I've never played an RPG before Skyrim, and one of the ideas that got me excited about it was a friend of mine who was playing his character ( a brute Orc) as funtionally illiterate. So he wouldn't pick up or read any books.

I'm curious what other people do.

I'm playing my character as straight edge (no booze, no skooma, but potions are okay), he never buys anything he can craft or scavenge himself, he never hurts foxes, and no fast traveling. (P.S. Is there a way to permanently revive dead animals?)

I play with the rule that I won't let any rules get in the way of something that looks fun to try.

my rules are...Fire ball every lone traveling group I see...

edit- and some others that i don't feel like typeing

On this play through I'm trying not to rob the world blind.

I'm playing a good-hearted mage. Only rules are: No fast traveling, enemies need to attack me first and no soul trapping.

My Nord barbarian:
Elves are evil and not to be trusted, most should be killed e.g. when I meet the random encounter Dunmer Farmer singing up with Imperial Legion in Solitude I kill him because as a Stormcloak he's a backstabbing elf. Any drugdealing elf will be killed etc etc.
I also distrust magicusers. I slay every fort populated by them and rarely deal with them. I use enchanted axes though but never a single spell except once or twice a scroll against a tough boss.

He's not stupid or illiterate nor is he evil and cruel without reason but he will steal from people he thinks it's allowed from. That's pretty much any elf and any other person that isn't poor or a friend or other Stormcloak. He has his own barbarian code.

For practical things he only uses two handed axes, a shield a couple of times with his huntingknife when the need really arises (In Ingol's Barrow I lost my axe after a disarm-shout and having a Draugr come at me so I grabbed my leather shield and huntingknife (from Jaysus' mod) and stabbed him till.) and only wears light armor, bare-chested if possible (currently Savior's Hide, lots of fur and naked skin so it suits him).

He also won't fast-travel (really like it, didn't do this on my previous Imperial) and rides around on his horses (they keep dying) with his friend, follower and fellow Nord Sven the Bard. That guy is lightly armoured with a staff, sword, dagger and a shield. He's not a damage dealer but really a companion and packmule. I roleplay he's a friend I picked up in Riverwood and he's sort of my chronicler.

My Imperial Legionnaire:
Honorable man, hates the Thalmor but beyond that abides Imperial law strictly. He's pretty much a knightly character with some smithing and enchanting thrown in. So no stealing, random murdering and lots of pondering if to betray people and who are the bad guys.

I played a Bosmer that would not use any potions because of her restriction of not using any plant materials (see Bosmer Lore). The sole exception was spider poison she collected herself. She would heal using meat she cooked. Note, very difficult to really pull off.

What i use (some i use after the first character since i use him to get a feel for the game before stating a new char and rp) is:

I set timescale to 6 for more realistic day/night cycels (not on first char)

No fast travel, only carriages (not on first char)

Only use armor that make sence for the character. No heavy armor or combat looking light armor ( elven and glass armor for example) on a assassin/thief

Only use one of Smithing, Enchanting and Alchemy to try to balance the game, and no power leveling

Sleep instead of waiting when possible

And sleep a few hours every day if i can

Wasn't the Green Pact just applicable to Valenwood?

In theory I think but I doubt they give up the customs. They do life of a fully carnivore diet there, would you change?

my first rule;
don't kill anyone until it's necessary!

Other than some smart gameplay rules (frequent saves, lots of save slots, save before going somewhere, not after I arrive) I don't have any rules on my characters yet. However, the character I am playing right now won't steal or murder, but that is his rule, not mine. I have tried talking him out of it.

I was thinking about playing my Social Outcast Character, but with Crafting, the challenge won't be there. This character will not do business, will not talk to NPCs unless a quest requires him too (or to get the quest). Any money this character gets is thrown away and he will only use what he finds in the world. In prior games, the weapon degradation helped, as he had to always find new weapons to use. I can still do this build, but just not the same way.

Rules, pffft. Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Edit:

I actually remembered some "rules" I had. Ironic that I actually have many of them.

My Khajiit buys all the Skooma she sees in shops.

My Argonian helps all her fellow reptilians as much as she can.

My Altmer mage never uses weapons of any kind, except for staves and bound weapons (gotta level up my Conjuration)

I think my character is slowly unravelling. From not wanting to hurt anyone at first, to becoming more cut-throat. I have a feeling the power of being dragonborn is going to get to him after a while, and might become even more cold blooded. I have a goal to murder absolutely everyone in a town. I might try somewhere small first, like Dragonbridge or Rorikstead, but I think it would make Molag Bal happy if I cleared out all of Markarth.

I have a Cleric-style character who won't kill or eat animals, in addition to not doing all the normal things good people don't do (murder innocent people, steal, etc.).

Yeah, it seems kinda weird that you can't level cooking. A cooking mod is just ripe for the making, complete with a stall in markets and a chef's hat with +10 baking.

