Welcome, Seeker of Order.

This guide is your comprehensive companion to the Journals of Jyggalag modlist for Skyrim. It provides essential information to help you navigate the early game, understand the systems and mechanics at play, and fully enjoy the carefully curated experience this list offers.

Whether you are a first-time player or a returning champion of Tamriel, this guide covers everything from character creation and combat mechanics to questing and troubleshooting. It is strongly recommended that you read through at least the Character Creation and Progression section before starting your journey.

All information here is accurate to the latest release of the modlist and assumes no additional modifications. For additional support, updates, and discussion, please join the official Journals of Jyggalag Discord server.

Let the path of Order guide you.

---

1. 🧙 Character Creation and Progression
2. 💾 Skyrim Save System Overhaul 3
3. 🧭 Questing
4. 🧑‍🎨 Face & Appearance Issues
5. 🗺️ Map Marker Issues
6. 🏃 Change Dodge Key
7. 🏠 Player Homes
8. 💀 Acheron Death Alternative
9. 🗡️ Attacking Innocents
10. ✅ Conclusion

• Your choice of race determines:
  • Racial bonuses
  • Standing Stone bonuses
  • Available deities for worship
• Recommended reading before character creation:
  • Mannaz Integrated Races of Skyrim
  • Freyr Integrated Standing Stones of Skyrim
  • Wintersun Faiths of Skyrim
• Do not use console commands to change your race after creation.

---

• Your character may appear distorted or incorrect in RaceMenu. This is expected. Finalizing your character and then reopening Racemenu via the Vanity Mirror should resolve most such issues.
• Do not attempt to adjust body morphs in RaceMenu — the list uses OBody.
• After finalizing your character:
  • Before selecting a body, use The Firmament book to select a starting standing stone if you intend to. (This avoids a menuing bug that arises if you use OBody before reading The Firmament.)
  • Press O (default hotkey) to bring up the OBody BodySlide preset selector.
    • If you're not targeting anything, the preset will apply to your player character.
    • If you're targeting an NPC, the preset will apply to that NPC.
• This system ensures correct body shapes and is preferred over manual RaceMenu edits.

---

• Once you enter the game:
  • Your character will load into a small setup room.
  • A JOJ Welcome message will pop up immediately — this explains that the list is performing initial setup in the background and that you must wait.
  • It is OK to select your pronouns immediately.
  • Wait to press "Commence" until the initial stream of notifications has ended, i.e. after the Honed Metal message fades.
  • After pressing "Commence", walk away from your keyboard, let everything initialize, and wait for the final confirmation message.
  • Once you see the popup that says “Museum is done setting up,” it’s safe to proceed.

---

• Items found in the starting room:
  • A copy of The Firmament: lets you choose any Standing Stone.
  • A Vanity Mirror: lets you change your appearance at any time.
  • A custom Wolong Ring in a jewelry chest, when equipped, your moveset will switch to Wolong movesets by default.
  • A wide variety of starting weapons, armor, and spells
  • A Hookshot to make climbing and traversal easier
  • Some starting supplies, consumables, and funding
• Exit options:
  • Speak to the dragon to choose an alternate start.
  • Exit the door to begin in Helgen as a spectator to the execution. (NOT RECOMMENDED)
  • Press the hidden button behind the table to begin just after Helgen.

---

• Vanilla leveling has been replaced with:
  • Experience (XP gained from exploration, combat, and quests)
  • Static Skill Leveling (skill points spent manually at level-up)
• This means:
  • No more grinding skills like smithing or lockpicking.
  • You're free to play naturally without being penalized for your actions.

• Choose:
  • 1 offensive skill
  • 1 defensive skill
  • 1 crafting or utility skill
• Expand to additional skills as you gain more points through leveling.

---

• Boss chests may contain Skyshards:

  • Use them from your inventory to gain extra XP.

• You can also encounter glowing Skyshards while exploring the world:

  • Touching three of these will grant you one perk point.

