Locked in prison!

[Dan-Ru]

Here's a doozy.

You wake up on the alter of a necromancer's hideout and have to fight your way out of the dungeon to freedom where your picked up by a squad of fighters guild operatives outside who were tasked with clearing the dungeon.

THAT would be pretty cool.

the best part is, name, character, race, backstory and stats are irrelevant.

[skittles]

You wake up in the wreckage of a ship, on the coast of Skyrim, with no clothes, no supplies and *cringes for the cliche* no memory of who you are.

Later it's reveled that you are one of the enslaved men of Akavir, and as a slave you were rowing in one of the warships as part of the invasion of Tamriel by Akavir, before it was blown off-course in a storm and was taken north to Skyrim. The rest of the fleet landed in Morrowind and quickly conquered it, and now they're setting their sights on Skyrim.

[Dark Spark]

You wake up in the wreckage of a ship, on the coast of Skyrim, with no clothes, no supplies and *cringes for the cliche* no memory of who you are.

Later it's reveled that you are one of the enslaved men of Akavir, and as a slave you were rowing in one of the warships as part of the invasion of Tamriel by Akavir, before it was blown off-course in a storm and was taken north to Skyrim. The rest of the fleet landed in Morrowind and quickly conquered it, and now they're setting their sights on Skyrim.

That's a pretty cool one.

[Elune]

The problem with various starts is, for roleplayers the backstory... How did you get there? I.e. if you're playing a Skingrad Noble in Oblivion, how did you get in the Imperial City Prision? Easy, while overseeing the shipment of your wears, you were staying in an Inn in the market district, after celebrating your ever increasing wealth with a lot of drinks you got into a fight with a dark elf... etc

Openings that don't say how you got there are good, you can work it into your character, whereas "you were a slave", or you have to pick a certain role from limited opitions etc. It makes the roleplaying experience more limited in a sense.

[The Dog Whisperer]

Multiple starting points without backstory?
Skittles first line works as a scenario, negate the "Later you find out.." part, an open starting scenario, to go along with the prison one.
Dragonov's has no backstory, you can create all your own "before."
Dark Spark's had the character evading back story questions, you could create your own sensitive history.

Just because there's multiple options doesn't mean there's a set pre-story to go with each one.
If anything, it makes it easier to mould your character into the game.
You don't need to come up with some excuse for being in jail.

[Elune]

Multiple starting points without backstory?
Skittles first line works as a scenario, negate the "Later you find out.." part, an open starting scenario, to go along with the prison one.
Dragonov's has no backstory, you can create all your own "before."
Dark Spark's had the character evading back story questions, you could create your own sensitive history.

Just because there's multiple options doesn't mean there's a set pre-story to go with each one.
If anything, it makes it easier to mould your character into the game.
You don't need to come up with some excuse for being in jail.

You misunderstood me, I was saying the problem was giving you a backstory, i.e you are a slave or i.e you can start as thing job/that job/etc.
I wasn't assuming that having multiple opitions meant there's a set pre-story with each (though that is how game designers usually do multiple opitions.) I also wasn't particularly discrediting anyones as good or bad.

The best stories are a bit more open ended. Dark Spark's was good, crashing from a ship is fine but the whole you wuz slave doesn't work for me, starting in jail also works for me. Multiple starting points with no backstory would be ideal but knowing Bethesda that probably won't happen.

Even if you start in jail you don't need to come up with an excuse for bieng in jail, you can just walk away "start" somewhere new and forget the jail part.

I feel like you're trying to talk down to me, it's pretty annoying.

[The Dog Whisperer]

I was responding to where you said various starts were a problem for roleplayers.
Just used the given stories as examples because I'm lazy, not because I thought you were attacking them.
Skittles' would be good, though, if you regard everything after his first sentence as his personal story and not something that is put into the game.

I wasn't trying to talk down to you, either. Just saying that it could work, and for the better, too.
Maybe it's wishful thinking, but that's what pre-game hype's all about.

[DaKizmasta]

I'm kinda bored with the jail/dungeon theme set in the past 2 elder scrolls games. I think they should make it like they done in Fallout 3 were you start right at the beginning. It should start by being born at your remote cottage in the mountains then you choose your skills etc. and then skips to you living at your house some years later afetr when your parents die then you embark on your quest whether it be the akaviri invasion or someone kidnaps you or something

[Leilah]

I'm kinda bored with the jail/dungeon theme set in the past 2 elder scrolls games. I think they should make it like they done in Fallout 3 were you start right at the beginning. It should start by being born at your remote cottage in the mountains then you choose your skills etc. and then skips to you living at your house some years later afetr when your parents die then you embark on your quest whether it be the akaviri invasion or someone kidnaps you or something

I want anything but this Funny how much people's opinions differ. So many times when I think "Hey, I'll play a bit of Fallout 3 again", I get up to opening the playpen, and then realise that there's still so many dull things to do that I just quit and play something else.

I like Dark Spark's idea of getting the option to skip the tutorial - it's most ceratinly useful on your 100th playthrough.

[adamflint]

I like the idea of you being a slave and having to kill your master (or have mercy upon him, then he would show up later as a Checkov's Gunman) by choosing one of the three choices:

Fighter: You fight through to the Slaver's chambers, kill him (or not) and run away.
Mage: You steal a spell tome from the library, learn a ''Jump'' spell from it, jump onto Slaver's balconey and kill him
Rogue: You steal a bow or dagger from someone and you sneak into Slaver's bedroom and assassinate him.

[Waylander]

I dont mind starting in Jail, keeps things fairly anonymous.

It would be nice to have the option of skipping the tutorial though.

[DaKizmasta]

It would be nice to have the option of skipping the tutorial though.

