Before you dive head-first into the ash storms, you’ll want to pick your version. Both versions of Morrowind are completely valid—there’s no wrong choice here—but they each have their quirks.

OpenMW is a community-made open-source engine that keeps the classic game intact while smoothing out a lot of its rough edges. It offers things like better stability, fewer crashes, modern OS support, improved performance on new hardware, optional quality-of-life features, and a modding system that’s far less temperamental than the old engine. Note you'll still need the actual game to use this

The original Game of the Year Edition is the 2002 experience as it was (plus the official expansions). Some players may prefer the authentic quirks, exploits, and atmosphere of the vanilla engine. If you want pure nostalgia, this will give it to you unfiltered.

Whichever path you choose, you’re still stepping into one of the most iconic worlds in RPG history. Pick what feels right—there’s absolutely no wrong answer

If you're reading this as a console player, you will have no other option but to play the original 2002 GOTY release
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For those who may want the OpenMW version read ahead, for those sticking with vanilla feel free to skip ahead!

1. install Morrowind GOTY from Steam
2. Launch it once (this creates necessary registry entries).
3. https://openmw.org/downloads/
4.Grab the latest stable release for your operating system (Windows, Linux, macOS).
5. Open the OpenMW Launcher. It will ask you to point it to your Morrowind installation folder (for Steam users \Steam\steamapps\common\Morrowind\.
Follow the setup wizard—it’ll import all your game data automatically.
6.Once setup is done:
• Open OpenMW Launcher
• Click Play

That’s it. No fiddling with .ini files, no performance nightmares, no bugs, Just pure, stable Morrowind.

Using OpenMW but still want your sweet, sweet Steam playtime to go up?
Good news—you can launch OpenMW directly through Steam so it counts your hours just like the vanilla GOTY version.

And it’s super easy:

Right-click The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in your Steam Library.

Select Properties.

In the Launch Options box, paste something like this: (with your correct install path):

"C:\Program Files\OpenMW 0.49.0\openmw.exe" %command%

note: the 0.49.0 at the time of writing this is most recent patch, so it may have changed since then

If your OpenMW folder is somewhere else, swap in the right path.

Now when you hit **Play** on Steam, it’ll open OpenMW instead of the old engine—AND your playtime will count.

Perfect for tracking your hours, flexing your addiction, or wondering how you somehow spent 200 hours playing this beautiful game

Morrowind is a masterpiece, but it was born in 2002—and yeah, some of its default controls feel old. For new players especially, a few quick tweaks can make your first hours on Vvardenfell so much smoother.

For example, the Spacebar isn’t jump by default (wild, I know), and if you’re using a controller, you might notice that Left Trigger = Jump. Thankfully, both the original game and OpenMW let you rebind just about anything.

1. Open the settings menu from the main menu or pause screen.
2. Head to Controls.
3. rebind keys to whatever feels natural—Space for jump, Shift for sprint etc.
4. If you’re using OpenMW, check out the Input section for extra options like analog movement tuning and smoother mouse settings.While you’re here, consider adjusting: FOV for widescreen monitors, View distance (OpenMW handles this much better than vanilla) and Audio levels so the battle music doesn’t surprise-attack you.

Oh and you've probably noticed the fog, you either think it's part of the game or hate it. Luckily OpenMW lets you pretty much turn it off. By messing with the distance settings by clicking the Distant Land selector on Terrain, turning the viewing distance to 10.000 cells and the min object paging distance to 0.010. Easy and simple

In Skyrim or Oblivion, your race is mostly flavor. In Morrowind, your race and class shape your entire opening experience. The early game here is rougher, harsher, and wonderfully weird—so giving yourself a strong start can make the difference between “epic adventure” and “why is a mudcrab bullying me again?”

You can also ignore all this and play whatever you want (many veteran players do), but if you’re new, it helps to pick something that naturally fits your play style.

• Redguards, Orcs, and Nords – Excellent for melee bruisers. They hit hard, wear armor well, and can take a beating.

• Dunmer (Dark Elves) – Balanced, versatile, great for players who want to dabble in everything. Also, you’re in their homeland—NPCs will treat you a bit better.

• Bretons & High Elves – Premier choices for magic-focused characters. Bretons have great magic resistance; High Elves have massive magicka pools (with some elemental weaknesses).

• Argonians & Khajiit – Fantastic for thieves, acrobats, and stealthy playstyles. Immunity to diseases, strong mobility, and great natural abilities.

• Imperials & Wood Elves (Bosmer) – Solid all-rounders. Imperials are charismatic and diplomatic; Bosmer are superb archers.

If you’re overwhelmed, just pick a race that feels cool and pairs reasonably well with your intended playstyle. Morrowind is tough early on, but every race becomes powerful with time and creativity.

You might’ve caught on that I mentioned Dunmer getting better treatment. That wasn’t just flavor text—it’s a very real part of Morrowind’s worldbuilding.

NPCs in Morrowind aren’t universally friendly. The Dunmer (Dark Elves) consider Vvardenfell their land, and many of them are… let’s say less than thrilled when an outlander shows up with a funny accent. Some will be cold. Some will be outright rude. A few will call you “n’wah,” which is basically the Morrowind equivalent of a fantasy slur.

If you’re Dunmer, a lot of that hostility melts away. Locals are more polite, merchants give you better prices, and guards don’t treat you like a suspicious outlander who accidentally wandered in. Although you're still an outlander so don't expect warm hugs and friendly greetings, they just won't outright hate you.

If you pick Argonian or Khajiit, brace yourself—people will absolutely treat you like filth at first. It’s not personal; it’s the game reflecting the harsh, xenophobic politics of Morrowind.

Does that mean you can’t play those races? Not at all. Some beginners love the challenge, and it makes eventual success feel great. But if you want a slightly smoother social experience while you’re still learning the ropes, a Dunmer, Redguard, or Nord will give you 'fewer' dirty looks on day one.

