After 500 hours and multiple characters in vanilla Skyrim, I'm finally ready to try my first proper modded play through! I'm looking for some recommendations please as I've never used mods before!

I recently came across the 'Live Another Life' mod and thought it looked great. I love the idea of starting somewhere random in Skyrim and ignoring the main quest. It seems to present a whole bunch of interesting RP opportunities. I can see myself, for example, starting as an Imperial soldier and going straight to the civil war quest lines. Or maybe becoming an Argonian dock worker in Riften. Perhaps instead playing as an Orc and starting out at one of their strongholds. Maybe even starting out as some kind of bandit and going from there. Sounds like an awesome way to freshen up the experience of Skyrim and to provide a new character with an interesting back story.

As I'm intending on starting a new play through with this mod, I thought I might as well look into other options that I could add to the game. I'm new to the modding scene as I've played nothing but the vanilla game, so I'd love to hear some discussion and recommendations regarding some of the well done content made by the community.

I'm not looking to alter the game fundamentally or to add any fancy graphics or silly/funny mods to my game. My primary focus is on adding extra RP elements and also on freshening up the experience. Any comments welcome!

I would first suggest to take a look at a few videos from Gopher on the basics of mods and how to use them. It will make you mod using days more joyful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxQ1JN_X-_Y&list=PLE7DlYarj-DdhDG41roBVJfNCqvO5MmKP

My favorite and most recommended mods are in my sig.

Have you thought about posting this in the Skyrim mods section?

Frostfall, Helgen Rebuilt, Realistic needs and diseases, Convenient horses, Cloaks of Skyrim, SkyRe

You can find them all at http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/?

Also, just search stuff on Nexus Mods that you would like. (ex. mage cloak, and then look through the mod list for a mod that you like in that category). Also, a lot of people don't like this, but if you are a beginner and want to install mods fast I would download the Nexus Mod Manager from they're website. It's free and Bug-less. The only problem is that it is still in Beta so it is ocassionally down.

Have fun!

Not sure if we can link mods here or not so I'll just give you some names.

Interesting NPCs: If you like a lot of dialogue and like snarky or annoying characters this mod adds locations, quests, followers, and a lot of npcs with lots of involved backstory. Problem with this mod tends to be the dialogue can be wordy and a tad out of character.

Frostfall: The main components are adding hypothermia, cold water survival, and camping equipment to the game. skyrim is a cold and dangerous place and the temperatures should kill an unprepared traveler...this added with cloaks of skyrim and wet and cold is a really great mod to have.

Wet and Cold + Wet and Cold Holidays: Adds wet and cold effects (hence why it works great with frostfall). Holidays also adds specific holidays to the game of skyrim that are lore-friendly.

Better Fast Travel Ships and carriages: Adds more carriages around tamriel at most small settlements and towns and also has pricing based on the distance of the destination...also adds several ships and boats in various locations as well. This works best if you do a do not fast travel playthrough by means other than realistic means.

timing is everything: Allows you to delay certain events until you get proper recognition. Can delay the main quest, dawnguard, daedric quests, or have them begin earlier on. This allows you to customize when certain events occur. You can even randomize when some of these events happen to make your playthrough unique every time.

The Choice is Yours: A companion mod to timing is everything this adds and prevents certain dialogues from being triggered til initiated. great companion mod and if you get timing is everything having your own choice about things is a great mod to go with it.

I NEED or Realistic Needs: Either of these two mods makes it necessary to eat, sleep, and drink which further increases the role playing value. Now you have to carry some food and water or risk penalties or death (toggleable via MCM)

Achieve That: Adds an in game achievement thingy that can be given to you via points earned or via achievements accomplished usually grants small in game bonuses...just a little a neat mod but not necessary if you don't want it.

when vampires attack and Run Away: Two great mods that allow non combatant NPC characters to flee when being attacked by dragons or vampires. the guards and combat npcs will stick with ya but the average every day citizen will not.

Trade and Barter: customizable (highly recommended) this changes the way buying and selling works in skyrim to make it more realistic and more unique and interesting. Some places you will get less for iron for example and other places it will be ridiculously overpriced. This is good if you go a no fast travel or better fast travel route. Allows lots of customizations and makes buying and selling a bit more unpredictable and interesting.

