So in an effort to create more immersion and additional "realism", I'm imposing the following rules on myself for my first play-through. Tell me your thoughts/opinions/additions here .... also how much of this could be implemented into the game through mods? Also, TES doesn't have hard core mode like Fallout, right? I never played hardcoe modes in Fallout 3, but did have some of these rules for myself.

+ Waiting and Sleeping
- Character must sleep for at least a few hours every 36 hours
- No waiting unless in a tavern/house or other logically appropriate place (I find myself just waiting on a shop's doorstep of a shop if it's off-hours of the day, which doesn't really make sense)
> The Goal: Attempt to keep a sense of daily cycles and time of day

+ Fast Travel
- normal fast travel (between discovered points) can only be done to the nearest settlement with an tavern and rest must be taken at appropriate times
- fast travel to undiscovered points (i.e. "Silt Rider" or w/e) counts as rest; if it's instant mage transportation, no time is lost anyway (if anyone knows how this fast travel is handled, let me know!)
> The Goal: Again, keep a sense of daily cycles, since riding a horse is tiring

+ Dying and Reloading
- No reloading to change an outcome except on death OR some horrible misunderstanding of the game mechanics
- Death must be avoided -
Option 1) A gold penalty (10% of total gold?) and forced fast travel to home town, which would simulate paying someone to resurrect my character or heal him after being very badly hurt.
Option 2) Saving the game is only allowed when sleeping in a bed. Death results in starting the entire "day" over. In RP terms, the day ending in death was a bad dream. (credit to Morchai for this idea, which I like alot)
> The Goal: Decisions and death have added consequences and permanence

Carriages can be used to fast travel. They're basically the silt striders of Skyrim.

Anyway, I like your ideas. If you're going to make your character sleep, I suggest making him have to eat and drink as well.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Roleplaying

I know it's Oblivion specific, but a lot is similar to what you've said, as well as some other things that probably will carry over.

I like the idea of instilling my own rules and regulations on my characters, not all of them but some. here are some of them.

I had a mage that had a muscle wasting disease and he had to drink a bottle of skooma every week just to keep his muscles from degrading. This also meant that I never added any points to strength during level ups.

I had Warriors Orc's and Nords that had no idea about magic and never cast a spell, or mixed a potion, they were all bought. Very hard early on. and this alos meant that some quests which relied on spells cast could not be completed.

And after I know the gamplay inside out, 5th or 6th Character, I do play hardcoe where a death means no reload, only time I save is the end of my evenings gaming.

Without the reward or penalties coded into the game, I could never bring myself to care much about this stuff. Shame that they are not an option however (they stole perks, why not hardcoe mode?).

My rules when playing this game


Kill everything and everyone I meet once I've worked out they aren't going to give me a job. (hopefully we won't have telepathic guards like in Oblivion who knew from 50 miles away that I just killed some pleb)

Steal everything I possibly can and sell it back to whoever I stole it from (again, hopefully, there won't be Obilvion-style merchants who recognise their diamond or whatever amongst all the ones in my bag)

Ignore the main quest for as long as possible (In Oblivion I only did the main quest all the way through once)

I like this one in particular. Great idea! (Not saying I'll do it... I like gold. But I really like the idea from an immersion perspective.) Maybe on a second playthrough.

Edit: Spelling

That sounds stupid as hell.

In Oblivion I only fast traveled if I was riding my horse.

You could also save your game any time you sleep in an inn or house and only revert to those saves after you die. This way, you have incentive to avoid death because dying could cost you hours of play, and the death can be RPed as a nightmare. That would be better than a gold penalty, which seems too video gamish and we don't want that in our video games.

Now this one I would be more on board with. Nice idea, Morchai. You end up playing your "day" all over again, as if each day is a separate adventure. The nightmare aspect ties in nicely.

I like the part where you have to fast travel to "your" hometown... Makes you a bit more carefull. Also agree on adding that you have to eat and drink aswell

This is a good idea - I very well may go with that. Like you said, it provides another reason to rest/return home, which is good, and the nightmare thing fit fairly nicely in.

However, I'd argue the gold penalty for getting brought back from the "edge" of death isn't TOO video gamish ... in terms of RP, your friend who knew where you were going and wonders why you haven't returned finds you unconscious, bleeding, dying, carries you to the healer, who then wants his money for saving your life, which you gladly provide him. I suppose it depends on where you saved, cause they might not make sense. Maybe amnesia?

This is a good source of ideas. I'm not so interested in the most of the really detailed stuff here. I do have an involved back-story to my character though.

Mate, its a TES game, you can do "whatever you want", remember?

This is true. To each their own. This sounds like more of a chore than my approach. :facepalm: