Hark Dovahkiin,

I speak to thee today as a friend, and I urge thee to be cautious. If thou art doth not have the clout necessary to undertake such a quest as I am about to suggest, turn back now. No man shall think less of you.

As for the rest of you. Welcome. You seek a challenge, which is admirable for this game is not yet released. You seek to pit yourself against your own worst enemy. Yourself.

Here, we shall lay the ground rules for a "Self Inflicted hardcoe Mode." The idea is to make the game more immersive/difficult/frustrating/fun in ways that the game itself was not designed for. In addition to Skyrim, it could apply to other games as well, but the primary objective is to design a rule set for Skyrim specifically. These rules may change depending on new information.

Let's begin:

1- No reloading save games.
Save the game, by all means. And save often. Keep multiple saves in fact, but unless it's for the purpose of continuing play after having not played, under no circumstances may you reload any save. Saving is merely insurance against save corruption, and as a kind of pause button. There is no rewind. This isn't Prince of Persia, it's SKYRIM. Deal with your consequence, and see them through. Your tale will be more interesting as a result.

2- If you die, you are dead.
Death is permanent. Once you die, you must delete any save games related to that character. The only option once you are dead is to start over with a new character. It is a shame the story ended that way, but such is life. Knowledge of this will put a new kind of fear in you. A fear of death. Take further precautions, and you'll be alright.

3- Difficulty setting must remain at default, or higher.
Find an enemy that is too hard? Tough. No sliding the difficulty down to make it easier on you. If you can't beat him, find a different way. If you are REALLY hardcoe, you may turn the difficulty UP, but never down, not even after you turned it up in the first place. It's probably just safer to leave it at medium.

4- No fast traveling.
You have legs/a horse/a dragon mount/a woolly mammoth/a pet Bosmer. USE THEM! Fast travel is for the weak of mind and constitution. Fast traveling is skips any danger you may come across on your destination, and thus is forbidden.

5- You must eat something twice a day, and you must sleep at least 4 hours in a 24 hour period.
If the situation makes this impossible, you must make up for it by sleeping, or eating what you missed as soon as possible. So if you were stuck in a dungeon the entire day and night with nowhere to sleep, you must sleep at least 8 hours the next day. Skipped a meal? Eat twice as much for the next one.

6- Roleplay your character.
Play the game as though you ARE your character. Try not to think in meta game. Try to think as your character would. This becomes difficult with multiple play throughs, as you effectively can see the future, IE: You know what's going to happen, but roll with it anyway. Maybe pretend that you saw it in a dream or something.

7- No drinking potions in the middle of combat.
Healing spells are OK, as they can be considered quick to cast in combat, but unless you are in a situation where you can realistically, and safely quaff a potion, keep that cork stoppered. Resist the temptation, and instead, run away until you are safe enough to drink, then re-enter the fray.

8- ???

I've run out of ideas, but I think this is a good start. Thoughts? Opinions? Adjustments? Additions? Post them here, and together we will come up with the ultimate self-inflicted hardcoe mode.

Hmmm

If a hard core mode exists, use it, if not refer to the guide.

armor is for pansies, are you a pansy?

actually weapons are also the tools of pansies, as well as magic.

No cowardice either.

Beard is a must.

Wow.....I am not worthy. I can't imagine going through this. It would require a whole new style of play. Especially because of the save loading and death thing.

I will probably do something similar to this. The only problem is that I hope that eating, drinking and sleeping is required in game via a hardcoe mode.

I think these two conflict with each other. If I roleplay, I become attached to the character, if the character dies, well then what the hell, all of that to die in the middle of my quest. And then how to justify playing over the same parts of the same quests with a new character? I'd have to consider the previous character I was roleplaying as non-canon, so then what's the point of roleplaying when I might have to do it all over again a third or fourth time?

Hmm, I kinda have to agree with this. While I would want to play with one life, one character playstyle, I would be heartbroken - heartbroken - to have to start again. However, what I mite do is have one character who operates through this playstyle, and another played with all these rules ('cos we all know these rules only make the game more RPG, thus more fun), except he is allowed reloads.

Also, here's hoping to an official hardcoe mode similar to Fallout 3/NV, but better.

I think that this is a great idea, but I will have to get used to the idea of not reloading and the permanent death. Therefore I shall begin a new character on oblivion and follow these exact guidelines

I wouldn't enjoy going this far.

I do tend to have to sleep once a day, I do roleplay my characters and act as they would (to the extent possible with the options given in-game,) and I do avoid fast travel. I do things like look down to simulate bowing to people I receive instructions from, etc. I get really into it.

But I wouldn't want to stop playing if I died, etc. That would just kill my enjoyment, personally. If you derive enjoyment from it though, that's awesome.

