True, but still, there is no background of your character given to you. Other than the fact that your the Emperor's friend.

Arena was the starting point of the intro with the prisoner. That can get away with it for starting the serie. Daggerfall open up such an opening that one can be anyone with just a ship wreak, without stupid restriction or forceful background (yes, I am aware of the preset one but that is done either tastefully or not exist at all). Morrowind does it with just dropping off with the prison ship with little to no background, but even then, they did NOT force the PC that he was a prisoner of some sort. They [censored] this up with Oblivion intro. They FORCE the player in an environment that he is a prisoner, destroying such openess and freedom for creating any background the PC desire. Oblivion FORCE the main quest to the PC right away.

If anything I would like to write about as an intro, its that it is open to all player without some force background to the PC. This mean no family, no friends, no prisoner, no history, no childhood crap, no born and raise in this village; just the PC and his imagination. He can start out getting off a passenger boat, traveling with a caravan, or waking up in a campsite or a random inn. To connect to the Main quest, its pretty much what SteeleKnight said, just play and join a guild and eventually, the Main Quest will be up for grabs.

Here's what I could think of for TES:V;
You start by making your character, then it slowly swirls into the actual game.

You are 5 years old. The setting is in {province}, late at night during Evening Star (December). Your'e laying in bed with a shadow reading to you (could be a parent or a mysterious person). It is reading a book called "The Saviour," It talks about a nameless hero who, one hundred years ago, fought off the forces of Oblivion. It turns out, only 7 years later, s/he dissappeared, with no trace but a note;
"Everyone; I have left forever. None shall ever see me again, for one reason: I am dead. The Nine Divines called to me, saying that later, Tamriel shall need saving again. They made it clear that for me to be there on that day, I must be someone new. One able to stand up to any evil, whether it be a bandit or corrupted Divine. One with the strength that can bring that foe down. While, they said, I may be be a great hero, I, still, am not strong enough, so my spirit left to go train with the Divines.
May you all remember me and shall Akatosh walk with you all."

After that the shadowy figure puts down the book, and walks out of the room. You fall asleep, to dream about a shadowy figure striking a dummy, with Talos observing. Talos leaves the room, and you hear someone whisper "The time is right (perhaps could be the voice of when the door in the Abandoned House asks you "What is the color of night?"),"

The game then skips 10 years. As you leave the house, you hear the same voice whisper: "Set off, young one. In time, you shall decide what is right," After exploring a while, there is an ear-shattering screech, and a bright glowing orb flies at you. You wake up inside the cathedral. "Your awake..." mutters the voice of a well-worn monk. "Good. A demon tried to posess you. The citizens say you had glowing red eyes and you were screaming 'None shall live, for Arkay is in chains, and Dreamsleeve shall fade!' Does that worry you any?" {Yes or No} Yes: "Hrmf, me, too..." No: "No?! Well I think it should!" Either way the monk leaves, and once you come outside you meet someone (your partner you get to create! ). S/He says "Your out? Good. Listen, I have to tell you something... Two days ago, I had a dream. Now listen up, this frightens me a lot. I drempt of Arkay, chained to a table, with a giant axe swinging back and forth, dropping slightly every minute. It all seemed to happen in/near {location a}. I need you to come with me to {location a}. Go get ready, I hear the local general store is having a sale. Take as long as you wish, but try to be quick! I'll be waiting at my house," Here, you can do what your partner advises, or you can blow him/her off and do whatever you want.
-Later-
"Your here. Good. Let's get going,"
-Travel to {location a}-
"By the Nine! Look at that!" (zoom in of Daedric letters in the Ayleid language written in blood) 'Ooough, I don't feel good. It reads 'You were too late. We moved Arkay to a more secure location! If you wish to rescue him, you'll need to know where to look. Let's see if you can figure out this riddle!
Snow-capped, yet searing of souls.
Area of dead, forces that none can hold!
Here once stood, a cult of the Sigil (a cult to Mehrunes Dagon, whos Oblivion Gates are held open by SIGIL Stones)
They feared the unknown, they were ever vigil[ant]!
But they were too weak, their shrine was reduced to gelatin.
Now here their remains stand, walking as skeletons!'

