Greetings earth-type persons (and any others present).

I'm creating this thread to discuss the feasibility and options for creating a Dead is Dead "Nekkid Nordic Challenge" playthrough.

The basic concept is (in what passes for my mind) a Dead is Dead competition based on the most simple of characters. The character can be male or female, of any race (not necessarily Nord) but the parameters are severely limited. I thought perhaps we could play it between regular competitions, eh?

I think that difficulty should be limited to Master because this is going to be a very difficult challenge.

Here is what I'm thinking for restrictions:

Mods are under normal competition rules... No mods that give the character an advantage allowed.

The character is allowed no clothing or jewelry (puritans and other nekkid-impaired or nipble-challenged pipples may use a roughspun tunic or ragged trousers unenchanted, of course) no shoes, hoods or helms, no armor of any sort.

No magic is to be used other than basic powers and abilities granted by the game at the time of character creation.

No perks.

I think perhaps shouts should be allowed, because if you can get them with these restrictions, you've earned them.

No alchemy is to be used EXCEPT as ingredients eaten. Feeling sick? Eat a hawk feather. Need healing? Eat a blue mountain flower. Want frost resistance? Chew on a thistle. Feeling limp? Eat a rocky mountain oyster.

Food that has various effects I think can be allowed, but that should be discussed.

No smithing (possibly with the exception of creating a few arrows)

Weapons are limited to unimproved dagger and/or an unimproved bow.

No companions

Horses allowed but "convenient horses" are restricted to no inventory usage.

I came up with these notions while driving around Wiltshire. I mean, originally, I found myself at Stonehenge, but when I asked directions to Wiltshire, everybody I asked just laughed at me. Then, I stopped into the Wadworth Brewery, and soon I didn't really care where Wiltshire was... and they were nice enough to eventually tell me that Wiltshire was a county, not a town... and point out that I had been IN Wiltshire the whole time.

So then, I went out and tried to drive around, but those damned fools kept driving on the wrong side of the road, and scared me half to death. Anyway, I went past King John's Castle somewhere along the way, and I couldn't figure out why it's named that! King John don't live there, apparently never did, and it seems he doesn't own it, and never did... So back to the brewery I go to ask why it's named that way. I don't remember what they told me... or anything else that day...

What has that to do with the Nekkid Nordic Challenge? Nothing, I'm just showing everybody what a good time we can have...

I think this sounds fun, but I think the nekkid nords should be able to use a big axe (if he can get it back from the witch). I just can't imagine a nekkid nord without a big axe. Unsmithed, of course.

We could put the axe to a vote, I suppose, eh?

I am definitely interested in a minimalist survival challenge with 'some' hope of seeing it through...count me in. No smithing for arrows please it's the thin edge of a slippery slope..arrows can be bought or won. Waraxe (that's one handed) a Dagger ( Back up) and a bow. Only one of each. No improvement but trade ups can be bought, won or found ( inc stolen). Agreed....Master.....no magics...no perks.....Racial attributes and magics at start up are allowed. Shouts....yes. horses.....yes. No chooseable companions......yes. No alchemy .....yes no enchanting......yes. Trading with found/purchased potions/poisons and mined ores ( no smelting mind).......are allowed, yes. Naked or simple tunic....yes. No fast travelling OR Cart use....ya have ta walk or ride the land and its dangers! Oh and ' big axe' 2H for Turija....maybe no shield carried then!

Looking good so far.......if it's as my list I'm happy and that encompasses all your suggestions also. That's a fun and difficult build to play, but retains some scope for development. What quests? I might suggest MQ only upto Mirmulnir to activate shouts. None of the big six quest lines for this simple build....only side or misc quests plus ad hoc dungeon delving. Oh and no house building or purchasing.....let's be out of Towners using inns, bed rolls, camp tents etc Oh....and shields, un-improved of course.....in or out? This is pretty close to something like a Native American nomad of say two hundred years back. But I'm not the expert on that field


Holy Cack Neil ! If you really did visit Stonehenge then I sure am pissed with you for not taking 5 mins out of your busy schedule to pop in for a coffee with a forum buddy barely ten minutes away! ( ok 25 minutes! But when you've come 4000 miles already !)

Rick, I visited Stonehenge in 1989. Pretty countryside you've got there. If I ever make it back that way I will look you up. Neil and I have a full scale replica of Stonehenge about halfway between our houses made by Sam Hill about a hundred years ago.

Rick, I rather like the options as you presented them (though I'm uncertain about "big 6"). Is that college of Winterhold, thief, companion, civil war, bard, and what, the MQ after Mirmulnir? I think I'm missing one somewhere.

Actually, I was bored, so I used Google Earth and entered "Wiltshire" as my parameter becasue I was a bit curious about the countryside and such where you live. Anyway, it took me directly to Stonehenge to start with, and I really had thought Wiltshire was a town... Silly me, I "drove all over the danged county, and couldn't figure for the longest why it kept naming towns I was passing through.

Turija is quite right. A very rich man (Sam Hill) built a https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrTca8oUOpV6H8AROcnnIlQ;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTY4NwRfcgMyBGZyA3locy1tb3ppbGxhLTAwNARncHJpZANidjRzZjZJUlFzYXByamJ3TUkyZnhBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMxMARvcmlnaW4Dc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMwRwcXN0cgNzdG9uZWhlbmdlIHdhBHBxc3RybAMxMwRxc3RybAMyMgRxdWVyeQNzdG9uZWhlbmdlIG1hcnloaWxsIHdhBHRfc3RtcAMxNDQxNDE5Mzky?p=stonehenge+maryhill+wa&fr2=sa-gp-search&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004 of Stonehenge overlooking the columbia river as a memorial for WWI soldiers. Nearby, he also built the mansion that is now "https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=maryhill+museum+wa&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004" museum for his wife, but I understand she didn't like it... Of course, who knows really, eh?