Complete Crafting Overhaul: Makes crafting more realistic to tamriel lore and great for rping.

Perks Maximus: Perk and combat overhaul mod by the creator of SkyRe it is currently in alpha with an expected release by the end of summer if all things go well.

or SkyRe: Basically is an overhaul of combat, perks, stones, ai, and more to make skyrim more realistic in combat.

Skyrim Immersive Creatures: I personally prefer the lore-friendly version but it is not necessary. I also customize out spiders since i get enough from the vanilla ones. Basically adds tons of new creatures that fit into the world of skyrim as well as diversifying the creatures that already exist to improve gameplay.

Convenient Horses: makes horses awesome. lots of customizable features and can make it more realistic or less so but these can be your loot carriers for awhile til you get a proper living quater. great mod.

Sands of Time: Adds a lot of unique random encounters and makes sleeping outdoors more dangerous...adds events and bunch of other stuff. Is an immersion mod that adds a consistent element of danger around every corner.

Follower Commentary Overhaul: Gives all followers in the game more dialogue when traveling (if you like followers you could also try one of the many follower mods that increase the number of followers you can have...I don't usually use more than one so not sure what they are)

Immersive Armors: If you're seeking to enhance your Skyrim with a greater selection of armor sets without breaking from the natural feel of the game, this mod is for you. It adds many new armor sets that have been seamlessly integrated into the world. The items are balanced and spread across your gaming experience. You will be finding new, power appropriate armor sets starting from level one up to level fifty and beyond.

Breezehome Fully Upgradeable: There are a ton of house mods available but this is probably my favorite and the author of this mod has even more planned. It takes the simple breezehome vanilla game house and makes it so much better but within the scope it could be realistically be seen for a thane or dragonborn to actually live in. If this one doesn't do it for you though there are tons of other greate house/castle/etc mods for someone regardless of their playstyle.

Immersive Weapons: Essentially the equivalent to immersive armors but with weapons instead. Just as great and made by the same modder so highly recommended. Gives a bit of a variety in the weapons department a much appreciated upgrade.

Harvest Overhaul: Great for any alchemist or collector of harvested items (they exist). Basically makes the harvesting method more realistic. See a clump of blue flowers instead of just getting one you now get 3-4 or more. It makes alchemy much easier for one but also more realistic. Now you get two butterfly wings for grabbing a butterfly instead of one. Highly recommended if you like alchemy

Moonpath to elsweyr (you can find a very recent patch for the mod in the comments section) takes you to elsweyr in a new land mod full of a completely different type of setting to skyrim

Falskaar: Falskaar is a new lands mod that adds an entirely new worldspace to the world. It's accessed by a dungeon the first time, then by boat from then on out.

parthunax dilemma: adds a short little expansion to this quest to make it less railroaded,

helgen reborn (add a few days after start of main game) allows you to rebuild helgen essentially,

Undeath - fight the necromancers do you aim to stop them or use them?

Wyrmtooth - An immersive new quest that takes you across Skyrim to the large island of Wyrmstooth. Battle across new landscapes and through new dungeons in this unofficial expansion.

Moon and Star: A quest mod with a fun pretty long quest with a pretty good storyline.

Epic Gameplay Overhaul - combination of mods including dragon combat overhaul, fire and ice overhaul (fire spreads ice can be used to build bridges, etc...), civil war overhaul (makes the civil war more complete now you can lose the war and battles for cities actually occur, combat drama (adds further kill cam and dramatic camera angles to battle to make it more interesting, epic music overhaul (allows you to customize the music in the game to your personal taste...plus it has another advantage of making music accurate...ends when you are out of battle and is just more intelligent in how it works

Unofficial Patches (must haves): proper patches for the game and dlc

deadly dragons - makes dragons deadlier by adding special types and abilities of dragons. works good with dragon combat overhaul

OBIS - adds a ton of organized bandits in skyrim different groups different types different strengths and weaknesses, different encounters and actual lore surrounding each of the over 1000 different types of bandits (they spawn where normal bandits would essentially.

provincial courier service - give that poor courier a home and a place to find him. why...because?

