I've often found it difficult to ever justify joining all 4 main factions in Skyrim on 1 character, it always seemed like Meta-gaming to me. I would really like to do it but in order for me to really push myself to do it, I'd need some sort of reasoning behind it.

So basically, as the topic says, does anyone have any roleplay ideas for how to justify every faction?

On a similar note, can anyone really justify doing every Daedric Quest on one character from a roleplay sense? (That achievement still taunts me!)

Akatosh mode?

Gather knowledge and secrets of all the guilds for your lord Hermaeus Mora. In return, he will reward you with naughty knowledge of his own.

See for me there is no way of justifying it. Call me a literal, narrow thinker all you like.

I think I keep repeating myself. I play tabletop games. I play DND and Pathfinder, and the like. I always enjoyed Morrowind and I enjoyed New Vegas. Factions have a view of another faction. Considering Companions are proud Nords who all want to get rid of their curse to live Sovangarde, they wouldn't allow some Mage from the college to walts in.

But that seems non existent in Skyrim.

I like also spell failure. Warriors cannot cast magic. Unless they are a Paladin or some sort of Knight and they'd still need to gain skills to being able to do those magic.

Every faction would have something to think about the other faction.

And criminal background should be a factor in the game, especially with DB and thieves.

Fun fact, you need to use an actual weapon to get into the Companions, after that little initiation you're free to use as you see please, I tried using the bound sword, but Vilkas always got mad. >:

Also, other fun fact, if you had at least 100 infamy (from TG and DB or anything else) in Oblivion, you can't join the fighters guild. After getting kicked out of any guild 3 times, after the 4th you can't join the guild ever again. (With the exception of the TG I believe)

I honestly think my experience with Morrowind is half the problem. In that game you had about 13 (including vampires) factions you could possibly join, in Oblivion and Skyrim this number got hacked down to 4 and I can only ever seem to justify joining 2 at most in any playthru, whereas in Morrowind it wasn't really hard for me to be a member of 4 or 5 at once. I just seem to feel limited by not being able to join all the factions in one playthru sometimes but I can't justify it either.

My justification usually goes as follows:

As Dovahkiin, you seek power. So, you gain as much as possible by becoming leaders of as many things as possible. No matter how dirty you have to get your hands, or how many spellbooks you have (well, you actually don't have to) to read.

I also play D&D and Morrowind is my favorite TES and I roleplay but I've managed to do all guilds with one character just for the kicks. As soneome who mentiones tabletop gaming you should be able to find a way to disregard some things or should be able to find an explanation for it. As for some things you say, why wouldn't warriors be able to cast spells, sure they ain't gonna be spells that full-fledged wizard will cast, but still. And no, Companions are not all looking for a way to get rid of their curse, and thieves guild and DB would make significant impact only if you were discovered as a member in public at some point, otherwise both guilds are more or less subtle about their actions and members do not exactly post their pictures in the taverns, looking for women with "high position in dark brotherhood = situated and suitable father". So when joining the companions it's not like they'll know about it. Also, Companions are not "proud nords", they even have a dunmer in the guild. They are basically honored mercs, they don't seem to care if you're using weapons or fireballs to kill stuff whatsoever.

I roleplayed one of my characters by adding the cliche of amnesia, he was attacked and left for dead in an unknown country. Thieves guild were the only one who wanted him in and out of fear of lonelyness, paranoia and whatnot he joined. Doing dirty work for them he fell lower and lower and eventually started killing for profit which brought him to the DB. However, after he got his family in Riften killed by herd of vampires he started questioning himself and his ways and decided to turn over the page, joined the Companions after hearing about them using their fighting skills in a good way, and as he had the skills he thought it might be good idea to start doing good things there. Then he heard about the Dawnguard and having some history including vampires, and being immune to vampirism he didn't think twice.

Since at this point he was already well into the Nord culture and most of his close friends were nords he didn't feel like he owed anything to Imperials and when war started he joined the Stormcloaks along with many of his best friends, and in the middle of the war, on one of the raids in Helgen he became the Dragonborn.

College of Winterhold was joined somewhere in between Dawnguard quests, my character was looking to improve his fire spells to aid him in vampire cleaning and was directed there.

This way of playing actually requires a high dose of roleplaying considering the fact that the game itself doesn't provide the means to actually have "close friends" and whatnot, so creativity and past of playing lots of D&D sessions helped a lot in filling my character and his time spent in Skyrim with all the bits and details, instead of feeling like it's not right because I played a tabletop game.

As much as people hate on it, there's nothing wrong about roleplaying a jack of all trades. As long as it's not totally over the top (like roleplaying a dragon shepherd) roleplaying can help a long way in explaining stuff.

I just join whatever I feel like lol. I don't go about seeking justification for every single thing I do..
Just say "fu*k it" and do it.

Ultimately, as a single player game the only real limitations are those you impose upon yourself - if you really want to do all four factions in one playthrough then go for it.

That said, I personally do impose some limitations - I don't see a known thief being let into the companions for example, and a member of the dark brotherhood probably wouldn't want to join.

The vanilla guilds are okay as they go, but in some ways wish they had been implemented more like the http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/22650/? mod - not only does it take much longer to advance but not everyone gets in.