I can definitely agree with that, it certainly gets annoying after while

[Generalno1]

It's done this way because you're character can start anew, no past, no name etc so you can make that stuff up.

[Mattbott]

the tutorial is very important, i for one took a bit of time to figure out the oblivion game system and controls after hundreds of hours in Mw, and i expect skyrim will be no different

its very important in TES to start with a totally clean slate. Fallout is a very specific idea so your character can be the vault dweller or courier and it fits well into the game, but in TES your race and class can be far more varied so you need that total freedom which makes things very vague at the beginning

my favourite start for a Conan story has him running through the wastes pursued by wolves (they used it in the movie in fact), he finds a tomb which he loots in a mini adventure, and then emerges to face the waiting pack with his new sword.. classic

amnesia is very cool because the game can reveal bits of your past as the plot develops. My d n d ref started a campaign where everyone woke in a medusa lair, having all been brought back from stoney doom by a good party which had killed the monster. They were from all different ages of the land and of course couldn't remember anything (having a brain turned to stone will play havoc with the memory)

[nyk45]

I like Dark Spark's idea of getting the option to skip the tutorial - it's most ceratinly useful on your 100th playthrough.

This. That's actually one thing I liked a lot about New Vegas.

[Waylander]

I agree the tutorial has its uses and is important, but after numerous playthroughs you kinda know the character you want to be and will certainly know the controls and how the game works. I think the option to skip this would be a good idea imho.

[DerangedPickle]

My problem is how did my Argonian, Sign of the steed, theif, get caught by a few guards in the first place, and what was so bad that he was thrown into the darkest depths of prison.

Also I like Darksparks idea, ever considered trying game design or anything???

[DorostheConqueror]

How about this? You boot up the game, create your character, and the very first thing you see as it loads up is... a giant cloud of Skyrim Cliffracers. I mean, really, just an insane amount of Cliffracers, bearing down on you. And that's the intro, a huge, pointless battle against a squawking cloud of Cliffracers.

Otherwise, I'm voting for Prison.

[ThorsHand11]

Personally being in prison has not gotten old. In fact I always try to create a back story that includes it. But the ES games are about choices and I would love to have choices on how to start. Maybe you could get different options to choose from depending on your race. Like an imperial that hikes over the jerral Mts. or a dummner POW or a Nord who was left for dead after a battle and must find shelter for the night.

[Dark Spark]

...Also I like Darksparks idea, ever considered trying game design or anything???

Time. Travelling. Cowboys.

The court-mandated restraining order prohibits me from coming within 500 feet of any game studio.

[azuarc]

I'm fine with the prison motif. The simplest reason for this is that it allows you to be any race, with any backstory, and any skillset. While Morrowind's version of "the Emperor specifically asked for you to be shipped into Vvardenfeld" was a bit thin, but putting you into any kind of societal role in a region where the majority of the constituents are of one particular ethnicity is going to strain your credibility. If you're just a random villager, then why would you know how to perform magic or pick locks? If you're an Argonian, what would you be doing freezing your cold-blooded tail off in Skyrim?

The only other version besides the prison that I can come up with is one of exile, whether self-imposed or as a fugitive. Something like:


* You discovered that a Dark Brotherhood operative was contracted to kill you. You fled your home, taking with you what meager possessions you were able, but as you reached the edge of Skyrim, you were beset by the killer. As he attempts to fight you, an avalanche causes the snow to sweep the two of you down the mountainside. He escapes the avalanche, but is unable to find you, and presumes you dead. Shortly thereafter, you stagger out of a snow drift and limp your way through the ice canyon that leads to the first village.

This works suitably well because it gives a reason why non-Nords would be in Skyrim, and it leaves your backstory open. Who are you? Why were you being chased? Did you do something wrong, or was it just a jealous lover?


* You live in a small secluded farmstead, raising just enough crops to care for yourself. You live alone, in very meager conditions. You've lived this way for about three years now, trying to escape your past. There is a village several hours away if you *really* need to access supplies, but you live the life of a hermit. Then a knock comes at your door. It is a badly-wounded man, evidently having barely survived an attack from a pack of wolves. He asks you to help him. It turns out he is a member of the Blades and he was looking for someone. Maybe that someone is you, maybe he isn't. Maybe the Blades guy survives, maybe he doesn't. But his presence for whatever reason forces you to return to civilized life, in spite of your troubled past.

This still leaves things open-ended enough for who you might have been. However, it does impose one artificial constraint...your character harbors some kind of past. It isn't specified whether you are on the lam or if you've been ostracized, but there had to be some kind of motivation for you to leave your old life.

[DorostheConqueror]

* You discovered that a Dark Brotherhood operative was contracted to kill you.

Not possible. I quote:

Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

The intro has got to be fully open ended and vague to appease us roleplayers. Starting us on a farm wouldn't work, since that'd lock us in to a "farmer" background at least in the near past, and who wants that? Starting outside of Skyrim wouldn't work, either, because what if we want to be a native? My main characters in Morrowind and Oblivion were both Skyrim Nords, and I'll be damned if I'm forced to play a skraeling now that we're finally "coming home"!

[Streix]

I don't think Privateers Hold is a dungeon but a... fortress?

[The Raven]

* You discovered that a Dark Brotherhood operative was contracted to kill you.

Not possible. I quote:

Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Maybe edit it to "Assassin" or "Mercenary" or whatever...Maybe Morag/Cammona Tong?

[DorostheConqueror]

* You discovered that a Dark Brotherhood operative was contracted to kill you.

Not possible. I quote:

Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

Maybe edit it to "Assassin" or "Mercenary" or whatever...Maybe Morag/Cammona Tong?

MuahahaHAHA, I'd like to see a Camonna Tong dog TRY and get the best of ME!