Main part:
One of the main reasons why I would like TES to have MP/Co-Op is mainly because at some point you become a demigod and no one can touch you and only one who could match you is your buddy who also plays TES and has same problem.
So, what I suggest is that if TES plans to stay SP without any forms of MP/Co-Op, they should at least try to make replacement for other players in the game.
To do so, I think that they should put some competition for our hero and do that by making random NPC wanderers appear every now and then in towns/villages.
That NPC wanderer (will call them wanderers or wandering heroes from now on) is suppose to be a very strong NPC who's strength will be based on yours so he always represents a challenge.
When you notice that NPC, you can go challenge him to a duel or it could be made so that that sort of NPC will come to you and will challenge you to a duel.
Duel will take place in arranged place at arranged time and winner takes it all (since the loser will die).
And no, they are not suppose to be dragonborns (you are the only one).
They are suppose to represent other people who are talented in one way or another and decided to travel the world and seek adventure.
You remain to be the main hero of the story!

So, that's the basic idea.
Here are some details on all that.

Detailed part:

Wandering heroes:
Wanderer's strength is suppose to be adjusted based on yours, but still, there should be few versions of them for sake of variety (some of them will be weaker than you, some of them equal, some stronger and some of them will mean serious business).
They should also use different fighting styles (some of them will prefer magic, some will prefer sword, some will prefer bow, some will dual wield, some will be H2H fighters, etc.) and will have equipment to support that style of fighting so they don't become boring.
Their equipment should be just standard stuff witch will be weak and have no enchantments at the beginning, but will actually be some really good equipment with really good enchantments at the end.
That equipment is not suppose to be unique or anything, but will be same as if you crafted normal armor and then enchanted it yourself or other generic items that can be found/bought in Skyrim.
Still, I have the idea of an unique wanderer that I will talk about more (he will drop a unique item).
Rest of their equipment should be player-like random stuff (will find some random keys, books, food, drink, etc.) so it gives you feeling that it was some actual wandering hero who is also an adventurer like you instead of just being an another NPC.
Also, wanderer can be of any race, gender or age.

The idea of wandering heroes is that they are wanderers who travel all over Tamriel (and probably beyond) so they are not always present in Skyrim, but act more as temporary visitors.
So, this is how wanderer encounter will work like.
Every now and then, a wanderer will appear in X location and will wander the Skyrim for some time.
He will travel from town to town and even visit some smaller places, but he may also go into the wilderness.
He should sleep at tavern or camp outside in case he is not near tavern when he needs to go to sleep.
He may spend 1-3 days in a single town/village and will continue his wandering.
His stay at Skyrim before he wanders away should be between one week and one month (so, for example, it could happen that wanderer appears, goes to a town, takes a piss and gos away, or he may stay in Skyrim and wander around doing what people like them do).
Wanderer can be killed by other NPC's and creatures (if they manage to kill him that is).
At the beginning they will appear about once a month, but as you gain levels they may appear more often so, when you reach that theoretical maximum level, they may even start to appear once a week.
Reason for that is so that you can't get rich easy by selling their gear at the beginning (also, they are not that needed since you have other challenges in front of you, but will serve as introduction the whole wanderer thing and will serve as a nice fight now and then), but they will come more often latter since you won't have that much stuff to do, that will be period when you will be good to have them to give you a nice challenge and it will not matter that much if you get too much gold from then.
When you see them, you can talk to them just like you can with any NPC (there could be several types of personalities for sake of variety).
They will have topics like 'rumors' and similar stuff that other NPCs have, but they will also have 'duel' topic in case you wish to duel with them.
'Duel' topic will be consisted of small introduction and a challenge, wanderers will always accept the challenge except and will offer you number of locations where you wish to duel with them.
They will tell you how much do they need to reach that location and will be waiting there for you, but not more than 24 hours.
If you don't appear in that period, they will continue with their wandering and will not accept any more duels from you (only wanderers witch you ignored will not accept further duels from you).
Still, if you want, you can challenge the wanderer to duel right at that moment and at that spot.
Also, you should even be able to arrange a duel in the arena with him if you want.
Wandering heroes can also come to you and ask you for a duel, but you can say no if you don't want to (they may taunt you when you decline with smirks or something like that though, but not necessarily).
If you two duel inside the town, guards will not interfere and killing him wont count as a crime, but if you attack him without challenge him to a duel, it will count as a crime.
Wanderers may be seen eating, drinking, sleeping, hunting, shopping at other stores, kill monster outside the town and do all the other stuff NPC's do and even commit crime (theft, assault, murder, etc.).
You can't make companions out of the wandering heroes since they are your competition and not adoring fans.

