Any time I play a game like this for the first time I always role-play. I don't start getting silly and going on killing sprees until usually I've gone through the main quest at least once. But the whole reason I love games like this is for the immersion. I sometimes fast travel, but much of the time wander the countryside, find out of the way inns, sit by the fire, sleep, etc. Sometimes I'll go on night excursions and see what I can drum up. I miss the rest with encounters from Daggerfall though. It would be as though you're out in the bush, beat, need to sit down for a bit. Rest for an hour or so, and dammit there's a spriggin, all up in your grill. heh.

My first character will probably be a bland nord warrior, and I am just going to plow straight through the main quest, so I can get a feel of the game. Then, I will delete him, and make a stealthy khajiit or bosmer and actually enjoy the game.

Buy a horse and you'll play a mage. Horses and fast travel are probably an alchemist's two worst enemies. Tough monsters that don't give up their hide easy come in 3rd (Atronachs, Daedra etc).

I don't know enough about the game to do much planning for my build... hell, we don't even know if there are attributes yet. However, I played a male dark elf mage in Oblivion and a male argonian warrior in morrowind, so I want to mix it up again for my Skyrim playthroughs.

I do know I am going to play as a male Breton, probably named Severian Gael, or something along those lines (Book of the New Sun nod if you're a Gene Wolfe fan. If you aren't, it's possibly the best fantasy series out there). I will be born under the sign of the Atronarch (made me think of Autarch, haha) or the Apprentice (also made me think of the Torturers' Tower). Lady and Warrior are also possibilities depending on how the benefits differ this game. I will be from High Rock, with unclear origins as I can only remember bits and pieces of my early life, some of which may or may not have been a dream. Severian may be slightly schizophrenic but for the duration of the game the symptoms will have abated except when very alone for extended period of time. Either way, the solitude, loneliness, and silence, punctuated by dangerous, terrifying encounters, that characterizes extended off-trail horseless exploration in Skyrim fit his disposition and capabilities.

I will play as a nightblade(w/ a bit of battlemage), preferably using cold or lightning magic to supplement longswords. If I enchant a good claymore I'll use that occasionally when I am in a bind to fit the Severian thing. I will be good at one handed blades, blocking, athletics, and light armor. When I can wear a black cloak I will. I plan to invest a lot of my power in Destruction, Alteration, Illusion, and Restoration. If there are any survival, perception, or healing skills I will use those a lot, instead of Restoration. I will be an excellent Smith and Enchanter, and a pretty good Alchemist. I will not be as good at persuasion but I'll try to get a couple good perks out of it so I can make due. Past those skills I will also get good at sneaking and security if I can, but Alteration and Illusion will probably be better for my purposes.

I will probably play resembling my own natural judgments throughout the game, which means I will generally take actions that are best for society. However, I am still known to be ruthless, making ethically gray choices and occasionally killing NPCs I find unlikable/dishonest for good reason or provoking and executing someone who interferes with one of my goals (I don't do that in real life, but I am not hurting anyone by doing it in a game). If I can get important roles and accomplishments, gaining notoriety and power within a town or faction, I will do so. I am a reluctant but skilled leader. However, when I leave town and wander, I am anonymous. I will try to hide my identity when I get into a new town, but it's likely I won't be able to avoid some responsibility after long. I will help anyone who asks, but if I judge that they are in the wrong I will enact retribution.

I plan to explore Skyrim without fast travel. I will start off the game wherever it starts, and do every mission available in the first town. Then I will probably go wander a bit, before heading towards the next main quest location. If on the way I end up in another town or settlement I will spend a lot of time doing whatever is there to do and preparing better equipment. Then I'll head to my goal again. I will probably play the rest of the game like that but I may randomly go off the beaten path to test my limits, explore a new type of terrain, or go for an artifact or quest reward that I find particularly tantalizing. If I see Nordic, Dwemer, or Daedric ruins I am just not going to be able to resist exploring them.

