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I was caught fishing for dragons with live Dunmer bait, without a license. I was drunk at the time, and a little ticked off about stubbing my toe earlier, so I beat the hell out of most of the guards harassing me, killing two of them on accident. I was then hunted for days by a posse, who eventually caught me sleeping under a tree, on a pile of dead Scamps.

On the day of my execution, that damned dragon I was fishing for finally shows his ugly mug, and in the midst of the chaos I end up alongside this old guy, who eventually leads me back to his hideout. He say he knows who, and what, I am. He calls himself Esbern, one of the last of the blades. Funny, he looks like a Nord to me...

This is what my first journal entry shall read.

This is Probably a stupid Idea Im Coming up with...But My Way would be to headbutt one of the guards,then take off running For the forests.Make It Into the Forests Then When your Freezing and about to die In the forest Esbern,Comes and Offers to help you.Then he takes you with him to a Ruin,Figuring,2 People better than 1,and you find a dragon there,and Accidently set off a Dragon Shout,and thats how He Finds Out about you.Stupid Right?

Please Leave Your Thoughts.

I really don't want to start with a dragon fight... takes away from the awesome-ness...

I've read somewhere that Esbern is the last Blade as the others have all been hunted and killed... so what if he was ahead of you in the queue to be executed and he breaks free to escape and you join in in all the confusion...

Also you could burn the records or something to explain why the guards don't care later...

This is a sentiment a lot of people share, and I think the reason for that may be because they're picturing something akin to the dragon battle we've all seen in the trailer. I wouldn't necessarily want that either, but I also don't picture that when I contemplate a dragon encounter right in the opening of the game. I think of something more along the lines of one flies over a few times, perhaps burning things/NPCs, and the guards, who are all pretty well shocked to be seeing such a thing, are scrambling to fend the thing off, while the player can choose to either stick around and most definitely share their fate of being eaten, or join Esbern, who was trying to help you not get executed, as he flees to fight another day. Something to that effect.

Having said that, Esbern simply bailing you out somehow with a bit of manipulation and cunning would work fine too, possibly a lot more so than a big "HEY! DRAGONS ARE THE NEW DAEDRIC INVASION!! GUESS WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING IN THE MAIN QUEST!!" kind of thing. Would certainly be a lot closer to Morrwind's style of opening than Oblivion's, which I imagine would work out better for a lot of people. Obviously not to anyone who's going to be getting this game just to fight dragons, but I don't care about them. They just don't get the real appeal of these games, obviously.

Bribe the guards with the copious amounts of trinkets you've widdled out of the loose bits of wood laying around your cell? ^_^

My guess is that the dragons have already appeared (as Esbern says in the trailer, "they're already here") and he is searching for the one that is dragonborn before Alduin appears. The Way of the Voice (shouting; an indicator of possible dragonborn-ness) has been in decline for hundreds of years. But Esbern hears of a foreign convict on death row (possibly part of a prophecy) that is able to use shouting. Dovahkiin is about to be executed when the executioner suddenly hears an explosion (or is dragged away for some other reason). He/she goes to check it out; Esbern (inexplicably appears and) breaks Dovahkiin out. Dovahkiin is malnourished and weak; Esbern nurses him/her back to health. Esbern believes that he/she is the prophesied Dovahkiin. What do you guys think?

You wake up by the sound of guards, as they brutally drag you out of your cell towards the your execution. When they get to the point of execution the guards prepare you for execution. The executioner cleans his sword, and raises in above your head. Suddenly Esbern appears, and fights the guards. He whispers in your ear: 'Run.' You run into the forrest, and get away as far as possible from the guards. You keep running, untill you hear the sound of wings and see fire besides you, a dragon! You run for your life, as Esbern appears again and fights the dragon. After that, Esbern takes you to his hide-out.

Come now.... someone for got to sharpen their blade... execution delayed for a couple of days... duh duh dunnnnn... turns out your aquited for a crime you did not convict based on kick ass DOVAHKIN DNA samples.... :toughninja:

I wonder if it is a beheading - I can imagine the Nords use their axes for execution rather than hanging

Or maybe Sheogorath is involved. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Shivering:Execution_Point LOL

I dont care how as long I will NOT HAVE TO FIGHT A DRAGON at my first level and win. That would be extremely stupid, Killing a dragon should be like hype building. Something you wonder about when and where will it happen endlessly.