Classes — Building Your First Hero

You’ve just stepped into the Census Office in Seyda Neen. You’ve filled out your name, race and now the Imperial near the desk hits you with the big question: “What class are you?”

You get three ways to decide:

1. Let the game quiz you
Caius asks some personality questions and auto-generates a class.
Fun for role-playing, not ideal for beginners, since the results can be… eccentric.

2. Pick a premade class (Recommended for newcomers)
The game offers a bunch of ready-made classics—Knight, Sorcerer, Scout, Nightblade, etc.
These are solid, beginner-friendly, and take the guesswork out of stat distribution.

3. Create your own class
This gives you total freedom: your own specialisation, major skills, and minor skills.
It’s awesome, but best saved for after you know how the systems work.
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Custom Class Help:

Specialisation (Warrior, Mage, or Thief)

This is your broad “career path.”
• Warrior – melee, armor, heavy hitting
• Mage – spellcasting, magicka regeneration, magical utility
• Thief – stealth, speed, lockpicking, sneaking

Your specialisation gives a +5 point bonus to all skills in that group and makes them level up faster. Pick the one that fits how you actually want to play, not what sounds cool in the moment.

Favorite Attributes (+10 to Two Stats)

If you’re coming from Skyrim, this part might feel unfamiliar. Attributes are the core numbers that govern your abilities—Strength, Agility, Willpower, etc.

A quick rule of thumb:
• Warriors: Strength + Endurance
• Mages: Intelligence + Willpower
• Sneaky types: Agility + Speed
• Spellblades/Hybrids: Mix and match whatever supports your playstyle

You don’t have to min-max these as a beginner, but picking something that matches your intended build keeps the early game from turning into a mudcrab-induced tragedy.

Major Skills (Your Bread & Butter)

These are the skills you’ll use constantly. They also determine how quickly you level up, so choose skills you actually plan to use often:
Long Blade, Destruction, Sneak, Light Armor, Restoration—stuff that defines your playstyle.

Minor Skills (Your Side Hustles)

You’ll use these less often but still enough to matter. They level more slowly and help round out your character. Think “support skills” like Alchemy, Security, or Speechcraft.

Once you understand how these pieces fit together, creating your own custom class becomes one of the most satisfying parts of Morrowind’s character creation. It lets you sculpt exactly the kind of Nerevarine you want to be—whether that’s a scholarly swordsman or a sneaky wizard.

Your Birthsign is like a cosmic buff (or curse) you’re stuck with forever. Some signs give powerful boosts, some add flavourful drawbacks, and some are just there because the Devs had a sense of humor.

The Warrior
Effect: +10 to attack (Long Blade, Short Blade, Axe, Blunt, Spear).
What it means: You hit things harder and more often.
Who wants it: New melee characters. Simple, strong, no hidden downsides.

The Mage

Effect: Max Magicka = 0.5 × Intelligence
What it means: Bigger mana pool but no extra regeneration (because Morrowind doesn’t regenerate magicka naturally unless you sleep).
Who wants it: mages who plan to rest often or use Alchemy for restores.

The Thief

Effect: Constant Sanctuary 10 pts (harder for enemies to hit you).
What it means: A subtle but very helpful defensive buff—like having a permanent +10% dodge chance.
Who wants it: Stealth characters, skirmishers, anyone who likes “not getting stabbed.”

The Serpent

Effect: A once-per-day poison touch spell that also damages you.
What it means: Extremely role-play heavy. The damage to yourself is real; this is a high-risk, situational pick.
Who wants it: Masochists, lunatics, or people playing a cursed character concept.

The Lady

Effect: +25 Endurance and +25 Personality
What it means: Endurance is king in Morrowind (it affects health growth), so this is secretly one of the strongest picks for beginners. Personality helps with bartering and NPC reactions.

The Steed

Effect: +25 Speed
What it means: You go fast. Like, actually fast. Great for early-game travel and kiting enemies, but not as universally strong

The Lord

Effect: a restore health for 2 points for 30 seconds spelll and 100% Weakness to Fire
What it means: You trade one emergency heal for becoming extremely flammable. In a land full of fire-slinging mages and lava pools, that’s… spicy.
New players: maybe skip this one.

The Apprentice
Effect: Max Magicka = 1.5 × Intelligence, but 50% Weakness to Magicka
What it means: Huge mana pool, but you melt if a sorcerer sneezes on you.
Who wants it: Hardcore mages who know exactly what they’re doing (and have Restore Health potions ready).

The Atronach

Effect: Max Magicka = 2.0 × Intelligence +, 50% Spell Absorption, No natural magicka regen
What it means: You’re a magical battery with shields up… but you’ll only regain magicka by taking potions or by absorbing spells.Incredibly powerful once you understand the game, wildly frustrating if you don’t.
who wants it: Who wants it: Pure mages who plan to carry magicka potions or encounter other mages often



The Ritual

Effect: Two Turn Undead spells, plus a power which heals you for 100 points once per day.
What it means: Nice emergency heal, which is amazing at low levels.
Who wants it: Anyone nervous about early-game survival.

The Lover

Effect: +25 Agility (great for dodging and hitting) and a once-per-day Paralyze spell that drains your Fatigue by 100.
What it means: The Agility boost is excellent, the paralyze is a panic button, and the self-fatigue hit can be dangerous in some situations
Who wants it: Great for stealthy or nimble fighters.

The Tower

Effect: Detect Key, Detect Creature, Detect Enchantment (all handy spells), plus Tower Key—a once-per-day 50-point Open lock power
What it means: Early-game quality of life. Perfect for new players who don’t want to juggle Security skill early.

When you chat with an NPC in Morrowind, you’ll notice a little dialogue box on the right. That thing is your best friend—your map, your rumor mill, your quest log, your gossip column, your everything.

You can click on all kinds of topics in there:

Their trade (so you know what they actually do) Rumors (half of which are nonsense, half of which lead to quests) Specific people (great for finding quest targets) and Geographic directions (“Go north until you see a big rock...”)

