Do you role-play why certain things happen in the game or do you let the game do all the explaining?

I rople play my character, but I let the game describe all that I encounter. I try not to come up with another rationalization for anything, because lkater on if a different explanation is given, then my info will be so skewed... I do however imagine my characters mood rising and falling, darkening to anger and lightening to laughter depending on the situation that he is in. It's just more fun that way.

I role play as much as I can but I will let the story and events in game shape the character so they may become something I didn't originally invision. For example my "Paladin" charact as originally visualized is on the edge of becoming "Evil" / power mad.

In terms of trying to rationalize everything I don't try to do that too much. I just accept what's thrown at me and [hopefully] act appropriately.

I do love to RP and imagine what my character thinks and feels in certain situation. How her adrenaline is pumping during dragon fights, how her heart is beating, while sneaking through ancient ruins. I like taking walks through the colorful forests of the Rift and I imagine how the soft breeze ruffles her hair. Or when she's crossing the hot springs, how the steam might smell of sulfur, yet, despite the stench, she likes to feel the heat on her cheeks.

Each of my characters has different ambitions, dreams, likes and dislikes.

Diana Artorius is a staunch Imperial. She's a bit arrogant at times, and looks down on the Nord Peasants. She will settle down in Solitude, once she has the means.

Brigid Keltinga is a true Nord, a true daughter of Skyrim. She hates the Altmeri Dominion with a passion and she hopes the Empire would just leave them alone.
She lives in Windhelm, close to the ruling body of Skyrim! lol

Morigana is Breton, but her race doesn't really matter. Morigana is Shadow, she is death, she is thief, she does not care about politics. When she stops to give a gold to a beggar, it's not out of charity, it is because of the blessing, which enhances her skills. She never does anything without expecting something in return; except when she kills, she will do that for free. Riften is her home. Honeyside offers the means to a quick escape, plus she has a fence nearby.

LOL Sorry, my imagination was running away with me there...

But yea, I love the environment in Skyrim. The way the snow blows across the mountains, the gurgling sound of a river, the wind blowing through the trees, the hooting of a lonesome owl at night...

TES games are PERFECT RP games! The Ulitmate RP games! LOL

RP. Sometimes the first character is fairly game-guided, but later ones are always RP, so my current character is a cruel selfish Dunmer with a grudge against just about everyone, for instance. I plan to steal and murder my way across Skyrim.

I do all of the roleplay there is in Skyrim. I just happen to roleplay an opportunist.

I dont role play at all. Dont get me wrong, I wish I could. Every time a new game like this comes out I hope that this will be the game that I dont just play, but it will be the game that I "live", as Ive heard some people say. But for some reason my brain just wont let me. I always end up with the overwhelming urge to "beat" the game. So instead I always end up steam rolling through them, becoming overpowered to the point where nothing matters. Illl usually do this a few times through until I feel I've experienced every thing the game has to offer, then I shelf them and wait for DLC.

Part of the problem I think is that I'm on PS3. Maybe I should try it on PC so I could customize it, get into it a little more. Or maybe I just have the type of imagination that wont will let me. Either way, I know the game has more to offer then I am getting out of it.

You can RP, but this really isn't the best game for it. In TES, character development is purely by quests you do and don't do, but that's it. there is no interaction between NPCs or even explaning your ideals and intents to others. I played New Vegas and went through all the expansions and finished up and decided the fate of the Mojave Wasteland for decades to come under the Republic of Me. Some guy named Ulysses thought it was flawed and critisized me, but I had an intellectual chat with him and discussed how I intend to rebuild humanity and how Vegas can survive and rebuild. Skyrim has zero dialogue options and feels really shallow. I truly thought that after F3, there would at least be something in the ways of dialogue, but I guess not :/

I roleplay TES (all of them.... yeah, I'm currently playing everything but Arena....) It's easy for me to get deeply into this universe. I don't rp in WoW. It's a fun game to just play, but the lore is a complete turn off for me. I'm looking into getting my old SSI Forgotten Realms games to play on this machine (hope DosBox can help....) Now THAT is the world in which I've always been most comfortable - because that's the world in which I first started playing pen and paper RPGs in the mid-70s.

I thought I role played a lot. All of my characters have back stories before they're created and live according to the way I figure they'd grow or experience Skyrim.

Reading and participating on the forums, though, I find I'm a novice at this all or none form of role play and rule making for my characters.

I've allowed one character to evolve from warrior to mage and all of the intellectual choices through that came from quests and things she learned along the way. My thief evolved from a worshiper of Nocturnal coming to Skyrim to find out why she was having dreams of monsters who seemed to speak to her by name but weren't calling her by her given name. She got so immersed in the civil war and meeting someone else who could shout very soon after she discovered that she could shout that she's added worship of Kynareth and casting magic to her skills as a sneak and a thief. She hasn't even returned to Riften yet to help her friend that helped her smuggle her things into Skyrim when she ran away from Cyrodill. lol

I have not stuck any one of my characters in a box and said they couldn't grow outside of the confines they'd been placed in, instead I've taken a really holistic approach to forming them and letting their decisions and completed quests speak for them.

Does anyone write their character's back stories?

I used to. I got out of the habit while living in WoW for six years, haven't done so far this time in TES.

Don't really roleplay much I guess as much as having fetishes and hoarding syndome.

I always drag back every Imperial, Forsworn, and Thalmor item I find. How that chest can hold over 2,000 sets of armor is beyond me.

Same with clothing, I'm guessing I have least one copy of every clothing item in the game.

When I get about 20 black soul gems, I always go Thalmor hunting and fill them up...