Yeah, but you don't have to do the thuggery quests. I've never done one.

Still, the OP is kind of right. Yeah, there are plenty of quests you can do where you are fighting evil, but the feeling of most quests is incredibly grim. The devs/writers insist on making you feel sorta bad no matter what choice you make. Fighting for an independent Skyrim? Too bad you're helping some racists with questionable motives and a history of atrocities! Fighting to keep the Empire whole? Too bad you're helping some torturers and iron-fisted Thalmor!

Even the Main Quest forces you to feel like a punk at at least one point, with its "You're either with us or against us" choice.

To be fair, though, this is not so very different from Oblivion, where *tons* of quests had a disappointing ending. "My husband is missing" - and you have to watch him die. Etc. Etc. The difference is that the world of Oblivion is at least fairly benign for the most part, whereas Skyrim is full of darkness.

Nice guys always finish last ..

Pacifists or sheep. But yeah, point taken. There's more to feeling like a "good" character than just avoiding killing things.

OP - this is entirely in your hands. I've quickly learned that you get out of this game what you are willing to put in to it. Skyrim is full of dangerous weapons and potions and such - I play as an absolutely pure good moral character, and I have pretty much abandoned the quests (and I certainly ignore the main quest storyline) in favour of travelling the province, doing good in my role as Archmage. If I find a staff that can blast fireballs or conjure the undead, it's my responsibility to dispose of it safely. This mostly consists of taking the object back to the College and locking it in the chest in my quarters thus keeping it under my vigilant eye, unless I feel it is a particularly dangerous item. In that case, I journey up to the north coast, swim out until I am over the deepest part of the sea, and drop the item there. Just a quick example of engaging more with the game, buying into it, and getting the rewards of role-play.

Last night I was in Whiterun and decided to play out the matter of the Jarl's children, because that sounds exactly like something I should be doing - helping a man in need. That mission really gave me moral difficulties; Inhabiting my character, seeing things from his perspective, added immensely to that simple mission. So it's up to you, but if you really engage with your Skyrim self then the rewards found in even the small incidental details of the game are great.

I suggest you try the Wars in Skyrim mod , it adds much more immersion and of course , with immersion comes possibilities. ( At least for the RP people )

that's how I think of things too, ultimately I want to help people in my games, depending on what it is they want me to do I normally see the act of helping another person out as moraly right rather than looking at the quest itself as either "good" or "bad" because no matter what the quest is in the end you're going to have to kill someone which if you look at it more quests in Skyrim are kind of "good" and "bad" at the same time.
Such as if you were asked to kill a group of bandits that have been killing civilians and stopping trade to the city which in turn has been causing starvation to the inhabitants. The act of killing another human is wrong (killing in general is considered wrong) but ultimately killing 4 or 5 people will result in hundreds being saved (I'm exaggerating because in the end the most NPCs in a city is from maybe 20 to 30 but you get my point). This means that killing the bandits was the "right" and "wrong" thing to do. It was wrong because you could have talked to them or paid them off or tried to discuss a way to peacefully deal with the situation, but it was "right" because you end up saving innocent civilians and helping them. Morality is tricky.

still though, I don't really see it as wrong because when I steal from a rich person for a guild mission most of my money that I earn goes to the shops in Riften or other shops around Skyrim. I see it as stimulating the economy and I doubt that many of the rich people in Skyrim got that way through fair or Moral means. In the end I'm taking from someone who could live without it and giving it to people who need it more. Buying from the shops even though I don't really need what they're selling helps them keep their business, so I see stealing in certain circumstances as a "good" thing. not to mention I never kill people who I'm contracted to steal from even if they employed people to guard the house.

Your thinking of the Thieves Guild. The companions aren't involved in the protection racket. Whatever the priest did be assured it was naughty. You know how thugs can be hired to attack you if you steal from someone? Its the same prinicple in the companion random quest but without the lethality.

Happy to see you stick with a choice in the game, OP, and stick with it.

I find though, such choices in a game as broad as Skyrim in comparision to say, Infamous, are difficult to maintain. I am a completionist by heart so I have to do everything I can.

Hope you find a happy medium!

Umm, no. The Companions questline does NOT start that way. My first "quest" was to fight with Vilkas (or maybe Farkas - one of the Companions, anyway) to prove my skills. Once I did that, I was given the quest to go find the artifact, as I mentioned.

At no time did the Companions ask me to go beat anyone up. Someone else mentioned that the TG questline starts that way - maybe it does, I don't know, haven't done that. But it sure isn't the Companions that sends you to beat someone up - not early, anyway.

And if they do ask you to do something you don't like, guess what - don't do it. Just stop the questline. I don't see a problem there.

As to the SilverHand issue - I can understand this being more grey. However, personally, again, I think a good character would want to stop people who were torturing and killing others for sport. The fact that those others are werewolves - some at least - may cloud the issue, but overall, being asked to stop people from harming innocents is something a good person would do, IMO.

There's a difference between playing a "good" character and playing a character who will never kill. The first is an interesting RP choice, IMO. The second makes me wonder how on earth you could possibly get through this game at all. I did see a thread where someone mentioned they had companions or summons do all the killing, while their character just healed, distracted, etc. I suppose that would work.

You are my hero. I RPed hard in Oblivion (a very ugly, kind of dopey, but kind-hearted Imperial knight emerging from retirement) and have tried, but faltered a bit, to recreate those intense, uber-nerdy RP sessions Skyrim. Largely because Oblivion kind of held your hand with goodness (defeating a Daedra of Destruction, chasing ancient crusader relics, etc.) whereas Skyrim is darker and bleaker. You've encouraged me, good sir, to think outside of the box when it comes to expressing moral uprightness in Skyrim!

Indeed, I shelved my first character because I was trying too hard to be "good" while doing the MQ and the Companions, and failing to reconcile all of that was frustrating.

Haha, there are others on these forums who also deserve this praise, but the idea of disposing of dangerous relics really got my brain juices flowing.

That said when it comes to something like the Dark Brotherhood, that's just how it is. I won't play that quest line but I wouldn't expect it to not be there all because it's not my thing. It's a part of the game.

I've role played a good character once. I did a lot of side quest. Just helping people out with simple things. That'll mean you'll have to do a lot more exploring.

Be sure to do the 4 Divines quests: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Divine_Quests

And those are the quests that are DIRECTLY associated with the Nine Divines. There are other quests that serve the Nine:

Waking Nightmare: Let Erandur destroy the Skull of Corruption. Mara be praised!
The Wolf Queen Awakened: Defeat Potema and sanctify her remains. Arkay's Light purifies all!
Defying Namira: Kill Eola, the defiler of the Hall of the Dead in Markarth. Once again, Arkay triumphs!
House of Horrors: Refute Molag Bal, and kill the Priest of Boethiah. Stendarr's justice on both these Daedra Lords

Now regardless of religion, those are considered morally good choices by the whole. I doubt you would find a significant portion of people who would argue otherwise.