Random lore dumps

It’s old-school, but it’s also weirdly immersive.
You’re not following a GPS arrow—you’re talking to the locals and figuring things out like a real traveler.

But here’s the catch.

NPCs won’t always tell you the truth… or tell you anything at all. If an NPC doesn’t like you, they won’t help you.
Sometimes they’ll insult you.
Sometimes they’ll brush you off. Their Disposition matters—a lot.
If it’s low, they’ll, clam up, or refuse to give you quests.

he way NPCs treat you in Morrowind actually makes sense if you think about it.

If some random stranger walked up to you on the street and went:
“Hi, tell me about yourself and your entire family history.”
...you’d probably stare at them like they just asked to borrow your kidneys.

Morrowind’s NPCs feel the same way.

They don’t know you.
You’re wearing mismatched armor you pulled off a dead guy.
You are, in their eyes, some confused foreigner asking very personal questions.

A Little Trick to Keep You Out of Trouble

Sometimes a quest-giver will tell you, “Hey, could you kill this person for me?”
And then you talk to the target and realize:

They’re standing in the middle of town, Guards everywhere, Killing them would get you arrested so fast your bounty will have a bounty

Luckily, Morrowind has a beautifully janky system you can abuse:

Just… taunt them. A lot.

Open dialogue → click Taunt → fail → try again
Keep going.
They’ll get angrier… and angrier… and angrier...

And eventually they’ll snap and attack you.

Once they swing first?
It’s self-defense. Completely legal.
Guards won’t bat an eye. In fact, they'll probably say something like, “Good riddance.”

It’s one of the most useful early-game tricks—and one of the most Morrowind things ever. The law doesn’t care if you murdered someone… as long as they started it.

A Word of Caution: Don’t Taunt Yourself Into a brick wall

Taunting NPCs is a powerful tool… but like most things in Morrowind, abusing it can absolutely backfire.

First, the obvious problem:
If you bully the wrong person into attacking you, you can permanently break entire questlines.
Morrowind doesn’t care. It won’t stop you. It won’t warn you. It will happily let you stab someone who turns out to be crucial five hours later.

So use Taunt responsibly.
Only do it to characters who:
• you know have no future quest role
or
• you’ve been explicitly told to kill anyway

Second problem:
Even on the lowest difficulty, a high-level NPC you provoke will turn you into paste in five seconds.
Thinking, “Ooh, that guy has Ebony armor, I bet I can take him at level 3!”
is the fastest route to having to reload a save

Time to address the elephant in the room:
Early-game combat in Morrowind can feel… rough. And it's one of the main turn-offs for a lot of new-players. If you didn’t pick a Redguard with Long Blade as a major skill, your first few fights may look like two drunks slapping each other with pool noodles.

Here’s why:

Morrowind uses an old-school dice roll system under the hood. Every swing has a chance to hit or miss, and that chance depends on three things:

• Your weapon skill (e.g., Long Blade, Axe, Short Blade)
• Your current Fatigue (low stamina = more misses)
• Your governing attribute (Strength for melee, Agility for marksman, etc.)

If those numbers are low at level 1, the game is basically looking you dead in the eyes and saying:
“You haven’t trained enough for this. Keep practicing.”

And the good news?
Enemies follow the same rules.
Those low level bandits whiff on you for the exact same reason—you’re both terrible at fighting.

So early on, expect some slap-fights, some missed swings, and maybe some fleeing. It’s all part of the charm. Once your skills start ticking up, combat becomes smoother, more reliable, and way more fun.

And here’s the comforting truth: late-game you’re basically a blender with legs.
Once you’ve got 100 in your weapon skill and 100 Strength, you’ll almost never miss. All those early-game whiffs? Gone. You go from “weakling with a stick” to “Death Lord”

So don’t get discouraged—combat does get easier. You just have to survive the awkward years of your character’s life.

Morrowind is brilliant, but it also loves to watch new players suffer. Here are the classic early-game mistakes everyone makes at least once—so you don’t have to.

1. Your Fatigue bar = your accuracy bar.
If it’s empty, you’ll miss every swing, every shot, every punch.
Walk between fights, rest often, and keep a few Restore Fatigue potions on hand.

2. Ignoring weapons and armor you’re actually good at, If your class doesn’t have Spear, Long Blade, or whatever as a major/minor skill, your hits will whiff like crazy. Stick to the weapons your character is built for—at least early on. This isn't the later games where you can pick any weapon and wield it like a master.

3. Starting the main quest too soon

Caius can wait. Your level 1 Redguard with a rusty dagger cannot. Join the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild first. Get some gear, gold, and training before you march into a tomb full of angry zombies.

4. Not reading quest directions, There’s no quest marker. NPCs tell you where to go… vaguely.
If you skip dialogue, you’ll wander into the wilderness completely stumped. If you get confused? Look it up. Nobody is judging you

5. Fighting every enemy you see

See a monster or beast? You don’t have to duel it. Just run. Levitate. Whatever. Not every battle is worth your blood pressure.

6. Forgetting about diseases

Diseases in Morrowind are vicious.
One Kwama Forager coughs on you and suddenly your Strength is 5 and you can’t even lift your own shoes. Carry Cure Disease, cure blight and Restore Attribute potions at all times.

7. Hoarding everything like a desperate packrat

You’re going to want to pick up every cup, fork, plate, bug egg, and ancient artifact.
Your character is going to disagree.
Encumbrance is brutal, and being over-encumbered means you are effectively a decorative rock. Sell junk early and often. Keep travel light.

8. Ignoring the magic system

Even warriors benefit from:
• Mark & Recall
• Jump/Levitate
• Water Walking

You don’t need to be a robe-wearing wizard to cast a single utility spell.

9. Killing NPCs indiscriminately

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Morrowind will let you murder someone vital to a quest and carry on like nothing happened…
…until you try to advance the storyline 20 hours later and discover you killed the only guy who knew the password. It might let you know with a "With this persons death the prophecy has been severed" message or it won't.