Just because you encounter or even fight a dragon doesn't mean you're going to kill one, or even damage it at all. Besides, the one we saw in the trailer is probably average-sized, or even quite puny compared to the rest. If there's anything I don't have any reservations about, it's the dragons. Bring 'em on first thing in the game, I can still ignore the MQ if I wish. (Don't think I'm going to though.)

Not only that, but it's not like the dragons are something we're not expecting. The cats already out of the bag, we're already excited (whether we want to face them first thing or not), no use in beating around the bush in Skyrim. It's just like in Oblivion, was it really surprising to have to deal with a city being torn up by Daedra fairly soon in the game? Would've been a similar situation in Morrowind had they the technology to pull it off right back in 2002, I reckon. TES games have been about pretty disastrous situations for awhile now, and they just keep getting worse. At least, I'm assuming that Alduin is ready to open up a bigger can of whoop-ass on Tamriel than Big Red was. Be kind of silly to take it down a notch in the "Holy-crap-we're-all-dead" department.

Because if all you care about is the 300 xp, you are not role-playing your character. Sure some personalities would just pop people in the head of convenience's sake, but most would actually, you know, have a role to play in the situations.

Then the quests better be good. I am like a 100% roleplayer, yet in New Vegas I found myself just wanting to finish most of their quests because they were boring. If the quest is interesting and fun, I will more the gladly play through it and not kill the main character.

It has been confirmed Esbern gets you out of the execution but how he does it is not yet released.

If you look at http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1191640-where-we-might-start-off-in-the-beginning-of-skyrim/page__p__17701807#entry17701807, I explain where I believe the player begins. I know Todd Howard has said we start in a prison so my best guess is that we're sent to a dungeon out in the wilderness for torture/interrogation/execution/etc. Either Esbern (our confirmed savior) sneaks in and picks our lock or he saves us last second after our persecutors lead us outside and are about to lop off our heads. Being an old guy, I can totally imagine him using some sort of clever trick to kill them all but it's also possible he takes them on commando style with a group of remaining Blades. Not sure what their motivation is as the player only finds out he's Dragonborn after an encounter with a dragon. This may happen during their rescue actually in which case the dragon scares off the executioner and his buddies. Who knows? :shrug:

Esbern???

Where is all this information?? magazine articles etc??

I like the sound of a dragon attack making it possible for the player to escape. With a bit of fighting involved. I quite liked the start of Oblivion. Although I must say it does get tedious starting over once you've played it through several times...

But oh well. Whatever they do it will probably be cool.

Google http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS416US416&q=esbern+skyrim&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=. Not that hard.

It's confirmed that Esbern helps you out in some way. Other than that, there's some details to work out.

Honestly, I think it'd be cooler if he "pulled some strings" to get you saved, being a member of the Blades he presumably has a lot of connections with the law and local nobility. You'd be thrown out onto the street with no idea who came to your rescue, and you may have to do a bit of detective work to find him. I'd much prefer this sort of plot progression over Esbern flying in like Spiderman and cutting you free, and then knowing him for the rest of the game.

But with magazines being so quick to state that Esbern is responsible, it's likely that we'll meet him face-to-face pretty quickly.

I honestly think you'll be taken by the executioners and your head placed on whatever they were placed on, and as the executioner raises his axe esbern will snipe him with an arrow, there will be confusion, and esbern will lead you to safety. I imagine this cutscene now, that would be completely epic, the feeling that your head's about to be taken off.

Yeah, likely there will be a Dragon attack when the ax starts to fall, in which case you then have to fight off said dragon. I know there's mention of the final member of the Blades that will be assisting you in the beginning, so I can see this person coming into play at this part.

i think it would be cool to find out your a dragonborn and just shout in the executioners face and make a run for it

It might seem dumb, but I think it would be cool if you are actually executed, and then ressurect sometime later. Upon ressurection, you realize you are more than just the simple human you always believed. Your ressurection proves to the Graybeards that you are the Dragonborn. I don't know... something to throw out there.

Unless, of course, you're beheaded... then it wouldn't make sense.