Hello there forumites! For the past few days I've been mulling over a mechanic that I think ought to have been in Oblivion and that I'd love to have be implemented in Skyrim(Although the odds for this is pretty low, I reckon). It's rather simple actually. I'd like to see a mechanic for restraining people, that is, tying them up and gagging them. Oblivion seriously lacked a way for characters to get rid of unwanted NPCs without outright killing them. I also think such a system could greatly increase the fun in playing as a character of a more...cleptomanic persuasion. Anyway, I'll post more uses further down, right now I want to clarify how I propose this system would work.

As I said earlier, it's rather simple. To restrain someone, you need to have a length of rope in your inventory. You then approach your victim while crouching, as if you were trying to pick-pocket them. To initiate a restraining attempt, you must click the "use"-button on an NPC while crouched. If the attempt fails, the NPC simply gives you the usual angry retort, but if it succeeds, the following prompt appears:
[What would you like to do?]
-Pickpocket-
-Restrain-

If you choose pickpocket, you proceed to pickpocket a person just like in Oblivion. If you choose "restrain" however, the person will be gagged, have their hands and feet tied and fall over. The success rate of a pickpocket/restrain attempt depends on your sneak skill. If you restrain a person in the prescense of someone with a high disposition for that person, they'll start panicking as usual.
So, now that you have a restrained person at your feet, what more can you do? Quite a lot, I'd say. Sneaking and "use"-clicking the person brings up the following prompt:
[What would you like to do?]
-Pickpocket-
-Release-

Standing and "use"-clicking makes your character pick up the restrained NPC and carry him/her on one shoulder. You can't run while carrying a person like this.

Now you ask "Why in the name of Sheogorath's hideously mismatched socks would we want a mechanic like this?". My answer: options. For one, it'd make playing as an unlawful character that much more flexible. Imagine playing as a brutish robber. In Oblivion, that sort of thing is rarely, if ever, lucrative. The only way to succeed is if you can manage to kill your victim, which isn't that easy what with the guards snoooping around everywhere. With this system, This sort of character suddenly becomes possible. With this system you can walk into the best store in down, tie the owner up and pillage the entire store before the owner manages to free him/herself. This mechanic also gives more options to bandit-style characters. Imagine hiding in the grass near a high-traffic road, silenty waiting for an unsuspecting victim. Suddenly an Altmer mage appears! You sneak up behind her, rope in hand. With a few quick moves she's restrained and you proceed to carry her into the nearby forest to more thoroughly go through her pockets.

This system can even be implemented for quests! Maybe a barkeep tells you she's getting worried about the cook, who hasn't shown up at all today. After gathering some info about the cook, you find his house and enter it. A few minutes later, you find the cook tied up in his basemant, his home completely ransacked by some robbers. This could even lead to a follow-up quest where you have to track down these robbers.

Another possibility is having quests where you utilize the system yourself. Maybe this shady nord wants you to kidnap the daughter of a rich family so that he can hold her for ransom.

Bottom line, I want to be able to dispatch of unwanted characters without killing them. Partly because I don't like to thoughtlessly slaughter people, partly because it can be very hard to kill people when they run away and call the guards if you as much as scratch them.

What're your thoughts?

D3

I sense a rapist... Lol I usually use a powerful (and I mean POWERFUL!) damage fatigue or paralyze spell to get rid if people I don't like.

How do I feed them? o.O

A rapist? Nooooooo...just a person who wants to be able to get people out of the way without having to use spells that might not even cut it in some cases. :3
It's really annoying to play as a thief since your options are either:
1. Wait until owner of house falls asleep, then loot.
2. If owner is awake, leave or(attempt to) kill owner.
Basically, either the owner is in bed or they're not and if they aren't, you're screwed. This is especially annoying when certain NPCs like to stay up all night....right in front of the door! (I'm looking at you, Hamlof Red-Tooth.)

D3

There should be some way of incapitating people without killing them.
Really does every barroom brawl have to leave bodies littered about.

It makes lettle sense to try and restrain someone directly (except in your example of kidnaping a chld). pointing a weapon on the neck or making that person go unconscious first make more sense.