10. Skipping the journey

Yes, you can look everything up.
Yes, you can speedrun the whole game with Icarian scrolls, boots, and a dream.
But Morrowind’s magic is in the wandering, the mistakes, the weird caves, the cliff racer chases, and the moments you stumble onto something ancient and haunting.

11. Save Often

This needs its own shrine.

Morrowind does not auto-save. At all. (OpenMW does however)
If you forget to save, the game will happily let you:

fall off a cliff
get one-shot by a rat with attitude
accidentally taunt the wrong NPC
crash during a long dungeon
get blighted, diseased, cursed, or otherwise spiritually obliterated
…then send you all the way back to whatever your last manual save was.

Get in the habit of saving constantly:

Before a fight, After a fight, Before entering a dungeon, Before opening a suspiciously ornate door, Before talking to someone important, Before trying any spell or potion with the word “Jump,” “Levitate,” or “Fortify” in it, Basically every few minutes

It might feel excessive, but trust me… everyone learns this lesson the hard way once.
And once is enough.

Take your time. Let Vvardenfell get under your skin.

One of the first things new players notice is… where’s the quest marker?
In Morrowind, there is no magical GPS arrow pointing you to victory. No glowing trail. No “go here, hero” pop-up.

Your tools are:

• The world map (big, vague, old-school)
• The local map
• The mini-map which functionally just lets you know what direction your facing

NPCs don’t hand you coordinates, either. They give directions like:

“Head east out of town, stay on the road until you see a fork, then turn left at a rock and then go north”

Sometimes these directions are perfect.
Sometimes they’re…vague.

So as a newcomer, you really have two choices:

• Embrace the wandering — treat the journey itself as part of the adventure, get lost in the swamps, accidentally anger a Guar, find a cave full of things that absolutely do not want you alive.

• Or look up quest locations — and that’s totally okay. Anyone who tells you it “ruins the experience” has forgotten what it’s like to get hopelessly lost on your first hour in the Bitter Coast.

Your first playthrough should be about discovering why people still rave about this world two decades later.
Do whatever helps you enjoy the ride.

Fast Travel — Your Saving Grace

Let’s be honest: as magical as Morrowind is, getting from point A to point Z on foot would feel like trying to sprint across a desert made of molasses.
Even with all the utility spells—Mark, Recall, Levitate, Jump, Intervention—sometimes you just want to get somewhere now.

That’s where Morrowind’s fast travel network saves your sanity.

Silt Striders

Giant flea-taxis.
Yes, they’re weird. Yes, But these things are the backbone of Vvardenfell travel.
They connect major towns and make cross-island trips painless.

Mages Guild Guild Guides

The magical equivalent of teleporting Ubers.
Walk into any major Mages Guild and you’ll find a Guild Guide ready to zap you instantly to other guild halls like:

• Balmora
  
• Vivec
  
• Ald’ruhn
  
• Caldera
  
• Sadrith Mora

It’s cheap, fast, and ridiculously convenient—especially if you’re doing Mage or Fighter Guild quests.

Boats

Coastal travel made easy.
These captains that connect seaside towns are surprisingly useful shortcuts.
Plus, it’s nice to get close to the water without being attacked by a slaughterfish for once.

Without them…?

Even with every utility spell in the game, travelling Vvardenfell entirely on foot would be a nightmare.
The world isn’t small, the terrain is wild, and cliff racers exist—need I say more?

These travel systems don’t break immersion—they define the rhythm of the world. They make distant towns feel meaningfully far away without turning your playthrough into a marathon simulator.

Use them. Love them.

Time to get your feet wet—literally, if you follow my first recommendation.
Your opening hours in Morrowind can be overwhelming, so here’s a great starter quest that teaches exploration, stealth, and the game’s quirky logic.

The Fargoth “Welcome to Seyda Neen” Adventure

Your first target–uh, wood elf—is none other than Fargoth, the unofficial mascot of Morrowind and a man whose face seems genetically engineered to inspire punching.

As you’re leaving the Census and Excise Office, look for a little barrel in a walled-off patch of grass inside the building you left after completing your classes. Inside is a minor healing ring, a handy early-game lifesaver. Pocket it.

Step outside and you’ll immediately spot Fargoth doing his best “lost puppy with taxes due” impression. He’ll tell you someone stole his stash—including that ring you now have. Hand it over. It earns you some early trust, and trust matters here.

Next, head into Arrille’s Tradehouse (the big building) and talk to the surly Nord upstairs. He’ll mention that Fargoth hid money from him somewhere in town and ask you to find it.

This is where the game teaches you its signature skill: paying attention.

• Climb the guard tower that overlooks the swampy pond to the left as you exit the tradehouse.
• Use the Wait button until it’s around midnight (don’t worry—nobody actually busts you for loitering).
• Watch the marsh. You’ll see Fargoth sneaking around in the dark and eventually checking a stump.
• Once he leaves, climb down and loot the stash.
• Bring the gold back to the Nord. He’ll let you keep half the haul—and you still get to keep the ring.

It’s a tiny quest, but it teaches you exactly what Morrowind is about: paying attention, following clues, and messing with the locals just a little bit.
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Once you’ve finished your class and everything in Seyda Neen, petted a few scribs, and maybe robbed a barrel or two, the game hands you your first real assignment:

Travel to Balmora and meet Caius Cosades.

This scruffy old shirtless man is your gateway to the main quest—and yes, he really is supposed to look like that.

But here’s the trick:

Do not go straight to him.

If you’re brand new, marching into the main quest immediately is like wandering into a Daedric ruin wearing a paper bag for armor. You want allies, gear, money, and skills first.

