So it is actually possible to earn money without risking my life?

... Yes it is!

Granted that I haven't really pondered much over this before, I must say that most of these games have a very special way to be totally messed up. What did I do if I wanted big cash in Oblivion? Dungeon raiding! It is probably still the best way to make money, sure, but in Skyrim you will actually have the option to have a normal job! That's right! You don't need to risk your life and good health in order to gain some gold.

Not that I am complaining over the old system, mind you - I find it a decent trade-off for being able to survive without drinking and eating. Still, I welcome this new possibility with open arms and a neat doormat.

As I've previously mentioned, every NPC in the city will have a job. Evidently the citizens of Skyrim don't find it nearly as productive to prance around on the street all day as those in Cyrodiil do. Of course, you can sabotage their jobs completely. Mess up the wood chipper-thingy, or set fire to the crops - It really don't matter. The other nice aspect to see these "jobs" from is not that which sees them as a possibility to create chaos, misery and anarchy (which I know you will,) but the one where you say "Huh... Maybe I could be such a citizen too :/ "  - And you can!

Every job that you see a citizen do, is a job that YOU can do AND get paid for - It's like having sex, whilst having sex. That is, if you're into that kinda thing. Sticky.

So, enjoy the possibility of a normal job where all you risk is losing a finger (I kid of course, you won't lose a finger. More likely a Dragon will show up and scare the living S**t out of you.)

What the hell is Radiant Story?

This wasn't just my question, but the question of thousands. As soon as I head the phrase I set out on a quest to gain an understanding of the meaning behind "Radiant Story."

First of all, if you are more familiar with the term "radiant questing," then I'd just like to mention that it is the exact same thing.

My article on Radiant AI explained how it gave creatures and NPC's rules and needs.

Radiant Story will take a bunch of variable into account and create results from that. As far as I've gathered, there are the Main Quest, alternative quests and "side missions."

The Main quest is almost hand crafted all the way through, with few examples of Radiant Story, alternative quests have a bit more radiant story, and the side missions consists almost entirely of radiant story.

What radiant story does to quests is that it says: Ok, so you've been avoiding this area, so maybe we'll send you over here --->

Let us take an example: A side mission where a woman, a friend of yours, her daughter has been kidnapped and she requests that you retrieve her. Then the radiant quest system notices that you haven't been in Area A, so it sends you to a cave there. Once you arrive, the kidnapper turns out to be a person who hates, one of the people you are on an unfriendly basis with, maybe because you killed his father. The RS (Radiant Story) chose him because of your poor relationship with him. He kidnapped her because he knew that he could get you alone when you came to rescue her, and then he could exact his revenge.

All the variables here, the quest-giver, the quest place, the kidnapper, are all chosen by radiant story in order to give you an awesome, new experience.

Another example straight from Todd: Say your task is to go to a dungeon and retrieve an item, RS sees that you haven't fought high-level undead in a while, so it sends you to a dungeon that has high-level undead.

Also reward items can be affected by radiant story. It can pull in all sorts of variables, for almost everything. If you've been avoiding dragons, it'll make you go fight a dragon.

It also teamworks with Radiant AI to enact random encounters. Say you throw a valuable sword on the ground, two guys might pass by and start fighting over the item, maybe even try to kill each other, should no one be around, another guy might pick it up and ask if you don't want it anymore or a merchant might have the audacity to try and sell it back to you. Of course you kill the merchant for his insolence, which may later result in his two sons finding you in order to avenge their murdered father. That is of course only if they know that you did it, which kind of requires witnesses. Mwahaha.

I hope that this give you a better understanding of radiant story, if not, comment and ask for more.
Cheerio!

Radiant AI - The Skyrim population moves!

We all very much enjoyed the Radiant AI in Oblivion. Finally the lifeless dolls we called NPC's got life and actually started doing something, allowing us to engage in a much better role-playing experience.

After years, I still see people asking: "WTF is Radiant AI?"
In order to calm down the masses, I will give a very light and basic explanation of the Radiant AI, then  talk about Radiant AI in Skyrim.

Radiant AI is what makes the NPC's move around, do jobs, eat, sleep and so on. Very basically, radiant AI gives the NPC's rules and needs, which they will do their best to fulfill. I have some fun anecdotes from the first testings of radiant AI.

In one example, one NPC is given a rake and the need to rake leaves. Another NPC is given a broom and the need to sweep the street. This all worked smoothly. Then they tried switching the items between the two NPC's, so that the other one had the item they needed. It ended with one of them killing the other in order to get their needed item.

In another one, some Skooma addicts killed a merchant, in order to get enough money to buy their fix.

I hope that is enough explanation, if not, please write and I'll do better.

NOW! On to the interesting part! Skyrim!
Oblivion (good start) was, as I said, a major improvement on the role-playing experience, giving each NPC a daily schedule.

Skyrim will succeed that, giving each NPC a job, a way to contribute to their respective cities and families, which they will perform everyday, except the weekend I hope, 'cause nobody should work on weekends. And that's final!

Radiant AI also decides how the NPC's react to the player character. Of course their is their disposition towards you, which will alter depending on your actions. Things that you can do, that'll make them nicer towards you, is kill the big-ass battle machine of a dragon, raiding their town. I imagine that if a person likes you enough, like in Oblivion, they'll even help you out. Unless they're pantsies, of course!

Should you choose to break into their house, in the middle of the night, a friend  might offer you lodgings, as opposed to an stranger or an enemy, who'll probably threaten with calling the guard. Who wouldn't?

If you prance into someone's house and start taking their stuff, or merely pushing the vases off the furniture, don't expect them to be too crazy about you either. It has been said that, should you tip their stuff of their tables, eat their food or swing a weapon to close to them, they WILL act appropriately, based on their prior relationship with you.

So there you have it: More realistic population and more realistic relationships. This is going to be awesome, don't you think?

Avenge me!!

So we've all heard of the radiant story system, which I personally adore! I will cover a lot more on that topic later on, but first I'd like to give you a nice little preview.

Since you began reading this, I'm sure you've pondered over the squirrel to my left. There is indeed a point with it. One of the examples we were given of radiant story, is that if you kill, say a father, his sons may at some point come after you for revenge. THAT IS AWESOME!

If you kill someone, there friends and family can, if they it is you, choose to hunt you down and brutally murder you to avenge their beloved one(s) - (you've probably killed more than one, just to test it out. I know I will.)

Anyway, I'll explain more on radiant story soon, I just thought that this was a good example to begin with.