Having been playing Morrowind for what seems like forever, I've gotten to a point where the game consistently ends up being too easy too quickly. I always have the difficulty slider maxed, but it appears to matter little. Thus, I'm attempting to come up with some rules to make the game stay challenging for as long as possible. Note that these rules are intended for a game with zero mods installed. The following three rules cover what I consider to be the most glaring issues with trivializing the game.

* No trainers - It's far too easy to make money in Morrowind, and the only long-term use of that is for training. Within two hours of starting a new game you can be running around as a level 30, destroying all in your path.
* No intelligence potion stacking - Creating lots of potions is okay. Creating lots of intelligence potions that in turn cause your other potions to transform you into a god is not.
* No enchanting of gear - Grand soul gems allow one to make weapons and armor that are far, far more powerful than anything in the game by default. Soul gems are only allowed to be used to recharge items.

Suggestions for other reasonable ways to limit myself would be GREATLY appreciated. Currently I'm also planning on not playing as a Breton, because the racial ability is absurdly powerful. None of the birthsigns seem to be too overdone, but input on that front would be welcome.

I don't think you have to stay away from trainers entirely. If you limit your funding, you make the game significantly more difficult. Training to the highest levels costs tens of thousands of Septims. Reduce the money the Drunken Mudcrab and Scamp Creeper have on hand, and you change the game for the better. When you're selling Daedric weapons for 1300 instead of 5000 or 10,000, you have significantly slowed you upward ascent to indestructibility.

Another idea: Don't steal anything not required for a quest. You'll have to make money the hard way, taking it from smugglers and the like.

You can modify some of the tougher creatures (Golden Saints, Ogrim, Dremora, etc.) so they are so tough, you will want to run away at lower levels (like under 30).

Modifying some of the NPCs you have to fight would be a great idea, too. Some of them have game-changing quantities of loot. Make them tougher, or remove some of the loot.

Agreed Morrowind's Achilles heal is its economy related to training. That's why you can only train five times per level in Oblivion.

If someone wanted to make the Kick-Ass Mod of All Time, it would be one that limits the number of times you can train per level to five, just like Oblivion.

You don't need to omit trainers.
But when you get expensive stuff, just take the 2000 gold from the Fighter's Guild vendor, and that's all.

Here's one I've tried that suddenly makes the game a lot more difficult:

Starting from the lowest rank of armor in your major/minor skill, you can only get one degree of better armor after 3 or 5 levels. So at level one, you can only have fur/iron armor. At level three or five, you can get steel/leather armor. And so on. Of course, you can also increase that to every ten levels if you like for an added challenge (you never realize just how important your armor is until you're svcking down potions like skooma to beat a guy or two who are either your same level or slightly higher with the same kind of armor...). Every armor/weapon upgrade feels like a godsend this way, and you really appreciate armor differences.

No "on strike" weapons.

One of the more interesting games I've played is one in which I allowed myself to equip only 4 items, an amulet, 2 rings, and a weapon. However, I did allow the enchantment of the jewelry. (With no mods you would also have to equip a piece of armor to get around the unarmored glitch).

If it's really that easy for you, try this rule:

Live with your actions (or die for that matter). Save only when you need to quit the game (or perhaps just in case it crashes). That means no reloading if things aren't going your way. It also means if you die... start from the beginning.

I think a hardcoe mode like Diablo 2 or Torchlight would have really kicked ass in Morrowind.

Personally, when I start my next character, I'll fix the mudcrab and scamp creeper. I'll have them in the game, but they'll only have 100 and 50 Septims, respectively. The Creeper can sell me Sujamma. I'll even keep him in my Ghorak Manor remake. Somehow, I need to fix him so his supply restocks.

I approve 1000 percent (that is, 100 percent stacked ten times) with self-imposed rules. Makes for good roleplay and avoidance of insane behavior that ultimately breaks the game.

Create a character with the worst combination you can think of and get higher disposition from NPC's only then this is required of a quest.

Sell everything you don't need to highest human vendor without higher disposition from any vendor except for a quest.

Let you character train as long your money is cover it and then training session is over go somewhere else to earn more money.

I once played a Warrior with these restrictions:

* Did not enchant armor or weapons or clothes.
* Did not use pre-enchanted armor or weapons or clothes.
* Did not use trainers.
* Did not use spells.
* Did not use scrolls.
* Did not use potions.
* Did not use soul gems.
* Did not do Alchemy.
* Did not use Guild Guides.
* Did not wear a shield.
* Did not wear pauldrons.
* Did not wear a helm.

It was a very interesting game.

Shield, I get. Helm, I get. Why the pauldrons?

Try playing without a screen.......................... <_<


Turning difficulty up would obviously help, if your into a more sadist style of game play. Or play through the entire game using only the stuff you find in the Census Office.

Of use one of the 5 billion mods out there that makes it harder

Go Cashless. Never spend any money, if the game gives you money, throw it away. Don't buy anything, only use what you can find or loot and repair yourself or what you can make for yourself. If a weapon breaks, you have to find a new one.

That makes for a challenging game.

Play blindfolded.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. For the time being, I'm going to try playing "hardcoe" (i.e. if my character dies, that's it, no reloading saves.) I'm also not going to utilize the Mudcrab and Scamp merchants. Given that, I'm modifying my aforementioned rules a bit and allowing for trainers since I won't have nearly as much in the way of funds to go around. I plan to only really make use of trainers to get +5 endurance bumps, however, just for the sake of maxing out my health gain per level since it's not retroactive; I don't believe in penalizing my character in the long-term because of what I consider to be arguably the worst design mechanic in the entire game. ><

Lastly, I'm going to try and not use any weapon with an enchant on it. I may end up imposing more restrictions, but I think this is a good start for a play-through. Worst comes to worst, I restart Morrowind for the millionth time and still have an enjoyable experience.

More suggestions are always appreciated! Also, Pseron Wyrd, that is a pretty intense playthrough. I assume you focused primarily on unarmored, then?

Avoid the overpowered items that exist in the game. Those rings that do massive poison or fire damage to targets with area effect, for example. Worst offender, the original Robe of St Roris.

One you might want to try is not using Recall or Almsivi/Divine Intervention to escape from dangerous NPCs or monsters. If you want to escape safely you'll have to get creative!

No resting in caves or dungeons that you haven't cleared out.

No spamming the trade button until the other guy gives in and takes the deal.

No morale-boosting visits to Desele's.