• Welcome to The Campaign Builder's Guild.
 

Elder Scrolls Topic

Started by Elemental_Elf, December 12, 2010, 02:36:10 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Xathan

Going to roll my second character soon, and actually had a question for the community:

right now I'm playing a battlemage, one handed weapon in my right hand and spell of some variety in my left. The result of this is my playstyle typically consists of pointing my character in the general direction of my foe and then nervously twitching my index finger on my mouse button like a fumbling high schooler in the backseat of his parent's car with limited knowledge of female anatomy while my ring finger attempts to maintain contact long enough to achieve the desired result in spiteful rejection of its partners fumblings, which extends the backseat analogy quite nicely, and while this typically results in everything in front of me falling down in relatively short order, it leaves something to be desired in the "not getting my face torn off" department and a bit of a cramp in my wrist and fingers. I've been thinking about trying a different playstyle, one focused around sword and board with sword and ward being used for casters to help preserve my precious face, but I've no experience with actively trying to prevent my face getting torn off in Elder Scrolls, so my question is - does anyone try this playstyle, and if they do, how does it work for you/how fun is it? (No, I've no clue as to what race I intend on playing yet, so open to suggestion here, though I'm leaning towards really any non-human because I almost never play humans if I don't have to.)
AnIndex of My Work

Quote from: Sparkletwist
It's llitul and the brain, llitul and the brain, one is a genius and the other's insane
Proud Receiver of a Golden Dorito
[spoiler=SRD AND OGC AND LEGAL JUNK]UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED IN THE POST, NONE OF THE ABOVE CONTENT IS CONSIDERED OGC, EXCEPT FOR MATERIALS ALREADY MADE OGC BY PRIOR PUBLISHERS
Appendix I: Open Game License Version 1.0a
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Fudge 10th Anniversary Edition Copyright 2005, Grey Ghost Press, Inc.; Authors Steffan O'Sullivan and Ann Dupuis, with additional material by Jonathan Benn, Peter Bonney, Deird'Re Brooks, Reimer Behrends, Don Bisdorf, Carl Cravens, Shawn Garbett, Steven Hammond, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, J.M. "Thijs" Krijger, Sedge Lewis, Shawn Lockard, Gordon McCormick, Kent Matthewson, Peter Mikelsons, Robb Neumann, Anthony Roberson, Andy Skinner, William Stoddard, Stephan Szabo, John Ughrin, Alex Weldon, Duke York, Dmitri Zagidulin
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Modern System Reference Doument Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Walker.

Unearthed Arcana Copyright 2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman.

Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition Copyright 2005, Green Ronin Publishing; Steve Kenson
Fate (Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment) Copyright 2003 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue and Fred Hicks.
Spirit of the Century Copyright 2006 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue, Fred Hicks, and Leonard Balsera
Xathan's forum posts at http://www.thecbg.org Copyright 2006-2011, J.A. Raizman.
[/spoiler]

Hibou

#286
Quote from: Xathan Of Many Worlds
Going to roll my second character soon, and actually had a question for the community:

right now I'm playing a battlemage, one handed weapon in my right hand and spell of some variety in my left. The result of this is my playstyle typically consists of pointing my character in the general direction of my foe and then nervously twitching my index finger on my mouse button like a fumbling high schooler in the backseat of his parent's car with limited knowledge of female anatomy while my ring finger attempts to maintain contact long enough to achieve the desired result in spiteful rejection of its partners fumblings, which extends the backseat analogy quite nicely, and while this typically results in everything in front of me falling down in relatively short order, it leaves something to be desired in the "not getting my face torn off" department and a bit of a cramp in my wrist and fingers. I've been thinking about trying a different playstyle, one focused around sword and board with sword and ward being used for casters to help preserve my precious face, but I've no experience with actively trying to prevent my face getting torn off in Elder Scrolls, so my question is - does anyone try this playstyle, and if they do, how does it work for you/how fun is it? (No, I've no clue as to what race I intend on playing yet, so open to suggestion here, though I'm leaning towards really any non-human because I almost never play humans if I don't have to.)

