sheepskin

Pretty much agreed, I think its important to realize not all races are based on specific societies, or even historical cultures. The Dunmer being the best example, heavily drawing from Dark Elf lore. Aside from that, the only thing I'd like to add is that the Bosmer seems to draw from naturalist/primalist types prevalent in western cultures. While the Altmer seem to represent the financially elite classes; burgeousie. Hence the golden skin/eyes and lofty stature, its figurative. From this perspective, the Orsimer seem to represent a poverty stricken and over-worked proletariat, but... the correlation is too vague to make any actual assertions. If I was to make any sort of correlation between the Mer, they're based on intellectual types more than anything. So if they're to be contrasted and compared, the context needs to be taken into consideration when dealing with them. As in, the derivative base changes between Man, Mer, and Beast. Mer - Distinction is derived from intellectual types Men - Distinction is derived from historical societies Beast - Distinction is derived from tribal societies; instinctual urges. Interesting. You make some point about the Altmer being related to the bourgeoisie. Considering the Thalmor exhibit fascist traits (ethnic superiority, religion is important, I'd assume they want to make the Dominion strong), and considering 'fascism is capitalism in decay' (Lenin), you may have a point there. However, if we are going by classes, the Altmer society is one dominated not by the bourgeoisie, but by the Intelligentsia. And they wouldn't be Japanese, that would be the Tsaesci. I'm not sure about the Orismer representing the proletariat. A possible vague resemblance, perhaps. But I wouldn't say the proletariat inspired the Orcs. Furthermore, I have seen not evidence that the Orcs use horses for combat. In fact, they apparently eat horses. I knew the Bretons have a strong medieval French/Frankish inspiration, given some of their earlier names were very French orientated, and they have a stereotypical feudal system. And I wouldn't say the Nords are entirely Viking. They are indeed heavily influenced by them. However, they do exhibit traits of other Germanic tribes. Of course, direct correlations are senseless. We're discussing inspirations, which I think there is nothing wrong with. I think I can draw a correlation between the Orsimer and an impoverished proletariat though. They're rugged and dirty in appearance from working labor intensive jobs. They also eat horses, which the working class has resorted too during times of economic depression. Their berserker rage can also be correlated to many "going postal" incidents recorded throughout history; rioting, the french revolution, and countless other isolated incidents spurring from economic depression. And lastly, they are pariah. Outcasts from Mer society, they seek justification, even if they are too bitter to ever attain it. Not too dissimilar from the working class seeking recognition and equality from the ruling classes. I've thought about Dunmer a bit, not convinced they are completely abstract. If the Bosmer represent naturalist types might the Dunmer represent occult types? Looking at their behavior, culture, architecture, and color palette, I can't help but draw a correlation to a particular mindset possessed by a lot of goths, emos, wiccans, and other similar types. To improve my previous derivations: Mer - Super-ego, distinction derived from idealistic perception. Man - Ego, distinction derived from realistic societies. Beast - Id, distinction derived from instinct, abstract.

Traversing across The Rift with my Orc, I happen to come across a noble-man, his wife, and their personal guard on their way to a wedding. The noble-man comes off as quite kind and the guard indifferent. The wife is rather abrasive though, and decides to hurl racial slurs and insult my presence. Succumbing to rage, I slay her where she stood. The guard quickly reacts only to fall just as quickly. I regret killing the noble-man, but there could be no witnesses. The gifts they were carrying would have garnered the utmost appreciation from the newly weds.

Pretty much agreed, I think its important to realize not all races are based on specific societies, or even historical cultures. The Dunmer being the best example, heavily drawing from Dark Elf lore. Aside from that, the only thing I'd like to add is that the Bosmer seems to draw from naturalist/primalist types prevalent in western cultures. While the Altmer seem to represent the financially elite classes; burgeousie. Hence the golden skin/eyes and lofty stature, its figurative. From this perspective, the Orsimer seem to represent a poverty stricken and over-worked proletariat, but... the correlation is too vague to make any actual assertions. If I was to make any sort of correlation between the Mer, they're based on intellectual types more than anything. So if they're to be contrasted and compared, the context needs to be taken into consideration when dealing with them. As in, the derivative base changes between Man, Mer, and Beast. Mer - Distinction is derived from intellectual types Men - Distinction is derived from historical societies Beast - Distinction is derived from tribal societies; instinctual urges.

