My current character is a Nord warrior.

No fast travel ever, but will use the carriage.

Unless a quest simply won't allow it, he travels everywhere with his wife, Aela.

Because Aela , neither will he.

He won't join the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood, and won't do any blatant stealing.

Is generally honorable, but his true loyalties are only to his wife and himself.

Breton mage here.

I have never pickpocketed anything.

I never steal - when I did find a couple of things in my inventory marked "Stolen" I was so startled (not a clue how they got there) I travelled to the northern shore, swam out to what seemed the deepest point, and dropped them.

If I acquire a staff of something, or any potion with poisonous or potentially questionable uses (lockpicking, invisibility, etc) I will only sell them to fellow mages at the College - but not Enthir, who is clearly dodgy. I'm the Archmage, why can't I expel him?

I fight when I must, but my general set-up when travelling is Fear on my left hand, Calm on my right, and Aura Whisper. I can avoid as much violence as possible that way. (Except when I meet Forsworn, when I become the Angel of Death.)

I always free captive Stormcloaks under escort on the roads. It took me a LONG time to sort my head out on the civil war, but in the end it came down to simply this: some of the Nords aren't very nice, and I don't care for their racist rants, but the Empire has sold out the human race entirely. So, the lesser of two evils gets my aid.

I help ANYONE who asks for it, so long as they are a person in genuine need and not just some idiot looking to run into a dungeon and grab loot .

I never hurt giants. I love those big peaceable beardy guys.

I will never complete the Thieves' Guild or Dark Brotherhood missions. Even the Companions are too morally dubious for me.

I donate to the Temple of Mara in every session of play, and to every beggar I encounter. When I attend the Temple of Mara, I leave Lydia outside; she is a warrior, and that place is not for her.

When I return to High Hrothgar, I always hit capslock so that I walk rather than run; it just seems the right thing to do. To charge around in that holy place would be wrong. And when Arngeir pronounces his blessings as we part, I bow to him.

I'm sure I've forgotten lots more, too.

I try to hold my character to a certain morality, the current being something akin to Neutral Good. Don't break the law unless I must to help others, no DB or TG, help those I can without expecting reward and so on.

As for gameplay itself I vary very much. Sometimes I do not fasttravel and simply jogg/walk around, sometimes I do not use questmarkers and other small things like this. However I never commit to it, mainly because I am trying to have fun, and it isn't ery fun to suddenly being commited to something that isn't fun ATM.

I dont automatically use Daedric Armor and weapons when I unlock them unless they suit my character. It might be the coolest most badass armor available in the game,but its too evil/dark for some of my characters.

Its funny how all my friends show off pictures of their characters wearing Daedric Armor,and complain why I dont wear it,when all their characters look horrible in it and just doesnt look like it suits them. Unless they wanna roleplay "oh hey,just found some daedric armor,since its the best armor in the game,why not wear it"

Maybe if I create a Dunmer I'll wear it,or if one of my characters turn evil.

I also like to wear normal clothes when walking in towns or traveling on the roads,I hate sticking out.

Quite a few.

- blend in in holds/towns. No wandering around Riverwood in daedric armour, no visiting Jarl Elslif in Dark Brotherhood robes.
- use whatever gear suits the character. No dragonscale assassins for me.
- no exploiting of crafting. Mages can't smith, warriors can't make potions, barbarians can't enchant, ect.

I just try and blend in really. I don't like feeling like a special little snowflake. My characters are usually pretty ugly too, just to fit into Skyrim in general.

*Don't be too precious with your character or his/her choices. roll with some of the punches.

*Don't get too hung up on archetypes, your warrior SHOULD sneak and use bows if the situation warrants it for example.

*Don't chase stats, use what's fun and makes your character more realized.

nord loyalist, expert, low to no hud, no fast travel/ will use carriages, no magic (no re-enchanting), 1st tier alchemy only but rarely used

must train to pick higher locks, printed map in lieu of in-game map/gps/markers, mark unopend chests

only smith equipment i'm using and must be with mined/hunted materials. will buy a bit of iron/steel.

hate most elves/imperials. free all prisoners. never touch elven anything.

no theft, murder. no assaults except on animals, since, for some damn reason that's considered an assault.

adventure mostly during the day. mostly a daytime character that sleeps at night unless in dungeon/cave/important quest.

currently, i'm trying to think of some rules to simulate degradation.