Hrmm, this sounds like a place I read about. Ohh, what was it called... "The Mountain of the Never!" It is haunted by wraiths, and there was the remains of a shrine there. This has to be it! Let's leave at once!"
As you get to the doorway, a familiar shreak shatters your eardrums and everything fades black.

You are woken up later by your friend, out in the forest. "Lets get moving. This place exhales pure evil..."

You fight your way through skeletons and liches, getting deeper into the ever-darkening forest.

You reach the mountain in 5 days. As you scale the wraith infested mountain, you start to hear whispers in your head. "You shall fail... You shall die... The Nine shall fall, and the Dreamsleeve shall crumble!" Once your three floors from the very top, you hear screams. "Help me! Akatosh, why don't you hear me? Mara, Zenithar, Talos, where are you all?!" "That must be Arkay! Hurry, we may not have much time left!" But your friend doesn't move. "Go on without me. These voices... whispers... if I go any further my head will explode..." You continue. You see Arkay, and you rush to free him, but the glowing orb blocks your path. "You wont win... that... easily...!" The orb transforms into someone... Your partner?! What do you do; do you vanquish the sould and kill your friend, or do you talk to the soul, try to cleanse it, cure it's evil ways. One small slip of the tongue and the wraith will attack. But, if your quick enough, maybe you can free Arkay and have him free your friend before he kills you! Either way, the clock is ticking and the axe is only 5 minutes away from killing Arkay and dooming everyone.
{If you don't kill the spirit that is your wingman/woman}: You wake up in the cathedral. A familiar face shows. "You... saved Arkay? He was actually in chains? You... did good. I'm proud of you. And your friend. He/she is over there. He/she should recover nicely."
{If you do kill the spirit that is your wingman/woman}: You wake up at home, in bed. "You're up. Good. Arkay... in chains... horrible thought... but you, young one saved us all. You and your friend. May his/her soul rest in peace..." And the monk walks out of the room.

...Ok, this was very clich?, but Bethesda can very easily make this awesome!

EDIT: Oh yeah, and once you save Arkay he tells you your the reincarnation of the hero that fought off the forces of Oblivion.

RE: The prisoner intro
Well, the ideal starting scenario would be one that attaches the least baggage on a character and/or provides the best opportunity to ignore said baggage. As I see it:

Arena: Starts you in prison, and automatically creates a relationship that your character had with Ria Silmane. That's two large pieces of baggage right there, even assuming that you're in prison because Tharn's thrown you in there. Its only redeeming quality is that it can be quickly rushed through and somewhat ignored.

Daggerfall: Automatically creates an association and relationship with the Emperor. Its redeeming qualities are that a prison intro is replaced with a shipwreck, and that while a decent and lengthy backstory is generated based on your input (good for starter-RP), it can be completely ignored (in fact, the player must dig a bit to find it).

Morrowind: Starts you in a prisoner role by proxy. Its redeeming quality is that a prisoner by proxy role is a lot more flexible than starting in prison. Are you a prisoner of mercenaries? Are you simply a traveler under hostile armed escort? Also, it too can be quickly skipped through. Once the player walks out of the census office (5 minutes of time), the prisoner issue fades away completely.

Oblivion: Starts you in prison and forces you to develop an acquaintance with the Emperor. No redeeming qualities I can think of here, not even being able to power through it, because the game demands that you jump through every dungeon-integrated character-generation hoop proffered to you.



My ideal introduction #1: The character arrives by boat to a harbor of their choosing available in the province. No motivations are given for the character's arrival in the province; that's up to them to construct. The plot hook for the main quest is incredibly subtle, such as a work-request letter, information gleaned on the ship during character generation, or rumors surrounding the town the character arrives at.