I play sword and shield, and I haven't had difficulty with anything since around level 15. Carry a nonmagical weapon and make sure you locate the Elemental Fury shout for good times. Using a shield will make it fairly easy to survive melee fights that would probably slaughter most other characters. Build lots of health and lots of stamina, with just enough magic to cast some restoration spells, and make sure you take lots of opportunities to practice your alchemy and you should really enjoy such a character.
[spoiler=GitHub]https://github.com/threexc[/spoiler]

Hibou

[spoiler=GitHub]https://github.com/threexc[/spoiler]

Matt Larkin (author)

Quote from: Ninja D!
I wasn't getting through things faster at all. It was actually taking longer because I had to make sure I was more prepared going into fights. Healing potions, stoneskin, that sort of thing. Then the fights were less entertaining to me.   

I put my focus on Destruction, then added quite a bit of Alteration and eventually some Conjuration.

An armored mage would probably be more enjoyable and going more Conjuration heavy and using a lot of Bound weapons would be for sure.

On my new character, I hit level 10 and had 50 in Archery, AND had someone sending mercenaries to rough me up before leaving Riverrun (which was the first settlement I visited). Make a fine rug, indeed.

Oh, and my new character had my girlfriend nearly in tears laughing when I grabbed an old lady (Anise) by the back of the head and punched her in the face until she died.
As near as I can tell there is no reason not to wear armor as a mage in Skyrim. It no longer seems to weaken your magic at all. Also, double cast + Impact lets Destruction stagger opponents.
Latest Release: Echoes of Angels

NEW site mattlarkin.net - author of the Skyfall Era and Relics of Requiem Books
incandescentphoenix.com - publishing, editing, web design

Ninja D!

Quote from: PhoenixAs near as I can tell there is no reason not to wear armor as a mage in Skyrim. It no longer seems to weaken your magic at all. Also, double cast + Impact lets Destruction stagger opponents.
The reason is that there is a perk in the Alteration tree that makes spells like Stoneskin twice as effective, encouraging people to use them. Also, if you're going pure mage, you're probably not putting anything into your Stamina so your carrying capacity will be crap and armor will take up a fair amount of that.

Even with the double casting and the Impact perk, I never once had my magic stagger anyone and I double cast a lot. I was very disappointed that I had wasted the perk. I assumed it was a glitch that would be fixed eventually.

My sneaky sort of character is doing wonderfully. Pickpocket levels too quickly and I now have that at 100. Archery is somewhere over 50, as is Light Armor. Smithing is steadily climbing. I've done a lot of the cheap tactic of paying for training, stealing my money back, and repeating. It seems unfair but it makes sense for the character. For combat I'm still using claws or a bow. I had been thinking that I would go the One-Handed route but I'm now considering doing Conjuration instead and using Bound weapons.

beejazz

I love runes. It's fun picking fights with giants and being able to cast offensively at them while running with my back towards them. They can't keep up.
Beejazz's Homebrew System
 Beejazz's Homebrew Discussion

QuoteI don't believe in it anyway.
What?
England.
Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?

Xathan

Hey, random question, just curious if I'm the only one who does this: Do any of you all assign backstories to your random NPCs? I married Yslonda and she was all about the caravans, so I like to pretend that while I'm out adventuring she and Lydia are traveling with a caravan and that's where the money comes from and she's always in whiterun when I get back because I schedule my return trips around her caravan's routes...does anyone else do that?
AnIndex of My Work

Quote from: Sparkletwist
It's llitul and the brain, llitul and the brain, one is a genius and the other's insane
Proud Receiver of a Golden Dorito
[spoiler=SRD AND OGC AND LEGAL JUNK]UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED IN THE POST, NONE OF THE ABOVE CONTENT IS CONSIDERED OGC, EXCEPT FOR MATERIALS ALREADY MADE OGC BY PRIOR PUBLISHERS
Appendix I: Open Game License Version 1.0a
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Fudge 10th Anniversary Edition Copyright 2005, Grey Ghost Press, Inc.; Authors Steffan O'Sullivan and Ann Dupuis, with additional material by Jonathan Benn, Peter Bonney, Deird'Re Brooks, Reimer Behrends, Don Bisdorf, Carl Cravens, Shawn Garbett, Steven Hammond, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, J.M. "Thijs" Krijger, Sedge Lewis, Shawn Lockard, Gordon McCormick, Kent Matthewson, Peter Mikelsons, Robb Neumann, Anthony Roberson, Andy Skinner, William Stoddard, Stephan Szabo, John Ughrin, Alex Weldon, Duke York, Dmitri Zagidulin
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Modern System Reference Doument Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Walker.