• Destiny Points:

  • Awarded at character creation and milestone levels
  • Activate the “Destiny” power in your powers menu to access a unique progression tree

---

• Combat is intentionally difficult at low levels.
• Suggested approach:
  • Use a follower early on.
  • Explore and level up before entering dungeons or bandit caves.
• Enemy scaling examples:
  • Bandit zones: minimum level 5
  • Draugr zones: minimum level 10
• The list has two mods for very difficult enemy encounters intended to challenge your combat preparation and skill: Sinister Seven, and Moonlight Tales.
  • One or more of The Sinister Seven will seek you out every few levels starting at 12. If you're able to kill one, you should read the notes they carry, and consider those notes carefully as you prepare for the next attack.
  • Moonlight Werewolves are less predictable and might be encountered almost anywhere, mostly at night time. Running from them is an option... if you start early.
  • If you are certain that you prefer not to be surprised with boss-tier encounters during your Skyrim play, you have the option to disable Werewolf encounters in the Moonlight Tales MCM, and to change the S7 trigger levels to an arbitrarily high value in that MCM. We encourage you not to do this, though; the most memorable gaming moments are often from surprises.

---

---

SSSO3 is a powerful utility mod that replaces the vanilla autosave, save, and load system with more stable and customizable tools. However, it does require a small amount of manual configuration per character.

---

---

• Once you've finished the intro and entered the main game world (e.g., just outside the Helgen cave or your chosen start):
  • Create a manual save.
  • Exit the game completely.
  • If this is your first new character after installing or updating the list, also exit and restart MO2.
• Relaunch the game.
• Load your save.
• Open the Safe Save System Overhaul MCM, enable the mod, and configure the settings below.

You're done! The new save system is now active and tailored to your character.

---

⚙️ Recommended settings:

• 🕔 Enable Timed Save: enabled

• 🕔 Autosave every: 5 minutes

• ⏳ Force autosave every: 15 minutes

• ♻️ Rotate autosaves after: 5 copies

• 📦 Rotate manual saves after: 5 copies

• 🛡️ In the Save Shield section, check the boxes for:

  • ✅ Combat State
  • ✅ Riding
  • ✅ High Speed

• 🎮 Controls:

  • In the main Skyrim Controls interface, remap vanilla quicksave to any unused key
  • In the SSSO3 MCM, set Save Shortcut to F5
  • Do not use either the vanilla or SSSO3 quickload option. If you must reload your game, exit to desktop first and restart Skyrim.

---

This list includes expansions of many vanilla quests as well as quite a few new ones. Most of these can be explored simply by encountering them through normal gameplay, or you can check the quest list in Mod Organizer to see if there's something you want to make a point of seeking out.

• Many new quests will activate organically during exploration.
• For guidance or spoilers, you can:
  • Check the installed mod list in MO2
  • Look through the “Quests” category to see what’s been added

List of Major Quests

Legacy of the Dragonborn
Dac0da
Vigilant
Unslaad
Glenmoril
The Tools of Kagrenac
Moon and Star
Wyrmstooth
Olenveld
The Forgotten City
Sirenroot
Project AHO
Heart of the Reach
Sleepwalking Into a Nightmare
Legends of Aetherium
Siege at Icemoth
The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal (10A Edition)
Saints and Seducers Extended Cut
There Is No Umbra Chapter I-III
Penitus Oculatus

---

The Vicn series of quests require more specific preparation and progression. To access this interconnected storyline, follow these steps:

1. Begin the main quest and learn all three words of Unrelenting Force.
2. Become the Archmage of Winterhold.
3. Complete Arniel's Endeavors and find the Tools of Kagrenac.
4. Acquire the Oghma Infinium and the Wabbajack.
5. Claim the Helm of Yngol from Yngol Barrow.
6. Obtain the Staff of Worms from Gallows Hall.

• You will encounter strange events near Solitude.
• This will begin the first Vicn quest mod: Dac0da.
• Completing Dac0da plus Dawnguard and House of Horrors will unlock:
  • Vigilant
  • Glenmoril
  • Unslaad

These quests are large, story-rich expansions with unique environments and mechanics. Approach them when you are ready for long-form, high-difficulty content.