My ideal introduction #2: The character is out at sea, where character generation happens, but a storm blows the ship off course and wrecks it on wild land. The plot hook for the main quest is once again incredibly subtle, such as finding a valuable item or a scrap of information amongst the dead. But in this scenario, the MQ would take a brief backseat to survival in hostile conditions and getting to the nearest bastion of civilization.

The complex part of the plot of oblivion is the one that's not in the game, it's the one no gamer really should care about unless they really want to study TES lore, and that can be said about everything. It's not depicted, and the mundane part of the plot is straightforward and way too obvious, but still very enjoyable.

Thanks I was going to post something like that in regards to the introductions

Guys, stop bashing my story, its not what this thread is about.

Better story than Oblivion's: A boy works hard to get his little sister a bike she dreams about. He manages to give it to her on her birthday, but shortly after he dies because he's so overworked. The girl cries her eyes out, then rides the bike and falls under a car. And the undertaker lived happily ever after. The End.

While transporting an extradited prisoner through a heavily forested area the authorities are waylaid by rebel forces in a civil skirmish.
The prisoner escapes, and finds him/herself caught between self preservation by withs or self preservation by possible politcal pardon depending on which side they choose to fight on. Whichever choice they make, they soon find themselves caught in a web of intrigue and deception: political, professional, and religious. As the civil war escalates, it's effects spread to the surrounding countries.

simply a better MQ than OB? A little boy walks down the street, trips and cries. the end.

a good story? assuming it takes place in Skyrim...

The PC is in a prison. A ward is walking around, and is interrogating the prisoner next o you. The prisoner apparently [censored] and murdered somebody, and in in jail for life. Then the Warden reaches you and asks a guard about you. They have no files on you, so the Warden asks you what you did (Class creation), why you did it (Pre-set faction like-dislikes). He Then asks you about your family (race) and your bithsighn (obvius.) He wants to give you a longer sentence, but before he can he and the other guard go flying into the bars in front of you, and the bars get harp. ou are thrown against the rock wall of the building and are dased. You wake up and The roof has flown off the building, and the wall between you and the other prisoner is broken. You have to defend yourself from him, and upon his death a old guy with a greybeard claps his hands. "Good job" he says. "I think our movment could use you" A loud, low sound echo's from his mouth, and you both appear at the base of a mountain. "Reach the top" he says, "And I'll train you." Before you can say anything else, he yells again and disappears. Climbing the mountain is like the starting dungeoun, although you are on a main road near a small town and if you wish you can simply walk to town (Buy a map, hire a carrage, or get a guild guide) or head off on the road.

exactly. Oblivion's plot even has its foundation in the events of the previous tes games, such as the destruction of Numidium during the Warp of the West and the removal of Red Mountain's stone in Morrowind.

I really want to send an e-slap to everyone who submits a "Character-building background" starter and or a "main quest" that takes on no significance on the world of Tamriel. While the Elder Scrolls series is a halmark of Wide-Open sandbox RPGs, Do Not Forget the Title!. The reason the games thrust you into the hook of the Main Quest immediately is because all that happened before then is Not Important, and therefore Not Recorded by the Elder Scrolls. The character's story begins when he first starts to step into the role.

Face it... despite the Freeform aspects, an equally integral aspect of the Elder Scrolls series is that you are the one guided by fate, who's deeds have such cosmic effects that they are written down in The Elder Scrolls. These are the documents that write history.

I really wish there was a "Dramatic and Epic" font, just to show exactly how important my statement is. This thread is about the Main Quest, not Tutorial dungeon... And if I remember, my argument there was one of the strongest as well...

