Depends on character but some globals with all characters are:

Eat & sleep on a regular basis
Limit fast travel when possible
Always park my character at home when I'm done playing for the night, sitting in a chair then save the game.

Some character specifics are:
My werewolf cannot sleep unless she eats a human before bed. So after midnight she undresses to naked, goes for a run out at night in the wild looking for a cave or fort where evil doers or vampires might be, then shifts, kills, sleeps in their cot covered in their blood, wakes in the AM, finds nearest water for a bath, then dresses in armor and returns.
Use pelts to make leather to improve items before selling them. I consider it repairing the stab holes I made killing whoever wore it.
Kill all wildlife except for foxes and goats for leather.
Practice destruction magic on anything that moves for one character.
My Male Orc is badass and punches anyone in the face who says something disrespectful. Guards, jarls, you name it. Gets him in some trouble on occasion but nothing he can't afford or fight his way out of.
Wear clothes to sell goods and have a mead after a long day of adventuring at the pub.
If my male orc dies in combat, he will stay home healing for a week, then throws away all the gear that let him down in that battle and goes out into the wild naked with nothing and starts over to redeem himself and purge himself of all the unlucky gear that must have caused his serious injury (a death requiring reload). Then he will return to the cave/crypt where he was hurt (killed) and claim his revenge. Takes him a while to rebuild everything but it gives the game purpose and makes it fun bringing in emotion where the game creators left it out.

I always do miscellanious quests first (going from smaller settlements to bigger ones), then the guild quests, and the main quests last. But I always make sure I have everything I ever wanted before starting the main quest.

It's in my nature. Like when I eat a plate of food. I save my most favorite food for last. End with a bang ;{D~

I basically do quests in order. like bottom of the list up. A little this, a little that. Ok I put some off since I wish I could skip them, but there they are on the list.

1. No crafting. The only exception is you can use the workbech and the grindstone to improve your gear.
2. No magical/enchanted gear. The only exception is that enchanted rings and necklaces are allowed. Lets just say, if youre a roleplayer you can justify this by saying you you have an "allergy" to magic, or you just see it as a dishonorable advantage.
3. Along the lines of #2, no casting spells. Shouts are ok.
4. No stealth, ever. Stealth is seen as dishonorable to your character.

With this setup I end up with a character that is very similar to the 'warrior type' NPCs you find in dungeons. It certain evens the playing field and makes the game much harder and more enjoyable. I actually feel like part of the world instead of some freakish incarnation that is somehow "above" the rules that everyone else has to follow.

No fast travel, just carriages (unless I forgot to do something before leaving an area, then I'll cheat and jump back, then back to where I was afterward.) If I'm playing as a vampire I try to feed twice a night, and avoid sunlight as if it could kill me. If I'm not a vampire, I sleep 8 hours a day. Haven't bothered with eating though. I do allow myself some console cheats - I'll add some speed to my horse, and I regularly use moveto on followers if they're being stupid and falling way behind. I also will fix a follower's level if I want to continue using them late in the game (remove all their equipment, fire them, then use the console to disable/re-enable them, then rehire them.)

I don't restrict my crafting in any way as I'm playing, but I am using a mod that seriously nerfs damage enchantments, and fortify smithing potions and gear. I like the crafting system in this game, so I'd rather fix its balance than not use it.

1. No compass
2. No crosshairs
3. Gold doesn't like to be left lying around, it would rather be in my pocket, nice and warm. So I pick up every single gold coin I see. Have to make it happy, you know.

"its all? about sizing up your mark lad... the way they walk, what they are wearing... maybe you'd like a taste!?!" I can't help myself sometimes, I have to pick pockets and put house keys from other people in other pockets.

- if im doing quest for a faction i always have to wear that factions armor
- when spelunking i wipe out every one before the boss
- i try not to fast travel
- the only horse i will ever use in the game is Shadowmare
- i will always join the Imperial Legion and the Blades because i feel i'm obligated from previous games
- before i need to get out of the game i sleep in an inn or my house
- i don't use magicka unless i roll a mage
- when im in a town for a while i wear fine cloths and not armor and i always have my weapons unequipped

This. I finally made a female high elf that I have no problems with. Hiding that beauty would be a waste.

Here's my list when playing my "good guy" main character

1. Defend the weak- I don't let bandits or the local wildlife terrorize Skyrim's population
2. Accept only noble quests- even if I get a questionable or downright evil one, I won't do them
3. Give to charity- I regularly make donations to the poor and/or the temples who accepts them
4. Honor the Gods- every Sundas, I'll go to a temple and spend (ie: wait) 1 hour to honor the Gods
5. Pitty the helpless- if a bandit (or any other hostile NPC) submits and flees, I'll stop attacking... unless attacked again

I also never fast-travel. I make a habit to sleep 8 hours a night and I make sure he eats at least two meals everyday.

RP'ing my character any other way would be awkward to me.

1. steal from the weak
2. steal from the noble
3. steal from the charity
4. steal from the Gods
5. No pity for helpless

im a thief assassin btw, hail sithis but not nightmother its too creepy....