In terms of rules I don't really have many. I try not fast travel and my current character won't kill unless there is no other option, he's a thief not a killer. But that said he'll cast fury and let everyone kill each other. I limit my self to two weapons only (well three actually), bow and duel daggers. Oh and I don't steal from the city where I live (Riften) and I don't steal from the poor.

I tru to not fast travel much and usually I don't try to reach lvl81 cap (aka not using exploits), I think 45-50 is nore than enough for any build

I used only steel weapons and armor. I reached level 30+ with no problem with it. However, limiting myself to not use smithing would be a lot harder than only limiting myself to using steel gear..

Yes, but she just arrived to Skyrim from Valenwood and decided to keep the Pact in order to have her goddess' blessing follow her. A personal choice. It is just a role-play rule, and like all of those it is just done to make the game more interesting.

TES never gives enough details on the PC to flesh out a good role IMO, and if you make it all up yourself, the game doesn't (can't really) acknowledge it. I will loosely craft a character idea, but there are no rules per se... I'd not play with some mandate that the PC "never uses leather armor ~ever", or "Won't drink potions", or "only uses fists", and the like... Not unless I was roleplaying a neurotic PC. (Which I have done in a few games that actually support crafting a neurotic PC; "Heroes:Unlimited" comes first to mind).

The only rule I play under is to follow the extrapolated personal ethics and moral compass of the current PC; I could observe a PC's personal phobias, but I usually never bother, because it has no in game effect or results.

My Warrior: no magic, Only use Smithing and enchanting ( only the "bottom" perks on enchanting), will use potions and poisons that are found or bought but no alchemy herself. No fast travel ( only excetion I made is from Iversguard to High Hrothgar and back to Iversguard), never attack anything living unless it attacks first. Must sleep 6 hrs min in 48, try to sleep every night. Eat at least twice a day, Something suitable for an active person using ALOT of calories.

My Mage: no physical weapons. No smithing, basic Alchemy ( bottom of perk tree only) Enchanting is allowed, lot's and lot's of iron daggers to find and enchant for money. No fast travel, must eat and sleep like a "normal" person. doesn't pick up skill books not relating to magic.

Thief: must eat and sleep each "day" at least 4 hr's. NO spamming of skills ( smithing, enchanting, alchemy) Alchemy can only make what is going to be used. Only 10 items per 2 lvl's can be smithed or enchanted if they're "for sale". Has basic magic skill's: restoration and conjuer familar ( keeping to wolf til lvl 25, then fire Atronach, then higher maybe after lvl 50). When not on a job, wear's cloth in town, armor when traveling.

I'm currently playing with only the "Dragonborn" gear shown in the Skyim trailers, posters and promos:

• Iron Helmet
  
• Studded Leather Armor
  
• Iron Bracers
  
• Iron Boots
  
• Steel Sword
  
• Banded Iron Shield
  
• Steel Dagger (dual wield from the posters)

Although, I'm eventually going to switch to full Dragonscale Armor and Daedric Weapons once I get all of them gathered, smithed and enchanted, on my next playthrough seriously I'm considering a complete playthrough using just that gear (Rings and Amulets are allowed and also Smithing and Enchanting improvements to keep pace with the game as I level up). My only pet peeve with this build is that I can't take advantage of the "Custom Fit" and/or "Matching Set" perks since the Studded Leather sort of throws everything off.

A "no armor" mage build using the proper Mage Armor perks and spells also seems like a good basis for an interesting playthrough.

I'm also considering a "food only" healing playthrough, no magic, no potions and using only the Vigilants of Stendarr to cure diseases...

No HUD, ever.

Expert, no music, rare fast travel.

My first character was a sneak thief/assasin, who would nick anything not nailed down and kill anyone or anything if he thought it would do him some good - never used magic though. He was good for more than 400 hours, and I retired him (with a huge amount of cash to see him in luxury through his twilight years) at level 55.

Rupert, my current character, is a Nord great-sword slinger, totally honest, totally upright will not steal, sneak or use a ranged attack under any circumstances. He will not kill any furry creature unless he is given absolutely no alternative, nor will he attack any living person who does not pose a direct threat to himself - save the Thalmor scum. Any dealings with magic and the occult are a complete anathema to him, but buying potions is OK and trapping the souls of bandits, Thalmor and such like rubbish is, he believes, fair and just. Smithing and enchanting is alright in moderation, as long as it doesn't stray too far and become another type of magic. Likewise shouts, though as these come from the Greybeards, who are Nords, they are culturally more acceptable.

Currently at level 26 and having an absolute blast. Because he only has one weapon, one armour and no side skill distractions he can really concentrate. When Rupert kicks in the door and shouts, "Y'all know what this is!"* the bad guys know their doom has come and are seldom disappointed.

*Copyright: The_Jackal, poster of this parish.