So a while ago I completed the main quest and a bunch of other stuff with my first character, an Imperial battlemage. He was level 50 and obscenely overpowered, so I decided to 'retire' him and start a new character - a Khajiit thief/assassin, with whom I intended to do the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood and Stormcloaks questlines. I intentionally avoided the main quest because I've had enough of killing dragons, learning shouts and being the big hero.

Why play Skyrim then, I hear you say? Surely TES is all about being the big hero? I agree. And yet, I've spent dozens of hours killing dragons and trying to give a crap about the main quest. This time round I just fancied killing some Imperials and playing the guild quests I'd not done yet.

All was going well until I hit the quest 'Message to Whiterun' after retrieving the Jagged Crown. I discovered that the Jarl refused to even consider Ulfric's ultimatum until I'd helped him retrieve the Dragonstone from Bleak Falls Barrow. Fair enough, I ran off and retrieved it for him. Except now on my return theres a dragon attacking, and it seems that I've got to go and kill it - thereby 'becoming' the Dragonborn and kicking off the damned flying lizard invasion all over Skyrim - before the Jarl will talk to me,. But I dont want to do the main quest this time! I dont want it raining sodding dragons all over Skyrim for eternity until I can be arsed to do something about it!

So, my question is simple. Is there a way I can progress the Stormcloak questline without setting off the Dragon invasion, or am I going to have to slog through the bloody main quest again just so that I can help Ulfric seize the throne? And if not, is there a mod that can help me?

No way to continue it without killing the first dragon, which really svcks IMO :/

Damn. So theres not even a mod that'll let me get around it? Maybe just on that turns the dragons off? :/

I never went past getting the dragonstone and could listen to the soldier's report (a thing you must do before the Jarl will acknowledge your return of the stone) without ever going to the Western Watchtower and so long as you never do, dragons do not attack. You must at least activate it's appearance before random dragon attacks. You can leave and let the soldiers kill it, but it's triggered script seems to be the thing that actually enables the attacks.

I would do this not wanting dragon attacks because the reward for doing the wizard's quest with the dragonstone includes the right to buy a house in Whiterun. I've never joined either side of the civil war though, so not sure how that interacts with the main quest, but if it doesn't involve ever going to the Western Watchtower or require anything to be at a further stage of the main quest, then it should be theoretically possible. And I play on XBox so this is not through console or mod.

AFAIK, there's not a mod - "yet". You should probably bookmark the http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/cat.php?id=35 page (Quests and Adventures) page, and check it a couple of times a day. I'm pretty sure that someone will eventually fix this situation with a mod. You could also try posting a request for such a mod on the Beth Mods forum: http://www.gamesas.com/forum/183-skyrim-mods/