There isnt. especially since all guild questlines require you to become leader at the end.

One way to do it might be to roleplay a character who changes. I think too often roleplayers see their characters as static so-called "builds" that are created at the beginning of a game and that have to remain unchanged throughout the entirety of a game. That's not how I see roleplaying. I strive to roleplay characters that are as capricious and idiosyncratic as real human beings.

It is not unusual for people in real life to change jobs. Some people go through several careers in a lifetime. Why shouldn't our characters change careers too? So I think it ought to be possible to roleplay a restless or curious character who joins one faction, becomes bored or disillusioned and joins another, and another.

There isn't any.

you join the thieves guild to raise just enough money to attend a institute of higher learning (CoW), afterwards you join the Companions as you find out the only good paying jobs for a mage are currently occupied by the court wizards of each hold.. after the raid on the mead hall by the Silver hand you begin to suffer from PTSD as you thought it could have been prevented if you had been on site, and as Skyrim has terrible mental wellness support systems you slowly turn mad and begin to take pleasure in the pain of others (leading to the dark brotherhood)

I agree, but Skyrim isn't very helpful in making RPs like that work. By that I mean, let's say you roleplay a bad character who has a change of heart and becomes "good" or at least less of a bloodthirsty a-hole (as was mentioned above). Now you join the Companions or Mage's Guild and about 3-4 quests later, you are the respective leader of that guild. The pacing to me seems off, as well as the fact that you end up as the head of every respective guild. I like your anology to career changes, but I don't see many of us leading lives where we bounce around being CEO of Kellogg and MIcrosoft (or some other crazy combination).

Personally, I wish they would include more alternatives similar to the destruction of the DB. The Thieves Guild seemed ripe for destruction, but you could make the same case for the College, since you are in the land of the magic paranoid Nords. Perhaps you are contracted to eliminate the College due to Imperial pressure or by the Synod or whatever. I remember reading something about joining the Silver Hand as an alternative to the Companions.

I know it probably isn't possible to give us that much choice (or if we really need it), especially considering how integral the College is to many big questlines... which is a confusing design decision really. Long story short, I don't know how you roleplay joining all the guilds, but I wish you weren't shepherded to join any of them. Make joining them something we have to actively seek out, like we had to in the 2 previous elder scrolls games.

Characters do not stay stagnant.

But not everyone quits and leaves their job.

My father has worked at the same job for twenty years. Some characters stay in their profession. Though I seriously think there is something tweaked in Enesia's head.

Maybe you are a Sheogorath worshipper.

Your character is highly Schizophrenic and does faction quests based on what personality he has at the moment.

It's a matter of morality, or if you'd rather not go there, it's about what a group stands for. Going from the Companions to the Dark Brotherhood and vice versa is a complete 180 turn.

Personality disorder?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde Complex?

Well, it doesn't make any sense to join all 4 factions in Skyrim in rp. view - when you feel your character have played his/her part in the world.

Start a new character with a completely different personality and background, and perhaps go more in-depth into that particular role

so it feels like a challenge and interesting.

I personally don't as I always end up playing multiple characters in all the TES games so far. My main is always a hero and plays good guilds. I then have an evil character who chooses all the bad paths.

For me, most of my characters seek power and knowledge. Not good, not evil just self centered mercenaries looking for any edge

So joining all the guilds, makes sense. The companions don't really care as long as you can swing a weapon early on to prove ya got spirit, and the mages just want you to have the basic knowledge of magic

As for the thieves and DB, as long as you don't go running around in guildmaster armor or the DB armor. None but your guild mates would know really.

In the end someone looking for every edge and advantage would try to join up with all, for experience in their style of life (aka mage, stealth, combat) just to find their weaknesses and strengths so they can exploit them.

The fact you wind up guild master does bother me, but not all guild masters are chosen for prowess. Much like how not all ceo's are chosen for knowledge of the company's products, but for being able to run the company

I hate "meta-gaming" as you call it, just doing everything with one character. I'm just so fundamentally opposed to the concept, it takes all "character" out of your character.

I also just don't like any of the guilds that much.

HOWEVER

I think joining all the guilds actually can be done in an organic unforced way. It just has to be looked at as a long varied life that your character leads. You wouldn't join them all at the same time, but in sequence one after the other. On one of my playthroughs I started by joining the thieves guild early on, imagining my character was a young hungry criminal at that stage, this sort of naturally progressed, almost like a gateway crime raquet, into joining the dark brotherhood and becoming an assassin. I imagine he later gets recruited into the imperial legion and he fights in the war, after lots of bitter bloodshed something changes in him and he tries to be a better person. Joins the companions thinking he's joining a good fight, only to find out they're abominable wolf men, then he embarks on the MQ path and becomes an independent hero. My plan was that after the MQ, I would visit the face sculptor in riften and get grey hair and age my character, and all this shout stuff he learned about on his questing inspired him to learn more about the dark arts to unleash a potential that is clearly inside him... I didn't really get around to that because I hate magic.

But yeah, to me this didn't really feel like meta-gaming, which like I said I can not tolerate. It was just the long interesting life of an interesting man.