---

You may notice:

• Your character's face turns black
• Unwanted or strange facial tattoos appear

These are usually caused by:

• RaceMenu misfires
• Texture or facegen desync

---

If you received the Vanity Mirror in the starting room:

1. Open your Inventory
2. Click on the Vanity Mirror
3. This will open Limited RaceMenu
4. Press R to finalize and confirm your appearance
5. Your character’s face should now display correctly

---

If you did not get the Vanity Mirror:

1. Press the ~ key (tilde, left of 1) to open the console
2. Type: showlimitedracemenu and press Enter
3. Press ~ again to close the console
4. Press R to finalize your appearance
5. Hit Enter to confirm and exit

Using showlimitedracemenu ensures your character’s appearance is refreshed without resetting your race or other critical values. This should correct black face bugs or visual glitches.

---

This is a known issue caused by Soul Cairn markers from the Atlas MCM.

---

1. Open the Mod Configuration Menu (MCM)
2. Navigate to the Atlas settings
3. Go to the Vanilla section
4. Disable the set of markers for the Soul Cairn

This will remove the “?” markers from your world map and prevent confusion while exploring.

---

By default, dodging is triggered by tapping your Sprint key. If you want to change this behavior, you’ll need to manually edit the TK Dodge configuration file.

To do this, open Mod Organizer 2, go to the right-hand pane, and navigate to the Data tab. Locate the active version of TK Dodge RE.ini. Right-click the file and select Open.

Inside the file, change the following lines:

EnableSprintKeyDodge = false Dodge hotkey = [your desired key's scancode]

Make sure to replace [your desired key's scancode] with the actual scancode of the key you want to assign. Note that the scancode link provided in the .ini file is outdated. For an accurate list, refer to: https://ck.uesp.net/wiki/Input_Script

Important: Do not enable StepDodge. It is not compatible with the combat systems used in this modlist and will break functionality.

---

In addition to the Vanilla and AE homes included in the base game, this list adds the following custom housing locations:

• LOTD Safehouse

• Aemer's Refuge

• Mirele Bismath

• BBLS

• The Interdimensional Chambers

• Leveler's Tower

• Breaking Dawn, New Moon, and Eclipse Cottages from Cities of the North

These homes vary in style and function, from immersive lore-friendly dwellings to utility-packed player bases. All are fully compatible with the modlist and available once discovered in-game.

---

Journals of Jyggalag uses Acheron – A Combat Death Alternative Framework by default.

Acheron enhances hostile encounters by introducing a Defeat State system rather than relying on traditional death. This only applies to combat scenarios—non-hostile damage (e.g. falling, traps, or scripted kills) and executions (like killmoves) can still result in true death.

Rather than forcing a player to reload every time they're downed, Acheron provides a flexible way to manage defeat, allowing for greater immersion, challenge, and narrative flexibility.

---

Acheron uses multiple configurable systems to determine when the player (or NPCs) should be defeated instead of dying:

• Lethal Trigger
  Prevents a lethal hit from killing you outright. Instead, you're defeated and enter a downed state. This can be customized separately for the player and NPCs.

• Trauma Trigger
  Calculates stagger potency and attack direction to simulate being overwhelmed or knocked out, even before reaching 0 HP. Factors like perks, blocking, and stagger multipliers are fully considered. Not enabled by default.

• Exposed Trigger
  Based on how much armor you're wearing. Less armor increases the chance of being defeated. Ideal for users with Armor Break or strip-based mods, though Acheron includes a minimal armor-stripping feature for everyone. Not enabled by default.

---

We use Simple Offense Suppression to ensure that you don't accidentally hurt innocent NPCs during chaotic brawls with Miraak cultists or the Sinister Seven. We understand that this can be frustrating when you want to just murder your favorite drinking buddy or send Nazeem to the actual Cloud District; for such moments, just use the SOS MCM to toggle NPC protection off.

---

Journals of Jyggalag is built to be a user-friendly and immersive experience right out of the box. You don’t need to read this entire guide to enjoy the list — it’s here to help answer common questions, smooth out any confusion, and give you a bit of extra insight into how everything works under the hood.

Whether you're a seasoned modlist veteran or totally new to modern Skyrim overhauls, JOJ is designed to feel intuitive, stable, and rewarding from the very first load screen.

If you ever get stuck, want to learn more, or just feel like sharing your adventures, hop into our Discord — we’re always happy to help.

Enjoy your journey, and may your path be clear and orderly.

---