I plan to camp and hopefully sleep more often, assuming there is actually a survival need for that in this game (unlike Oblivion, where all the bed pallets were essentially useless except once every 3 hours of gameplay). I am definitely going to play as a separatist from the Empire. I will join the mage's guild right away, and whatever assassin's guild (or tortuer's guild) there is as well. I'll eventually join the other factions and finish their questlines. I will do the main quest as I go, and that will determine my long journeys to the next town, but I don't plan to leave any major questlines left, if any quests at all, before I finish the game.

If I get bored with my first character and need a break, or just want to play a different style some of the time or for the expansion, I'll start a second character that will be a female, machiavellian Dark Elf assassin that uses ranged weapons, daggers, and stealth, along with conjuration, persuasion and security. She'll be born under either the Thief of the Steed. Probably Thief. She'll also be good at survival and perception type stuff, along with crafting. If I have any ability to get good at something else it'll be either Illusion or Alteration.

I don't have a character build planned out, but i can already tell you fast-travel is out of the question.

Lot's of exploration!

Couldn't agree more with some of these posts. I played through Oblivion a touch too quick, despite also doing the Thief guild questline during playthrough. I just rushed it, and lost some of the Morrowind immersion. Unfortunately, you do need some real self control not to use the likes of fast travel, despite the fact most of us don't like it!

I will either be a Nord or a Khajit. Really not sure at the moment. With a Khajit, my only concern is getting in to the storyline with that character, but I like the idea that he can potentially understand the claw based dragon language.

I must say that two races I really have no intention to play whatsoever are the Dark Elf and Redguards. They seem quite popular on here, but I just can't associated with them at all. Redguards are just really boring to me!

I agree with this 100%,especially with games like the elder scrolls.
I like to take my time,look at the scenery etc....i loved being wrapped up in those worlds.
Each to their own i suppose....but its good advice :thumbsup:

Like most people I'll be taking things slowly, exploring every nook and cranny and enjoying the whole experience

If previous experience is anything to go by I will be making, re-making and 'tweaking' characters for the first few weeks. I fully expect to re-start the game 20 or 30 times before I finally settle on something that is 'me', and move beyond the starting 'area' (village, dungeon, town or whatever the starting / tutorial area turns out to be)

lol. I know the feeling! It is pretty hard to settle on something that fits just right with your own psychy.

I'm probably going to do the same thing I always do.

Go to the nearest town while exploring some nearby places. When I get to town I will look around for a bit, explore the social features, maybe buy a weapon or two. A few spells. Then I might look up a quest or more likely explore some more.

In any case, I'm going to ignore the main quest for a long time.

Why not just use fast travel to go home only lol, I never fast travel places apart for wen I needed to buy and sell alot of stuff. Just set out adventuring and then once you've done or quest or full of loot fast travel back IMO Tia is the best way to play ad it stops you getting carried away half exsloring places because if there's one thing more tempting that fast travel it's that next blimp on the map cave to exsplored wen really I don't have the time/space/hp/ect to do it.

As for my ply through I'm not sure is my kahjit jakah'ja-do will return or a nord will hear the cry to save his home. It's fitting and I never playing dark elf or imperial
For the last two games so I think I may have to this time.

When I started playing Morrowind, I was veteran RPG player and quest hero, but newbie in open world era, so I just gawked around and went off sight seeing and drinking the world's atmosphere, which was perfect.

I lived the life of a nomad, and attended small quests and lost myself into life stories of the population.

I did not complete the quest line of any guilds and factions for quite a while, but maybe the thief's guild and Bal Bolagmar was sooner than others, and did not complete the main quest till much later, but I saw that it was quite compelling and two sided in any aspect, and really brilliant.

In Oblivion I was veteran in any aspect, and I started like in Morrowind, and lived the life of a nomad thief for the starter, and did not visit Kwatch for quite a while, but did not complete the main quest ever, I was bored long before that, and only played it to try newer mods to see if they can bring me back into the game.

