So I'm new to the forums and I've heard people talk about role-playing in skyrim. I am curious as to how someone gets into this. Is there a general rule set that everyone fallows? Are there guidelines? What are some tried and true ways to role-play? Anything at all that you guys can give me would be much appreciated because i know nothing at all about it! lol

well the game doesnt restrict you enough so you have to set your own restrictions and they could or could not be

1.Eationg and sleeping, will you do this?
2. Alignment, not just power gaming
3. No Fast travel
4. Only join factions and do quests your character would do (based on alignment and build)
5. Have a set build


the rules are yours to make

Roleplaying is what you make of it! That's the beauty of it, Roleplaying is considered to be, in a sense, the player BECOMING their character, you can do what you want, you can create stories, play out stories, create your own limitations of what you can and can't do with specific characters, or no limitations. Some people just can't get into immersing themselves into the world, but i have to say, once you realise how easy it is to lose your self in a world you create yourself its hard not to

I get the trend. So its really all up to me then? I guess I will have to come up with a story for my dark elf assassin and my high elf mage. Thanks for the help!

Hmmm. Roleplaying is being a character. So create the character- think about thier goals, strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps thinking a little about your character's background, history and personality. And consider things like this. Would your all round good character take up the dark sword of epic evilness? (despite the fact it would do a ton of damage)
I also impose stricter carrying weight restrictions and eat and sleep.

Had a story behind him/her; It defines how one would react to any given situation. Maybe add a prefered weapon/food/armor/ location ect ect. The glory of it is that you pretty much live inside the game (Whilst being aware of reality :3). Do you like Riften? Do you prefer Royalty? Are you a evil sort? Or perhaps you love and treasure life. On Xbox Role Play is somewhat limited to you. I own 360 so realistic carrying weight is difficult for me. I ALWAYS had an Alternative Start in Oblivion. As for PS3 I do not own one. If you are a 360 user interested in carrying weight keep this in mind: Despite being heavy is there anywhere you would put your gear? Two Handed Weapon on your back with 3-4 Daggers at your prefered spot. Shield would be on your back behind the Two Handed weapon. You can have roughly four swords(two on each side of you.) and food would be the key to survival. If you become extremely hardcoe; Survival is your game span because some people prefer one set difficulty and starting over when they Die once in game. So Saving would seem pointless. Also No Saving is common in this manner due to living with choices.


Maybe you are Racist (Not you in particular but thats what makes it fun; your character can be anyone)

Maybe you have habits and Phobia's. Hate Spiders? Dont touch them or go near them.

The only issue is Realistic Damage.... I would need mods for this :'(.


All of this is my preference. You decide what type you want. I am only posting ideas for new role players

See that is what i liked about New Vegas. I had to eat and drink. Granted. The system was really easy but at least it reminded me hydrate and eat my veggies=-)

Being able to feel the effects of hunger and sleep is far more real than imagining it in my opinion. The rest I agree with.

found that in a cave once

I found this article useful:
http://j-u-i-c-e.hubpages.com/hub/roleplaying-skyrim

Basically what I feel when I am role playing is do whatever you want. First I pick 2 skills that I want to get to 100 then think of a quick back story then go out and do what feels right for your character. There really is no rules you need to follow. Just go out and have fun. It's just a game.

I'm definitely going to make a role-play character. I've never done it before but it sounds like so much fun.

With my main, I've basically tried to complete all the quests and discover everywhere, which kind of 'decreases' the overall experience. Having a role-play character will make things feel a lot less repetitive.

There are rules you make for a certain character, will they kill innocent people will they defend them with all their might, what skill set would your character use what have they been trained to do. These are questions you must ask yourself about your character you can also eat and drink when you need to bathing, is something else you can roleplay, sleep will your character sleep at night or day. Think of a backstory for your character that makes them even more unique. The most important thing to remember is you are that character pet your own views and judgements aside and do what your character would do, that us how you get the most out of roleplaying and its far more fun than running around this world just because.