Think of it this way:

Say you get married (If you are not already.) and your wife get's pregnant. (If she hasn't already.) You are all very excited. Nine months later, an adorable baby is born. You watch as this child. Your own flesh and blood, grows and grows. You swell with pride as you realize that everything this kid knows, you taught him/her. A great amount of time and effort went into this child, and you wouldn't trade this kid for the world.

Then one day, on your son/daughter's seventh birthday, a dragon storms the birthday party and eats him/her.

You are all very sad.

That's ok, you'll just reload, right?

Wrong.

This kid is gone. There is nothing you can do to save him/her, no matter how attached you were. Mourn their loss, then get cracking on another kid.

It's kinda like that.

Also, fair point. It's just I don't know whether I can withstand the mourning period and restart with a whole new character, esp. if I'd finished most faction quests, and was close to ending the MQ. I'd probably punch my screen, cry at the pure, dramatic tradgedy, then reload that guy, 'cos MAN, I cannot be [censored] starting from Day 1 again.

downloads mod.

even harder, play without your hands

I tend to disagree. So I meet this wolf in a forest, and attack him. Easy as pie. Then I see this mountain lion and expects pretty much the same thing. Suddenly I'm just dead and I just go "ok, wtf just happened"? Turns out this animal has a serious buff compared to the wolf. Obvious? How about a Dreugh vs a Minotaur? There is no way to check stats, and there is no ingame references that my character could memorize, there are no odds to calculate/show. In dice games, you're typically allowed to look up beast stats to counter for this, as there you *would* typically be dead when your dead.

I actually play this way in several games save for one of your points, eating and sleeping. I have never really tried it and just decided that is where I draw the line. However, I am willing to sign up to your challenge sir!

Games I have played hardcoe mode on:

Firstly Diablo 2
Halo 2, 3 and Reach
Minecraft

After thinking that is all I could come up with. I think many games don't cater well to a hardcoe mode setting, but I think Skyrim would if you play properly. It will be fun.

I played the big O like that for a bit.. but the second one got to be a pain.
After a bit I gave up on that one, but threw myself into 6, and got into some very weird places.
Lets just say Dunmer, maidens, lettuce, zombies and spider deadra became involved.

8 - Take shelter when the weather gets really bad. Find campfires inside villages/caves/etc if possible or set your own up (hopefully possible).

9 - Remove all armour and clothing before swimming! No one in their right mind would swim in freezing water in clothes, as after you get out you'll just freeze to death in them. So instead take things off and imagine putting them in a relatively water proof bag/satchel/whathaveyou and quickly get dressed again upon leaving the water.

10 - Depending upon the ingame inventory set up, only allow yourself to carry a maximum of, say, fifty arrows and (in total with all items) only up to a certain weight depending on your character gender/build/race.

11 - Don't loot all the armour and weaponry from a cave of bandits only to sell it all at a nearby town, only take when one would realistically be able to carry - ties into the above but more than that, no one will be able to run around with one-hundred heads of lettuce in their bag, regardless of how much they weigh because of their size/bulk.

12 - If beaten almost to death and, with the exception of potential healing magics, heal yourself via potions or rest - take a few days or even a week or two for your character to fully recover.

13 - If you can't find any food and their are no animals nearby to hunt, kill and cook your horse if you have one, or die from hunger!

...ran out of ideas. I wouldn't mind trying all these, perhaps not on my first playthrough though I'll see, I wouldn't be following the one-death and restart though. That to me just kills the fun. The no reloading unless glitches force you to or when resuming play however I would happily follow. ^_^

hell yeah, i'll do it this way!

i suggest only to keep this 7 rules. no more no less

I love playing games like this! I usually do all except number 5, cause I can't be bothered.

Awh, why? Seven is an overhyped number, to the point of causing delusions of luck! :spotted owl:

Hey it's the beard guy! I saw you on facebook too. : )

I'm not gonna lie, this idea gives me a giant bone. I'll probably use some combination of these, with the exception of the food and sleeping.

I love the idea of starting a new character if you die, no fast travel and no potions while in battle. Just imagine how tense it would be if you were about to die. IN-TENSE. Like real life bros. Like real life. Or not.

Make it 11 rules. 11. And to repeat myself, 11.

Why would I spend hours in facegen making an Altmer sorceress that you would have a crack at after only two pints of Guinness and a mere drop of Powers whiskey, to then play dead is dead.
Nothing wrong with sleeping, eating, and no fast travel though. Roleplay idea : once a game week, drink an inn dry, sleep 'til the next afternoon, then eat all the food you can find, then have a hair of the dog before adventuring.

its easier to remember those 7 rules

The number seven doesn't have its origins in luck as a significant number though

Bowel relief: At least once every 24 hours, you need to hide behind a bush and activate the sneak posture for five to ten minutes (in-game time, that is).