Been thinking of new ways to play this game. Anyone have a character that just explores/hunts/etc and only does quests when they happen to acquire them by chance? It seems every character I make, even with roleplay restrictions, I still know the path I want to follow and actively seek out that path (ie. DB, Thieves Guild, Companions, etc.)

Been thinking it may be fun to create a character, come up with some minor backstory, and travel to some random city once you get out of Helgen and literally just roam around/hunt/try to make a living instead of acting like the Dragonborn or something else.

Dumb idea?

Nope, it's not dumb at all.

It's called Role-Playing (RP'ing), and there's a cadre of us on the Forums here that go very deep into it. Your idea is a great way to start deep RP'ing, and there are threads and people you can talk to about making the experience as rewarding as possible.

Welcome to our world. lol

That's the best thing about TES games. You can spend the most of your time just exploring and living in the world. There's no one to tell you what to do or where to go. You just live.

Anyone have journals here? Roleplaying ideas? Where can I find them?

Heck I do it in San Andreas, let alone Skyrim. But in Tes I dont need a new character for that, I do it with all my chars when I hear boredom approaching. Take a break from questing and come up with some story of my own. Can be surprisingly rewarding when you're in the right mood.

I have the advantage of playing on PC so I use an alternate start mod. When I make a new character I have goals in mind that that character would want to accomplish and so I pursue those goals. Not everyone is dragonborn and sometimes on those characters that I don't set out to make dragonborn they end up with that power on accident. Like doing the civil war quest or finding a random word wall and realizing they can read it and want to find out why. That's the best thing about TES you can do what you want and still have a blast.

Just do as you want. Do not know if there are any journels, but one of the things is not to fast travel unless you have to. When I roleplay, I always go through the very first part of the game, so that I can get the house in Whiterun for storage of plunder and a place for Lydia to stay. Then I just wander, and use the bar at the top of the screen to find "un-discovered" places that I can explore. The only time I fast travel is from a dungeon that I just got through with to a store, Whiterun, to empty my inventory of un-desireables. Then I store anything I want to keep, and then I fast travel back to the dungeon that I was at and continue exploring. You would be surprised at the things you see and do and the places you find. I also go by myself and leave Lydia at home. Hope that helps.

I use the alternate start mod on PC also. And now I just pick a different race and role play that. I'm thinking on my next play to start as a Khajiit merchant and see what happens from there.

Quite a bit of the time I turn off any active Quests that I might have, and just wander.

Since I play primarily Assassin's, I'll murder some random NPC every so often so that my character can "stay in practice", but I find that one of the things that deeply enriches RP is to not Fast Travel. If I have to get somewhere quickly, I'll use a cart that sits outside of the major Hold capitals, but for everything else my character's go at it on foot only.

Try it, OP. The RP you can come up with using this method is very deep and rewarding.

That is the way I am playing my latest character,a Bosmer/Archer who is truly an "adventurer". He refuses to join any factions or guilds,doesn't use fast travel or a horse and loves to discover those "Explorer's Guide To Skyrim" books and see that little "map update" marker pop up! One of the most fun play throughs I've done so far!

It's amazingly fun once you give it a decent chance.

Well I don't think I am going to create a new character but I will start playing like this. The quest log has simply become overwhelming to the point where I am trying to complete groups of quests based on location to save time... it burns you out.

I think it iwll be far more fun just 'living' and taking things as they come.

Active quests will be turned off as well.

I usually do with a goal or quest in mind. Basically I stop fast traveling, and I just explore locations on my way to my targets. For getting to cities and such, I still use carriages, but no fast travel at all. That actually makes you want to explore.

I think this game is a huge step ahead in terms of exploration than pretty much any other game I've experienced. I also loved the exploration of Fallout 3, the map waas really interesting and diverse. I get so annoyed when Obsidian says New Vegas had a "bigger" map than fallout 3, when 1/3 of the map is unpasssable terrain, redundant exploration, and practically no enemies around to hunt down.

Exploration, graphics, and lore are probably my most favorite attributes to a game like this. I don't obsess over little things.

@ColonelKillaBee and Uriel

I did not think of using the carriages instead of the way I do it. Have to start doing that. Thanks.

I have a few characters that do.

I originally wanted to make a "scout" character...based on an American Indian, who does nothing but live off the land and explore. Never got around to it, but I still like approaching the game "passively". I like just making a character, and then seeing where that character will wind up naturally (via NPC conversations and such) rather than directly taking that character to Riften or whatever, because I already know that's where the Thieves Guild is.


Absolutely not. I think it's a dumb idea not to explore.

Yep. I just started a character who looks like he will be guild averse. Wandering and meeting people randomly is a refreshing way to play, especially if you’ve been sticking to quest lines in fear of glitching something by diving into the wrong cave.

There are a few threads around here where people make journal-type posts if you’re looking for character inspiration. I use the http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1398718-the-skyrim-dead-is-dead-thread-xi/.

Here is the http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1418880-pen-and-paper-journal-thread/.

I know there’s a What Are You Doing In Skyrim type thread somewhere, maybe on the Spoilers board? Plus there are two I know of on another site if you’re interested.

Anyway, I think it’s a great idea.

I think you'll find it to be very rewarding. I know it adds enough depth and intrigue to the game that I haven't gotten tired of it even after all this time. It's always new and fresh for me.


No problem, Ash. I think you'll like how easily it fits into any play style, and it just flows well with the RP.

Yeah, I did it for a while and was going to do an online journal. I only did a few journal entries. I'm doing an actual playthrough now where I'll actually finish the main quest. But then I'm going to reboot my Felix character and actually do the journal. Except now Felix can build his own house.

You forgot about http://chorrol.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4937, Grits...your very own!


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I just started a new character who only hunts for a living. Im trying to build ny Hearthfire Falkreath home and make a living off hunting without major questing. Pretty challenging.

Yes I've done that in every TES once at least. It's not my favorite playstyle though, I like to be involved in compelling stories and quests that actually happen in the game world and change things.

My first character in Skyrim did no quests at all. I spent about 70 hours playing character up to about level 45. It was probably my most fun charactyer so far, and I plan to do it again sometime in the future.

In Morrowind my favorite thing to do was to take each character on a running/swimming rite-of-passge trek completely around Vvardenfell and Solstheim at level 1 or 2 . By the time they got all the way back to Seyda Neen they would be about level 6 or 7. I actually looked forward to doing that, sometimes, more than I looked forward to doing quests. I've done it a few times in Oblivion as well and plan to start doing it in Skyrim too.