There has been some discussion recently about the degree to which in-game stories are or are not sufficiently 'open-ended' as to feel satisfying. For those of you who do not visit the Cheat & Hints thread I'm referring in particular to a recent thread I started there about a quest or two that occurs 'some ways' into the game. No worries, no spoilers here. I will only refer to those events in game that anyone who has played the game more than 30 minutes is likely to have encountered, namely Riverwood and its main characters, the Main Quest and the key figures that send you embarking on that story.

I have now played Skyrim something like ~200 hours, and kept myself more or less in the 'starting area' around Riverwood and Whiterun. I did this in part because I wanted to more fully understand the underlying dynamics in the game by starting and restarting with a few various characters, before I really committed to a long high-level progression.

Stealthy archer characters are my favoriates with thieves and mages being close behind. I have in Oblivion had some good times playing straight up goody-two-shoes sword-and-board types. I have never played an Argonian, Khajiit, Nord, or Dark Elf. I have never finished a Main Quest in any TES game. I have rarely played Imperials and Redguards. Primarily I play female Bosmers and Bretons, and secondarily male Altmers; I'm sure there must be some sort of interesting Freudian / Jungian thing underlying that particular bias on my part But I digress . . .

In Skyrim I have tasted the Breton mage, I have nibbled at the Altmer illusionist, I have even had a bit of the Orc Berserker (sadly, I just cannot seem to get into swining a big slow ttwo handed weapon ). I have briefly tried on a hunky male Redguard spellsword, but I always seem to come back to my main archetype character -> the mysterious, agile and deadly female Bosmer archer adventurer. Having now 'got my bearings' in the world of Skyrim, having installed the mods that I absolutely must have to fully enjoy the game, and with some 200 hours of play, I think I am now ready to really begin to play Skyrim

My latest incarnation of my beloved female Bosmer archetype (and no there is nothing cross-gender about it or me; I rather think of my character in game as a make-believe friend whom I would like to meet someday in Sovngarde than as a representation of myself . . .), Lirielle, began her life as the sister of Elrindir, the proprieter of the Drunken Huntsman and also (of course) a Wood Elf from Valenwood. Thanks to Arthmoor's wondrous "Alternate Start: A New Life" mod, she was able to grow up in Whiterun up to the age of advlthood, and apart from hunting trips with her and her brothers around the area, had never once been as far as Riverwood or Helgen and certainly had never heard of anything like a dragon. This family of Wood Elves who call WhiteRun home have done well for themselves, as hunting and the trade of the product of this craft are profitable business in the heart of Skyrim. When the mother and father of the family (whose names I have not imagined to dream up) decided in their advanced old age to make the pilgrimage back to Valenwod to seek their final resting places, Lirielle inherited the beloved family cottage, Breezehome.

Some weeks after the departure of her mother and father, she realized that, she was no longer a girl and while the beloved old cottage was surely comfortable and homey, and she could easily live a comfortable life helping her brothers with their business ventures, she longed for something more. She awoke one morning to realize that she longed to explore the length and breadth of Skyrim and live the life of the huntress and adventurer.

But she faced a conundrum (nor a corundum, a conondrum . . .) her brothers would never materially assist her in such an undertaking. They regarded her as little more than a fragile little girl, despite her being nearly 75 years old and only 50 years younger than her youngest brother! And while the basic necessities of life were well taken care of living in Breezehome, gold for some basic equipment was lacking. So she bolstered her courage and did the most obvious thing she could think of to scrounge togther a basic set of gear -> she robbed the Companions!

In all her years, the rough-edged and strangely gruff Companions had always seemed rather fearsome and intimidating. So she was obviously pretty frightened when she entered their lodge to find them brawling with one another. However, after regaining her composure, she reailzed that her entrance was perfect timing. With everyone's attention fixated on the brawl, she was able to slip into the lower levels and spent the next half hour tip-toeing around peeking into everyone's footlockers (EWWW!! do you have any idea how bad of foot odor a drunken Nord Companion produces!). Eventually she made her way out with a modicum of stolen gear, ready to begin her life as an adventurer -> an elven bow, a few iron arrows, a leather or hide helmet, and an iron sword (Yes, I know there some basic items in Breezehome but that wouldn't lend itself to roleplaying would it).

The following weeks saw her progressing steadily in her skills as a sneaky archer and indeed she enlisted the aid of Faendal to assist her in her learning of Archery (briefly until his untimely demise at the hands of some hired thugs, sent by Gerda *grrrr*) . . . but again I digress in part.