Big six....well ok maybe seven.....but the point being to avoid the tedious and demanding ( bullying) quest lines. Yes no MQ after Mirms' because it's not needed and will only serve to get you prematurely killed. Finding rural words of power is a whole quest type objective in itself.

Ah so.....yeah , kinda fell for that one. But we got some extended family from NY who visit our other extended family here a couple of times a year. So the notion of visiting Americans is not absurd....she does talk funny though y'know 'Batteries' translates as 'Badderies'

Turija is right I think about the rolling chalk downlands of the shires. The open farmland area for miles around Stonehenge is Army controlled for training purposes and so has few hedges to interfere with the view. Large undisturbed tracts of meadow with clumps of trees are a haven for special and rare wildlife, if you like birds, beetles and butterflies that is oh and before it gets said. No! We don't have Hobbit villages. Though the small villages are full of thatched cottages and old stone Norman ( mostly) churches. Oh and all around the Stone henge area the observant will spot odd little hillocks that are purposely avoided by farm tractors. The are protected ancient Bronze Age burial mounds called 'Tumuli'......bit of useless junk knowledge there. I would greatly welcome a visit by you guys if you ever did a bit of sightseeing in this area

In the Bloodmoon expansion of Morrowind I had a nvde werewolf hunting Nord. I should revive this character in Skyrim.

Sounds like he was made for our little party...

Rick:

Accents are fun. I once had to call an interpreter so I could understand a lady from New Jersey I was trying to work a business deal with. Fortunately, we had Jersey girl working as a secretary in the office. The word that threw me was "Coiyal"... which, it turned out, was Jerseyese for "Corral" (like OK corral?).

In college I had a classmate who was from London, and one day he said "After class come over to moy hoice, and we'll compare notes." It seemed for him that house rhymed with "mice", so I asked him "what's the plural of mouse?" and he said "Mice" and I said, "So if you have only one of the little critters you have?" and he, looking at me like I was nuts, said "one mice"...

For myself, I'm very confused and confusing. I have my natural Pacific Northwestern USA accent, but I spent a lot of time in Texas and MIssouri, so my speech is really a mess. Naturally to me, I don't have an accent, but everybody else in the world sure does...

Anyone from England who pronounces house as 'hice' as got more money than me.
English posh gag.....if you can say 'Air' and then you say 'Hair' and you then say 'Lair' what response should you get? Hello!

Alternatively for the less posh...'aw wight me ol' china ahs it anggin'

Just ta kill ya with muh southern akcent, if y'all alow 2h ( found or stolen) weapons i'd be in for that challenge.

Try growing up in Florida, tourist capital of the U.S..... ugh. Talk about interpreting accents... ask where Kissimmee is..

Well, two-handed weapons are a little outside the original scope, but if we're going to allow one for Turija, we may as well just allow them for everyone... as long as you understand they can't be improved or perked. I'm not sure what difference not carrying a shield would make, eh?

Trading off some defense for a bit more offense. It's probably a wash. But...a shield increases your Armor Rating, which may not be quite what you wanted for a "nekkid" challenge.

I'd suggest the options of two one-handed weapons (no block, but faster and stronger attack), one one-handed weapon (fast weapon that can block), or one two-handed weapon (slow but powerful weapon that can block.) All with no shield (and thus no armor.)

I'm okay with or without a 2H. I just thought it would be funny to play the nekkid nord from Morrowind whose 2H axe was stolen by the witch. If we want to make it really challenging we could say dagger and bow or 2H, so if you went with 2H you had to sacrifice ranged attack, which would be in the spirit of the original nekkid nords from Morrowind. And no shields for anyone.

I only suggested shield thinking of some of the NA tribal warriors. Animal hide shield that kinda thing. But no shield is good too. I gotta be honest I think 2 handers are well out of what the travel light and skinny wandering warrior types had. Not just in America, but also in Austrailia and Africa. So if you're trying to recreate that bush feel......hunt some buffalo at the waterhole that kinda thing then huge hammers and Broadswords don't really fit......

I see your reasoning, but I'd point out that the original three "Naked Nords" in Morrowind (from which the legend arises) all carried big two-handed battleaxes.

Perhaps I should make a poll regarding two-hand and options, would that be a good idea?

You are of course correct, however... spears were very common, but apparently Bethesda hasn't evolved to the point of spears, so we have no way to implement them. They were very effective and very devastating (especially when set or grounded against charging bear and such like), so perhaps two handed wouldn't be all that out of line. I think a simple majority of opinion would suffice to determine that for our purposes though.

Personally, I would prefer no two-handed.

The naked Nord wants his axe. Two-handed honors tradition. One-handed will do. If he carried a shield, he would not be naked.

The naked Nord cares not for points and voting. He wants no accolades and fears no judgment.

And the naked Nord does not wait for permission. http://i.imgur.com/ZLRpDIY.png. Let’s do this!

Yep. That's the reason I suggested it. It's tradition. Plus there is just something funny about a huge naked nord with a big axe.

I think it’s the squatty, two-handed stance. I’ve been giggling ever since Ned 2 found his first battleaxe.

I suppose it would be nice of me to put a link here...

The Nekkid Nordic Challenge is underway! The thread to join up is

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1534956-the-nekkid-nordic-challenge-game-thread/!