And that’s where the magic happens, because right in Balmora, standing side-by-side like two NPCs who absolutely share one brain cell, you’ll find:

• The Fighters Guild
• The Mages Guild

Both are right next to each other, and both are absolute goldmines for beginners. Joining them instantly unlocks:

• Free beds (a HUGE deal in Morrowind, since you need to rest to restore magicka HP and level up)
• Trainers who give good early-game skill boosts
• Tons of beginner-friendly quests that teach you how the world works
• Easy gold, loot, and reputation

These quests are designed to ease you into Morrowind’s systems—combat, magic, alchemy, navigation, negotiating, stealing shiny things you probably shouldn’t touch. They’re like training wheels.

The early Mages Guild quests in Morrowind are famously gentle. One of the very few first jobs they hand you is literally:

“Go get me a new ceramic bowl.”

That’s it. No Daedra, no rampaging Dwarven Centurion, no “retrieve this sacred artifact guarded by six angry ghosts.”
Just… a bowl.

These quests are perfect for beginners because they:

• ease you into navigation
• give you a reason to explore Balmora
• reward you with gold, potions, and skill training
• introduce you to the actual good spells the guild sells

Whilst the fighters guild is more action orientated- Go here slay that. Introducing you to morrowinds combat system.

With all of this in mind—the wandering, the bowl-fetching, the rat-swatting, the spell-slinging, the “why is this mudcrab stronger than me” moments—you’ll eventually make your way back to Caius.

And here’s the best part:
You won’t be the clueless prisoner who stumbled out of the Census Office anymore.

By the time you knock on Caius’s door again, you’ll probably have:

• a few levels under your belt
• a weapon skill that lets you hit more than air
• a stack of gold from the guilds
• armor that isn’t made of wet cardboard
• a couple of life-saving spells or potions
• and, most importantly, actual confidence

At that point, the main quest stops feeling like a death sentence and starts feeling like an adventure you’re ready to take on.

If you played Skyrim or Oblivion, you’re probably used to picking a couple guilds and calling it a day.

Morrowind laughs in your face and drops an entire buffet of factions on you.

There are so many.
It’s like Tamriel’s LinkedIn exploded all over Vvardenfell.

Here’s what you’re looking at:

The Great Houses — Hlaalu, Redoran, Telvanni
Political powerhouses. Each one has its own culture, drama, and an entire questline that basically plays out like fantasy Game of Thrones.

The Fighters Guild
Classic “go punch things for money.” Great for beginners, great early gear, great way to not die to rats.

The Mages Guild
Your source for spells, teleportation, and extremely petty fetch quests. Essential even if you’re not a mage.

The Thieves Guild
Stealth, heists, shady dealings, and outsmarting the Camonna Tong (racist jerks, you’ll see).

The Morag Tong
Legal assassins. They give you official murder errands.
The best faction if you want to be sneaky and righteous about stabbing people.

The Tribunal Temple
The state religion. Lots of pilgrimages, holy duties, questionable gods, and one extremely dramatic goddess.

And those are just the big ones—there are also vampire clans, the Imperial Cult, the Imperial Legion, the Blades, the East Empire Company, and a dozen smaller groups if you feel like joining Every Club Ever.

The beauty of Morrowind is you’re not locked out of most factions. (except if the fighters guild sends you on that one quest to wipe out the thieves guild)
You can be a mage in the Fighters Guild.
You can be a thief who also works for the gods.
You can be a future messiah… who also hunts bandits for beer money.

If you ever worry about running out of things to do—trust me, you won’t. Vvardenfell is overflowing with quests, politics, betrayals, side hustles, and weird errands involving mushrooms, slaves, pearls, and haunted dwarven machinery.

A Quick Warning About Faction Ranks

Joining factions in Morrowind is easy.
Moving up in them? Not so much.

Every faction has a list of required skills—usually one very high skill and two low level skills—that determine how high you can rise in their ranks. You can do a few beginner quests with low skills, but eventually the guild master is going to look you dead in the eyes and say something like:

“You want to be Arch-Mage with 5 Destruction? Absolutely not.”

And honestly… that's fair.

So before you commit to a faction, check what skills they actually care about. A few examples:

• Fighters Guild: Likes weapon skills, Armor, and Block
• Mages Guild: Wants serious magic skills—not just someone who can cast one sad Fireball
• Thieves Guild: Sneak, Security, Agility-based skills
• House Redoran: Heavy Armor, Long Blade, Athletics
• House Telvanni: Magic, magic, more magic, and a complete disregard for workplace safety

If your chosen class already has those skills as Major or Minor, ranking up will feel natural.
If not, you might hit a brick wall later and wonder why nobody will give you more quests.

The great thing about Morrowind?
You can be in multiple factions at once—just be careful not to join groups that hate each other unless you’re ready to pick a side.

What House Should You Join?

Short answer: whichever one sounds coolest to you.
Long answer: here’s a quick rundown—plus a little love letter to my personal favourites, the unhinged wizards of House Telvanni.

Every Great House is basically a fantasy political faction with its own culture, values, drama, and questionable life choices. You can only join one, so choose the one that fits your character—or the one whose aesthetic makes you go “yeah, that’s me.”

House Hlaalu — The Smooth-Talking Opportunists

Think: merchants, politicians, back-room deals
Vibes: ‘We don’t care how you get it done, just get it done.’
Best for: thieves, stealth builds, characters who enjoy bribery more than combat
Moral alignment: Chaotic Capitalist

Expect lots of shady business, political intrigue, and “accidental” backstabbings. If you like money and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, Hlaalu will love you.

House Redoran — The Honorable Warriors

Think: samurai + medieval knights + giant bugs
Vibes: Duty, honor, obligation, honor again, more honor
Best for: melee fighters, knights, paladins, anyone who likes saying “for the good of Morrowind!”
Moral alignment: Lawful Beefcake

Redoran is the closest thing Morrowind has to a “good guy” noble house. Expect a lot of fighting, monster hunting, and proving your worth by hitting things with swords.

House Telvanni — The Mad Wizard Retirement Home

Ah, the best house.
Not objectively, but spiritually.