The real focus of this thread (though I might be convinced to elaborate on Lirielle's story if folks are keen to hear more) is on how I have come to be interested in doing the Main Quest, with the broader message of how wonderful alternate starts can be to enliven a game's replayability and roleplayability. There is an interesting paradox here for those who are keen to roleplay-> it is difficult to do if you know next to nothing about anything within the specific game world. Obviously I knew a fair bit about TES lore, but specifically about Skyrim? The sort of character details place details and specifics that are really central to good roleplaying: I avoid that information like the plague until at least the first or second play through so I knew next to nothing.

So, without playing the game a bit to learn at least the rudiments of the setting, I found myself unable to really roleplay or get into a character. On the other hand, once I had replayed the beginning to learn the game mechanics, and game world enough to be in a position to really get 'serious' with a character, the drudgery of redoing for the dozenth time the same old opening sequence events was a real bummer.

This is where Arthmoor's fantastic mod came into play, and though I didn't realize it at the time, has actually proven to enliven my spirits to play into and perhaps even stick through the Main Quest.

Without giving away details, lets just say that: when you use Arthmoor's mod, you get a number of different starting options, which I have not explored all of yet. At least some of them (maybe all) forestall the beginning of the Main Quest. This in my opinion is absolute brilliance!

Instead of having in game character cajoling you go "Go here! Do this!" and "Oh please! Save my vilalge from the drwwaaggoon!" you get a little notice about "Investigate Helgen to learn about rumors of war" popup message, a little minor quest notice and *poof* you just started playing Skyrim the "no rails" way! You can do whatever the heck you want, and not feel the least bit of breach in immersion or suspension of disbelief because your character is ignoring strident pleas by ingame NPCs to get 'on track' and do the damn MQ!! Like NOW! SERIOUSLY! The Jarl said this was a priority!!

Lirelle is around Level 15, has a nice few thousand septims in her pocket, a decent set of gear including a (non-stolen) Dwarven bow, some nice orcish arrows, a spiffy archer's enchanted helmet and a good solid enchanted hide shield, etc. With archer >40 and Sneak >50 she felt comfortable starting to train up Smithing and Enchanting and also getting a little more bold about engaging in mele and training up 1h and block. One evening as she came home from a hunting trip (and after I had just installed Hearthfire) a courier arrived to alert of her of new opportunities in Falkreath Reach.

Hmmm, she thought to herself. The power of a Jarl at my fingertips . . . sounds interesting. After selling off excess gear, and upgrading to the best she could afford, she decided the next morning that she might wander a bit furhter afield and perhaps even as far as Falkreath today ( try to avoid looking at the map and learn to navigate using in game cues, and also try to avoid long-distance fast travel and the use of the carts). She rambled her way up the valley past now familiar Riverwoood. She paused briefly at the bridge where she and Faendal had fished together and paused to mourn his passing . . . Heading on, she meandered up into the mountains and around to the overlook immediately above Riverwood. It was then she spotted a strange sght near the cross-roads with the turn to Helgen. A strange figure standing in the road and a horse nearby. As she appraoched she realized there was also a body nearby on the ground, evidently a bandit. She cautiously approached, ready to strike from behind if necessary . . .

It turned out to be some strange cat man named Maiq . . . what a weirdo.

However, the horse had no owner! Yay! Free horse! So with her new found discount-rate stead, she decided to head on her way to Falkreath, when she spotted a burned corpse on the ground. I won't spoil any details but suffice to say, this was when it all came together and I really started to play Skryim.

All those hours of 'training and familiarization,' all those mods tried and deleted, winnowing for the perfect set, and last and most important Arthmoor's alternate start providing me with the opportunity to actually get a character GOING and making sense as a real life connected denizen of Skyrim prior to being plunged into a rollercoaster ride to fight dragons . . .

For a general distribution game meant to appeal to a broad segment of audiences, the vanilla start is probably pretty close to optimum. For a generation of gamers whose standards of reference are games like Call of Duty and similarly action-intensive, linear slugfests, perhaps such an opening sequence is absolutely ideal.

But for an old-time paper and dice roleplay gamer like me, it would've been eventually poison, and I quite simply would not have been able to play Skyrim any longer. When my character dies, if it was not an excusable death (an external event caused me to lose focus on the game at the worst possible moment) , I simply lose interest. It is not even that I "adhere to a dead-is-dead" ethic, I just simply no longer enjoy playing them after they have died once. This puts one like me into a strange quandry: ENDURE the gratingly funneling experience of the opening tutorial and then either ( a ) ignore the obviously sane thing to do: go warn the nearby community of the dragon attack and get aid there; or ( b ) endure still more of the funneling into -> Riverwood -> Whiterun -> Bleak Falls -> etc., etc. ELSE not play.

Arthmoor's mod saves me from this, and allows me to play the game repeatedly, without forcing me to suspend my disbelief, thus extending my enjoyment by dozens and hundreds fo hours.

Bethesda should hire you (assuming you'd want the job of course!) my good sir!

You are a God among Modders