Diaries of Dibella Gameplay Guide

📖 Introduction

Welcome, Devotee of Dibella.

This guide is your comprehensive companion to the Diaries of Dibella 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 Modding Bordello Discord Server.

Let Dibella's call shape your steps.

🧙 Character Creation and Progression

🔹 Read First

Before creating your character, please review the following mod pages carefully:

Your choice of race determines not only your starting bonuses, but also grants access to a unique set of Standing Stone powers per race as well as determining which deities will accept your worship. Your race selection will shape your playthrough far more strongly than in most modlists.

📜 Skill Unlocks and Perk Progression

Also review the mod page for Vokrii - Minimalistic Perks of Skyrim and SALSa - Skill-Access Locking by Synergy . SALSa completely redefines the way character progression works in Skyrim: you can only use, gain experience in, or spend perks on skill trees you have unlocked. This means:

Wearing armor you are not proficient in will encumber you
Weapons you are not proficient in will do no damage
Spells you are not proficient in will have unfeasible magicka costs
Checks like Lockpicking, Persuasion, and Sneak will automatically fail without the needed unlocks

You may unlock up to three skills by spending perk points during character setup. (Five for Imperials.)
Unlocking additional skills later requires:
- Spending one perk point, and
- Obtaining the corresponding skill book (the standard skill-granting books already in Skyrim). You must have the book in inventory in order to place the perk.
- In certain cases, special training can replace the book requirement.

This system makes each perk point a meaningful decision.
Should you enhance your primary combat skill, or is it time to unlock Speechcraft, Lockpicking, or another utility tree?

In addition to your starting perks, you will receive an extra perk at level-up when you reach level two and three. And occasionally, boss chests may reward you with a Skyshard, granting a free perk point — but these are rare, and precious. Expect to make tough choices about progression throughout your journey.

⚠️ Important:
Be sure to unlock your starting skills before leaving the shack.

⛪ Religion

If you intend to engage with the religion system, please review:

Wintersun

Choosing and glorifying a deity is optional, but offers both mechanical and narrative rewards.
You may select a deity shortly after character creation, or through gameplay as your character progresses.

🧭 Leveling Up

Skyrim has two related leveling systems: character leveling and skill leveling.
In the vanilla game, you gain character levels by gaining skill levels, and skills level up through use.

In Diaries of Dibella, this relationship is modified:

You gain character levels by exploring, defeating enemies, and completing quests.
You gain skill levels by using those skills — but only up to a cap based on your current character level.

This encourages a balanced approach between adventuring and practice.
You can't grind a skill to 100 without venturing into the world, but over-leveling your character without improving your combat skills can be dangerous.

For detailed information, see:

Experience

⚠️ Remember: You cannot gain skill levels in any skill you have not yet unlocked.

🌕 Monster Curses

Diaries of Dibella enhances vampirism and lycanthropy through the following mods:

These provide a more immersive, balanced, and rewarding experience for players embracing a cursed path.
Use the **Moonlight Tales Mini ** MCM to further customize your werewolf's appearance.

Setup and Initialization

There's a lot going on during character setup. It'll take a bit more time and a bit more care than vanilla character creation. It'll be worth it.

To start, select New Character at the main menu. Racemenu opens. Play with sliders and presets for a while or not, but don't press R until about 5 minutes have passed. Go make some tea.
Optionally, save your appearance as a preset in case you need to recreate the character later for any reason.
Finish and select your name. Do not leave your name as the default Prisoner, unless this is a throwaway/testing character.
The Pronouns screen comes up; make your selection.
The Commence screen comes up; wait until the notification scroll at the top right has cleared. Wait another minute. Now click Commence.
If you get an immediate mod failed message, click try again. Otherwise, let the process proceed.
Make your initial gear selections when that menu appears. Ok the various notifications. Do not configure MCMs yet.
If you repeatedly get failure messages on the same mod, select Skip, but that shouldn't happen if you've been adequately patient til now.
If you get a Dialog Quest error at any point, something has gone irrevocably wrong. Delete the character and try again.
Once all MCM recordings have finished playback, save and quit the game to desktop.
Read the Skyrim Save System Overhaul 3 section below and follow its instructions.
Once that's done, open the MCM menu and select the Configuration option at the top. Click Reset. If it's greyed out, exit the menu, wait several seconds, and try again.
Once the reset completes, all MCMs should be available for your configuration needs; you may now tune all game settings to your preferences.
Before leaving the room, collect anything from the room you'd like to keep, and spend all your initial perk points. We recommend the "button" start if you don't have another vision for your character. If exiting through the door, you will have to click it twice in order to confirm you've spent all your perks.