Unearthed Arcana Copyright 2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman.

Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition Copyright 2005, Green Ronin Publishing; Steve Kenson
Fate (Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment) Copyright 2003 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue and Fred Hicks.
Spirit of the Century Copyright 2006 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue, Fred Hicks, and Leonard Balsera
Xathan's forum posts at http://www.thecbg.org Copyright 2006-2011, J.A. Raizman.
[/spoiler]

Ninja D!

Nope. I wish they included more story in the games without me having to insert it, though.

Elemental_Elf

Quote from: Xathan Dovahkiin
Hey, random question, just curious if I'm the only one who does this: Do any of you all assign backstories to your random NPCs? I married Yslonda and she was all about the caravans, so I like to pretend that while I'm out adventuring she and Lydia are traveling with a caravan and that's where the money comes from and she's always in whiterun when I get back because I schedule my return trips around her caravan's routes...does anyone else do that?

Hey! She is the Wife of MY devilishly handsome Orc! Get your own wife!!!

But in all seriousness, I pretend Yslonda and my Housecarl just trade with caravans that come to Whiterun because I adventure in Skyrim, I of all people know just how dangerous the province is, and I would never subject that to my beloved.

Also, I often pretend that both Yslonda and Lydia snuggle up with my Orc in bed... Because its cold... And last time I checked a blanket, straw and wood planks does not warmth make...  :shy: :wink: :grin: :shades:

Ninja D!

I think they somehow planned for most people to marry her. I did with one character. Even my girlfriend married her (HA! My comment just got dirtier that E_E's!).

Matt Larkin (author)


Quote from: Ninja Dovahk!!n
Quote from: PhoenixAs near as I can tell there is no reason not to wear armor as a mage in Skyrim. It no longer seems to weaken your magic at all. Also, double cast + Impact lets Destruction stagger opponents.
The reason is that there is a perk in the Alteration tree that makes spells like Stoneskin twice as effective, encouraging people to use them. Also, if you're going pure mage, you're probably not putting anything into your Stamina so your carrying capacity will be crap and armor will take up a fair amount of that.

Even with the double casting and the Impact perk, I never once had my magic stagger anyone and I double cast a lot. I was very disappointed that I had wasted the perk. I assumed it was a glitch that would be fixed eventually.

My sneaky sort of character is doing wonderfully. Pickpocket levels too quickly and I now have that at 100. Archery is somewhere over 50, as is Light Armor. Smithing is steadily climbing. I've done a lot of the cheap tactic of paying for training, stealing my money back, and repeating. It seems unfair but it makes sense for the character. For combat I'm still using claws or a bow. I had been thinking that I would go the One-Handed route but I'm now considering doing Conjuration instead and using Bound weapons.

Bound weapons are very cool. You can't enchant them, obviously, though you can mimic soul trap and banish on them.

What spell were you using to try to Impact? I'm not sure it works on the continuous ones like Flames, but it works every time (at least on PS3) on the ones you charge up and launch.

I think Ebonyflesh is the best armor spell which gives you 100 armor. Doubled that be 200 for a minute. With a full set of smithed Dragonscale and a couple of perks in Light armor (by no means maxed) I"m close to 400 armor, and Ebonyskin would stack with that if I needed it. But really, it's only magic that's a real big threat.

Yeah, carrying capacity was an issue early on, before I got the perk that negates the armor weight (at Light Armor 40 or 50, I think). I was constantly making Lydia carry stuff, before I dismissed her (I was afraid I was going to blow her up after I got Fireball). Now that my spells cost nothing and my health is at 300, I started pumping Stamina for fighting with Bound Blades, with the nice side effect of bonus carrying capacity.


