Hello All.

I started this thread with the purpose of helping some newer players and gathering some more information for myself.
I’m a newbe player trying to figure out the mechanics of the game engine. I’ve been playing for about 3 weeks now and I managed to get level 32 as a Nord.

Please do not present any spoilers, nor discuss any quests as not to spoil anything for the newer players, but I’ve found some things I had to go dig for, that I wish I could have got back at level 5.
Any “older” players please jump in if you have more to add. Please no spoilers.

I’m an avid gamer for first person shooters and strategy games. Skyrim has both, although I wish it had more dialogue between the NPC’s (Non Player Characters) and the Player.
Men of War, an older game was pretty cool because you could loot the dead bodies.
You can do that too in Skyrim.
I’ve built levels for games from Doom to Half Life and I enjoy the editors, so when I saw that Skyrim had a world editor I jumped at the chance to buy it. I had no idea what the Construction Kit was capable of. But that’s another discussion.


Having never played any role player games besides Never Winter Nights, I joined Skyrim clueless of what did what.
I knew sword = kill. Ok, this is like Serious Sam. Yeah. No, not even close.
Skyrim Wiki is your manual to the game. Anything you want to know about how something works can be found there.
Any other good places?

One of the best features I’ve found in the game is you can truly become a jack of all trades, even though your character is not best suited for the path. There is nothing saying you can’t be a Mage, even though you started out with a sword.
You can be anything you want to be, but there are consequences in the game for being who you are. I’m told one race is not allowed in the towns. No spoilers.

So after only 3 weeks, this is what I have: (Again, please chime in if you have anything)

On the top of the to-do list is finding a forum that you like. If you’re reading this, then you found one. Nothing better then discussing a game with other players. Nexus has a nice forum too.
I’ve found the folks on this forum to be really great in helping me get past my newbe-ness.
Any other good forums around?

First, Get yourself a follower. These NPC’s can keep you alive long enough to get that gold piece, or kill that bad dude and take his stuff. These people be had for a few coins or by being nice and helping someone. Followers come in all flavors. You’ll have to find one that fits your style of playing.
My follower keeps me alive most of the time while I’m fiddling around with my feeble spells, trying to become a Mage (with armor – lol). And it’s kind of fun having someone there with you on those cold nights tramping thru the forests looking for fun.
I almost think he’s human.

Second, is as far as I can tell, there is no set time line. Is this true? Some of the older players?
Take as long as you want to explore the world.
I almost forgot. The world is HUGE! If you are used to playing FPS (First Person shooters) you’ll find you can go almost anywhere.

I’ve almost become a merchant, by hunting, then repairing and upgrading the weapons I find on the poor unfortunate souls we had to kill in the caves. Bad guys rock!
You can turn a pretty good profit by learning to upgrade weapons if you so choose, or just buy and sell them.

Third. Get yourself a place to stash your stuff. I don’t have a house yet. I can afford it; I just haven’t got around to buying one yet. My follower’s house is where I stash my stuff I want to keep. If you leave something on the ground, even thought its way back in the forest, when you go back, chances are it won’t be there. This is from experience.

Somewhere on the list should be Save. I'm up to about 500 saves. Save is your friend. You're never sure if that person up ahead is good or evil so save first. You'll be glad you did.

Don't worry about money. it will come. You'll get to the point where you have so much that you won't be able to spend it all.


I’m sure I missed a lot but work calls.

So have fun and do share what you’ve done.

Thats a pretty good newbie guide.

First there is also uesp.net and i prefer that one. There are two so if your using one or both, do what works for you.

Second, Khajiit are the race you may refering to about "not allowed" in the city. It is the Khajiit merchants that are banned from inner cities becuase most city folk know that they sell the drug skooma and other taboo substances. If you find yourself playing a Khajiit, you are allowed to be in a city but you may want to RP that you are not allowed within.

Lastly, and its only a suggestion. Consider not using fast travel or at least not often. A strength in this game is the traveling and the long hual through dangers. Enjoy the land and the great and funny things that may happen along the way.

http://www.imperial-library.info/. Your one-stop shop for all things lore related, bizarre, and designed to twist your head. Want to know how truly weird the background for TES can get, start http://www.imperial-library.info/content/obscure-texts. You have been warned.

The Skyrim UESP is another good site
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim
And another wiki
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Skyrim

You can also enter any city as any race, but some NPCs of a certain race can't (there's been many discussions on the topic).

And you're right about followers, good to have one if your going for a squishy character and/or can't summon powerful allies yet. The down side is is that followers don't level with you, meaning if you met one at level 5 it will be level 5 forever while you power away to 50+, although there is a way to "reset" them to your level (using the Wabbajack).

Nice post.

I guess you don't sell a lot of things? I'm asking because my level 8-9 characters, when they leave Riverwood to go to Whiterun usually have anywhere from 4000-6000 gold. Since the house is 5000, it's nice to get it early to store items.

There is no timeline. You can do what you want at your pace. Even sometimes when a questgiver says something needs to be done now, it really doesn't matter when it's done.


http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim


http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_Wiki

These are the two best websites to find details about Skyrim. I really like the UESP site, excellent search box/results. Also, the first page has a ton of info.

If you're on the PC, read up about the console and its commands. Sooner or later, you'll have problems with quests, and the console is an excellent tool to remedy any quest problems you may have.

Another good forum with helpful players is the Steam Skyrim forum.

Good luck.