Locked in prison!

[DaKizmasta]

I highly doubt that daedra are attacking again. Besides the trailer said nothing about daedra attacking. Only dragons

[Vendetta]

It would be cool if in the beginning you had two guards on both sides taking you to prison and throwing you into the sell. I dont care if we are in prison, I just want a reason why I was in prison!

[A-BIack_Man]

they should keep the recurring theme of starting in a prison.

it's like a TES trademark

[DaKizmasta]

I don't mind the prison theme but i would like to see them try something different. I'm sure there are other ways to start that don't require a back story for the character

[Red Guardian]

If we are going to start in the prison again: We should have a match for our freedom. Gladiator style, like a member said a few pages back.

[Argonanza]

I like the prison. It's like home to me now.

[Dark Spark]

It would be nice if they threw some questions when you're about to finish your character (like in Mass Effect) and depending on how you answer them you'd end up in a different place when you start playing for real. Who knows, it might work....

EDIT: What I wrote was right? The thing with the "threw" I mean. I'm not english/american, you see....

Repost:
Character Creation Quiz Question #42:
You are given the task of looking for a needle in a haystack. How do you set about finding it?

1> Meticulous examination of every bit of hay until you come across the needle.
Congratulations! You are a High Elf.

2> Force a gang of slaves to search for it instead. You have better things to do.
Congratulations! You are a Dark Elf.

3> Through intense concentration and obscene expenditures of magicka, you deign to levitate all strands of material bearing one density at the exclusion of all other materials of different density.
Congratulations! You are a Breton.

4> Forget the haystack. Get a new needle, crafted from the ribs of a Giant Slaughterfish that you grappled with your bare hands. Then, recount the tale at the local tavern.
Congratulations! You are a Nord.

5> Purchase a lodestone that was first mined from the barren uplands near Falkreath, transported through the Bruma passes at great cost of tarriff and human life, and finally sold in the Market District at 2000% markup of its intrinsic value.
Congratulations! You are an Imperial.

6> Convince someone else that the needle is a magical heirloom and that it'll be of great worth if they bother to recover it for you by any means neccessary.
Congratulations! You are a Wood Elf.

7> Needle? Do I look like a wimpy seamstress to you?
Congratulations! You are a Redguard.

8> Throw yourself into the haystack, knowing full well that the universe will amuse itself through one's own suffering by causing the needle to prick you sooner or later.
Congratulations! You are a Khajiit.

9> Convince some stupid Khajiit to throw themselves into the haystack.
Congratulations! You are an Argonian.

10> Set fire to the haystack.
Congratulations! You are an Orc.

[Ajax]

Well technically, you sort of have a back story as an adventurer. Where would be a common place to find an adventurer? In the world of TES, I think prison could work, and it has, but it isn't the perfect story. I think an Inn would be a good place to start, but I haven't really thought about character creation and how a tutorial would work for each type of character.

[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"!

You have to JOIN the Dark Brotherhood first.

Doros doesn't JOIN the Dark Brotherhood. Doros IS the Dark Brotherhood!

As for having a native who just "happens" to go to the border of Skyrim, I've got to ask, why? What if my character is, say, a Nord sailor? What would he be doing going all the way over to the border JUST to get jumped by some random assailant? Frankly, I've got no business outside of Skyrim. As for "breaking the Tenets" HA! Not likely. I myself would never do such a thing, but even assuming some other player was foolish enough to, he'd invite the Wrath of Sithis. Not an assassin, not a hired blade, the WRATH of SITHIS. A Level 1 character won't survive that, and it'd be way too specific for most player's likings. You'd be forced to RP a fallen DB member (one who is virtually guaranteed to be dead within minutes of starting the game), and anyone who wanted to be something else is SOL. And dead from Sithis. Nope, wouldn't work.

10> Set fire to the haystack.
Congratulations! You are an Orc.

Would an Orc be that smart? Or do they just watch a lot of Mythbusters?

[Dark Spark]

10> Set fire to the haystack.
Congratulations! You are an Orc.

Would an Orc be that smart? Or do they just watch a lot of Mythbusters?

Chocolate : Peanut Butter :: Orcs : Collateral Damage

Starting in prison may smack of tradition, but I'd prefer originality. Last thing I'd need is an Arena/Oblivion flashback.

Besides, you'll inevitably end up in a lengthy escape from the prison. I have had enough of half-hour tutorials and repeating the same exact actions for every one of my 20 characters (10 races, 2 genders, and a healthy mix of OCD and multiple personalities).

[DorostheConqueror]

10> Set fire to the haystack.
Congratulations! You are an Orc.

Would an Orc be that smart? Or do they just watch a lot of Mythbusters?

Chocolate : Peanut Butter :: Orcs : Collateral Damage

But setting fire to the haystack is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to find the needle! The hay will burn up, leaving the needle safe and ready to find. That's far too clever for an Orc.

Besides, you'll inevitably end up in a lengthy escape from the prison. I have had enough of half-hour tutorials and repeating the same exact actions for every one of my 20 characters (10 races, 2 genders, and a healthy mix of OCD and multiple personalities).

Easy to fix; just make an option to skip the tutorial quest. I remember using some mods to that effect before, and it worked pretty well.

[Gladiator21]

I say in this the main character should grow up as a kid similar to that in Fallout 3! That would be very cool and would add a major roleplaying element to the mind.

[Elune]

You start in an inn. That's it.

[DorostheConqueror]

You start in an inn. That's it.

What if I'm a teetotaller? Or the lead singer of an all-Khajiit straightedge oi band? AT least in prison I can pretend I was wrongfully imprisoned. How did I "accidentally" wind up in a den of sin and sudsy iniquity?

