Here's one that some of you have seemed to miss. It's minor detail, but it'll matter if wanting to play realistically;

--Turn off the crosshair. This way, you'll only be relying on instinct if firing an arrow.

turning of the sneak icon is also kinda good, no more godlike powers

Here's what I do:
-No fast-travel
-No armour in towns unless I am in Bruma (and even then it's only fur armour)
-Sleep at a bed if possible (if bed is unaccessable, find a place to hide, crouch and then wait)
-Little or no item pickups in the tutorial (as in: Cpt Renault's Akiviri Katana, 3 lockpicks from the dead goblin, the torch that Baurus gives me, the key Baurus gives me and any arrows that are impaled into me)
-Only do guilds that are in character (e.g. no arena for mages)
-Only skills that my character would have past experience in (e.g. Orc Warriors would not have Illusion as a skill)

I do not really pay much attention to rules on what to do. Instead I form an image of who the character is in my head, and I play them true to that nature. So my "good" characters will not murder people, my "evil" ones will not help others unless there is some tangible benefit to them, etc...

I always roleplay a guard, ussually in Chorrol or Anvil because they are my 2 favorite towns and they have a good number of "guard quests" as I like to call them. Chorrol has the quest where a painting gets stolen from the castle, thats got CSI Chorrol written all over it. And there is the quest where thats a guard-ly thing right there. Anvil has a couple low level fighters guild quests that I would consider to be guard-ish. The rat problem quest, the unfortunate shopkeeper quest. And then there is some undercover work involved with the female gang quest.

I have RPed a guard in every city except Bravil, my first city I joined was Bruma for quite a long time despite almost nothing to do. Skingrad was my next big one, agian however, not much to do.

Simple stuff from me:

• You cant stuff a sword in your pants - wear armour, swords dont carry them
  
• Only fast travel on a horse
  
• Put armor on ground before swimming
  
• Eat and drink twice a day
  
• Dont wait an hour to heal, use potions or spells
  
• Sleep at an inn overnite, dont just wait on the side of a road

I'm just about to buy Oblivion: GOTY edition. I want to know as little about the storyline, hidden items etc. I played Fallout 3 thoroughly... every quest completed and every inch of every map explored. There are several things I wish I had done differently to have had a better RP experience, so I searched for a thread like this while trying not to spoil any of the game. I'm also hoping to avoid any game breaking powers or weapons. I like to make the combat experience as difficult as possible, because usually the game mechanics become just too easy too fast. That happened with Fallout 3.

So I really like the suggestions in this thread, but could someone perhaps taylor them to a first time player, who wants to make the combat as realistic, and non-game-breaking as possible? It would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to Cyrodiil! http://www.uesp.net/w/images/images.new/c/c4/Fishystick.jpg :wave:

Everyone's playstyles are different, so I don't know if there'd really be a good answer for you. All I can suggest is to just play for a while and get used to the game, then later on decide if you want to add mods (if you're on PC), or maybe make different characters who'll experience different parts of the game, and in different ways. Like, one guy might attack everything he sees, the next guy might only fight when he has to :shrug:

However, one thing I think really helps is to walk everywhere. Take your time and explore as you walk between towns (and don't always stick to the road), and see what kind of trouble you can get into or avoid. That'll give you more time to figure out how your character will interact in the world, and which of these suggestions you'll want to try. After a while, you'll have your own preferences for roleplaying

My new Renjrira Krin member only carries 15 arrows................. I might up it for practicality's sake, but no more carrying three hundred arrows for me.

I'm with the OP on encumberance. Only carry what is realistically possible to carry. Don't have 3 armor sets, 5 weapons, etc. My Paladin carries a longsword for instance, a sheild, a few potions (no more than 12...6 on her belt 6 in the pack), a couple food items, and a few miscellaneous items like rings and treasure.

I've also done the "batheing" bit, where the character finds water and washes off armor or whatever.

Don't do every quest in the game. Certain characters follow certain paths while ignoring others. My dark elf country witch has yet to even FINISH a single quest (well, she finished the Tutorial and exited the sewers, but that's it). She hates talking to most NPCs (hates idle pvssyr) so the only quest she's managed to pick up so far is "Deliver the Amulet", which will never be done in her game.

...On the PS3, this is actually necessary because I've had 2 games now which got really buggy at about 340 hours. Doors wouldn't close or open.

I mix some Dungeon & DRagon rules, as well as Fantasy Trip rules, which brings traditional factors such as alignment into play.

Characters need to have a certain amount of intelligence before they can learn certain skills & magic, which eliminates a character becoming a jack of all trades, master of all.

Subterranean dungeon-diving is done in the Dark! I have presets on my TV which darken the screen at the press of a button. In my game, if you haven't got a torch or a light spell, you will be bumping walls and getting attacked before you can even see what's happening! *shivers*

Some of my characters are strong and valiant, while others are anti-social and rude. Some are weak fighters, while others are incredibly skilled with a weapon.

Alot of walking. Although I like to think of Nirn as a planet that doesn't reflect Earth (and Nirn's peoples creatures can run a long time without requiring rest) I still walk alot.

Some of my characters never ever look at a map, while others (my mage-elf for instance) do so, but only if they're in an established major town.

Fast-travel is a no-no! But again, my mage-elf used it sparingly around the Imperial City, which is pretty much like a Teleport spell.

Turn off the crosshair.

Turn off the music. Soundtracks are for Hollyweird. :shakehead:

I play in 3rd person alot once I'm in battle. This makes it harder to use a bow or throw a spell, but it's more challenging this way!

Not all my characters sneak. One of them (the Paladin) has never sneaked except for a few rare occasions, and has a Sneak rating of just 13!

Dead is dead...

I put my Major skills as ones that don't get used very often. This makes the game level up slowly, which seems more real to me because monsters don't just start showing up out of the blue. Bandits don't wind up owning armor that's too fancy, and Imperial guards remain tough. Combined with the Dead is DEAD rule, never is my character really as powerful as she seems to be, no matter how high her skills wind up getting. She could ALWAYS lose her life if I get too careless.

Some of my characters read alot, while one of them was completely illiterate!

Some of you know I did a horoscope for one of my characters, and I have the potential to do 2 more eventually. While this may seem corny to some of you, it really humanized and fleshed out my character. :thumbsup:

I talk alot while I play. I talk to the NPCs, that is, filling in where my character is silent.

And I always have a blast!

1. I don't fast travel.

2. I sleep somewhere in the night.

3. I eat usually a meat a starch and a fruit or vegetable each night

4. Persuasion overhaul to make conversation more interesting

5. Smell the roses. Don't be too focused on 'getting loot' 'advancing' 'or whatever'

6. If I am training with magic I have to have access to a safe environment. I role play that I am studying in addition to practicing casting. I mean the manual of spellcraft most likely has more than 8 pages.

7. If I am a novice I use novice spells to train (though as I said I role play that reading is involved)... If I am an expert I use expert spells to train. Why would cantrips be the most efficient way to level? I still can 'in the field' use lower level versions as that is considered separate.

8. No training magic (pumping while running) while on the go. For training I need books and sitting down. But I may cast preventative spells for example: nighteye, shield, detect life, resist magic, minor respite (to jump more).

9. If I have frostcrag spire I don't fast travel to it (see 1). This makes it more special and dangerous early on (OOO mod is wilds = deadly).

10. OOO mod to fix opponents leveling with me and the land morphing from wolves to trolls to will o wisps etc..

11. Leveling mod so that my level does not determine my abilities just the challenges I face (OOO scales a little).

12. OOO slows leveling