The Elder Scrolls 1: Arena: The Hero reassembles the shattered Staff of Chaos, returns the Dragonblood heir to Tamriel, and defeats a similarly-legendary Sorcerer (One backed by one of the most powerful Daedric Princes, no less!). (S)He also acquires legendary artifacts made for or by the gods, such as Chrysamere, The Lord's Mail, The Ring of the Archmage, the Ring of Khajiiti/Rajhin, etc.
The Elder Scrolls Legends: Battlespire: A novice Battlemage fights through the Planes of Oblivion, besting the Huntsmen of Hircine, crafting the Cuirass of the Savior's Hide, and defeating Mehrunes Dagon single-handedly, cutting off Jagar Tharn's Power.
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard: An exiled Redguard defeats Clavicus Vile in a battle of wits, destroys the most powerful necromancer short of the King of Worms, and from one city, proceeds to defeat the Emperor's most powerful general and bring Tiber Septim's offensive to a halt, requiring the once-unstoppable Legions to negotiate a truce to annex Hammerfell as an ally instead of brutally subjugate it.
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall: An agent of the Blades and friend of Uriel Septim barters with the Daedric Princes, works with the King of Worms and keeps his life, puts to rest a city-terrifying ghost, travels through the Aetherius, and eventually awakens the legendary Brass God to let someone conquer the Illiac Bay.
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: A prisoner becomes the avatar of a Saint, kills at least two beings of Deific Power, destroy the heart of the God of Creation, prevents the awakening of the Brass God, and manages to become accepted by every faction of the Xenophobic Dunmer, while being an outsider.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: A prisoner manages to thwart Dagon's plans to assimilate Mundus into the Planes of Oblivion, banishes unwanted Daedric incursions forever, single-handedly defeats a Daedric Prince and becomes him... And much more


Even though my example has canon say that the Akaviri eventually win in Skyrim, the hero is as legendary a figure as Arthur, King of the Britons, the Christian king who stood against the Saxon invasion of England. Ultimately, the Saxons conquered England, but it took over a century (lost to history), and we got the Legend of King Arthur from it...

The Fifth Era has not been a kind one for the people of Tamriel, Men and Mer alike. The Altmer of Summerset feel most cheated. Their culture is dying and their young generations are becoming filled with outlandish ideas and sentiments. The once respected high mages and councilors of the various family houses of the isle are now shadows of their former selves as command eroded to a new status quo. Out of the ruins comes a new, mysterious house that claims to be the rightful ruler of all of Summerset. War is declared upon the new ways, with armies, sometimes fearsome and unnatural in nature, sweeping across the land destroying all remnants of the old families and all who share allegiance with them. You are a prisoner, who's checkered past serves as an excellent cover for what you are tasked with. You must investigate, infiltrate, and confront the powerful new house that threatens to destroy all of an already crumbling land.

@ Scow

I love the Diablo font (AvQest), thats about as epic as you can get.

Something where you're just a pawn in a huge event, not where you're just a pawn in an event that soelly involves you. I like politics to play a part in the plot, in Oblivion there was none of that it was just good vs evil. Few warring factions, nobody fighting for powers. I hope the next game features mre internal dilemmas for you to twist or cleave through rather than those coming from another plane

I was thinking of something along the lines of what LostLegend proposed (among others):

The empire no longer has the imperial lineage and the provinces are made up of squabbling warlords. Some are trying to seek power, while others are loyalists to the Elder Council and yet others are just trying to survive in the crossfire.

ACT I

A prison caravan (it has to start in incarceration like all of the other TES titles) containing the protagonist is making it's way back to one of these fiefs when it comes under attack by a group of soldiers intent on freeing their kinsmen. You, however, aren't one of their kinsmen and the captain of the raiding party asks your name. After freeing you he offers you some basic equipment if you'll help him fight an attack on your captors land, or you can wander off (skipping the tutorial) and fend for yourself - "you're on your own, stranger." In either case, the captor's land is seized by the soldiers who freed you. At this point rumors of armies enlisting men and amassing for wars are everywhere. It's possible for you to join one of these armies and follow the story in this way, joining the army that raided the caravan can be done straight away after the tutorial, for example.