Latest Release: Echoes of Angels

NEW site mattlarkin.net - author of the Skyfall Era and Relics of Requiem Books
incandescentphoenix.com - publishing, editing, web design

Xathan

Quote from: Elemental_Elf
Quote from: Xathan Dovahkiin
Hey, random question, just curious if I'm the only one who does this: Do any of you all assign backstories to your random NPCs? I married Yslonda and she was all about the caravans, so I like to pretend that while I'm out adventuring she and Lydia are traveling with a caravan and that's where the money comes from and she's always in whiterun when I get back because I schedule my return trips around her caravan's routes...does anyone else do that?

Hey! She is the Wife of MY devilishly handsome Orc! Get your own wife!!!

But in all seriousness, I pretend Yslonda and my Housecarl just trade with caravans that come to Whiterun because I adventure in Skyrim, I of all people know just how dangerous the province is, and I would never subject that to my beloved.

Also, I often pretend that both Yslonda and Lydia snuggle up with my Orc in bed... Because its cold... And last time I checked a blanket, straw and wood planks does not warmth make...  :shy: :wink: :grin: :shades:

Lol! And Lydia is why I assume she goes out - lydia has a full set of dragonscale she's wearing and a draedic bow, all enchanted, so she can serve her thane by guarding my wife.

Also, does it make it more creepy that the lizard person I'm playing is female in tems of marrying yslonda?
AnIndex of My Work

Quote from: Sparkletwist
It's llitul and the brain, llitul and the brain, one is a genius and the other's insane
Proud Receiver of a Golden Dorito
[spoiler=SRD AND OGC AND LEGAL JUNK]UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED IN THE POST, NONE OF THE ABOVE CONTENT IS CONSIDERED OGC, EXCEPT FOR MATERIALS ALREADY MADE OGC BY PRIOR PUBLISHERS
Appendix I: Open Game License Version 1.0a
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Fudge 10th Anniversary Edition Copyright 2005, Grey Ghost Press, Inc.; Authors Steffan O'Sullivan and Ann Dupuis, with additional material by Jonathan Benn, Peter Bonney, Deird'Re Brooks, Reimer Behrends, Don Bisdorf, Carl Cravens, Shawn Garbett, Steven Hammond, Ed Heil, Bernard Hsiung, J.M. "Thijs" Krijger, Sedge Lewis, Shawn Lockard, Gordon McCormick, Kent Matthewson, Peter Mikelsons, Robb Neumann, Anthony Roberson, Andy Skinner, William Stoddard, Stephan Szabo, John Ughrin, Alex Weldon, Duke York, Dmitri Zagidulin
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Modern System Reference Doument Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Walker.

Unearthed Arcana Copyright 2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman.

Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition Copyright 2005, Green Ronin Publishing; Steve Kenson
Fate (Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment) Copyright 2003 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue and Fred Hicks.
Spirit of the Century Copyright 2006 by Evil Hat Productions, LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue, Fred Hicks, and Leonard Balsera
Xathan's forum posts at http://www.thecbg.org Copyright 2006-2011, J.A. Raizman.
[/spoiler]

Superfluous Crow

I apologize for reviving this thread, but I have a desperate need to recount the tales of my wanderings through Skyrim.
Or maybe not so much wanderings, as I knew that my worst enemy was my short attention span and that I had better get through the main quest first, thus partly skipping the part of Skyrim most commended by others (i.e. the side-quests/world), although I of course sometimes couldn't quite stop myself from doing this or that.

And so it came to be that I finished the game at a mere level 24, with nary a skill above 60 and with my equipment having stagnated at dwarven plate and a skyforged sword 10 levels before.
I played the "ultimate" multiclass character, a redguard with flames in one hand and a sword in the other whose highest skills were destruction, heavy armor and one-handed with smithing, alchemy, speech, and alteration coming second. Honestly, I doubt this is as good a build as I had hoped as having flames in your off-hand is more a matter of convenience than off-hand with the melee/magic fighting style being poorly integrated. You can hack or burn, but not both and definitely not together. 

