
For the salt and the sails and the sea!
With a band of Curs and Scallywags
For the salt and the sails and the sea!
We'd sail all day and we'd raid all night,
By the age of fourteen I was a fit to fight!

For the salt and the sails and the sea!
Aye, the salt and the sails and the sea!
A wayfarin' man, Oh, a Reaver I'll be!
For the salt and the sails and the sea!

Well, the waves go up and the waves go down,
The salt and the sails and the sea!
And me guts came up and me head spun round,
The salt and the sails and the sea!
I got locked up once and I had to dig
Me way out of the Imperial Brig!

For the salt and the sails and the sea!
Oh, the salt and the sails and the sea!
A wayfarin' man, Oh, a Reaver I'll be!
For the salt and the sails and the sea!

Life goes on and I'll never give up,
The salt and the sails and the sea!
The loot and the women and a drink o' my cup,
Oh, the salt and the sails and the sea!
Aye, the day will come when I'll sail no more,
When me bloody bones rot on the ocean floor!

Aye......! The salt and the sails and the sea!
Hoi......! The salt and the sails and the sea!
A wayfarin' man, Oh, a Reaver I'll be!
For the salt and the sails and the Sea!

A group of psychotic, bloodthirsty savages maddened by a misfired spell sounds interesting enough. Bring it on

So normally when we walk around in Ob we get pestered by a bandit. Some times we pass a campsite and a couple bandits take us on. One way they could do what your asking is just by increasing the spawn numbers, but this wouldn't give enough story to back a band of raider theme. I guess there would be a bit involved in coding this, making it believable, giving them a purpose. But maybe the new radiant story system could feed into it by creating meaningful "random" encounters with said bands. It would be cool to have to either fight a bandit leader in single combat or negotiate your way out of trouble, or take on the whole lot.

Yes I agree. It could be trouble you could fall into and have some dialog and a quest of sorts without merely being attacked by them every so often. It wouldn't take that much writing. However, marauders don't need a whole lot of reason for being (to the player) except for the obvious. They want what you may have, and if you wander into their territory...well, it is their territory.

yeah good point. I'm only just seeing that the devs can get around things, not by taking short cuts, but by taking a different route. like say, a Robin Hood style band of fellows would lean to some dialogue, while (i'm struggling for an example) "X other" group could be clothed differently and just be mean, and therefore not need dialogue like you are saying. A simply change like armor and facials reduces the work, and adds an extra gameplay element. Could have promise.

(holy crap, how did I double post? Deleted the content but can't delete the whole post, sorry)

This would be awesome. Criminals are predators, and predators prey upon the weak because they're less likely to be hurt/killed in the process. So to have every bandit mindlessly attack you is [censored].