I totally would agree with you if I was done playing my warrior and switched to my thief

My high-RP character always changes to appropriate clothing, removes clothes to swim (and otherwise will NOT run around in her underwear in public), puts on a hood in the rain, doesn't run in towns. No FT except carts occasionally, and I usually stay in 3rd person to keep my movement speed to a walk unless there's a good reason to run. I don't sleep in order to help delay level-ups, but I wait in an inn or other appropriate location. She eats if I think about it, but I hate eating in real life, so I often overlook it in the game. She must have an in-game reason to go to a location, regardless of my knowledge from other characters.


Some rules I've been thinking about for realistic looting, inspired by my old D&D days with a DM who enforced reality.

1. You cannot carry loot and engage in combat. You must drop the loot first.

2. You can only carry as many items in inventory as you would be able to in reality. Example: an armfull of weapons, OR one heavy steel cuirrass (use common sense). Generally, you have to make a pile of anything you want to take away later. This can mean a lot of carrying items from all over a dungeon to a collection point.

3. To remove a large pile of loot, you have to simulate hiring a cart or mule train or something. You must go to a town to do this, or roleplay arranging for one ahead of time.

4. Once you have your simulated hired cart, you can return to the dungeon and fill up your inventory and then take it back to town. FT is actually preferred in this case, because of Rule #1. Basically, you're spending a day or so dealing with your loot and won't be able to do anything else. But you must FT to the nearest town, not all over the map. It can be to the nearest town with a merchant who will actually buy your loot (i.e. one with at least a blacksmith), but must be the same one where you hired your help.

5. If you have a horse, you may simply fill up your inventory, simulating that you're loading it all on your horse. FT is still preferred to take it anywhere, to avoid any hostile encounters.

I've started a new character just to try these and other hardcoe rules. Haven't actually gotten to a lootable location yet, but he didn't carry much of anything out of Helgen Keep. I've also decided he can't read, so no books ever, and can't read notes unless there's an NPC around who can read for him. There are a few quest-related journals that I'll have to "read" in order to take, but those will be the only exceptions.

Oh man, more power to you on that, I don't think i have the patience to stick to it.

Sweet! Thanks man, I'm totally gonna do this.

As for my rules, it's hard to say since I have more characters, and each has it's own little set of rules. As a general rule I always sleep before leaving town, and if I clear out a bandit camp and it's night/evening I use one of the bedrolls and sleep until around 6 am. I also tend to eat whenever I'm hungry in real life, so that both me and my character eat. Also non of my characters fast travel. And I don't do all quests with a single character, each character has a predefined path (just a frame at the beginning, not the whole thing) and will usually join/do/help in it's character. Each character also has a different beginning. I saved at riverwood, so from there I change the race and I set myself accordingly. For example, for characters who came from Morrowind I give them some dark-ish robes, give em more dirt, layered clothes (usually the college robes or something alike) and I "start" their path from the 'gate' between the Velothi mountain down south-east. People who have richer blood are usually clean, some bandits/thieves/assassins start in jail, lawful good characters avoid battle, and turn around when threatened by bandits in the wilderness and the list goes on for miles.

1. Never intentionally hurt foxes
2. Favor Khajiits and Argonians
3. Don't kill non-hostile Khajiits / Argonians

I never exploit AI pathfinding.

I have yet to face an enemy that I cannot defeat fairly, admittedly, sometimes takes me quite a few tries, on a rare occasion.

Don't kill non-hostile wildlife (or horkers)

Everyone mention thah them and bears are non-hostile, are they hostile only in my game then or what?

For the PC, there are a couple of mods where you can equip a map in your hand! I think some of you will really appreciate this.

Only if you get too close. Bears are much more territorial than horkers though. You can get pretty close to horkers. If you hear a bear growling in the distance, you are getting too close.

I heard today on some explorer show that rattlesnakes only attack unless provoked. I don't know much about what goes on in the instinct of an animal that want to kill me, because I'm usually running as fast as I can in the other direction. Did I say jump, run, flip, fall, down the other side of the trail into the water. Should be more stuff in there thats going to get me.

1. If a dragon attacks a town and the blacksmith dies i reload it lol
2. I go to my house in solitude and take all my weps that i make and toss them in a corner in the empty room on the bottom floor, Also save up gems and place them all in a pile huge pile, I get the sims in me when im in my house i go nuts on decorating since we can hold the item and move it to where we want it.
3. I beat up on the town guards and level my block up and my healing then i pay the crime fee.
4. I fus ro dah all wildlife and long tables to watch food and platters fly all over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Z1CgCvBTA&feature=channel_video_title lol

1) Follow rivers instead of roads when possible (I'm Argonian, so swimming is FUN.)
2) Hunting is done with a hand weapon. Wolves don't use bows or magic, neither do I.
3) Follow the fox! (Not to kill, but see where he goes.)
4) Leave an offering every time you receive a blessing. (Can be as simple as dropping a flower, gem, or gold. I like leaving spare amulets of that god's type if I have them. Azura got my first legendary Orc Greatsword.)

I allways try my hardest to do this

Depends on which character I am playing. For all of them though, try to eat twice in a game day, sleep once. I have some characters that never steal, and some that only kill those who attack the character. Others steal everything and kill lots. Some try to help out others, some don't care much. Some read a lot, or collect objects. I've seen some interesting rules that others play with, may try some of them with new characters.