OOO was a fresh start and later FCOM, and my mods helped a lot as well, and I finished the dark brotherhood quest lines, but not the others.

Roland, I like your plan. In FNV, I explored my heart out and never went to New Vegas for ages (over 100 hours). It is the exploration of the world that is my favorite thing. I hope there's more freedom to Skyrim exploration than I can even imagine.

My character will be Marcus, a former Imperial Legionaire down on his luck. Marcus ventured north, following the failure that was the ascension of the Mede family to the Imperial Throne and the debacle of the Infernal City. An avid study of history, Marcus had always had a flair for the dramatic, as well as a love of studying the great men of history, such as Uriel, Tiber, and Reman. However, after retiring his post as a Legionaire and going into the frozen north, he took to Rotgut and menial labor (after all, what could an Imperial do as a mercenary in a land of -Nords-!). As a drunk, he oft got into trouble, with local gangers, at bars, etc.

One night, in whichever city we start in, he got into a particularly nasty fight at the Boar's Head tavern and was kicked out into the gutter, and taken to the dungeons of the city for assault and disorderly conduct (because he was Imperial. Disorderly conduct is -normal- for Nords). Following his release by whatever means it is, I'll probably take him around, train him on dumb missions and goblins to get his up a bit, join the Fighter's Guild, gain some fame, and alternate between the main quest and the fighter's guild.

I'm currently on my first playthrough of Oblivion and playing exactly like this. And it's AWESOME! Everything is new, and I take the time to explore. Definitely going to play SKyrim like this.

From what I hear about Skyrim, I think exploration and the dangerous land would be perfect for my preferred style of game-play, and I would like to wander around, exploring the beauty of the dangerous land, while trying to keep alive, and join any event that seems interesting, and become acquainted with the life stories of the people and maybe help them or steal from them as I like.

I will not advance in the main quest for a long time, if I can prevent it.

I like to try and stay around finishing quests in one town for as long as I can without getting too bored.

It makes the world feel a lot bigger when you’re not criss-crossing it twice a day, and seem that much cooler when you come to a new land or return to a place you havent seen for a long time.

First thing I'm going to do is turn the difficulty slider ALL the way up.

Then, I'll slowly explore the area in which I originate. Clear out a nearby dungeon a little bit at a time. Sell the loot. Get to know the locals. Learn how the alchemy system works. Do some peasant quests (this is what I call quests that don't come from high ranking NPCs). I was late to the party with Oblivion and I played it this way and it was fantastic. I didn't start messing with guilds and the main quest until I was about level 10. I'll prolly do the same with Skyrim. Also, I can proudly say I never used fast travel. :wink_smile:

Well, I think I am going to take some these wonderfull tidbitds of advice and take it slow, put off the main questline and major sidequest for later and try not to use fast travel.

My character will be a Breton Spell-for-Hire named Loic Deail. (Or something else, I don't really like this name too much haha)

I have enough planning in my real life. I don't want to plan when I play and relax myself.

Well, according to the guys making the maps , winterhold is in the game...
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1158031-slyrim-map-discussion-2/page__st__20__p__17030954__hl__skyrim+map__fromsearch__1#entry17030954

Alchemy is a good way to make some extra cash in the beginning if you're poor, especially for characters who are focused on magic.
The mages guild doesn't pay much cash. Low ranking members are usually treated as dirt and are lucky to get any reward at all.

So, as a low level mage you can always use a few hundred extra septims to buy a new spell every once in a while.

I'll play it through the opposite way I played through Oblivion: take it slow, explore where I want to explore. I won't try and find everything, I'll just do what I want to do and see where it takes me.

wut i found to work really well... is collecting all the graqes from skingrad... then going otthe priory of the nine and collecting everyting... then i forget which town has a decent farm on it. running in between those towns works really well for alchemy. u get a mess load of ingredients.

I have no idea what I'll do... But I have a rough idea of who I'm going to be.