Seeing as Skyrim has been out for almost a year now (see Mason, I didn't "jump the gun"!), I'm curious to see what you do after you escape Helgen. Do you start the quests right away? Do you explore? Do you start over (like I've done countless times)? Or do you do something completely different and strange?
Post your typical actions in the comments!
http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/forum/topics/first-thing-you-do-after-helgen
There's already a thread about this, you can see over there what I do.
Go to Riverwood, say hello to everybody in my head (I love Riverwood...I'd totally live there in real life if I could). Wander about a bit. Do some chores, sell some crap from the starter dungeon, buy/make the following: backpack, bedroll, leather armor, fishing net...general survivally things.
Then I wander around, get bored, and go to Whiterun.
Heh, yeah. I thought about going to Falkreath first once, but then I kept thinking about how the sun was shining so brightly. How the insects were buzzing in the air. How I knew that when I got to Riverwood, the music would be playing that soft, plucking guitar that always makes me feel relaxed and completely sucked into the world. And I just couldn't turn away.
I suppose I owe the developers a tip of the hat for this one. I know they purposefully designed that one section of the road to be as gobsmackingly visually stunning as possible.
I found that Haemar's shame is easier to contract vampirism. The vampire there can't seem to climb the wooden ladder and you can easily move in and out reach without any danger from catching a sword to a face, especially on Legendary. There is also a bunch of clothing and skill book if you go up right from the start, they disappear once you talk with Gerdur.
Most of the times I just loot everything in Helgen and when I come out of the cave, I go straight for the bandit camp at the left for some extra coins and the treasure map. I also go to the shrine of Talos and loot the thalmor agent for the free enchanted item. After that I pick the gaurdian stone that I need, I loot the treasure chest across the river near rivenwood and after that I simple sell all my stuff. Then the last thing I do is clear the mine that's near the gaurdian stone and sell the stuff once more in rivenwood. After that I just do what I feel like doing.
- Altmer Fanboy
I go through the beginning until I have aquired the Golden Claw, returned it to Lucan, and aquired the Dragonstone from Bleak Falls. After that I start the guild that suits my character, do every misc. quest that I can in Windhelm, and go kill Nazeem. Once I'm at a high level I start the main questline.