If the player doesn't join with the army, shortly after leaving the caravan (or siege) a young scholar approaches you and asks for a favor, he needs to deliver a book to a mage in castle A. Unfortunately, the scholar can't go inside the castle grounds because he says that he comes from a different faction that is at war with castle A. If you choose not to accept this mission, the scholar informs him of a famous sage who would offer you great wealth and gives him a location to go to should he have a change of heart. If you go to castle A, the scholar walks with you most of the way, telling you stories about this great sage and how powerful he is. Once at the castle, the scholar hides nearby, waiting for the player to return. The player gives the book to a page and then returns to the scholar. The scholar then asks the player to follow him back to the sage for his reward. If the player does not deliver the book, or if the player joins the army from the beginning, the scholar finds someone else to do it and the story progresses.

You may decline walking with the scholar to the sage's home and instead receive directions to claim your reward. But if you follow the scholar (or decide to go to the sage's home) you find a large hollowed out tree with modest furnishings and an old, long bearded man in tattered robes. It becomes apparent now that the "scholar" has been lying to you and the sage is angry with him, but in a sort of fatherly way. The sage says he has little money, but that he does have some potions that he can make for you in return for delivering the book that the scholar was supposed to deliver (through conversation between the sage and the scholar it's revealed that the scholar couldn't enter castle A because he stole some jewelry from the warlord's daughter and narrowly escaped). The sage does have some interesting information though and asks if you would hear it.

The sage informs you that a certain warlord from castle B is in search of a dangerous artefact, created by an ancient god or daedra. This warlord is none other than the superior of the captain who tried to recruit the player in the beginning. This artefact has unknown powers, but many scholars believe that it could give an army, no matter how small, powers beyond that of any number of armies. But it could equally destroy Tamriel in an instant, the ancient text is too ambiguous to decipher correctly. It's important, therefore, to stop the warlord from finding the relic. However, none yet know where the item lies and the sage, old and feeble, his friend the mage of castle A, and this "scholar"-thief are the only force racing the warlord of castle B to find it. Others believe the sage is an old mad man who's become, "Touched in the head from too many years in forgotten books." And the mage of castle A can't even bend his liege's ear to believe differently, let alone the knaves in the scullery (ha!). The lord of castle A refuses to send men on, "A mission that would sacrifice good soldiers from my embattled garrison for this misbegotten errand that an old fool thinks urgent! Methinks his age has addled his good senses."

As the plot unfolds, the lord of castle B (with or without the player's help - should the player rise to the rank of personal agent to the lord) nears closer and closer to the relic, using the spoils of war to fuel his search with a team of scholars. It becomes clear that his intent is to unite the province through blood. Despite the tragic means of warfare he intends to end the squabbling and defect from the empire. He is trying to manifest a new self sufficient state because the empire did not come to aid the province while his people starved during the great blight that followed the Oblivion crisis (note: the reason the empire didn't aid the province was due to the dissolution of the imperial infrastructure and difficulty of managing the shattered empire after the Oblivion crisis). Meanwhile, the sage finds more and more information about the location of the relic as well, with the aid of the mage of castle A and the thief (who encounter's the player by way of stealing an important quest item should the player castle B's army).

Eventually, it is discovered that the relic is buried in a chamber deep beneath castle C. This is an almost simultaneous discovery between the warlord and the sage. This prompts the sage to rally the lord of castle C to arms and a great battle is fought between the two sides. Should the player not have joined either the sage or the warlord's causes, after two months wandering, castle C will be enlisting people to their garrison. Visiting castle C after this time will find the castle within a day of being under siege. While this battle may have branching ways to play through, there will be only one outcome: the relic is found, brought to the warlord and activated to seal the fate of castle C as another conquered land. A great flash of light freezes both factions on the battlefield like statues. It is as if time has stopped for everyone but you. Then a great light descends from the heavens and reveals itself a god. "But god's don't involve themselves in the affairs of mortals," you exclaim. But it seems it is not mortal affairs that this god sends you on, but instead a lofty quest of their own whimsy.

The relic is a MacGuffin. But the struggles of the warlords are not.