Why is this good idea?
Well, like I said already, they will be their competition and will make things more interesting since it will give you feel that you are not only adventurer in the world.
Also, while we do have dragons to give us challenge, this could break the routine and give some variety to the game.
And even though there probably will be some boss NPC and monsters that will give you also a good challenge, it is only matter of time before you kill them all.
But most of all, this will give depth to the game and make stuff more believable since it is really hard to believe that there aren't more successful adventures in the world similar to you and that you will never meet them.

The Black Swordsman (unique wanderer):
Here is part about the unique wanderer.
He is suppose to be my tribute to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserk_%28manga%29, but will have few personal touches so it doesn't make it too obvious (hopefully).
Anyway, unique wanderer is suppose to be called Black Swordsman (and that should be his name actually).
He should wander independently from other wanderers.
He should be only wanderer who will not leave Skyrim when he appears and will be direct competition to you (could be seen slaying some dragons or could even have a quest related to whole world saving business since he will think that you are not good enough for saving the world).
He should have fixed strength level, but should be one of the thoughts people that ever appeared in TES (he should if he plans to be your competition after all).
He is suppose to be blind (there is a twist to this, but I will write it down in spoilers and explain why), unarmored (only in clothes) and will dual-wield two swords that look like http://thedarkblade.com/wp-content/uploads/Handmade-Zatoichi-Cane-Sword-Nodachi-Black-Damascus.jpg.
That golden part should also be black so they are two entirely black swords.
Those swords should have a unique ability called 'soul reflection'.
The idea is that you put your soul into them when you equip them and that they will give you power that is actually reflection of your soul.
For example, if this was in Oblivion/Morrowind, they would give bonuses based on whether you chose that your primary fighting style is combat, stealth or magic in the character creation options.
I will think of some cool powers when we get more info about character creation.
He should also have an unique blindfold (when equipped, it should count as cloth helmet) that will give you constant night-eye and life detection in 300ft.
Rest of his equipment should be some black clothes (don't have an idea how should they look exactly, but should have unique appeal) and should have enchantments that will fit him (won't go into depth with that too much since I don't know how will stuff work in Skyrim, but those enchantments should be something like http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Spellturn_Cloak#Spellturn_Cloak and http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Bladeturn_Hood#Bladeturn_Hood).
He should also have a nice sum of gold and some other various stuff.
Don't know if he should have any rings or amulets, but if he do, they should be something that fits him, of course.
Now, about his blindness.
If you didn't watch Zatoichi (2003) and plan to do so, this may be a major spoiler to you so watch out.

Black Swordsman should be very old Breton (don't have any fixed idea how his face should exactly look, but I think he should have longer hair and beard or something like that).

Tell me what do you think about these ideas.
And please, think of the concept and not the numbers (ie. how often do they appear, how long do they stay in a place, etc.).
I can always fix the numbers if they are proven to be bad.

Its a maybe for me. I don't think another Dragonborn would be good, because the story revolves around you, the player, being one of the last. But, perhaps other dragon hunters would be kinda cool to encounter. It would interesting, in my opinion, to see another hero slay a dragon. Perhaps that person could teach you techniques for taking them down. Or maybe they would be hostile toward you, thinking that you've come to claim their hard earned prize. I agree, I think other powerful heroes like yourself would be cool, just not someone who is dragonborn.

We already know that we arent the only dragonborn around as bethesda has said that we arent the only one around that can use dragonshouts. Though we dont know to what degree that the others will play a part in the game.

Only if it's Gary Oak.

Just because we're the last Dragonborn doens't mean we're the only one who can use Thu-um. Its possible we may run across someone on par with us. In my mind all combat oriented master trainers, if they are still more or less in their prime, could kill a dragon. A rival who can use Thu-um in my mind would add a lot to the world. We may be the big hero, but that by no means has to mean we're the only person with enough stones to take a dragon. In my mind the world would feel more alive if it had other people doing things, instead of everyone in Skyrim waiting for us to show up.

Sounds almost like an anti-hero kind of NPC. Seems strange that some wonderer would feel the need to challenge me, just because I'm tough... Hello? I'm saving the world from dragons. Unless this guy is my enemy of course, and in that case I'll just whoop them without asking for a dual, right in the middle of town square.

I have a feeling dragons will be tough enough to prove yourselves... but just to have some random NPC based loosly on your own stats challenge you to a dual to the death, just doesn't seem to fit. Unless Skyrim also has an arena of course. -- or they caught me stealing from them

No, they are not suppose to be dragonborns (you are the only one), but they should be able to slay a dragon.
I forgot to write that since I'm kinda on low battery here, but I've fixed that part in the OP.


True.
They could also serve as sort of motivation to improve yourself.
When I think about it, my biggest problem with games where you are the hero is actually that they suffer from a Harry Potter syndrome.
You know, where everyone is expecting that he will do everything, that he is awesome, that he is this, that he is that and so on and so on.
That is kinda childish in my opinion and this will make stuff more believable in my opinion.
You shouldn't be a hero just because you are born that you, but should prove that with your deeds.


