I have been thinking about some random encounters that we could face in Skyrim:

1. You are walking along a path and you see a dead body. As you approach it to check it for loot or see what is happening a couple of things could happen:
A. It's an ambush and the body is not dead but armed and grabs you while his friends jump out of bushes and attack.
B. Ambush #2 and a carefully placed net nabs you and you will have to cut or burn (fire spell) yourself out and fight your attackers.
C. It's a set up and guards placed it there to frame and extort the one who touched it. They ask you to pay a huge bribe. You can try to kill them and face whatever consequences can come of that. Or this could turn into a quest for revenge or justice.

2. It's storming out and lightening strikes a branch and falls on someone you cross on a remote path. You can help them if you are strong enough, get help for a reward, or loot their body and leave them to die... but he survives and wants vengeance.

3. A Hunter asks you to help him track a wounded deer but the quest takes you into a serious pack of wolves who is wanting to feast on its flesh. Well now you're stuck and have to fight for your freedom.

4. I've mentioned this on the Elder Scrolls discussion board before but... you are walking near a river and you see a headless body floating down stream. You investigate and a side quest appears for you to figure out. You head up stream and see another headless body stuck in the reeds. Heading further upstream brings you into the cause of this...

5. A near naked man(or men) is running your way screaming and yells something along the lines of "run for your life!" As you continue you see shed armor and weapons on the ground. Later a scorched body and this leads you to a dragon or powerful wizard who is either extremely proficient in destruction magic or conjuration.

6. As your walking along a path an arrow flies in your direction and hits a tree near your face. A voice tells you to back off or you'll get one in the face. This brings up the conversation menu and through shouting your conversation back and forth you conclude that the person is guarding a treasure of some sorts. You can escort him to safety or take advantage of him.

7. You hear word of a siren who can sing a man into sleep. Then she loots your body and leaves you to wake up confused several hours later, and naked. Ear plugs bought at a store will help you to track her down and get justice. Nice guy: knock her down and shove a rag in her mouth and apprehend her so the guards can take her, silence her then jail her. Bad guy: kill.

8. A trail of gold coins... is it a trap or something good???

Other random events.

You see wolves chasing deer and avoid you for the more tasty lunch.
Bandits ambushing guards and vice versa.
Avalanches and rock slides.
More natural occurrences

The problem with "random encounters" is they have a tendency to feel very scripted. I'm not a fan of them personally. Red Dead Redemption is a perfect example of a game in which they felt very scripted. Don't get me wrong, I loved that game... but I found that the random encounters had a negative effect on world immersion because of how pre-planned and repetitive they seemed.

The other problem, as said in the topic about forced quests is a lot of people (like myself) just want to wander around and explore when they're not doing quests. Being frequently svcked into a scenario or quest by a random encounter kind've ruins this freedom.

I'm not totally against them, and some of your ideas are good. It's just something that has to be done right or not at all, and I don't trust it being done right.

Some pretty good ideas here. I would like to see the occassional random encounter, or 'forced' quest whilst out exploring. After all, what's the point of exploring if there is nothing of interest (save more dungeons) to actually stumble across. A wide open 'sand box' for the player to run around in is all well and good, but it would feel kind of lifeless and player centric in my opinion.

In the forests you get attacked at random by Drop Bears. You must then quest for a pointy topped helmet to ward off their assault from above.

I wouldn't mind it if they happened very infrequently and each of them happened only once to each character. If they happened more than once to each character, it would just seem silly.

As long as the wilderness has more than just random npcs trying to kill you, I'm all for it. Red dead was the best at random encounters. They did seem scripted, but you did have a choice.

something less natural I quess

- imperial legion fighting undead :shakehead:

- an orc who says that, he saw someone turn into a raven...

- A DB assasin killed by something you find out that he was sent to Mournhold

- A burned corpse you find out that he was killed by a dragon

- foreign scouts from different factions who ask who you are and what you want

- A breton man who wants that you teach him a summoning spell

- A frozen cliffracer or some other Morrowind creature

- Fargoth asking for directions

- an angry bandit talking to himself

- A dancing giant

- stealthed enemies attack you out of nowhere

I support that there would be random events for higher level players

Even once per playthrough would be too much in my opinion. Elder Scrolls games are the kind of games a lot of people will do multiple playthroughs of, and if the same "random" event that happened to them during the first playthrough happens again in the exact same place, it'll feel very scripted.