[Demonchick344]

I'm not sure about Daggerfall, but you start of in a prison in Arena as well. I could see you starting off in a Bar/Tavern though.

"To fight, you must draw your weapon. Good, now try hitting the ugly Nord over there."

sounds better than starting off in a prison cell. You could learn the alchemy skill by brewing mead

[Elune]

You start in an inn. That's it.

What if I'm a teetotaller? Or the lead singer of an all-Khajiit straightedge oi band? AT least in prison I can pretend I was wrongfully imprisoned. How did I "accidentally" wind up in a den of sin and sudsy iniquity?

I don't know what a teetotaller is but you could be doing a show in the inn as the Khajiit.
OK I googled it, you'd obviously just be staying the night there.

[Dark Spark]

Would an Orc be that smart? Or do they just watch a lot of Mythbusters?

Chocolate : Peanut Butter :: Orcs : Collateral Damage

But setting fire to the haystack is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to find the needle! The hay will burn up, leaving the needle safe and ready to find. That's far too clever for an Orc.

Where others hesitate and debate, Orcs instigate.

It doesn't matter if the first one to consider that option was an Orc or not— the Orc isn't going to bother for a "Plan B".

Besides, you'll inevitably end up in a lengthy escape from the prison. I have had enough of half-hour tutorials and repeating the same exact actions for every one of my 20 characters (10 races, 2 genders, and a healthy mix of OCD and multiple personalities).

Easy to fix; just make an option to skip the tutorial quest. I remember using some mods to that effect before, and it worked pretty well.

"Oh, look— there's a loose bar in this window. Lucky me."

[The Dog Whisperer]

Just starting in an inn works perfectly.
It poses less awkward questions than prison (Why wouldn't you be using an Inn? Maybe if you're extremely infamous and hence keeping a low profile, but I still want multiple options) and is just as ambiguous.
Even if prison was the only other option, it'd be great.
I can't think of a scenario where I couldn't fit into one or the other.

[ollan1]

I love the "locked into a cell" beginings.. i know it sounds weird.

but its a perfect excuse for a "fresh start" without actually popping out of your mothers womb.

[Rariow un Irskand]

Meh, the prison cell works fine for me. However, if some of you are fed up with it, how about something like this ?:

You start in a registration and training centre for one of the Nord warring factions (The teaser mentioned Nords fighting each other, right?) . You didn't volunteer, you where captured and brought here by force. This faction is famous for capturing strangers and completely brainwashing them so they want to serve them blindly. If they're fighters, they'll fight for them. If they're nobles, tey'll use their influence to help them out, etc, etc... You discover this last bit of information casually from a fellow prisoner (As in, he tells you this as if you already knew, he isn't like "Hey this faction is famous for brainwashing people"). This fellow prisoner has a plan to escape, and asks you to join him. Before escaping, however, you'll spend a day in the "training" center, were you'll be forced to learn combat, stealth etc... by the guards, and the registration center effectively works like Morrowind's, with you giving personal details like your class, sign etc... There's a guard near the door, who will only let you out if you tell him a password, but you won't know it until your second playthrough. This time, you can find a peace of paper in a dark corner of the prisoner's dining room on which the password is, thus effectively letting you skip the tutorial on your second playthrough.
Eventually you learn that this faction is trying to bring the dragons back, blah, blah, blah.

I know this is still the same "Start as nameless prisoner" approach, but it solves the problems of:
1. Uriel letting you out 'cos you're SPECIAL.
2. Having commited a crime if you're a goody-two shoes, or being in prison if you're a rich noble who could just pay the guards any amount of gold, including that of fifty consecutive murders, theft of an entire suit of (Morrowind Price) daedric armor, and setting White Gold Tower on fire (ALL on the same day, obviously).
3. If you're playing a pacifist character (Which I've done a few times), you're fighting because you're being FORCED to by the guards, so it's either your life or the training dummies.
4. You won't neccesarily know *insert advanced branch of crafting/magic/combat* too well, and you're doing it badly, but are being forced to at least TRY by the guards.

[archer3]

They should include mulitple beginnings depending on your class. If your have a combat specialization you should start as a prison guard. Stealth should get you a prisoner beginning. And magic should make you a visiting noble. That way you can breef tutor in that classes strong points (why would my orc want to learn how to make drinks again?) and then it could say, 'as you fall asleep you hear a loud noise'. Just my oponion however.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

I think I liked Mass Effect's opening. It's good to actually BE someone, for once. Not some nameless loser.

[MasterShadow]

I believe that they should give you options.

How about this: ask you a number of questions, and your answers determine how you start the game. Have about 5 different possible starting locations, add a little lore to each starting sequence to fit that particular beginning, and bingo.

[nyk45]

The thing with introducing various openings is that developers tend to make each one much more detailed and with a specific back story.

[KalleFlaxx]

They should include mulitple beginnings depending on your class. If your have a combat specialization you should start as a prison guard. Stealth should get you a prisoner beginning. And magic should make you a visiting noble. That way you can breef tutor in that classes strong points (why would my orc want to learn how to make drinks again?) and then it could say, 'as you fall asleep you hear a loud noise'. Just my oponion however.

I don't believe that'd be a very good idea, because that wouldn't let you come up with a backstory yourself. That would mean that if I'm a warrior, I have to come up with a backstory which involves me becoming a prison guard. What if I'm a freelancer, or someone who hates taking orders? Or maybe I'm a rich knight coming from one of the other provinces, how would I explain becoming a simple prison guard?
And about mages, why would I have to be rich to be a mage? Maybe I'm a poor street child who discovered a talent for the arcane arts when I was young, or something like that.

No, I still think the prison is a good beginning.
(Is it just me, or am I starting to sound a bit like Doros? <.<)