What province do you typically start your characters out in?

[Marook]

I find that some provinces like Winterhold and The Reach are somewhat tough to get a good footing in at the beginning of the game. The former is crawling with Falmer caves and dwarven runes with only a couple easy to clear bandit hideouts, and the latter foregos any sort of low level bandit population entirely in favor of vicious Forsworn and Hagraven camps mixed with Dwarf and Nordic ruins that at least seem to be scaled higher than you at game start.

Provinces like Haafingar, Hjaalmarch, Windhelm, and the Rift are teeming with plenty of varied enemy camps, but also possess similarly more difficult than usual dungeons here and there.

It's for this reason that I typically will start characters off either in Whiterun or Falkreath, both of which are overflowing with easy to kill Bandit encampments, both marked and unmarked, as well as lower leveled wildlife like wolves along the roads and mudcrabs around Lake Ilinalta and the White River.

What about you?

[Curse]

I can’t say I have a favorite place to start, though that cart ride tinhelgen will always be special.

Where I start is entirely predicated on the charactwr’s Roleplay needs. For example if my character has always been a vampire they’ll start either as a member of Harkon’s court or a vampire in a secluded lair. 

 

[Marook]

 I see, I similarly start off in an RP friendly area with Alt Start. I still end up migrating towards Whiterun or Falkreath in the beginning once I've gotten my bearings in order. Training on Bandits and other low level mobs has always been my go-to, places like Redoran's Retreat, White River Watch, Embershard and such. I still run into encounters where a Chief will 2H Power Attack one shot me or a frost mage will 100-0 me, but it's not quite as bad in my experience as the alternatives. Starting near Markarth or Morthal and trudging my way through a heap of Forsworn or Vampires immediately at level 1 or 2 has never led to a good time. Do you start off immediately on Master or gradually up the difficulty as things become easier?

[Tevers]

Helgen because I have no mods :(

[Pixel]

I tend to like to change my starting position drastically for each character I play. Particularly in my survival playthroughs, each region presents a new set of challenges and RP oppertunities. In terms of survival playthroughs I must say though one of my favorites is starting out in The Pale. It's the coldest and most unforgiving region of Skyrim, and it gives such a feeling of scarcity and urgency. 

[Marook]

The shipwrecked LAL start is one of my favorites, so I kinda relate to that in a way. That rushed combing of the inside of the ship for supplies followed with an urgent swim for Yngvild while avoiding the slaughterfish (Which isn't too difficult) and freezing to death on the way.

[Pixel]

Yeah that's a great start. One of my favorites. The Frostfall mod makes it quite an exhilerating start. I look forward to the time when I get it in my Call of the North series. That is going to b an ... interesting time. If I had to pick a favorite Hold overall it would be Eastmarch but it isn't really my favorite place to start. The Pale is actually one of my least favorite Holds lol but that's actually kinda the reason I like to start in it, if that makes sense. Everything is just so sparse and far/few between. Moving on from there provides a nice feeling of progression and improvement.