Well, they might think that they are tougher and slay save the world instead of you or just don't care about it for some reason or another.

That sounds like it might be cool, if they do it right. It'd be neat to have some competition. But then again, I'm me, so their face would melt off, and their children would weep over their exploded body.

(Also, if you're wondering why I keep dropping Sheen references; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QS0q3mGPGg)

I think they already confirmed this, but not like you would think. There will be people that challenge you, but it won't be as often and the people who challenge you would be tailored to your specific skills. So if you're a mage who relies heavily on magic, from time to time someone will ask you to a duel and he will have roughly the same magic skills as you and they'll be around the same level. I doubt Bethesda would risk the chance of some random nameless NPC to appear out of nowhere and kill you when you least expext it. Not to say that this isn't a great idea. I would love for some uber strong NPC (with a name) to come around and challenge me to a duel after I've killed all the dragons. This would give a sense of pride, knowing you're so strong that people seek you out just to try to beat you just so they can say they beat the legendary DragonBorn.

I support 100%. They actually 'kinda' had a rough version of this in the Knights of the Nine DLC, they had that other knight that was doing the Pilgrim Run or whatever that was called.

The idea is good, but you are Dovahkiin. You don't want your competitor to be with you the entire time and you don't want it to be a major part of the game. Maybe some other adventurers who are kind of a joke but just good enough to mix things up.

Yes, they are suppose to have names (some name generator would do the trick), but I forgot to write that in the OP.
Also, only because they are there, it doesn't mean that they will challenge you right away.
Actual challenging from them should only start when you gain some fame (more fame, more challenges) and you should challenge them until them.
Still, I don't like the idea that NPC who challenges me is tailored based on me.
It kinda svck to be honest since it will become boring to fight same type of challenges over and over.
In my version the idea is that you fight some other hero in search for fame and he could use there magic, combat, stealth or combination of them.
Also, if I'm not wrong, other NPC's in game can assassinate you as well, so I don't see a reason why wanderers slaying you is a big deal.
Still, if it is, make it so that they will attack you only if you attack them first or if you accept the duel.
If you don't then they will leave you alone.
Also, this will give more depth to the game and will make your fame actually be fame since it will look that stories of your legendary battles against dragons are told worldwide.
If they plan to do something along these lines, I hope that they will make more variety among those challengers so they are not just copies of you and sometimes you will get challenged by a warrior even though you are a mage.

No, they are not entire time there.
Like I said, they are wanderers, they come, they go.
Also, you can kill them.
And they are never suppose to be major part of the game.
They will travel to Skyrim, maybe kill a dragon to show of, do some more wandering around the Skyrim and if you don't duel with them, they will leave.
Their main purpose is not suppose to be your actual competition, but serve as element that will add more depth to the game, will make it more interesting and will provide you with some more challenges (witch you can choose to take or not, it's up to you so it's nothing forced on you) when you reach that level when you become strong as hell.

Fixed.

As for the idea, yeah it sounds pretty good. I voted yes. In Oblivion, OOO mod added adventurers that you occasionally found in dungeons, and they sometimes attacked you and sometimes ignored you. It was pretty cool.

Duels are for the high and mighty heroes with their moral high ground and honorable ways.

Backstabs, poisoning and visits from the sandman are all I need to deal with those piles of loot fellow heroes.

I would like to have a rival. I remember Gary from Pokemon was a nice touch.

Well, no one forbids you to do that. :hubbahubba:
Just don't get caught. ^_^

I didn't read the OP, but i like the idea of wandering heroes and rivals.

In Final Fantasy X you were on a pilgrimage for much of the first part of the game, and you see other pilgrims on your journey.
all these encounters were scripted, but it still felt cool that your rivals doing the same travels as you, If these rivals were in Skyrim, they would have to be very very hard to kill.

How does one get caught by already murdered guards?

Something like this I guess would be cool but it may be better just to leave it up to the modders.

yes to this topic, very much yes. One of my favourite parts in Oblivion was the rare ocaison when I'd enter a dungeon, hack my way through, only to run into an adventurer hacking his way from the other direction, wish there was a lot more of that really.

The problem the OP states in the FIRST SENTENCE is easily solved with a long post and discussion: BALANCE THE GAME. Thats it.

Sooo, basically "since they won't do real multiplayer, can we get fake bot-simulated multiplayer?"

Meh. :shrug:

The first thing I'd do is to poison him them all, hide their bodies and loot their corpses. hehehee. As long as they don't turn up using "unique" dragonshouts at everything it could add something, like the optionj to co-op with them or kill them

good idea, but screw reading all that.