User:The Silencer/Sandbox1

Roleplaying is an optional way of playing the game, that can range from a brief diversion to a full overhaul of the game. By playing as if your character has a personality and preferences beyond the game's basic statistics, you can add additional depth and interest. At a basic level, many players will give their characters some sort of backstory explaining who the character is. Beyond that, you can choose to incorporate limitations that make gameplay more realistic or more challenging, as detailed in Increased Realism. Or you can model your character after any favorite person, real or fictional.

Some of the tips are unavailable in particular games. If a tip is not marked for a game then it applies to all games, otherwise it is only available in those games marked. The codes are MW (Morrowind), OB (Oblivion), SR (Skyrim), and ESO (Online).

One of the very basic concepts of roleplaying is that you do not reload your last save game after making a mistake, such as killing someone accidentally. You must continue playing and live with the consequences of the mistake.

Increased Realism

There are a wide variety of ideas for how to make the games more realistic, that can be used alone or combined based upon your preferences. PC players can enhance many of these ideas by adding various third-party mods.

Traveling

• Slow down! You can't run and jump everywhere and neither can your character. Ease the throttle back and walk to your destination like a normal person. You'll need to take a break every few hours and eat a meal too. Run if you're in a hurry or a dangerous area, but remember to rest and recuperate afterwards.
• Only travel in good weather. If you must travel in poor weather, wear appropriate attire. Consider running to find a camp or cave to wait out the storm.
• If you come across a village, don't keep going. Unless you're doing something important, stop by. See how the livestock and townspeople are doing. Check your supplies and restock if necessary.
• Spend nights in inns or taverns. If you are caught in the wilderness at night, stop by the side of the road as if you were camping for the night.
• Stop and pray at chapels during your travels, if it's appropriate to your character.
• Spending more time journeying by foot or horse can greatly enhance the aesthetic appeal of the game; some of the lesser traveled places are beautiful and may contain valuable loot.
• If going everywhere by foot or horse is too tiresome, remember to make use of local transport services such as carriage drivers or silt striders!
• Use your map and compass more realistically
  • Use your map only when you are sheltered. If it is raining or snowing, your map could get soaked and most likely ruined.
• When entering a dungeon, carry a torch and walk slowly, on the lookout for unknown dangers.

Horses^{(OB)(SR)(ESO)}

Take care of your horse more realistically.

• Always leave your horse at a stable, in its paddock.
  • Leave an apple or carrot near your horse.
  • Chat with the proprietor and ask them to take extra good care of your horse and slip him a few coins.
• When riding, take your horse's stamina and health into account.
  • Don't run nonstop between cities through the middle of the wilderness, jumping over boulders, running into trees, and swimming across lakes. When possible, stick to the roads.
  • Only run full speed when you are attacked or urgently need to get somewhere. Slow down when your horse is exhausted or injured.
• You may use the console to give your equine friend a unique name.

Eating

Eating regularly is an easy way to enhance roleplaying.

• Eat three meals a day at the appropriate times (or less if you are poor). Eat foods appropriate for your character and the mealtime.
  • Once you have eaten, wait for one hour to show it takes time to actually eat—you haven't just instantly eaten your meal.
  • If you find yourself a long way away from a house or an inn, then gather some nearby natural ingredients. Seeds, flowers and other things could make a meal or drink. You can mix ingredients and call the potion "Juice", "Stew", or "Soup".
• Sit down in a chair when you eat.
• Eat out at the local inn, socializing with others.
• If you had a particularly good meal at an inn, tip the barman.
• If you have access to a camp fire or similar, make sure to make good use of it. No sense in eating raw food when you can cook it!

Sleeping

• Sleep in a home appropriate for your role. If you can't afford a house, rent a room at an inn or find a bedroll. Also, rent a room when you are visiting a city.
• Put your armor in the cupboards or on mannequins, put your sword on the bed next to you, etc, before you sleep. Put on a simple outfit as pajamas.
• Read a book before going to bed, like you fell asleep reading.
• If you must "wait" instead of sleeping then wait under a balcony or a tree, or in a crevice in a wall, to simulate sleeping on the streets or wilderness.
• A restless night can be simulated by sleeping or waiting in one or two hour increments.

Houses

• There are many options for decorating your house:
  • Place appropriate items throughout: books on bookshelves, wine in wine racks, decorative armor on shelves or mannequins, writing items on desks, food and dishes in the kitchen. If you are a mage put potions and scrolls everywhere. If you own a nice home put expensive drinks on shelves as the nobility do.
  • Create displays that commemorate your adventures, for example by showcasing items representing animals or people you have conquered: a mammoth tusk in a display case or a Daedric Artifact on a shelf.
• Flag your storage chests to give you a hint as to what they contain. Leave your favorite weapon atop your weapons chest, a pickaxe over the crate where you keep your dungeon delving trophies, etc.
• Have a butler in the manors. Get a follower and tell them to wait by the door and greet you when you come home.

Equipment

• Try playing the game using a realistic limit for the amount of items your character can carry. If you need to transport more items than a person could realistically carry, use a horse.
• Wear faction and/or character appropriate clothing, armor, and weapons.
• Wear clothing appropriate to the weather and/or activity. Keep that fur armor handy for trips to the northern areas of Skyrim, don't take plate armor when visiting Black Marsh.
• Take off your armor and replace it with casual clothes when you're in towns. If you use a shield in combat, equip a two-handed weapon or a bow when in towns so that you can use both hands without your shield getting in the way.