Is it just me, or does Kvatch sound like a dirty word?

Mudcrabs and a rubber band; go grocery shopping.

360 player, so no option for mods. But creating an illusion spec'd toon got me interested again. Its a heavy investment, but REALLY fun. The concept for this character is an Argonian Shadowscale; having lived in Black Marsh for the majority of his life, he finds dealing with "softskin" customs and body (facial) language wholeheartily challenging. After much turmoil and many burnt bridges, he discovers the forgotten recesses within softskin psych which allows him to effectively alter their perception of his actions. Hence, illusion. Paired with sneak, this allows him to effectively mask any motive, manipulating the softskins to his whim. Eh, RPing a decently thought out toon always gets me to come back. I read that someone was RPing a Vigilant of Stendarr here, which sounds really fun too. I felt really bad after killing the poor sap in Markath during "House of Horrors." But ya know, the voices in your head. What can ya do?

Looks fun. I'll be siding with Dawnguard. Because vampires are played out.

For a game rated "M" I find it considerably more tame than the majority of media being aired over the television and radio. Leaving your child unattended with a remote control or stereo seems much riskier than letting them play Skyrim.

I like the idea for this mod. I also think adding mounted harpoons along the shore, and spears as a playable weapon class would be hugely useful to the concept.

She sounds like a person who knows how to play the game. I often create characters with no intention of upgrading to the best items possible. I think of a concept and a look, and I stick to it for as long as I can. Dual wielding imperial swords sounds fun!

Neither Supporting the Empire has never sat well with me. Especially considering there is a very large demographic within Skyrim that wishes to retain their cultural identity. Assimilating would entail fracturing their identity and reducing their nation to but a cog in an already dying machine. Then there are the Stormcloaks; while initially admirable in some respects, they prove to be largely xenophobic and needlessly hostile towards foreigners. I can not side with this either. The Aldmeri Dominion needs no consideration. Under no circumstances do I support subverting an entire nation against their best interests: be it The Empire or Skyrim. If I had to describe my role-playing style, I'm an open-minded and amiable citizen, yet introverted at my core. Cherishing my cultural roots and identity, I welcome all foreigners into our beautiful land while opposing any attempts to exploit or manipulate the nation and its peoples. I plan to run for Carl of Solitude once I can come to an agreeable compromise with Paarthunax regarding Alduin and the recent dragon attacks.

Question; is it possible to be an isolationist, wanting a single unified nation for your people: yet still exhibit an open mind and tactful behavior towards outsiders, foreigners, and visitors? I'm that guy basically. If only the Stormcloaks weren't so harsh on outsiders...

OP, I find the moral ambiguity present throughout the game adds to realism and immersion. Just my opinion though. I can see what you're saying. It threw me off at first too. I kinda connected the dots though, what the vision was for the game. And the story line-choices tend to echo real-life dichotomies; neither side being right nor wrong, you're skewn between two opposing forces. A lot of times without your consent. I can relate.

I think your RP problem has to do with your definition of evil: wanton, cruel, merciless, short-sighted. Its an immature view of the nature of evil (bad, dark, whatever), thus can't accommodate a character whose destined to reunite Skyrim under a common banner and rid the land of menacing Dragons. I think you should focus more on what evil can do to a good person and what lengths evil can drive an otherwise noble and devout person too in order to control or banish it. For instance: have you ever conversed with any higher level clergy of the Catholic church? Bishops, Cardinals? These are not lovey dovey, rainbow skittled, overly idealistic, hands across the sea people. They have VERY REALISTIC world views, and will do what is required to balance the sides, as well as themselves. We are but human. So, RPing a good-natured person who happens to take contracts from The Dark Brotherhood becomes easy within this light; you balance the forces. When something so rotten, so degenerate, so toxic threatens to spill upon the general populace, tainting all who come into contact with it; Well, you do what you frikken have to in order to prevent it. This is the TRUE challenge of being a good-aligned person. Don't forget to include your internal struggles either; having to deal with such accountability once you pass.

Gold won't get you much in Skyrim =p Just enjoy the game.