Think: ancient wizards in giant mushroom towers, each one basically a superpowered hermit plotting terrible ideas.
Vibes: “What if we break the laws of nature… for fun?”
Best for: mages, schemers, eccentric weirdos, people who see a glowing Dwemer artifact and immediately think “I should lick that.”
Moral alignment: Chaotic “I do what I want.”

The questline is a beautiful mess of:
• bizarre experiments
• magical duels
• morally dubious science
• getting your own mushroom wizard tower (yes, really)

Before you sign your name in any Great House ledger, there’s one major thing you should know:

Every Great House in Morrowind is, to varying degrees, complicit in slavery. It’s one of the ways Morrowind shows that this world—beautiful scenery and prophetic destiny aside—is morally complicated, messy, and full of people doing terrible things while insisting it’s normal.

In Vvardenfell, slavery is treated as casually as buying a loaf of bread. It’s part of the culture, part of the economy, part of the political machinery—and virtually everyone in power is tangled up in it.

A quick vibe check:

• House Hlaalu: Profits off slavery, but acts polite about it.
• House Redoran: Sees it as an honorable tradition.
• House Telvanni: Treats people like lab equipment. Not shocking.

The only major faction that consistently opposes slavery is the Twin Lamps, a secret abolitionist group you can quietly help during certain quests.

If there’s one thing Morrowind never skimps on, it’s gear variety.
Skyrim gives you Iron → Steel → Dwarven → Ebony → Daedric. Nice and neat.
Morrowind?
Morrowind throws half a museum’s worth of weird, wonderful, and wildly impractical weaponry at you and says, “Pick something shiny.”

• Iron → basic, rusty, held together with hope
• Chitin → bug parts hammered into armor (very fashionable, very Dunmer)
• Bonemold → looks like someone sculpted armor out of skeletons, because they did
• Glass → bright green, sharp as sin, sounds fragile but actually amazing
• Ebony → heavy, expensive, extremely “do not touch my stuff” energy (Especially when you consider it's made out of the blood of a dead god)
• Daedric → the peak. Heavy. Overkill. Beautiful. Will probably shatter your spine if you try to wear the full set at level 3

And that’s not even counting:
• spears
• halberds
• shortswords
• broadswords
• tantos
• katanas
• staves
• warhammers roughly the size of a child

If you can imagine it, Vvardenfell probably has a version of it—buried in a ruin, carried by a bandit, or sitting behind a shopkeeper.

As if the regular gear wasn’t wild enough, Morrowind is absolutely stuffed with unique artifacts—items so powerful, ancient, or downright cursed that they feel like they belong in a museum or a guarded vault

• Dragonbone Cuirass
A gorgeous chunk of ancient armor that turns you into a walking fortress.
If you manage to find it early, congratulations—you’re now functionally a tank with style.

• Lord’s Mail
One of the most iconic armors in the entire Elder Scrolls series.
Absurdly strong, insanely defensive, and comes with built-in healing magic.
It’s like wearing a suit of armor that’s also your mom.

• Skull Crusher
A warhammer with all the subtlety of a meteor strike.
Ridiculously powerful and almost weightless thanks to its enchantment.
If you ever wanted to turn bandits into stains on the wall while still having the stamina to sprint a marathon, this is your weapon.

And that’s barely scratching the surface.
There are ancient Dwemer artifacts, Daedric relics, one-of-a-kind blades hidden behind waterfalls, and even legendary items tied directly to your destiny as the Nerevarine. Like Trueflame

Hunting these down is one of the great joys of the game—half treasure hunt, half archaeology.

Morrowind’s magic system is downright wild—in the best possible way. Even if you’re playing a big, shirtless, axe-swinging barbarian who eats books, you should still use utility magic.

These spells aren’t about doing damage; they’re about bending the world to your will. They make exploration smoother.

Here are the essentials that every new player—warrior, mage or thief—should know about:

Mark & Recall — The Best Spells in the Game
This is your personal teleportation system.
Here’s how it works:

• Mark: Set a magical “save point” anywhere.
• Recall: Warp back to that exact spot instantly.

It’s basically Morrowind’s version of fast travel, except you choose the destination.
Exploring a spooky ruin? Mark outside, dive in, grab the loot, Recall out before something eats you.

Even low-level warriors can cast them with reasonable Magicka cost. If you skip these spells, you’re just making your life harder.

Divine & Almsivi Intervention — “Nope” Buttons
These are panic teleports.

• Divine Intervention sends you to the nearest Imperial Cult shrine.
• Almsivi Intervention sends you to the nearest Tribunal Temple.

If a quest goes sideways, you get ambushed, or you fall into a dungeon full of angry bonewalkers, just hit one of these and boom—you’re safe.
Every new player should buy a stack of Intervention scrolls. They’re cheap, lifesavers, and they’ll prevent roughly 90% of tragic “I forgot to save” moments.

Cheap but Mighty Scrolls
Morrowind’s scrolls ignore your skill level. Zero in Destruction? Doesn’t matter—you can still cast a fireball that turns a bandit into charcoal.

Look for:
• Ondusi’s Unhinging – Opens levelled locks.
• Almsivi / Divine Intervention scrolls – Emergency teleports.
• Scroll of Vitality / Healing – Great for non-mages.
• Scroll of Ondusi’s Open Door – Locks can’t stop you.

Buy them. Hoard them. Treasure them. They’re your “get out of jail free” cards.

Bound Weapons — Free, Weightless, Stupidly Strong

Bound weapons are conjured Daedric gear. They:
• hit like a truck
• weigh nothing
• give you a temporary +10 to their weapon skill

Even non-mages can usually cast the cheaper ones with a few Intelligence boosts or a Fortify Magicka potion. If you’re a new player who picked a melee class, a Bound Longsword spell is like turning easy mode on for the early hours.

