I'm just going to say this

Being in prison is NOT a tradition, unless you consider it one when it was done in the first game and the latest game. DF had you shipwrecked, and MW had you dropped off from a boat. If we say that being in prison counts as tradition, being on a boat is just as much of a tradition as being in prison is.

A prison boat though.

:celebration: hilarious idea!

If that is the case, then the PC will be encountered by a kindly golem with a cowboy hat and nursed back to health by an old herbalist who removes the arrow lodged in his brain.

Heavily downplayed, though, and it's still an open boat. No bars or anything.

No, TESII: Daggerfall had you sailing in your ship across the Iliac Bay on the emperor's quest when a storm crashed your ship and you were stuck in a cave. You started at the sealed entrance of the cave and had to find a way out. You were most definitely not a prisoner.

Starting off as a prisoner limits how one wants to RP from the getgo, which is, you are a felon. And the excuse of "you were framed" can only be used so much before it's mind numbing.

Also, you neglect to know that sailing can be quite dangerous. One could be involved in a shipwreck. No need for amnesia, being attacked by wimpy bandits, or starting out as a felon.

Was it downplayed? But you're right. I just like starting in prisons. I like people talking to you and you tell them about yourself. Don't like amnesia like new vegas. Though if they started you as a child a la Fallout 3 perhaps..?


Nah prison



But having any backstory forced upon you hinders RP more.

What about being in a shipwreck. The icy portions of Skyrim's northern ocean can be dangerous, you are not a fugitive or an escaped felon from the get go, and no more "I was framed" garbage. There are other, more RP friendly options that do not use amnesia or other silly things.

I was thinking that the beginning, you would either go through Childhood (though the chances of this are slim) OR...


The game begins only with the sound of wind howling... then crunching is heard as the wind starts to die down. Footsteps in snow perhaps.. the screen goes from black to a blurry white, as you seem to be moving through a snow covered plain. Or rather, being dragged. You can see a trail of blood following your body, and hear your heart beating...

The screen goes dark again as screaming can be heard, orders being shout. A voice shouts seemingly from behind you.

"We have a bleeder! Was hit during the volley..." a loud ringing emits, and the only sound you hear is this ringing and your heart beat.

THen, your vision suddenly returns, you finding yourself looking at a smoke covered sky, the sounds of battle not to far off in the distant. Two people can be seen above you as you raise a gloved hand slowly. One reaches a hand out and grabs it.

"We need you to relax! You are bleeding badly, just hold still." the hand pulls itself from yours and tilts your head to the side, where you can see your reflection in a blade. Character customization begins.

Once finished, another cutscene begins.

"Damn it! Im out of Magicka! We need to use a potion if we are going to save this one!" one of them says. A little dialogue between the two as your heart beat begins to speed up, then one of the healers place a hand on your chest and shove a vial to your lips, pouring its contents down your mouth. "This is not going to taste good..." is all they say, before your characters lets out a scream as the heartbeat goes VERY fast. Then everything blacks out again....




When you come to, the screams can still be heard in the distant, echoing through a cave you find yourself in. The tutorial begins.

I believe that you could be a prisoner of war this time around. It would make since considering the civil war.

Yeah I could live with a shipwreck. To explain why I was there I would say me and some buddies got drunk (Nordic ale is strong) and went for a pleasure cruise. Sadly I was the only survivor.

Actually, finding Jiub might make sense. We last heard of "St." Jiub driving all the cliff racers out of Morrowind. According to the latest novel (Which are canon, as far as I am concerned.) Much of Morrowind is not exactly a nice place to live anymore, thanks to a certain moon/prison obliterating the place. This would mean many Dunmer are now displaced. Where do they go? Cyrodiil? Maybe. Skyrim? Makes sense too. Jiub could be among those refugees, and could make an appearance.

Wrong thread. Also, he died during the OB crisis, after driving the cliff racers away.

I think this is a given, just in what form the prison will take is the question

I think starting in the brig of a viking boat would be sweet., someting new and its not prison

Prison is a good start, I'm sure most heroes spend at least one night in jail in their life. Maybe you had a few to many and decided to get on a horse.

I don't really mind if it's in jail or not, as long as they don't force any kind of background story onto my character. Being in jail for an unknown reason is a good way to do that, but there are other ways.

Of course. It's tradition, I would be dissapointed if they didn't do it.

I like the idea that you start as a prisoner and escape during a huge prison break, hell maybe they take you out of prison to be used as cannon fodder against a dragon and you survive, they hail you as dragon born etc etc

It made sense to start in prison - as that way you have Nothing equipment wise and are starting from scratch. I think the way they handled it in Oblivion was quite well done.

I expect they will come up with no less an intuitive approach to starting TES V

Hey one thing i realized about Bethesda style of doing things, be it Elder Scrolls or Fallout 3,
you always start off in a very small place (Prison / Vault) which kindda acts as a tutorial of sorts.

The magic begins when you open the final door and view the outside world for the first time.
(Eg: viewing the lush green world of oblivion, or the desolate world of the capital wasteland)

Its been something of a Bethesda signature over the years.

So yea, unless they can think of a location thats underground and shuts you off
from the outside world, a prison is probably the easiest way to implement.

I'm expecting something tied to prison at least, if not as obvious as you actually being in the prison and getting out.

What I would like is something more dramatic than the way we started in Oblivion. Rather than walking most of our way out, I'd like the idea of us being actively chased out of a prison, while in Oblivion the guards just led us out (sure, they were lackadaisical about our survival, but whatevs).

Rather than a state prison, we were picked up and imprisoned by some out-of-the-way, malicious duke who lived in the middle of nowhere and enjoyed torturing us, and just after a session on the rack, we somehow escape and have to stumble through the catacombs of his tower, covered in wounds and bodily fluids and being chased by hounds/spectres/guards before we finally reach the outside. And when we reach the outside, the weather is similar to the dream sequence at the beginning of Morrowind; i.e. torrential rain and thunder. We tumble down into some bushes, barely conscious and desperate to get away, fall down a Fjord into the ocean and a boat and it's sailors pick us up and nurse us to health. Then we get off at a harbour (of our choice) and start our life.

I'm not quite sure how that would fit in with a main quest concerned with dragons though.

I like the prison start that some of the games had, as well as the character generation when you are already playing the game (like in OB, FO3). I hope they'll put you in prison again, with a nice bit of story and character generation along the way.

I want to start in the shattered carnage and wreckage of some gawdawful battle, an inexperienced soldier, one of the few survivors left to piece together the how and why of [whatever world threatening disaster] and fix it. Expendable, so I'm sent off to start a quest that more valuable personnel cant be wasted on, which then turns out to be the big thing and I become the hero of the universe.

Fear my sneak shot of poisonous justice!

I have nothing against it.