Combat

• Simulate damage from combat beyond simply losing health.
  • Rest after a fight so you are prepared for your next encounter.
  • After a major battle or after catching a disease, take several days to gradually heal, slowly doing more physically demanding activities.
• When your health drops below a certain level, flee from the battle, preferably to the nearest town and seek help from the guards (however, make sure the guards can actually defeat your enemies).
• Don't change armor in the middle of combat.

Memorials

If you become attached to the NPCs in the game, you can pay homage to them after they die.

• Place the NPC's robes/armor and weapon (if any) in a place of significance and honor.
  • Rename the items (by enchanting them, for example) to name them after the NPC who used them.
• Conduct a memorial ceremony, for example by shooting a flame arrow or a spell into the sky.
• Scatter flowers and torches where someone died.
• Use the weapons, armor, or spells of fallen NPCs when avenging their death.
• Straighten out a fallen ally's (or opponent's) body (folding the arms if possible) and place the body in a peaceful location. If they died in the water, drag the corpse onto land, possibly a meadow of flowers, and perhaps leave a flower next to the body.
• If near a fire, cremate the body by dragging it in.

You can also honor your fallen enemies, in particular if they fought honorably. This may include people acting immaturely, they didn't mean or want to start combat.

• Take their armor only to upgrade your own, not for profit.
• Leave their weapon next to their body to symbolize that they died honorably.
• If someone such as a Dark Brotherhood Follower dies, hide the corpse and clothes so no one can learn anything of the Dark Brotherhood's enchanted armor.

Miscellaneous

• Give your character a personality with preferred foods, activities, and clothes. What creature or race do they hate/like the most?
• Given that most people don't have supernatural attention spans, try not to wait for long periods of time all at once, unless there is a good reason (e.g., you're spying on someone).
• Bathe periodically by taking off your clothes and swimming. Wash your clothes, too, by dropping them in the water. For more realism, drop them in a sunny place and wait for them to dry; if it's cloudy, wait a bit longer.
  • Never bathe in frigid northern waters unless you have a really good reason and there is plenty of warmth and shelter nearby.
• Choose a date to be your birthday and celebrate it.
  • Read The Firmament and find the appropriate Doom Stone/Standing Stone to match your birthday.
• Use Followers as bodyguards, friends or colleagues.
  • Tell your followers to wait in a place where they would actually stay (inn, bar, guild hall etc.)
• You can make your own people and add them to the world (workers, family, etc.).
  • Use console commands to give generically named followers names. "Dark Brotherhood Initiate" does not seem like a realistic name.
• Put a realistic limit on how much gear can go into a container. How can you put seven sets of armor, a war axe, and six tower shields into one chest? Take the size of the item into context, a staff cannot be put into a lectern but maybe in your hunting closet. Also your desk should not contain weapons and armor even if it would fit. Inkwells, books, and maybe a dagger is good though.
• Play the game according to your chosen race:
  • Try to only use skills that your race favors (e.g., skills for which your race has positive modifiers).
  • Only deal with merchants of your race; generally try to help NPCs of your race.
  • Use appropriate equipment (Orcs use Orcish; Elves use Elven; etc.)
• If you are role-playing a job for which you should be paid, you can receive your pay in multiple ways:
  • Pickpocket your pay from the person you're dealing with.
  • Use the console to add gold and remove gold from an NPC.

Religion

• Dedicate your life to a Daedric Prince or God. Choose a god to follow based on your character's race and class.
  • Worship your Chosen god through activities that would please your particular god. Visit the chapel every morning and pray. If you strongly believe in your god then you could wake up every day at a certain time and place a gift on the altar. Place fresh flowers on graves to show the gods that you're devoted to them.
  • Worship according to your race if you hold pride in it. For example as a Khajiit, worship the Khajiit pantheon and drink Skooma to make you feel closer to the Lunar Lattice. This can be changed depending on what race your character is.
  • Convert as many people as possible.
  • Summon a Dremora Lord only on certain days. You could therefore celebrate these days by acting as a madman on Sheogorath's summoning day, reading books all day when it's the summoning day of Hermaeus Mora, etc.
  • Read through and study the holy texts of your religion. Copy them and drop them in public places to spread your faith!
• Take holidays as appropriate.

Family

• If you have a family, keep in touch with them, or create a scenario that discourages contact.
  • If they died, that may change your opinion about the races, factions, or people involved.
• If your parents or close family are rich or powerful, then you have great power where they live. In other words, if your brother was a Jarl, you would have much influence.
  • If you are part of a noble family like the Battle-Borns, throw your power around. Also, enchant your gear and name it after your family.
• Make your family race-appropriate so no Altmer fathers and Orc children.

Character Type Roleplaying

General Character Creation

You can create and develop your character to emulate any person you like, including heroes from stories and movies. There are several basic ways you can customize your character to resemble your role-model:

• Give your character a race appropriate name.
• Choose an appropriate race.
• Customize your character's appearance to match your role-model.
• Equip your character with appropriate clothing, armor, and weapons. Enchant items to rename them.
• Decide which NPCs are your friends and which are your enemies. Only do quests for your friends, and only join guilds that are appropriate for your character.