Potions & Alchemy — The Secret Powerhouse
Morrowind’s alchemy system is absurdly strong. A beginner with a mortar and pestle can whip up:
• Restore Health
• Restore Magicka
• Fortify Speed (zoom!)
• Water Walking
• Water Breathing

Grab ingredients everywhere. Mix everything. Accidentally make a poison? Sell it for profit.
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Enchanted Items — Tiny Trinkets, Massive Power

Morrowind doesn’t just hand you good gear…
…but it does hide a bunch of magical gadgets that turn a struggling newbie into a surprisingly competent hero.

And you won’t have to fight a single daedra to get your first taste. All you need is a little gold and a visit to one shady merchant.

In the Balmora, there’s a Khajiit trader who sells a selection of so-called “Demon” weapons.”
Despite the marketing, these things aren’t actually forged in Oblivion—they just look cool and come pre-enchanted with handy on-use abilities.

They’re expensive for a fresh-off-the-boat adventurer…
…but if you can scrape together the septims (or sell some loot you found lying around), they’re an incredible early boost.

Typical perks include things like:
• Fire damage on strike
• Bound weapon effects (free, weightless daedric weapons on demand)
• Paralyze or Drain effects for clutch moments

Even a pure warrior can use the on-use enchantments without needing magicka. That means you can open fights with a burst of magical damage, stun a tough enemy, or give yourself a temporary weapon upgrade—all without upgrading a single point in Destruction or Conjuration.

In short: if you can afford a Demon weapon early, it’s like getting a cheat code—without actually cheating.

The Legendary Boots of Blinding Speed
You’ve probably noticed something by now:
Your character runs like they’re wading through glue.
Welcome to Morrowind, where gravity is strong and calves are weak.

But fear not—because tucked away on Vvardenfell is one of the single most infamous (and beloved) items in the entire game:

The Boots of Blinding Speed

These boots are so good that once you get them, you’ll probably never take them off. They turn you from “snail with arthritis” into “Sonic the Hedgehog.”

There’s just one tiny catch:
When you equip them, they hit you with a 100% Blindness effect. You move at warp speed… but you can’t see a thing.
A bit of a problem if you enjoy knowing where things are.

Luckily, there is an easy ways around this:

Use a 100% Resist Magicka spell that lasts for second before putting them on.
The blindness is magical—block it, and you get pure speed with no downside. Because the magic was negated the time it'll remain constantly nullified since you resisted it the first time

Once you unlock these boots, exploring Vvardenfell becomes glorious. You’ll sprint across the Ashlands faster than cliff racers can even render in.

On the road from Caldera to Ald-Ruhn. before long you’ll bump into a Redguard woman named Pemenie. She’ll beg you to escort her to Gnaar Mok.She seems nice. She is lying through her teeth. But that’s fine, because we want her shoes.Complete her escort request (or… handle things a little more directly, if you’e.re playing a morally flexible character), and you’ll end up with the Boots of Blinding Speed.

The Boots of Blinding Speed are absurdly good… but they don’t come free.
To use them properly, you need a way to counter that nasty 100% Blindness spell they slap on you.

To block it, you’ll want a 1-second, 100% Resist Magicka spell.
Sounds simple, right?
Here’s the twist:

Casting that tiny spell—even for one second—requires:
• Some Magicka (not much, but enough)
• Enough Fatigue to avoid embarrassing miscasts
• A custom spell, because no one sells a “1 second Resist Magicka” by default

The good news?
You can make this spell easily at a Spellmaker NPC—the one in the Balmora Mages Guild works perfectly.
It’s relatively inexpensive, quick to make, and once it’s in your spell list, you’re set.

Top it off with a few fortify Magicka, fortify Fatigue and fortify Agility potions and you’re ready to activate the boots without going legally blind.

If all this sounds hard, don’t stress—there are plenty of simple online guides that walk you through the exact numbers. After you’ve done it once, it becomes second nature.

And then?
You’ll be moving so fast travelling will be a breeze.

Does Sneak work?

The short version: Sort of, but not how you expect.

If you’re coming from Oblivion or Skyrim, where sneaking feels like ninja magic, Morrowind’s stealth system is going to greet you with a brick to the face.

• Sneak isn’t passive. You don’t just crouch and instantly become Solid Snake.
• Your Sneak skill actually matters. At level 5 Sneak, every rat in a five-cell radius will hear your “quiet” footsteps and sprint at you .
• Line of sight is king. If an NPC is looking your way—even from across the room—they can absolutely spot you, even with high Sneak.
• Chameleon and Invisibility are your real best friends. These effects hide you regardless of your Sneak skill, and they’re ridiculously strong.
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Levitation

So you’re wandering around Vvardenfell, minding your own business, when you suddenly hit a giant cliff, a floating rock, or a Telvanni mushroom tower with zero stairs.
You jump…
You fall…
You jump again…
You fall again…

This is when you learn one of Morrowind’s most important lessons:

You’re supposed to levitate. A lot.

You’re supposed to levitate. A lot.

Levitation isn’t a luxury in this game—it’s a way of life. There are entire dungeons, cities, and quest objectives that are physically impossible to reach without it. The ancient wizards of House Telvanni didn’t forget to build stairs; they just think anyone who can't Levitate isn't worth their time.

So here’s what you do:

• Grab levitation potions whenever you see them (loot them, buy them, steal them… whatever works).
• Or buy/make a Levitate spell from the Mages Guild—cheap, light, and absolutely game-changing.
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Scroll of Icarian Flight

Wander a little north of Seyda Neen and you’ll suddenly hear a blood-curdling scream.
Look up. A Woodelf is plummeting from the sky like a meteor. When you find what’s left of him smeared across the ground, you’ll also find his legacy:Three Scrolls of Icarian Flight. These things are...something else. Each scroll gives you Fortify Acrobatics 1000 points for 7 seconds.
In human language: You can jump so high you can kiss the moons. Are they useful?
Sort of?
Kind of?
Not… really?
If you hit the ground without a way to slow your fall, you will become a modern art installation just like the wood elf. Instant death, no refunds.