Not sure if you are playing on PC or not, but I've found Arthmoor's http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=75889890 mod to be very helpful for RP purposes as it provides a dozen different possible origin stories with new starting locations. Also enhances replay value tremendously IMO.

Does that have options to play the game/by-pass stuff without ever becoming Dragonborn? For example, you can't

You can choose when you want to start the CW and the main quest by investigating rumors of war activity near Helgen.

That's awesome. Thanks for the link

if you don't understand roleplaying i don't think this will work for you.


everyone should know what roleplaying means. it's in the word.


edit: btw. pc users have a huge advantage in roleplaying. they can get the lights more realistical, so that nights are actually dark and you do not want to run around out there + you can make fire(you have to chop firewood from trees) and make tents to sleep in. dungeons that are not lighted are so dark that you need light to see properly. you will never need magelight or torches in the normal skyrim. with darker dungeons they are actually needed in some areas to know where you are going. roleplaying became a lot easier for me this way.


i always found the concept of not joining all guilds and not doing all quests easy, though. i actually can't understand how anyone could do all quests without feeling weird. i mean.. a thiefing-werwolf-mage-assassin saving the world while joining the imperials/stormcloaks? impossible for me.

I just started my very first RP character today. I decided not to give myself overwhelming rules to start with, I will most likely tweak them as I go, since it is my first time.

I've created a short back story for her, and set only one goal of the start.

My character walks everywhere, not jogging, walking. I try not to have her carry too much of anything. I try to make sure she eats something at least once a day (until I get in the habit of eating more often) and I also get her to sleep 6-8 hours. There's a number of other things I've set for rules.

My suggestion, take it slow, get in the habits of things. And definitely don't overwhelm yourself by making too many rules than you're going to follow.

oha dude that is gonna be tough.... i tried it once and never again. takes WAY too long. it's ok in the beginning, but as soon as you find yourself on a longer road, you will want to run.

Possibly....Actually most likely. But if, or when I get sick of walking, I'll just load up my other character for awhile. I'm hoping that will be a decent remedy to the situation, only time will tell though.

There are no long roads in Skyrim. Besides, if the roads do seem to long to you buy a horse or walk across the country-side.

Just create a character and plan what your character will be like.

i know plenty of long roads. actually i think even walking from whiterun to rorikstead would already take 15-20 minutes.

Roleplaying, as I see it, can be summed up in these three things. Remember that if you don't like any of the parts, don't do them. That's the beauty of roleplaying. But some roleplayers incorporate some ideas of all three categories.

1. The most fun and most wide spread one is actually being you character. Many people only roleplay this far. It means you ask yourself, where do I stand with the factions of Skyrim? Am I a proud, nationalist Nord who will join the Stormcloaks or an Empire loyalist? Am I good, evil, neutral, or a combination? This one makes your character an actual character, not just a blank slate. Some people go one step further and create a back story for the character.

2. Realism. There are varying degrees of this. At the basic level, it's not carrying more than x amount of gear and not fast traveling. Usually, it's one or two main weapons and a side arm. For armors, it's one pair of armor and one pair of clothing. At the more deep level, it's sleeping and eating at regular times if possible. At the most extreme level, it's walking everywhere (not including horses of course).

3. Restrictions. Though this may not be included in some people's roleplaying, it may come in without you even wanting it. Restrictions can be simple as not joining a certain Guild or not doing a certain quest. Restrictions can also be on skills or interacting with certain people. Most of the time, restrictions come in the form of wanting realism or playing a character as he/she would act if he/she was real.

Special 4th One: If you're on PC, get mods. The Steam Workshop, as annoying as it is, has a great selection of mods. The Skyrim Nexus also has a great selection of mods and a great mod manager to organize your mods properly. Many mods serve to enhance your game like the War Zones mod that adds battles between factions (usually Legion vs. Stormcloaks or the local law enforcement against bandits or Forsworn). Or armor mods that might add some flair to your character.