Interesting. I find myself turned on by Maven. Her blunt yet manipulative personality, her influence, her power, her wealth. Dark hair, full lips, deceptive eyes... I'd gladly be her man-meat. I wish there was a quest line for that; become Maven's boy-toy along the way to saving Skyrim from rampant dragon infestation and avoiding national schism.

I'm not too familiar with mage play-styles in Skyrim, but I fiddle around with perk calculators in my downtime. Maybe spec'ing a bit into sneak and utilizing a dagger to initiate attacks? Even if you could just down one person in a group, that's a considerable advantage. Or making use of the frenzy line in illusion? I could think maybe utilizing atronachs and followers as a main front, then using destruction as an auxiliary role to hasten the process. I'm basically taking shots in the dark here, so disregard my reply if it comes off as completely ignorant of mage mechanics. The slow time Thu'um would seem worth incorporating into a main strategy as well. Also, impact would appear to be a must. Maximizing stagger/down time would be essential I would think. Even if you gotta equip a shield and bash to create openings while wittling away with one handed magic attacks.

I've read a bit about this and have experimented a little myself. I have a rogue-type toon I've yet to fully spec because I can't decide whether I want to go dual daggers or dagger/shield for elemental protection and quick reflexes. I mean, if I can get to a point where a sneak attack can KO pretty much anything when properly spec'd and geared, why not divert the remaining points into damage/magic mitigation? Paired with shadow warrior I think this build would prove to be REALLY powerful and especially suited to picking apart many types of situations. Well, I just went dual blades just for the role playing of it. I myself don't see an assassin with a shield running around. I also think if you're carrying a shield it's harder to sneak around, unless until you get the right perks and enchantments. If you sneak and do a power strike with 2 daggers, you get around 60x damage, and with that I could 1-hit ko giants at round lvl 7 - 10 or so, I don't really remember, (I might be wrong here.) Anyways shield/dagger does seem viable early game and is really reliable late game, but it's going to be hard to get decent perks in block since both one handed and sneak skills both take up a lot of perks because of their primary starting perk takes 5 perks to master. I hope this helps you decide what you build your rouge as :D My bad, I was under the impression sneak attack utilized only one weapon, it never crossed my mind to power attack when sneaking. This definitely changes the mechanics a bit. And yeah, I could see such a build being quite underpowered regardless. Even if it did work, you'd have to make it to lv25 to complete the core of the build. Then you'd still have light armor, enchanting, and any other personal twists to fill in. I guess the shield idea stemmed from the assassin martial arts builds in d2. Very combo reliant with an "in your face" play-style, they usually ran with a shield to improve mitigation/absorption and looked pretty cool imo. Those were really fun to play.

I've read a bit about this and have experimented a little myself. I have a rogue-type toon I've yet to fully spec because I can't decide whether I want to go dual daggers or dagger/shield for elemental protection and quick reflexes. I mean, if I can get to a point where a sneak attack can KO pretty much anything when properly spec'd and geared, why not divert the remaining points into damage/magic mitigation? Paired with shadow warrior I think this build would prove to be REALLY powerful and especially suited to picking apart many types of situations.

Do player-characters count? I managed to make a Nord look handsome, lol. Pretty challenging actually. And unless their balding and beardy, it always seems Breton males turn out prettier than most females in Skyrim, haha. I had to delete my first two Breton toons because I just couldn't get into playing a guy that frikken man-pretty.

For me; quick reflexes and elemental protection. I've always preferred playing melee toons regardless of which RPG I happen to wasting time on. I usually wane towards increased damage output at the expense of armor rating. However, I was having a bit of trouble with bears, trolls, dragons, giants, and mage-types in Skyrim. That is, until I spec'd elemental protection and quick reflexes. This completely changed the pace of the game for me, almost to the extent where the aforementioned adversaries are a bit too easy now. Trolls? Bears? They seem to always power up their strikes, permitting great returns on the 1-point investment into quick reflexes. Simply interrupt their attack by bashing them and continue onwards with the onslaught. Particularly powerful mages? No problem for elemental protection. Block and wait for an opening. Bash, then terminate. Of course block runner and shield charge would make this tactic even more effective, but I haven't gotten to that point yet. The perks/build speaks volumes for a sword/shield spec. And I'm to the point where I much prefer this tactic over a full-blown dps build, even if it is a bit slower. I'm basically invulnerable now. How about you? Which perks changed your outlook in Skyrim?