But here’s where the creativity comes in:

How to Actually Use Them (Without Exploding Your Legs)

Combine a Scroll of Icarian Flight with any of these:

• A Slowfall spell
• A Slowfall potion
• An enchanted item with Slowfall on use (the Mages Guild can help you make one)
• A levitation potion or spell

Do that… and suddenly you can launch yourself halfway across Vvardenfell like a ballistic missile
It’s not practical.
It’s not safe.
It’s definitely huge fun

But as a one-way ticket to “I want to see what’s over THERE right now,” it’s unbeatable.
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Cliff Racers

You will hear them before you see them.
You will hear them after you wish you hadn’t.
You will hear them in your sleep.

Cliff racers are the unofficial national bird of “Oh god not again.” They travel in packs, they aggro from distances that would impress a sniper, and they chase you with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for tax collectors.

The silver lining? They’re fantastic for grinding weapon skills early on… assuming you survive the swarm.
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You Can Break Quests… really easily

Pickpocket the wrong NPC? Soft-lock.
Kill someone who seemed rude? Oops, that was the guy you needed three hours later.

The game will warn you if you’ve broken the main quest, but side quests have no such mercy.
Morrowind trusts you… perhaps too much.This is why you should save often and always. Whenever you enter a building for example.
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NPC Blocking

There are many dangers in Morrowind. Blighted beasts. Rogue mages. But none of them compare to the true terror of Vvardenfell: An NPC standing in a doorway. You will meet this foe often. They will stare into your soul, shuffle half an inch to the left, then immediately shuffle back to block you again. You cannot push them. You cannot squeeze past. You are trapped by someone who absolutely refuses to move because they’ve decided this threshold is their entire reason to exist.

Luckily, you’ve got options:

A) “Accidentally” hit them… and then pay the fine

If you really need them to move, give them a quick tap.
They’ll get angry. you go find a guard, Pay the small fine, and the NPC will calm down—and more importantly, they’ll walk away from the door. annoying? Yes. Effective? Also yes.

B) Use the Console (PC only):

If you’re playing with a keyboard, you can open the console with the ~ key and type: RA This refreshes NPC positions and usually teleports the door-blocker a few steps away

C) the Patience Method

You leave
Wait.
Eventually they’ll get bored and move.
Maybe.
Probably.
…hopefully.
(This is the most lore-friendly option, but also the one most likely to make you question your life choices.)
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Even after many-many hours in Morrowind, I still look back at my first character and think,
“Wow… I really made that poor guy’s life harder than it needed to be.”

So here’s some honest veteran wisdom—stuff I genuinely wish someone had told me.

1. I should’ve taken Restoration instead of Armorer

Back then I thought:

“I’ll fix my gear myself! I’m a warrior, I don’t need magic.”

Future me disagrees.
Restoration is ridiculously good in Morrowind—not just for healing, but for curing diseases, restoring drained attributes, boosting stats, and making the early game ten times less painful.

Meanwhile, gold becomes absurdly abundant later on. Once you’ve cleared a few Daedric ruins and sold a stack of ebony and glass armour/weapons, paying someone to repair your gear is basically pennies.

2. I really should’ve taken The Mage instead of The Warrior

Even when I played a big melee bruiser, I picked The Warrior because it “made sense.”
Turns out, I was wrong.

Pure warriors in Morrowind eventually turn into… well, spellblades.
Everyone does.
Why?
Because the utility magic is so good it’s basically part of the game’s operating system.

Mark & Recall, Levitate, Water Walking, Detect Key, Jump, Feather—
you will end up using magic even if your character is a shirtless berserker who thinks books are for nerds.

So I kinda wish I’d grabbed The Mage for that extra magicka pool.
Even a warrior benefits from having more magical fuel to power utility spells.

3. Don’t be afraid to play weird hybrids

I used to think I had to be a pure warrior or pure mage like it was some kind of roleplaying law.
Nope.
Morrowind is secretly designed to reward oddball mixes—warriors with healing magic, mages with spears, thieves who dabble in conjuration.

Your character is going to evolve on their own anyway. Lean into it.
The game’s at its best when you stop worrying about making the “perfect build” and just become whatever Vvardenfell shapes you into.

4 I Eventually Realised: Bretons Are Kind of Ridiculously Good, After enough playthroughs, I came to a conclusion: Bretons are absurdly strong in Morrowind. Like…really strong. Like “maybe Bethesda loved them a little too much” strong. Their massive 50% Magicka Resist is one of the best defensive perks in the entire game—especially in Vvardenfell, where everything from bandits to gods wants to nuke your soul with magic. On top of that, they get 50% more magicka, which makes even non-mages noticeably better at all the utility spells you’ll eventually rely on. Are they the only good race? Nope. Can every race become a powerhouse in Morrowind? Absolutely.

But here’s the real point:

You will never reach hour 200 as a Breton and think, “wow, I regret this.”
They’re just consistently good at everything: magic, survival, hybrid builds, you name it.

If you want a smooth first playthrough with a ton of flexibility, Bretons are basically the “easy mode” of Vvardenfell—without feeling like one.

My first Elder Scrolls game was Oblivion, then Skyrim, and only many years later did I finally give Morrowind a try. Honestly? I didn’t want to at first. I thought it looked old, clunky, too weird, too janky. I didn't understand what a lot people saw in this game.

But once I really dug in…
it clicked.
All the charm, all the mystery, all the freedom—it hit me. And suddenly I understood why people speak about this game with almost religious reverence.

Morrowind didn’t just grow on me.
It became one of my favourite games ever.

If you’re playing it for the first time, I genuinely envy you. You’re about to experience a world unlike anything else—alien, harsh, beautiful, and unforgettable.

So here’s my final advice:

• Take your time. Wander. Get lost.
• Expect the worst. Greater Bonewalkers are out there, plotting your misery as we speak.
• Most importantly: have fun.
Let Vvardenfell surprise you, confuse you, terrify you, and eventually win your heart.

Thanks for reading—and welcome to Morrowind, Nerevarine.