With my continuous lurking, I noticed heaps of roleplaying topics over at the Oblivion forums. They gave me plenty of ideas, but it also made me wonder why I haven't seen that many over here. Maybe I just looked at the wrong times.

Anyway, I'm just wondering what everyone does when they roleplay in Morrowind? What kinds of characters do you play, what are their background and what restrictions you put in to make things more realistic?

I'll admit I'm not a huge roleplayer. I don't bother with eating/drinking, but I always make sure to sleep. When I make a character I start with a simple concept, and then it grows into a someone more developed and believable. I also follow along with my character and let them decide what they want to do.

I just started playing this game and I'm only a level three. I use a Khajiit that is good at sneak but also a formidable warrior with short blade, and can also use medium and light armor. I really like being able to effectively sneak, but also being able to hold my own in battle. I also don't do anything I would consider cheap to gain money or level, although I do occasionally use skill trainers, which makes me feel a little cheap, but whatever. I was in a slavefarm and i was in sneak right behind a character while I was a level 2 and I could have stolen his Daedric shield and various other armors, but I thought, I'm a level two and this guy is powerful, I shouldn't be able to have all this stuff, because I was behind a skinny post, and I should have been detected. Maybe I was silly to pass up the opportunity but it's more satisfying for me to know I never get any fluke money with my character.

I think most people will agree with me on this: I roleplay in Morrowind the exact same way I roleplay in Oblivion, or almost any open-ended RPG for that matter.

- Build a character with Skills that point to certain type of character traits.
- Make decisions in-game that reflect that attitude.
- Let your imagination go wild if you get too bored.

I shape my character according to people I have known in life or literature. What is that person actually like?
I use a Bosmer for instance based on Make Love Not War hippies I knew in the '60's
A Breton who is based on a friend who was a hoker and a thief (with a penchant for sloth.)
An Imperial based on Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King
A Dunmer nationalist loosely based on Shaw's Saint Joan
A Nord who has some brains a talent for stealth and a little talent for magic.

Nothing is rigid about them. I change skills and classes at will whenever I use them and I don't have any particular restrictions on their abilities outside of game mechanics. For the sake of realism, I try to make sure they eat and rest at least once a day.
I like Companion mods because it adds an element of randomness to their situations and behaviors.
Always read between the lines of your quests ...and so forth.

My actual character -a Nord Battlemage named Sannivius Norreno- is taken from 2 separate sources:

1) meself as i am and what i like be if i were in a world like Morrowind;
2) the Tamriel and Morrowind lore

Shortly:

- Sannivius Norreno was born 41 years ago in Skyrim from uncertain parents in the 15th day of Frostfall;
- Sannivius Norreno isn't his real name, before were known as Hindefuns Ludweigsson and changed some years ago for his own reasons;
- as Jagar Tharn before him, is a Battlemage, graduated in the Imperial War Academy, and tipically arrogant, sure of hisself and his magical and mundane means, and ready to unsheath his sword or unleash a lot of fiery fireballs to any enemy that dare attack hisself;
- as every Nord he has fear of nothing, and love fights and battles, but differently to other Nords, he like think, read, learn, and use his mind for learn better tactics and gain victory against their enemies;

a Nord, and proud to be, but different from any other of his race.
Actually level 6, with a Fame of 12

Blades-Novice
Mages Guild-Evoker
Fighters Guild-Journeyman
Tribunal temple-Initiate
Imperial Cult-Initiate

Probably some day he will become a proud member of House Redoran, and sooner or later he will kill Trebonius becoming the Morrowind Archmage...

my current playthrough is a roleplaying excuse to do my favorite thing in vvardenfell--collect lots of treasure. so i made a custom class and named it "archaeologist." the character is a stealth/magic mix, supposed to be a scholarly type with little by way of brute strength so she has to be crafty, but has crawled through enough dungeons to know she needs a little protection. skills include enchant, armorer, illusion, sneak, light armor, short blade, alchemy and others. going to join the cult, temple, and telvanni for history and leads on cool artifacts. so far so good, it's been fun.

I almost ALWAYS role play as a deadly assassin who is also the master of illusion. I always becoming the head of the Morag Tong and Thieves guild. I never skip a chance to assassinate non essential NPCs (though it can be a little dull sometimes living in ghost towns). The only thing is that I ALWAYS try to avoid bounties. A little piece of information that's obvious but looked over: If you steal an item, your bounty is the price of that item. You can sell items for half price, and get the bounty cleared for half price i.e. if you steal something but get a bounty, the money you gain is virtually negated by clearing the bounty.

Major skills:
Shortblade
Sneak
Illusion
Light Armor
Security

Minor:
[other assassin skills you might fancy]

I roleplay extensively in both Morrowind and Oblivion. However, through the threads and with lots of help from the guys over there, I've found a new way of roleplaying.

Since I create female players, I travel with them allowing them to make their own decisions, much like a few of the Oblivion roleplayers. In fact, I got the idea of doing it this way from them.

All my characters have their own individual personalities, and I let them tell me their story, rather than thinking it all out for them. I prefer to give them the basic structure of a build and personality/aims. How they interact with the world is completely their choice, I merely give them a nudge in the right direction sometimes. Occasionally they listen, however Helena Aurelie (my Breton Healer) is quite strong headed and will very often tell me to stuff myself and do her own thing. It's this that I love about roleplaying.

I usually play my characters as the jack of all trades type, but I roleplay how they they become skilled at many arts. for example my Nord adventurer was originally skilled in the arts of combat, and made much gold by raiding dungeons and defeating powerfull foes. He realized however, that he could gather greater riches if only he had the lockpicking skills to open that treasure chest in the Daedric ruin, so he spent much of his hard earned gold to be trained in the art of lock-picking amoungst other skills. He realized that by focusing on his natural talents, but also learning the basics of new skills, that he could be more sucessfull in his quests. :grad: I guess this is not as quality of a role play experience as having multiple characters with specialized skills, but I always want to do it with one character for some reason.

Also, I remember when Morrowind general was the most heavily roleplaying section on here (except artwork and fanfic, but that's different).
It needs to come back >.>

i agree with Mudcrab Merchant: i use only a character a time, usually first the future Nerevarine, and after this other colonist that have nothing to do with Nerevar.

Because he is a scholar, Sannivius like know people, mapping estensively every way in wich he come, and marking every cave, tomb or dungeon for future reference, knowing that sooner or later he will go into this cave, tomb, or dungeon and will explore fully until the last inch for plunder and the strong desire of knowledge.
---
With this character i have also set some objectives to reach with time and patience that mostly aren't linked with the Main Quest:

(Power)
- become the Archmage of Morrowind, head of the Mages Guild;

(Independence)
- mantain a certain degree of freedom from the 2 official faiths stopping his advance at a low-medium rank (Initiate)

(Nord traditions)
- Become very good in the following skills: Sword (Broad and Long), Axe (1H and/or 2H), Bow (Long) Swimming/Running, Unharmed Combat;

(Scholarship)
- Explore fully Morrowind (Very Difficult Task!!!) or at least more than half (60% minimum);
- Explore every cave, tomb and dungeon in Morrowind almost 1 times;

(Gold and Objects)
- gain 100.000+ drakes;

(Class: Battlemage)
- gain great and powerful magical artefacts;
- gain powerful magical items;
- be at 100 in all his primary and secondary magical abilities;


(Enemies - i have objectives but i can't write about because of spoilers)

I don't roleplay per se, but I do follow the Living off the Land rules posted over at the planetelderscrolls forums, mostly for a more difficult game without the use of difficulty-enhancing mods.