Role PLayers,
I have been going at this game for a while now, I play every day 1-12 hours randomly. I really enjoy it and so far have played to try and experience EVERYTHING I can. The only real research I've done is on what groups quests if done first might cut off others. I always thought that RP was jsut not my thing. I dug deeper and thought, um, lame and boring. But here in these forums I have read about RP styles that some of you are into and it sounds REALLY interesting. I would not go as far as to be sure I sleep through the nights or eating because it's a meal time...... But some things I've read are neat.

I'm looking for any advice an RP'er can give to a non RP'er so that one might RP for a while and not get so frustrated with it that they stop and condemn the play style. I'd like to give this a shot and will on my own starting tonight. Any big points to focus on? Or do you think I'll find my own path if I just got for it?

Gracis,
Happy Holidays,
Cheers!
Scynfewl

To start you can just do things your character would do and act like he would act.

For me the fun of role-playing a character comes from two things:

1 - Doing things in the game you might not normally do, because it's realistic for a character.
2 - Limitations that you must overcome that you wouldn't normally have to.

Point one could be always sleeping in a bed at night, instead of running around like some sleep-deprived crazy person, or making sure you always eat, or visiting a temple once a week. Little details like that. If you want something less mundane, you can get more creative - maybe you have a dark character who is obsessed with capturing souls, so he keeps a ton fo soul gems on his person and svcks up animal/people/whatever souls like crazy. The sky is the limit - add some flair.

The second one is basically just forcing yourself to get around the fact that, in TES games, your character can be the best of everything. Don't get ALL the houses or rise to the head of ALL the factions. Do the ones that make sense. If your character is very pious, never use soul steal. If you character is a very wealthy charismatic trader, don't specialize in combat skills. Make sure you simply have a very beefy companion with you if you ever need to poke holes in something.

Experiment, and you'll find that you can add a LOT of time to this game.

You could even roleplay a couch potato, find a house then just sit on your [censored] all day, only getting up to make dinner.

hardcoe.

All this time I've been a hardcoe role player! I was so deep I didn't know it was play.

Start by trying to play a good pc in character. Its pretty challenging trying to decide how to handle quests and whether to see them through because many of them are so ambiguous. Like the one with the Redguard women hiding from her fellows in Whiterun, where its hard to tell who is telling the truth and what the right thing to do is? Sometimes you are asked to do pretty nasty things which you might need to do for the greater good.

I think it makes the game more immersive and challenging if you are trying to play in character and have to think more carefully about your choices.

Gonna try this. But command Lydia to do the cooking instead.

Then I will cordially invite you to join the guild of total slobs.

*5 minutes later*

Congratulations, you are now promoted to Arch Slob. Here's your food stained T Shirt of office.

Immersion, immersion, immersion!

remember to allways have food and drink to eat. stop in at a tavern, try to eat 3 full meals each day(plus a few drinks and snacks).

also sleep every night or two, for 7-9 hours.

never use direct fast travel. carriages may or may not be viable, but fast traveling makes no sense at all.

you could possibly go as far as never waiting( so what? you stand there for x hours and then just do whatever?)

Just always have a character-based reason for what you choose to do. If you fast travel, give yourself a brief moment during the load screen to imagine how you've been lulled by a peaceful journey across Skyrim. If you wait, picture yourself having arrived late at night to the Jarl's castle and lingering over mead at his table until he awakens. If you wake someone from their sleep, only do it if you've got urgent news. If you prefer a game mechanic or situation, think of a character-based reason. I'm not fond of the swimming in Skyrim, and I imagined my first orc hated the water as well and went out of his way to avoid it.

Go into it knowing that you will progress at a lot slower pace compared to usual, if you go into it thinking that nothing will change except eating etc, you will fail.

I like rping sometimes, but I draw the line at eating and sleeping at normal hours. Hell, I don't sleep normal hours now. Too far for me to remain interested.

Just come up with an idea, make a character that looks the part, wear whatever makes sense and make the decisions. You got it.

I like RPing and making very niche builds. The main thing to know is to stick to what and who your character is. Dont do things that you would do, but what your character you created would do. Some interesting niche builds:

A Witchdoctor

Inquisitor

Druid

Crusader

Archaeologist

Farmer

Miner

Foreman

Courier

Pirate

Nobility

Monk

Astronomer

Naturalist

Trapper/furrier

Bar Wench

Town Drunk

Town Skooma Addict

Skooma dealer

Serial Killer

Spy

Private Investigator

Town guard, town command

Militia

Boxers

Bards Librettist

Bar Hands

Shop Hands

Dock Hands

Shrimp and Potatoes

Shrimp Gumbo

Poachers

Outlaws

Con artist

Court Wizard

Court Jester

Court Composer

Alchemist