With some Elder Scrolls playing experience behind you, and with some knowledge of the next instalment now floating around, what rules do you plan on imposing on yourself for your first play through? (I realize this may not be a very clear question, so hopefully my own rules will make it clearer.)

I plan to:
1. Not use fast travel.
2. Not look up quest solutions (or anything else for that matter) on the UESP or similar sites
3. Not reload an earlier save if a quest ends in a manner that I don't like, and to just put up with the consequences

1. No fast travel except between major towns, and only if I have already walked the distance first.
2. Never have my current quest active if there are map markers. I like to read.
3. Must eat and drink at least twice daily.
4. Remove armor and weapons within town.
5. Never reload if I don't choose the optimum course of action, or an NPC dies that I wanted to survive. (Baurus, RIP.)
6. Absolutely no spellcasting on any character who doesn't have a spell school as a Major skill.

1. No fast travel
2. No outside help for quests

That's about it.

On rule I followed in Oblivion was a limited fast travel thing. I could fast travel from city to city, but If I left a city, I couldn't use fast travel again until I got back to a city. It made it so I would go out on expeditions, and have to have everything I needed with me, but I wouldn't have to walk from one end of the map to the other. I like that feeling of being far away from my home base, and having to get by with just what I have with me. It also limited the loot I could carry back. It looks like the fast travel in Skyrim will be similar to Oblivion, so I'll probably use this rule there too. Not uber hardcoe or anything, but It works for me.

My first play through will be blind: no coming on the internet to look up answers, no strategy guide. Just me, the game, and a good supply of coffee. I don't usually reload quests either, leaves something for later play throughs.

Add: Also, I dislike the quest markers. If there's a way to disable them, I will.

No fast travel;
No compass;

And maybe no skyrim at all, it depend on future informations, so far the balance is a bit too much negative for my ingame enjoyment.

OH yes! Good topic.

1. Like the others, no fast travel (not that I use it much anyways in OB).

2. NO map either! No map no map!

3. No compass. Looking back on it, the frickin' compass ruined my early Oblivion gaming experience, eschewing at least half the exploration factor. Instead of a compass, I will use shadows, the sun, the moon, and various landscape features to figure out where I am and where to go next.

4. HUD will probably be OFF, unless i really svck with it off. :whistling: Once I get good at the game, it will certainly be off most of the time.

5. Limited amount of carry items (no 3 swords, 4 suits of armor like my early Oblivion was). D&D and other tabletop games had strict rules about how much each sort of character could safely carry (down to how many potions or how much food) and I will implement these rules, assuming Bethesda doesn't

6. Eat/drink roleplaying (although I'm getting the feeling Beth is going to implement this anyways).

7. Dead is DEAD. Only exception being if the game glitches somehow and my char dies as a consequence.

8. Hopefully, fatigue will be more fleshed out than it was in OB. If not, no marathon-style running, unless the character is free of extensive armor/weight and is supposed to be athletic.

9. No swimming with lots of carried weight.

10. No game music. Not that I ever use it in OB.

11. Spend "quality time' with my horses and other mounts. Will not just treat them like the way I sometimes treat my crappy Tercel IRL.



.....I"ll think of more no doubt.

Some excellent ideas here, thanks! I'm definitely going to expand my own list with some of these.



This one interests me... I imagine it adds a lot to combat, but I doubt I'd ever be able to stick to it. Kudos if you manage it, must need a lot of willpower!

Limit fast traveling unless I determine it's pointless. There was no reason not to fast travel in Oblivion because between points A and B, there was nothing. Every area of interest could be marked on your map and there was never any reason to do so other than to see the generic landscape. If I find it's similar with Skyrim, then I'll just fast travel everywhere. Otherwise, I'll leave a major city and head to whatever dungeon or area I need to go to on foot, once I complete the dungeon and am ready to return to the city to turn the quest in, I'll fast travel back.

I don't plan on using any online help guides for quests because it shouldn't be necessary unless I just have absolutely no idea what the game expects me to do.

That's about it. I don't like to go too hardcoe into roleplaying my first time through the game. I want to experience as much as I can for what it is. I'm not going to force myself to eat or sleep once a day if I'm not forced to. I'll be too busy doing quests and reading books and talking to everyone in sight.

1. Not use fast travel, mainly because of random encounters I could miss.
2. Not look up things on UESP wiki or anywhere else online, and just go about the game unaided.
3. Only work on one character at a time ( won't create 3 characters at the start and progress them all at the same time ).
4. Will take a break every now and again and get off track from the main quest and explore.
5. Will [censored] every minute of playing.

If any of these rules are broken during my game play, I will render my gaming experience as flawed.

Yup. And planning and strategy. Back in the day when we played D&D, ALL our characters were dead when they died. Only exception was if there was a cleric nearby who could revive the character, or some sort of fancy potion or whatever.

I just find that for the average console adventure game (Tomb Raider comes to mind) I'll just reload if my character dies. But something about TES makes me take on a more survivalistic approach. Keeping my character alive thru thick and thin makes me get to really feel for him or her in the long run. It's hard to explain, really.



Yes there was! All the random stuff that happens. Ambushes from NPCs and creatures you didn't expect. Total immersion into the so-called "generic" landscape (if this is what you call generic, give me more "generic" in Skyrim!). Finding that well-hidden road or pathway which led to a dungeon, house, priory, etc. Finding NPCs who walked in between towns who you partner with. etc.

I do what I want.

• Never kill a lady if in any way possible.
  
• Try to avoid innocents in general.
  
• No fast travelling to a location if I haven't been there before.
  
• Protect my horsey.
  
• No looking up answers on UESP.

