Hello. Does Skyrim have hand-placed loot like Morrowind? What I mean is, if I walk into this certain cave, at the end will I find the legendary Mace of Awesome every time I search there?

Here's the thing, I've played 180 hours of Skyrim, but rarely did I ever just clear out a cave, or ruin or whatever, because I was busy doing quests and other things. Also, I never ran into a cave and met anyone who gives you a radiant quest for that cave. I just never got lucky I guess. I'm thinking though, that perhaps those radiant quests would unlock special items to be found in the cave/ruin/etc that you couldn't find without the quest. Am I right in thinking that?

Are all legendary and special items the results of quests? Or can I travel to a specific cave and find a specific special item at the end of it?

If not, why did they remove this from Morrowind? I understand Bethesda has gone the "radiant route", and everything seemingly has to be randomized, but I feel like they have abandoned such a great concept that was present in Morrowind, and that is hand-placed loot. It was great to find some random tomb, search it and, oh snap, the Mentor's Ring! But maybe I'm wrong and they haven't abandoned this, and you're going to tell me hand-placed loot is still in Skyrim.

Speak!

Nvm, Aurora was much better informant than me.

Most loot is random, but there are a few exceptions. There are dungeons with quests you get when you enter the dungeon, too. Some get you unique items. A few examples:
Ansilvund
Iron-Bind Barrow
Angarvunde
Valthume
Frostflow Lighthouse
Forelhost
Frostmere Crypt
Darklight Tower
...and some more. Try UESP if you want more information.

Agh. I should have posted, "no spoilers"!! My mistake. But thank you for the information.

So, there is hand-placed loot, but it's quest-related then? That's not too bad. I just wish I could enter some random cave like in Morrowind and find something amazing hidden inside without even having a quest for it. But alas, I guess I will play Morrowind for that, and play Skyrim for quest-related goodies. Thanks!

There's also some standard items, like pieces of Dwarven Armor sitting on shelves in Dwemer ruins, I think I remember a pond with an Orcish sword sitting in it, etc. But, no... there isn't the "one set of Daedric armor, scattered in single pieces in hidden corners across the land" thing.

(Oh, yeah - there is a unique, enchanted, armored circlet sitting on a tree stump somewhere. Not hugely powerful, but it is nice... it's Light Armor, so if you're trying to get the "light armor in all locations" perk bonus without wearing a helmet, it can be useful. )

Remember that in Skyrim item not in chests but on tables and floor can also be leveled loot.
Also loot is based on dungeon, if you enter an level 25 dungeon at level 10 you find level 25 loot.

You might have noted that I didn't mention what quests or what items. I understood your OP as you wanted to know where to go to find things. Sorry about that.

No problem at all, it was my fault for not making it more clear. in the original post Thankfully I don't remember any locations from your list so I just skimmed over them quickly and moved on .

theres not much hand placed in skyrim. But one thing i gotta give them over oblivion is that loot in the game world (like a sword lying on a table) levels as well and is random. So sometimes you go in a dungeon and theres an iron sword on the table, sometimes its an enchanted fire orcish sword, or sometimes its 3 healing potions and a coin sack. I like that randomness aspect of skyrim, it gives more replayability. In oblivion the only random loot was in chests, the stuff in the world was always the same (which is why you only ever found iron weapons and armor everywhere, sometimes steel, but rarely)

There are SOME handplaced items, like Froki's bow. But it seems all the handplaced items are about as strong as iron or steel, so nothing special.

Some have handy enchantments, though.

And then there are the Dragon Priest masks, of course.

yeah of course, cant forget about the dragon priest masks.

I also really like the ghostblade for a low to mid level thief character. It only weighs 3 pounds, so for a sword is uses like no stamina. It also does that 3 extra damage which is decent for low levels.
But again, thats more of a quest reward then a hand placed item.

There's a certain unique enchanted katana in a certain cave - not questrelated. In fact, you have to go there BEFORE getting the quest associated with the cave in order to obtain it, since it disappears once the quest has started.