So after being tricked into initiating the TG quest in Riften I'm leery about starting any quests there. Are they all quasi-evil/shady? If some are not, will I always get the dialogue option of, "I'm not going to do anything illegal." (or words to that effect)?

For example, I initiated the Mark of Dibella gathering one, but the people in RIften are so horrible I don't know if the chick sweeping the Bunkhouse is lying (yeah, I know we can never be sure ). :\

I will do them all on an Assassin-type, but on my Nord warrior-type I'm trying to behave as best as I can.

Had the same issue. After the first proper quest I gave up doing more with my Nord. It just felt wildly out of character.

Nothing evil about giving a healing potion to a strung out junkie, then shutting down a ring of drug dealers. Likewise with finding Mjoll's sword, giving money to a beggar, finding jewels for Madesi and Talen-Jei, finding an old journal for Brand-Shei, gathering ice-wraith teeth for one of the other merchants... I'm sure there's other non-evil stuff, too.

The Thieves' guild stuff does tend to dominate things though.

Yeah, I'm treading lightly.

I've done Mjoll's sword and Madesi's mats. I give money to beggars almost everytime I pass by them. I may have done the journal one - sounds familiar.

I'll save and check wikis before I do any more. I know I don't want to be Thane there.


It's odd how many of the NPCs wear "Fine Clothes". There's an inordinate amount of them considering they live in a fishing village made out of reclaimed barnwood.

Riften is like any other hold. There are some innocuous quests and some quests that tie directly in to a specific faction. You can get Mijoll's sword, bring fire salts to the blacksmith, collect frost salts for the food vendor, collect emblems of diabella for the girl in the bunkhouse, get gems and jewelry stuff for Medessi or even for the Argonian who wants to propose to his sweety at the Bee and Barb all without joining a group you feel might be shady or evil. The priest of Mara also has something you can help him with. And for the record, the thieves have their own agenda and they still aren't evil.

Bryn didn't trick you, he offered you an opportunity... one of millions of them offered to your character in the game. You don't have to complete it.

How about unethical, at least?

Yeah, Brynjolf's quest offered the "I'm not going to do anything illegal." option, but that's often a grey area and sometimes the next line from the NPC is, "It's not illegal, I just need you to do X." When someone like Maven Black-Briar is in charge "illegal" becomes very grey.

Stealing isn't "evil"..if you feel bad then do like robin hood and give the stolen goods to the poor

Basically, you want to do a lawful run, not a good run. That's what it boils down to.

Still, trying to get a 0 Crime run is crazy hard - but worth it in the end, if you somehow manange to pull it off. Just be very, VERY careful which quests to take. Check the wiki for any questgiver, just in case.

Well, I'm trying to be as ethical as possible on my Nord, but, yeah, 0 crimes is difficult. I have 1 murder in my Stats and early on I had 1000 bounty in Falkreath so I must've accidentally murdered someone there or in their region of control. "I'm sorry, Charlie Murphy. It was a accident - I was havin' too much fun.

I've stolen at least one thing for a quest (the encoded note to the Empire about the iron ore ), but I don't indiscriminately steal things to sell.

You can make Riften a pretty nice place and do many positive quests and get peoples spirits up. Then join the thieves guild and crush them!

IIRC the Temple of Mara quests is not evil and is based in and around Riften. From a meta-game perspective [if you care] the reward from the Temple is substantial IMHO.

Not all are Evil, The Jarl, Priest & Merchants need the help of a Honest character.

If thieves weren't unethical, they wouldn't be thieves, would they?

The Daedric Prince Hoep'dhoep - what is your bidding, Master?

Yeah, I've skimmed something about the Agent of Mara, but stopped before I read too much. Will it wipe the Agent of Dibella? o.O

I was wondering about the Jarl, but I was sceptical because of Maven Black-Briar's influence.

Well, I didn't expect them to be angels. ...as people have mentioned: the TG in Oblivion was more Robin-Hoodish.

No. Aedra are not as jealous as the Daedra are. Also, both goddesses are about love, though different style of love.

Awesome.

Speaking of Riften quests, you all just have to talk to Wylandriah, the court wizard! LOL She cracks me up everytime I talk to her! (well the first time is the funniest LOL I mean talk to her the first time on a new character). She also has a quest for you! Not an evil one! LOL

Oh and well I wouldn't consider the Thieves guild quests evil. That's what the Dark Brotherhood is for hahahaha But, I will say one thing, the main TG quests actually get better and better and will lead to new discoveries...

Yeah, I've heard about her - I need to do that.

I'm definitely doing TG and DB quests on a different character.

If you find any of Wilandriahs items during your adventures, don't take them. If you do, she won't give you the quest. She'll have an option that says "where am I suppose to be going" like she had already given it to you. And if you can't get the quest, you get stuck with the items in your inventory just like the Bards College instruments.

The Thieves Guilds quests are some of the best in my opinion. It gives a nice break from just fighting all the time. And the perks you get after "Bringing the Guild back to it's former glory" are pretty cool. Plus it's rewarding to see the hideout slowly change for the better as you progress through them. Not to mention the Larceny items being displayed as you get them.

Oh, and if you skip the Thieves Guild quests you will not get the Nightingale gear and powers which are pretty cool.

Yea, that happened on my first character, who is also stuck with Finn's Lute and Pantea's Flute (Bard's college quests). I wonder why they didn't design these quests like the one at the beginning, with the Dragonstone. You can pick it up and just hand it over when you get the quest for it. If I go exploring, of course I pick up everything I see and especially named items. It's just silly that these quests are broken like that.

There star has fallen a long way though, unfortunately. Basically, they would be like Robin Hood if he was transported to the current day.

Crap...that's why I'm stuck with that damn flute and drum.

Many of these are not TG quests, though, which is more what OP is asking about.

Once you join the guild and have to start shaking people down and threatening/blackmailing shopkeepers, people will start reacting differently to you in town.
I'm playing a good guy for the most part and finding the comments of townsfolk in riften particularly poignant, especially for a good character- they're looking for a reason to hope and trust. And there's Mjoll, who's sort of the town's protector, and all of the obvious corruption with the Black Briars- it looks like there really would be some kind of way to "help" this town for good rpers, but it doesn't look like it. Once you join the guild your job is to make them feel hopeless. Sure they say they distinguish themselves from the DB because they don't kill but they have no problem with ruining peoples' lives.

I was hoping there might be a way to take down the guild from the inside by doing the quests but have put this questline down because you have to get your hands pretty dirty to do it and that's not the type of character I'm playing. Maybe for my usual evil female second character, though.

You can put a dent in the Skooma trade, though, and help a bunch of random people.

Theres also more "good" quests outside of the city, and in The Rift (hold).