ACT II

That's when the story gets interesting, beware the daedra of deceit and trickery... (i leave things out here so that you might fill the gaps)

The player is then manipulated through the various castles (not exclusively A, B, and C, but perhaps others as well) and sent amongst various ruins and bizarre landscapes by his new associate, this "avatar" of some god to some ends which he knows little about, but is promised a reward of great power in return.

ACT III

The new order is burgeoning. The end should have hope that the squabbling warlords will one day be united. The sage will be rewarded for his foresight by castle C with a position of counsel with the lord there. The thief will end up in jail or accompanying you on your travels if you don't find him that annoying. The warlord will not reach his goals of peace through bloodshed and will die or resign. The captain of the warlord's legion will become the new warlord of castle A and will not necessarily be a "better lord" but a different one.

This story should have space for different fame-based endings (i.e. it could not have been done without you; no one knows that you were there; you fought alongside other great heros). It should have only one outcome, however so that lore doesn't need to be stretched for subsequent titles and so that "Rumors" after the ending can be done simply. Greetings can be done simply after the main quest by having a few that can be shared by the "great hero" or "group of heros" outcome and a few that can be shared by the "group of heros" and "invisible agent" outcome, while having a couple for either extreme.

I left everything in the story vague so that it could easily be altered to lore. But the plot is fairly simple and fairly typical of fantasy literature, I guess. What makes it interesting is being able to be on either side of a rather grey confrontation instead of that silly "good vs. evilism" of Oblivion. It would be a nice addition if the player was given the opportunity to defect from either side as well, with information for the other side.

Most of what I've suggested is simply a set up to the main story. Note that the theme of this story is that there is more going on than the player is aware until the final outcome. There are a lot of people who seem to have good intentions as well, but know little of what is really at stake.

Ya know, I think if Bethesda could pull thier heads out of thier asses they could learn some stuff from us about writting good storys.

Most stories in this thread been crap. Short summaries without any kind of depth. There's nothing of importance to learn here.

Well I like some of the storys I've read here alot more than the story in Oblivion or Fallout 3.

To be honest, I prefer the MQs Bethesda writes. I admit Oblivion's MQ was less good than Morrowind's, but I still liked it. Why? Because that's the Elder Scrolls. Worldchanging events stopped by you, a single player, a character with a destiny to do just that. (Of course you didn't do it solely by yourself, even the Nerevarine had help, but it NEVER would've happened without you.)

Gee, thanks, pal. I suppose you prefer "good vs. evil" stories?

Thats not http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=724862&st=0&p=10466758&#entry10466758... please ban yourself now.

Caution: Arguing with moderators (Particularly ones that are avid Daggerfall fans nonetheless!) can be hazardous to your health. I advise against continuing before you make yourself look like a fool.

Anyway, this subject has been beaten to death since the first post, since it is about a statement in an interview that came out just after Oblivion was released (Not new by any stretch of the word). And, in case you didn't notice, the OP proved the point the guy saying it right in his attempt to slander the rep.

"We won't begin working on TES V until we get fresh new Ideas," to paraphrase the controversial quote. The OP claimed that coming up with fresh new story ideas was easy. However, Looking at the horrible, generic, non-Elder Scrolls submissions (Including the Pompous N'wah's proposition itself), we have proven that coming up with fresh new, good ideas is hard.

Also, as that interview came out immediately after Oblivion did, and TES V is well in production, and they copyrighted Skyrim, we can conclude they didn't take too long to get the ideas and begin working on TES V. Of course, they had to get Fallout 3 out of the way first before they could devote the Dev team to the game...

And as I said earlier, rushing into production without fresh or good ideas can be hazardous to a product. Just ask any Trekkie.

That is not known. Insinuated by fans, to be sure, and what I personally believe to be true, but not known.

hes a nice owl, so well let it slide... for now :chaos:





i do say id have to agree with him/her/it though >.>

..no offence n00bs, muahahah!