My character is almost always vegan, no eating meat, and no killing animals unless they attack first. Adds challenge, but follows my real life values.

and yes, leather and fur are out of the question. I hope it will still be possible, if not it's no biggie, just a fun quirk to add. I don't ming slaughtering digital animals

I think that's the best answer. That's the spirit that The Elder Scrolls games are made on.

• Sleeping on a nightly basis
  
• No armor (I'll be playing as a ninja)
  
• As little MQ as possible (I'll save the story for later)
  
• No fast travel (for a while, at least)
  
• No looking anything up from the day the game is released until I beat it

I haven't really thought about it but I can give it a try:
1. No looking up solutions or info
2. Go out of my way too be a "Holy Warrior": Never steal, murder etcetera
3. Try to not use fast travel(first time since I don't have a problem with it. Still want more alternatives like in MW though)

Indeed, but I find it can ruin some of the enjoyment to do some things. All too often I use fast travel because it's convenient, or look up quest solutions on the internet because I'm impatient. However, every time I walk the journey, or solve the quest with my own brain, it's much more enjoyable. So next time, I will try and do this as much as possible.

But you're right, you can do whatever you like. That's what makes TES so great

If the game "makes sense", and doesn't reward you for doing things that are inherently stupid or contrary to what any rational being would expect under the circumstances, then I won't have to "self-impose" limits to make the game enjoyable.

In MW, I limited myself by:
not using any home-made enchantments or potions in order to make stronger ones.
not selling home-made potions.
not using admire/taunt to kill and loot NPCs, unless called for by a quest or special circumstances.
not using the console for anything but repairing stuck or glitched characters (NPC or otherwise).
not using ranged attacks while levitating (except against cliffracers, where it made sense to fight them on their own turf).

In OB, I didn't use FT, except where I had to go back and forth between the same two places repeatedly, in which case it helped to skip the tedium. Stacking enchantments of the same type seemed cheezy, and I didn't do so intentionally. I got bored with the game long before I had the chance to figure out most of the exploits.

In both games, not looking up answers on the wiki until after making an honest effort to figure it out myself.

I probably won't do Self Imposed Rules until my 3rd playthrough but I probably would limit the amount of Fast Travel that you use like inbetween cities and have the map marker act as a Recall type button.

I. No UESP
II. No forums
III. No reverting to previous saves unless absolutely necessary (bugs)
IV. Food and drink on a regular basis (~twice daily)
V. Sleep every night (unless circumstances demand for... more clandestine business)
VI. Only go on quests that corresponds with my character's values
VII. No/very limited fast travel (might use between settlements if I ever get bored of the landscape... but only settlements)
VIII. Only carry believable amount of equipment (not massive amounts of potions, arrows or backup weapons for instance)
IX. No shaving on game days
X. Only armor when going into battle -- leave at home on days off
XI. No redressing in combat (putting on a suit of armor takes time)
XII. Don't get killed.

I can't think of any honestly, except not loading back if I'm unhappy with how a quest turned out, living with the consequences and all that.
I don't have a problem with fast travel at all, in fact I like having it handy for when i just don't feel like walking, riding etc.

Apart from that I really can't think of any rules I'll impose on myself.

I've never looked up any quest solutions while playing oblivion apart from finding quest spots.

When i first begin the game i play without fast travelling, but when i've walked down the same road for the 20th time i usually start using fast travel.

How i play the game will greatly depend on the combat system. In Oblivion combat was utterly boring, walk towards an enemy, both people hit until the person with the weakest stats dies, repeat. If the new combat system they're releasing is anywhere near as fun as i imagine it to be (hopefully as fun as dark messiah or better) then i'll play the game with as much realism as possible. If the combat system svcks i'll probably use the console to max out my stats instantly to plow through the combat parts as fast as possible...

God how i hope for it to be a fun system

Lets see I tend to try and RP my characters some so I always have different rules(like some characters may be woodsman and only sleep outside...in the woods) but some general things I will follow are:

1.No fast travel
2.No glitches(like dupe glitch in Oblivion)
3.NO CONSOLE EVER(my biggest problem)
4.No reloading to redo a quest.
5.No online help.
6.Walk, actually just walk through cities, not always running.
7.Traveling by day stopping at inns, a cave anything for shelter.
8.Traveling in good weather, waiting in cities at a inn sleeping until it's clear skies.

Rule subject to change based off how I wanna RP a character, if I am a assassin I may travel only at night.

Hopefully the "radiant story" elements will make this a lot easier.

It all depends on what the game offers.

I tried the dead is dead. I just can't do it. I actually played like 12 hours of not getting killed, best 12 hours ever, the adrenalin rush of almost dieing with 3 hit points left, but when I finally dies after 12 hours, I didn't have the heart to restart and just basically do the same things over again. So no Dead is dead for me.

I will try not to have restartitis. So hopefully my first character I started with, I will finish the game with. In all other TES games, I have like 100s of characters because, I keep restarting when I find something new. Same for Fallout 3. Well I have gotten better with New Vegas. I only did 3 restarts, and now my 3rd character is what I am going to finish the game now.

So depending on how the healing works, I hope it's not like Oblivion where you rest one hour and recover 100% hit points. If it's the same case, then I will be "waiting" for 3, 5, 12 or 24 hours to "heal".

Again depending on how the mechanics work, if I go swiming, I have to go down to my "skiviees" to swim, no clothers or armour on. I use to un pack EVERYTHING, but that got real bothersome and then loosing a few rings, I just say I have the "magic pocket/sac" that it all goes into so I can go swimming. But no swimming in clothes.

I try to eat and drink and sleep, but depending on time, and if busy, I forgo this and just play as much action as I can. If I have the time, I will take time to eat, sleep etc.