Alternate Start in Tuxborn - Omni-guides/Tuxborn GitHub Wiki
Tuxborn uses Alternate Start - Live Another Life as our mechanism for getting your character started in play, once you're done with character creation.
Once you get out of RaceMenu, as per how Alternate Start works, you will then find yourself in a prison cell that contains a statue of Mara. You should interact with that statue to choose the start method you want.
Please note that Tuxborn's selection of Alternate Start options is smaller than the standard set. We have limited the number of available options for performance and stability reasons. What options we do include are detailed on this page.
Also note that our set of start options does not include the original vanilla Skyrim start, which brings you into Helgen as a prisoner to be executed. You will need to take other steps to launch the game's main quest. See the Main quest page for more details on that.
This one lets you proceed to break out of the cell you're in. Why you're in that prison to begin with could be an intriguing question to consider for your character's backstory and RP choices.
Strategy and spoilers for how to handle this option...
- You will find yourself in the Abandoned Prison near Fort Amol.
- This prison is haunted and contains several angry ghosts. They will kill you if they see you, and as a starting character, you will die very quickly. So your best strategy is to sneak past these ghosts.
- Once you lockpick your way out of your cell, you will see a short corridor that leads forward to six cells. Creep carefully forward, and grab a few potentially useful items off the nearby table.
- On the UESP link given here, you can find details about the layout of the place. Paragraphs four and five of the "Abandoned Prison" section of that page will give you some details on routes you can take to sneak out of the prison. Keep in mind that they're written from the standpoint of you coming into the area from the opposite direction, so take a few moments to account for that when deciding your escape route!
This is the option you should use if you want to do the Relic Hunter start with Legacy of the Dragonborn, in which case you should choose Solitude as your destination. You can take any other option as well, if you do not want to do the Relic Hunter start.
If you choose Solitude, once you land on the docks, you should get an additional prompt asking you if you want to be the museum relic hunter. Choose whichever option you prefer.
This is a very easy one to take. It's a useful one to consider if you want immediate access to:
- Falkreath, to find Lucien, Auri, or Gore as followers
- Markarth, if you want to recruit Remiel
- Riften, if you want to join the Thieves Guild, or be in range of finding Xelzaz
- Riverwood, for a close-to-vanilla start
- Solitude, for quick access to the LOTD museum (if you're doing the non-Relic-Hunter start), if you want to do the Bards College very early, or if you want to join the Imperial Legion
- Whiterun for a close-to-vanilla start, or if you want to join the Companions
- Windhelm, if you want to join the Stormcloaks
- Winterhold, if you want to join the College of Winterhold
Keep in mind that starting in locations along the northern half of the map, or in Markarth, will put you up against opponents more likely to be challenging for starting characters. You may need extra time to equip and train your character up a bit, before trying to fight anything. Plan wisely.
It's worth considering this option if you want to do Survival Mode, just to put yourself somewhere reasonably easy to start with, and to stock up on supplies before you begin adventuring.
This one is good for an easy way to get near Helgen for purposes of launching the main quest. May also be appropriate if you want to play a hunter type character, or perhaps a Bosmer.
This could be a start choice for a Survival Mode run, too. You'll have a starting camp, a campfire if the weather is poor, and enough gear on you that you should be able to hunt for food.
This one can be challenging. If you choose this start, you will spawn in the Wreck of the Skinny Horker, which went down in the Sea of Ghosts roughly at the center of the very top of the map. You will need to find your way out of the shipwreck, and this will require you to dive a time or two before you can finally find a hole in the hull large enough to escape through. Be sure to take any items you can find as you flee.
If you take this start, and you intend to use Starfrost to play Survival Mode, you might wish to adjust its settings to your liking before you leave the chargen cell, to reduce the risk of hypothermia as you try to swim to safety!
Depending on which direction you swim away from the wreck, there are three potential nearby things you may encounter.
First, you may come ashore at a spot of vanilla content: Hela's Folly. This is a spot you'd only normally need to visit if you get the Dark Brotherhood quest to assassinate Deekus, or in some cases, to find the Helm of Winterhold for Jarl Korir. Deekus is only level 4, so if you're feeling particularly hostile, you might consider taking him out as a source of immediately accessible gear. But he will be higher level than you still, so he may be a little hard for you to kill.
Second, once you are free of the wreck, you will be in visual range of the ruin Yngvild. Entering Yngvild at this point is definitely not recommended, as you are a starting character and you won't be geared up to fight the hostiles in there. The UESP recommends at least level 8 for entering Yngvild, so we likewise recommend you avoid going in there.
This one is likewise challenging. You can spawn in a large variety of places all over the map, including Solstheim. So you may need to run at top speed for the nearest known settlement!
But this one, and the previous, are potentially fun to consider for inventing a backstory for your character.
Strategy and spoilers for if you spawn near Steamcrag Camp in Eastmarch...
- You'll be very near the wrecked wagon that normally appears in vanilla Skyrim at this location. In Tuxborn's load order, since we're running Interesting NPCs, there will be a seemingly wounded Khajiit by that wagon.
- I say seemingly, because she is of course setting a trap for unwary travelers, and she will attack you. And she is likely to kill you very quickly, since you're a starting character.
- However, you are also very near to the giant camp. So a handy way to deal with this Khajiit is to run over near the giant camp and get the giant's attention! Then turn around and run in any other direction, to get out of the giant's way.
- Let the giant kill the Khajiit for you. Then wait for the giant to stomp off about his business, loot the Khajiit's body, and voila, you have gear.
Strategy for if you spawn on Solstheim...
- Depending on where you are on on the island, make a mad dash for Raven Rock or the Skaal village, whichever one is closer.
- It is very likely you'll get killed by something, bears or nix-hounds or even ash spawn. If you haven't turned off Shades of Mortality, this will also mean you'll take the nerf off that mod's death mechanic, and you'll need to either get potions of Cure Disease to fix it, or else find somewhere safe to sleep it off.
- Do anything in your power to get gear ASAP, as you won't have much on you. In particular, DO NOT engage with the main Dragonborn DLC content until you're leveled up enough, and most of the Solstheim side quests will also be beyond you, such as the Deathbrand treasure quest.
- If you have the coin for it, consider recruiting Teldryn Sero as a follower at the Retching Netch, because he will help keep you from getting killed. He'll be the fastest follower you can acquire on Solstheim.
- Do any favor quests you can find to raise coin. Also, hunt around the shore for any black pearls you can find, because those are expensive and easy to sell to get coin fast!
- Get back to the Skyrim mainland ASAP, once you have enough coin to pay for passage back to Windhelm.