To say the truth I see no reason to need to take someone to another place wraqed in ropes and gaged.

id rather just have the ability to knock someone out

I like the idea. I bit of a robin hood type venture for a theif even.

Imagine, sneaking into the castle with plans to make off with some goods, when the princess catches you. You use your wiles and charms to convince her to stay quiet, and next thing she knows she is tied up and you are climbing out the window with her favorite jewels!

The time might even arise where you have to rescue or kidnap someone without killing them.

I see alot of ideas springing from red dead redemption on this forum, and thats a very good thing. Hogtying was very fun and put an interesting mechanic on a game largely about killing. Skyrim may not have room for something like this, but maybe future games could.

depends where you live.

Yeah, that'd be nice as well. The only reason I prefer my suggestion to simple knock-outs is how much more flavourful it is. Knocking someone out'll just be like killing them, except they get up after a while. rather bland, if you ask me. ^^'

D3

Yeah, being able to render someone unconscious for a decent amount of time would be good. Or even if not unconscious, "injured" so if you did get into a bar fight, then at the end of it there could be just a bunch of blokes slumped on the floor with the bar maid mopping up the mess.

Won't happen, but it'd be cool.

Exactly! This! Restraining them like this is just so much more flavourful and stylish than simply thumping a person over the head with something. If anything, I'd like to see both a restraint mechanic and a knockout mechanic implemented. Mainly because the ES series is all about options. We have lots of options concerning other things, why not add some options regarding how you want to get an NPC out of the way. Do you want to kill the annoying git? Knock him/her unconscious? Restrain them to make sure they don't suddenly wake up and run off to tell the nearest guard?

D3

It would be nice if you could turn in fleeing/wounded criminals or bandits to the regional guards, then we could see some of those jails fill up.

I would just like to be able to beat someone up without killing them to the point that they're knocked out.

Ooh, yes! The system could be used for that as well! Restrain some criminals and turn them in for their bounty. Makes bounty hunting more fun.

D3

this idea is win.

Thats the funniest thing ive read here all week. TY

That's what I'd want to use this for too, though it'd be a cool feature even without bounties.. Tie up some dangerous bandits or outlaws and leave a present for the local guard to deal with as they see fit, execution or jailtime depending on the crime they've committed.

I like this idea. In red dead redemption i would toss tied up witnesses and robbers (anyone i didnt like into the river. I prefer the ability to use imagination when killing, rather tgan the *swipe with sword*.

Sounds like innuendo to me. Made me laugh though.

Yeah, I'd like this sort of system. Rocked in RDR, although this time you gag them.

Alternatively, they could just have a 'tazer' effect with a shock spell. And, in typing that, I made myself laugh again by moving onto a MUCH more interesting method.

Illusion magic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yrg5JBWqBc&feature=related SEIZURE PROCEDURE!

EDIT: Fixed typos.

I know what it sounds like, I noticed it when I was typing it out. I decided it was way too fun to rephrase it.

I've actually never played RDR before, not have I seen any videos of it. *Goes to check up on the RDR restraint mechanics* Aah, yeah, that's pretty much what I'm talking about!
Being able to restrain a person, move them about...that's just what I had in mind...plus gags, to avoid attracting guards.

D3

I also hoped you checked out the linky.

It played into gameplay mechanics too, similarly to what you've suggested. For example, bounties are worth twice as much if you bring them back alive, and, awesomely, you get an achievement if you tie a woman up and leave her on the train tracks (and watch the train hit her).

If executed correctly, it would be rather good.

Speaking of rope, as well, I would like to see people be able to grapple and pull themselves up on top of buildings. Alas, digressions.

I would prefer the mechanic in the Thief series: bong them in the head with a blackjack > they fall unconscious > you can carry their body out of sight and drop them.

I like the idea. I like the idea of being able to capture someone and get information out of them

Yep, I did check the link. ^^
The more you sat the more i wish they'd implement this kind of system in Skyrim! I want to play as a bounty hunter, bringing in criminals from all of Skyrim. Sounds incredibly fun!

D3