The only restrictions I've consistently played with are moral ones. Specifically, I only kill in self-defense and I will only steal if the game gives me no other options. Obviously, I'm not a fan of the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves' Guild.

I never thought of that. Don't the Bosmer make an exception for pre-existing weapons/items though? Like, making the potion would be forbidden, but not using one that someone else had already made?

1) Only upgrade the stat I have used the most if it allows me to - that is if I've increased smithing 3 times but destruction 5 times but I haven't increased destruction enough to pick a perk I will go with smithing if there's a perk I can pick.

2) Lydia does not die ever (that's a pretty much permanent on all five play throughs so far (although I haven't actually finished one yet)

3) Lydia stays at home when I do the assassination missions

4) Fast travel only when I know I have a clear short route to the place I'm going

there's probably a few more

oh yeah

5) don't steal anything unless I'm on a Thieves guild job - I have failed this one 4 times so far this play-through - all by accident

Heh, I thought I was the only one. Daedric armor makes you look like freaking Sauron, and I'm supposed to be playing a GOOD character. Just doesn't feel right. Okay, so I wear Hevnoraak's mask, but that's out of necessity, not style.

My assassin has a vendetta against the Penitus Oculatus,after
He slaughters and Penitus Oculatus agents he can find, meaning he's been arrested in Solitude quite a lot ...

For my female Breton pure mage which I just started, I came up with a substitute for wortcraft since she's disgusted at the fact of eating/tasting ingredients...

If I want to find out an alchemical property of an ingredient, I will make sure to only do it when she's standing beside an alchemy table. The rationale is that she is using the tools to "break down" the ingredient and discover its properties that way instead of eating them...

(She still ends up consuming the disgusting ingridents when she creates the potions anyway, but I can justify that by the fact that the alchemical tools have a damn good purifier XD)

EDIT: she also hates water and doesn't swim, ever. She will go as far as ankle deep in water and that's it. Same goes for my fighter character, but only because he wears heavy armor; the weight would've drowned him. If he ABSOLUTELY has to swim, he'll drop the armour before taking a dip.

EDIT 2: for non thieves, I limit the kinds of locks they can pick (or not at all)

Being on a pc i have modded the game to make it "hard enough"

1- merchant prices 300% sell rate to 10%.
gold is earned by quests not loot hauls. No more buying everything.

2- potions removed from loot lists. You want pots? You use alchemy.

3- PISE/ Wars in skyrim- for flavor

4- unleveled areas

5- tough dragons

6- uncapped enemies

7- enchanted loot diminished/made rare.

8- dark dungeons

9- superboss random placed creatures

10- no companions

For my side
1- destruction scaling
2- multiple rune placement
3- improved vamp mod (forget which one)
4- UI upgrades
5- midas spells (and another cool spell mod- forget the name- tons of new spells)
6-WO3E
7- bound weapon 3x Damage (on swords)

I play by one rule: Quit when it stops being fun.

Most important rule to me is to stop playing when I feel I am getting bored with the game, but to find something else to do. It keeps the game interesting and stops me from "burning out". Another rule is not to expect anything, but to take what the game gives me. To live from moment to moment and let the pieces come together on their own. Not to see everything as a problem and not to chase after the first solution that presents itself.

Insert cliched Destruction joke here.

- No Fast travel, except Carriages.
- Explore first, quest later

I confine my characters by what they like and dislike.

They are based off of their own personality, I try to do what they would do and not myself they have their own beliefs and I try to stick to that.

I have two rules.
In general this including Oblivion I don't attack anything dose not attack my character. That might change in my next play through in Skyrim that I play a Nord Female hunter who was hunting game until she got caught by Imperials.
In this game and others, no waiting.

After reading through all the different play styles i now have new ideas for new characters. Thanks guys!

Only one I seem to follow is that my character has at least 8 hours of sleep every night. I only travel/do quests during the day time unless the quest requests that I do so during the night.

On my second character, finally. This time around I am only completing the main quests to begin, avoiding taking on any others, where I do, I ignore them, and will continue to do so until the main quests are completed. I am also selling everything I don't use or need; first time round I was keeping everything.

One thing I do enjoy is picking up items in shops and selling them to the vendor, Belathor and others can be a bit thick at times! If only you could do such things in the real world life would be a lot easier.

Make my own weapons and armor and I never steal. There's more but I'm too lazy to keep writing

On my sneaky character I did that but in reverse. As far as possible he travelled and worked only at night.