The author of the "Playable Dremora" mod managed to get a script that fires successfully when the player chooses the custom race. The script itself removes the starting clothes and adds a custom robe and book, as well as equipping it.
I decided to try giving it a go; first attempt was to re-make the scripts involved (copy/paste, changing the items, race, and script name.) Tested it... and nothing. Figuring that there's a firing script somewhere that I missed, I piggybacked the race/item stuff onto the script from the afore-mentioned mod... and still, nothing. The script doesn't yell that I've made a mistake, and I've been saving it. And, before you ask, yes the script worked when I chose the Playable Dremora race, despite having that other stuff tacked on.
Now, i know that the script should be working, since I changed absolutely none of the wording aside from where it points to the items and race, and I've double- and triple-checked my spelling. Any clue what I'm doing wrong?