Sorry if this is a little verbose.

OK, my present character Jules has been a fun character to play to date. She leveled up in curves as I planned meaning; when I need her to get to a certain level in something she levels quicker, and then slows down leveling when she meets certain goals by no longer needing or using certain talents or skills switching to others that changes with her growth as her story unfolds. Everything was working great and I had no idea where things would end up.

This is where my problem comes in; the last two characters started out great then after completing the main quest they slowly move into the 'goody two shoes' behavior and wrongful doings no longer fit the character. Running around saving the world as a great hero gets boring fast. I have come up with a ton of excuses and plots to break free from this mold and none match the character's developed personality.

Which means starting another charactor (I'm going to use the same recipe as I did with Jules) without completing the MQ.

My thoughts are the main quest by its nature is responsible for narrowing the RP growth options.

I would appreciate your thoughts and experience regarding this.

I have more hours into Oblivion than all other games combined and I have never completed the main quest. Yes, I do think saving the world takes a certain type of character and so far, none of my characters has been up to that task. But Apelles Sulinaes may yet prove himself worthy of the title Champion of Cyrodiil. Time will tell.

Worst comes to worse, just ask yourself: What would love-able, schizophrenic Akatosh do? ...

...

Everything...

My CoCs tend to be Anti-Heroes. As in, I'm literally summoning daedra and undead to battle against daedra and undead. The only justification you really need is: You don't want some loonies unleashing Armageddon. You don't have to be a good person. Just look out for yourself.

I mean, if you need inspiration, just look at the holy Divine Crusader... He was the most demonic creature to ever grace Nirn, and Alessia had to actually make SACRIFICES just to make the Divines forgive his sins when he went into blood-rages and started slaughtering his own soldiers, and then salting the earth. Effectively wiping a small area... Off the friggin map.

And yet, he freed humanity from Umaril's oppression.

Heroes tend to be the best villains after-all. Don't buy into that child-hood fairy tale nonsense. And like I said before, just ask what good-old Akatosh would do!

I don't think Oblivion's main quest ruins RP, but Shivering Isles sure did. The canonical end of the protagonist literally killed my interest in the game.

In fact I wouldn't even be on this forum had I not seen this thread on the main page.