Wanted to try and actually really roleplay as I never seemed to really get into it.. Any tips for starting a roleplay? It's such a shame there are no animations for eating/drinking/sleeping..

I assume you're on a console and not a PC?

Good luck. I can't role-play without mods. Artificial rules that can instantly be ignored without penalty isn't fun. I tried it in oblivion, I tried it in Skyrim. Couldn't do it. Luckily, there's mods on PC that change that.


First of all, I'd try to find a huge amount of some useless crap and always carry it with me. Like the cloth wraps in draugr tombs. This to represent that the character can't carry ridiculous amounts of things around.
Next, only have one piece of every armor-part with me at any given time (equiped) and one piece of every armor-part with me that isn't equipped. Also, max 4 weapons. One two-handed weapon take sup two weapon slots.

Write a backstory for your character, not literally write it down but it should be something that you base your whole playstyle around.

I find it useful to, before or during character creation, to have these questions answered...
1- What was your character doing before the opening of the game?
2- Was your character guilty and deserving of being sent to the execution block, are you innocent, or were you simply at the wrong place at the wrong time?
3- Does your character have any quirks and/or phobias that might come into play?
4- Are there certain things your character just won't do?

This.

Don't try to get the best items either. Just get what you like or what you think your character might wear.

Don't Wear armor and weapons in town unless you're only stopping by for some supplys... I could go on...

http://www.wikihow.com/Role-Play-in-The-Elder-Scrolls---Morrowind

I also find it useful to make up a character build before hand.

Also, this is from another thread of mine. Maybe you can follow the format if you need assistance.


The only thing I didn't do was write a backstory. To me, the reason he was caught by the imperials was just because he was traveling, as a nomad probably would.

Well for minor things...
-Unless you're a tried and true barbarian type, change out of your armor while in town for restocking and breaks from adventuring.
-In the same vein, if you are going to present yourself before someone of high status, clean yourself up a little.
-Take regular meals, even if it doesn't really have an in-game benefit. It's food. Have lunch.
-Sleep regularly.
-Develop a preference for certain foods and drink.
-Don't fast travel unless you just can't be arsed. Carriages and such are fine, though.
-If your character is the religious type, visit the shrine of your chosen diety- Or just go to Solitude's temple for all encompassing of the Divine.

Make a Back story for your character that explains who they are and where they are from and how they got to where they are now.

Become one with your character. Quite unintentionally my character became a BIG part of me, which is odd.

Along with what previous posters have mentioned, a big part of roleplaying for me is avoiding doing things you as the player know, but your character does not. Sometimes the line can be blurry though. Depending on the character's backstory and personality, they might be more inclined, for instance, to know the location of some great artifact, or they might be really good at tracking and treasure hunting. But I try to stay away from thoughts like "I'm gonna get the Mace of Molag Bal for this character". Planning ahead can get in the way of feeling like you are experiencing the journey along with your character (the whole point of roleplaying). Let go of the powergaming attitude and live in the moment with your character. You'll get to experience a wider array of what the game has to offer, and likely will end up feeling more satisfied overall. Good luck and have fun!

Edited to add- one of the things that helps keep my RPs fresh is to give each character some restrictions and/or quirks to keep life interesting.

For instance, my Dunmer Junia, always agrees to help fellow Dunmer. My Khajiit Tzirra won't enter water deeper than her knees. She tries to catch fish from the shallows! This also means she must find her way around bodies of water, making for more exploration. My Breton Toska will only do business with alchemists, mages, and general merchants. This keeps her from stashing her knapsack full of useless weapons to sell- she makes her money from mixing potions.

I am pretty new to roleplaying my characters too, I never thought I'd RP, but I skimmed through a lot of threads here on the forum and they made me decide to give RPing a shot. I'm finding that it is the best way to play, everything you do begins to matter, everything seems more intense, it just makes the game seem more...alive. I'll probably never go back to playing the way i did before. This was a pretty good page I found linked in another thread that I found pretty helpful - http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Roleplaying

Another thing I decided was that one character shouldn't do everything, and shouldn't become leader of every playable faction in the game. It just doesn't seem right.

My nord is going to be a stormcloak soldier, a member of the companions, a werewolf, and a member of the dawnguard. But being a "True Nord", he won't go near the college because he is distrustful of magic, he won't go near the TG or the DB because he feels they are not honorable. He will not go on any quests for any daedric items because he does not get into that "dark stuff".

My khajiit has no sense of honor, he is your standard thug for hire. He will do just about anything if the price is right, TG and DB are his main priorities, but he has no use for the civil war or the college. He does not do little favors and fetch quests for people just to be a "good guy", he couldn't care less. He wouldn't pee on you if you were on fire type attitude.

My altmer is just that, a rude, boastful, greedy, arrogant high elf. He is a thalmor loyalist and so he fights for the Empire. He is the arch mage of the college, a vampire lord, and a collector of all things daedric.

It just felt more natural to make certain characters do things that would fit their personalities. My first playthrough was my imperial who did everything on one playthrough and only stopped because I switched consoles. It felt good at the time, but on my subsequent playthroughs I decided this way was more natural and helped the character's story grow more organically. Way better for RPing.

Woow.. Some great tips here guys and fast too! Thank you all, and I'm definately going to try it out. Sounds like a lot of fun!

For me personally it's easier to pick a few things about how a character approaches the world and how they behave, and let backstory/etc grow out of that while playing them. What helps me get into character the most are the little things.

-Eating every day - decide what your character prefers to eat, and eat those things at least twice a day, even if it means spending money while you are poor.
-Sleeping in a bed - if your character would want to sleep indoors, try and do that.
-Collecting items - not every character should really do this, but it does give a character a different feel. One might never sell gemstones, just hoarding them in piles. Another might be a scholar and collect all books and paper, even duplicate copies - knowledge is too important to rot in a bandit lair!
-Using different houses - Once you have enough money, pick the house that makes the most sense for that character.
-Decorating houses - if you decorate, do the house up in a style appropriate to the character. Books and artifacts on every table for a traditional mage, pelts in a corner for a hunter, wine in a bowl on a table for a romantic. It makes the house feel like the character's house, and that makes it easier to get into character, both when you're in the house and when you're off finding things you might want for it.
-Town clothing - Changing clothes for walking around town, or in your house, can be more immersive as well as a good way to seem like you wash your armor/clothing sometimes.
-Travel - Some people, myself included, get a lot of RP benefit out of avoiding fast travel.
-Non-optimal choices - Try and make choices that benefit or make sense for your character rather than for you. Barbarians who fear and won't use/wear magic are an extreme example of this, but there are plenty of small ways to do it. I find that it's way easier to get into a character when I let them have their own preferences, choices, and attitudes.
-Character knowledge - similar to non-optimal choices; does the character know about the Dwemer ruin, or do I?

All of these are personal choice; your mileage may vary as to what you find more immersive or less so. Sometimes even a superstition, insatiable curiosity, or favorite food will lead into an adventure! I once followed a Brahmin in Fallout 3 for hours (it was a fantastic adventure with robots and cow-saving heroics!), so you can take everything I say as either being from someone who really knows how to get the most out of roleplaying, or someone crazy enough not to need to.

--Edited for formatting reasons.