So I was trying to imagine what would make for a more interesting beginning to the game and give me, the player, a closer relationship with my starting character.

Instead of just starting out in the sewers, like you do in Oblivion, following a given intro, I quite liked the background options you had in Mount&Blade Warband. It would be cool if you could choose where to start, e.g. any city on the map or maybe just somewhere in the wilderness or a random in somewhere on the map. This could be based on whether you're a city-type character, like a thief or merchant, or maybe a hunter/ranger, or a maid at an inn, which would also affect your starting gear (if any). Such choices would also be a natural way to select your primary stats and skills, if the skill system remains unchanged from Oblivion.

Under all circumstances it would certainly add a bit to my RPG experience and give the character a good base from which to build personality and develop skills.

What do you think? What would be a good opening scene for you?

Edit: This thread is not meant for power gamers, as I'm sure it would add unnecessary length and inconvenience to your power trip =). It could lead to serious problems for people already suffering from restartitis.

I'd love to have a choice in where I start out and in what situation, but I don't want my skills to be determined by my answers to questions or my background. That'd take away a lot of my basic character planning that I do with each new character, and just in general not be good. I want to choose my major and minor (and miscellaneous) skills completely independently.

I like what the alternative start mod I use with Oblivion did - put you on a boat with immigration forms that you got to fill out yourself, and then choose where your boat docks. After getting off the boat, you get a quest update that starts the MQ. In Skyrim, I hope to see an optional tutorial dungeon, where you can play the tutorial dungeon if you want or just start off straight from the menus and skip the tutorial part all together. Or at least a very much shorter tutorial, like the one in Morrowind - something that doesn't get repetitive and boring after you've done it once or twice.

Yeah, you're right, it shouldn't affect character creation as such, just provide extra background for RPG purposes, and maybe starting gear. No other ideas for a more inspiring character creation process than the current? I've read tons of threads where people are stuck on character creation because they don't know who or what they want their character to be. This could help pose some much needed questions to the player and provide a more immersed experience, I think.

Nevermind.