Spoilers below.

The main story is... unimpressive. It goes from possible intrigue with a twist of civil war to "nah, it's just this one bad guy and hey, there is a prophecy too!". I don't care much for Bethesda's version of all that is dragony, but shouts are awesome. Just a pity you can't focus your character on them more; the recharge time and power of the shouts is a constant throughout the game aside from a single magic item.
The story also seems badly fleshed out, but that might just be because I don't know enough of the game's mythology. 

I honestly don't get all the talk about Skyrim's alleged "freedom of choice". Yes, you can move around the map, but that is about the only damn freedom you are given. Missions are linear and choice in combat boils down to whether you are sneaky or offensive. You get to choose the order in which you do missions, but rarely do you get to choose how to do missions. In the rare instances where you are allowed to go a bit outside the ordinary parameters of the game, it is in heavily scripted events (like a certain big social event in the middle of the game).   

Rarely did the world seem "alive" to me, and I envy you for the moments of immersion most of you have mentioned. The NPCs where artificial, the voice-acting kind of uninspiring and they rarely acted as expected. Also, the companions were ridiculous and suicidal.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is a bad game, it just doesn't feel as amazing as most have let me to believe. Neither would I give it top grades nor game of the year status on any kind of objective scale. The dangers of hype, I guess.
But it is still a decent and sometimes fun game and I will probably dive right back in (maybe with a new character?) after a short break and explore its wealth of peripheral content.   
Currently...
Writing: Broken Verge v. 207
Reading: the Black Sea: a History by Charles King
Watching: Farscape and Arrested Development

Matt Larkin (author)

Hey Crow, I think it's mentioned as offering freedom for the side quests you said you avoided, while the main story is more linear. But the game is really about those side quests. You can do or not the quests as you please, many can be solved in multiple ways, and they can be done in any order.

For example, you can decide which side of the civil war to fight on, switch part way through, and determine who becomes the next High King of Skyrim or return the land to the Empire.

There are a bajillion things to do, and if you replay parts, you may see entirely different ones. But the main quest is a single static line with little deviation, that's true.

Main story was decent. It feels like a step-up mainly because the plot in Oblivion was not only un-interesting, it was tedious. I believe I was level 62 when I finished the main story, and had to force myself to stop there so I could spend time on other things.
Latest Release: Echoes of Angels

NEW site mattlarkin.net - author of the Skyfall Era and Relics of Requiem Books
incandescentphoenix.com - publishing, editing, web design

Steerpike

#299
I haven't finished the main quest, but it seems that a lot of the freedom of choice comes from the side-quests and guild-quests.  For example, [spoiler]cities and towns can change Jarls depending on who you side with in the war; there's a quest to rescue a member of Clan Gray-Mane where you can either steal information or blackmail a member of Clan Battle-Born (after discovering his affair with a rival clan-member) to find out where the captured soldier is being held, and then you can choose to find a diplomatic solution with his captors, storm the place on your own, or take a bunch of Gray-Manes with you; there are quests whose resolution changes depending on whether you have a companion with you; even within the mostly linear main quest there are small choices to be made which change depending on what other quests you've done - like what kind of distraction you want to make at the Thalmor Embassy.  Just a few examples.[/spoiler]  What I really like about the choices in Skyrim is that unlike games like Fable, the choice isn't just between two black-and-white options, the good and the evil.  A lot of your choices have to do with things religion, colonialism, nationalism, self-determination, realpolitik, law vs honour, freedom vs safety, tradition vs progress etc; others have to do with who you trust more in a given situation.

I agree that the immersion is far from perfect, and that sometimes it works better than others.  For me the most immersive moments were either when I seemed to wander into a scene already part way through, like an execution, a quarrel, a debate, a conversation, or a battle, or when NPCs really did things instead of standing around like cardboard cutouts like they tended to do more in Morrowind and Oblivion - like having funerals for dead friends or forming an angry mob to go rid the local caves of vampires or just shrieking zealous propaganda in the town square.