TARDIS: Not exactly lore friendly but this is great fun currently for any whovians. adds a tardis that can currently change the face of your character, give you a screwdiver to unlock any lock, and can travel to 60+ random locations in skyrim...plus a future quest mod and more locations planned to be added. just a fun little mod

Open Cities: Opens up cities to prevent some of those annoying loading screens...does conflict with a large number of mods though

Apocalypse Magic: Adds 140 fair and realistic world spells for any potential mage. A good alternative or addition to this is Midas Magic which adds 60 spells but has some really unique ones for master mages. Forgotten Magics is another very good one that has spells that 39 spells that you can learn that you can upgrade to make more powerful over time and learning.

Thunderchild Epic Shouts - adds 29 lore friendly shouts

Even Better Quest Objectives: enhances the quest descriptions in the vanilla game so that you have a clear sense of where your are supposed to go and what you are supposed to do besides looking at the quest markers.

guard dialogue overhaul: makes it so guards do not break immersion and actually have a lot more lines of dialogue.

Hunterborn: Hunterborn changes the simple routine of kill-and-loot on animals into something more immersive. This mod has its origins in Realistic Wildlife Loot, but I wanted something more in-depth for the actual process of dressing down a kill, skinning it for its pelt, taking material from it for alchemy, and finally butchering its meat - based on the animal's weight, not just a single cut of venison.

Hunting in Skyrim - A Hunting Guild: A mod that adds a hunting guild that the player can join in skyrim. Get different quests and even has perks you can raise via hunting (hunting perks). great mod that is still being worked on to make even better. not sure if it works with hunterborn or not.

lightning during thunderstorms: makes lightning actually active during thunderstorms and you and enemies can get hit if you customize it to be so.

Luftaraan - Heimfeigr: A dungeon from the eventually upcoming Luftahraan mod taken out of that one and added to skyrim for characters to sample. The puzzles are unique the boss fights interesting and different and overall a good dungeon experience even on its own.

Good Companion Mods: Vilja, Cerwidan, Arissa the wondering rogue, INIGO, and Hoth are my personal favorites

Skyrim Unique Collectibles - adds some collectibles in skyrim with a lore friendly and non lore friendly version. you can either sell them or collect them.

Hidden Treasures - adds around 200 treasure chests throughout skyrim but that are not easy to find in the slightest. Mainly contain treasures or other small items...I don't believe I've ever discovered any armor or weapons in them so it's more of a if you wanna try to find thing. The chests are also leveled so no finding ridiculous amount of money in places...I think.

Cloaks of Skyrim and Winter is coming: both good mods to be used with frostfall that add cloaks and hoods to the game to diversify appearances and make the winters of skyrim more realistic.

Bandolier - Bag and pouches: Adds lore friendly ways to show how you carry all that loot. This mod offers you many items that will increase your carry weight. At the moment, there are 7 new slots for the equipment: Chest, Back Left, Back Right, Front Left, Front Right, Left Side and Right Side. Different items can be quipped into different slots, so you can combine up to 7 different pieces. However there is also an option to not have any enchantments on the items to begin with if that is preferable.

Expanded Towns and Cities: adds people, buildings, and extra little areas to towns and cities to make them feel bigger or more liveable.

Book Covers of Skyrim and Unread Books Glow: The first mod changes the look of book covers to make them all more unique and realistic looking while the second one has it so unread books will glow to indicate you haven't picked them up yet.

A Matter of Time: Displays a clock interface type of thing on the Hud so that you can tell the time of day.

Immersive Hud: The aim of iHUD is to provide the immersive feel you get from having no HUD, whilst keeping the usefulness of having one. It takes the permanantly visible HUD elements such as compass and crosshair, and hides them when not needed.

SkyUI: More or less a must have mod that allows for better interface menus all around.

Awake Rise of Mannimarco: Not actually out yet but worth keeping an eye out for (expected to release winter 2014) and it is a collaboration by some of the best modders in the skyrim community...their goal is to make it a better dlc than the official bethesda ones. Will probably be awesome considering all of the many modders working on it.

Live Another Life: If you pick random you will be shipwrecked...I have never gotten or seen anyone else get anything but shipwrecked for random on live another life.

Hope that is enough to find something interesting....lol if you read this far.