OBody and Character Appearance

During your initial character customization, your character may appear distorted or incorrect in RaceMenu, or may be unable to apply tattoos/overlays during initial setup. This is expected. Finalizing your character and then reopening Racemenu via the Vanity Mirror should resolve most such issues.
You may be accustomed to adjusting your body proportions in Racemenu during character creation. This is not possible or needed on our lists. Instead, we use Obody, which allows you to change your own body shape or any NPC's to any installed body preset at will.
Once you have completed character setup, simply press O and select a preset of your choice from the menu that appears. You may do this as much as you like. If your clothing/armor fails to resize to the new preset correctly, re-equipping it should solve that.
You can change body shapes for NPCs in the same way, by targeting them with your crosshair at close range and pressing O. Also note that all NPCs are assigned body shapes at random from the available presets when first encountered, so the same NPC may have very different default proportions from one playthrough to the next.
If you would like to modify the selection of body presets available in your list, see this guide on our Discord server.

💾 Skyrim Save System Overhaul 3

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.

🎮 Save Your Game & Restart

As mentioned above, once all MCM recordings have finished playback, save and quit the game to desktop.
- 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 and enable the mod.
Open the MCM again and configure the settings below.

⚙️ 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 (Pause/Break should be available)
- In the SSSO3 MCM, set Save Shortcut to F5
- Always use F5 to save. Do not use the Pause Menu save option; that menu does not engage SSSO3's quality protection logic.
- Do not use either the vanilla or SSSO3 quickload option. If you must reload your game, exit to desktop first and restart Skyrim.

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

Note: the system assumes that any character with the default name "Prisoner" is a throwaway and does not set up safe saving for them. Give your character any other name if you intend to play them for more than a few minutes.

🔞 SexLab and NSFW

SexLab & NSFW (Core Mods)

Below are the key SexLab and NSFW mods used in Diaries of Dibella.

Important Note
This is not an exhaustive list of every NSFW or adult-oriented mod included in the list.
These are the most important and impactful mods to be aware of.

SexLab Framework & Essentials

SexLab Framework
SexLab Framework P+
SLO Aroused NG
Creature Framework
More Nasty Critters
SL Widgets

SexLab Enhancements

Vampire Feed Proxy
ORomance
ORomance Plus – Multiple Marriage and Relationship System
Official ORomance Plus Patch Hub
Acheron with Yamete Kudasai

SexLab Addons & Gameplay Systems

Dynamic Feminine Female Modesty Animations (OAR)
Advanced Nudity Detection
Modesty Toggle
Fertility Mode Reloaded
SexLab Nights
Simple Slavery Plus Plus

Devious Devices & Extended NSFW Content

Submissive Lola Resubmission
Devious Devices
Devious Devices NG
Devious Sounds
Deviously Enchanted Chests SE
Devious Follower Escape
Devious Lore SE
Devious Lore – Voicepack
Devious Devices – Laura's Bondage Shop

Additional NSFW Systems & Flavor

SexLab Eager NPCs
SexLab Eager NPCs – Voicepack
Collectible Waifu Cards
Dripping When Aroused NG
Children of Lilith

⚖️ Encounter Levels and Game Difficulty

Diaries of Dibella uses Morrowloot Ultimate (MLU) to overhaul the game's level-scaling system.
At low levels, you'll find that many dungeons are too difficult to complete — the world will not scale down to match your level as it does in vanilla Skyrim.

MLU also changes how individual enemies are leveled relative to the zone, meaning even "easy" enemies will hit harder.
Enemy density has been increased throughout the game, making encounters more intense and tactically demanding.

🩸 Quest and Zone Scaling

Major questlines will scale in difficulty much faster than your character levels.
You may complete the early stages of a quest series only to find the next part too difficult until you've leveled further.

The recommended approach is to pursue multiple questlines in parallel, returning to each as your power grows.

Example:

Bleak Falls Barrow now has a minimum level of 10 (up from 6). Attempting it at level 2 will be punishing, and even at level 10 it remains tougher than before.
Ustengrav, the next main quest dungeon, has a minimum level of 18 — so you'll likely need to gain more experience before progressing.

If you need lighter challenges or a break from major questlines, check the Missives boards throughout Skyrim for smaller jobs and quick experience boosts.

🛡️ Balancing Difficulty

Diaries of Dibella is intended to be:

Very challenging when playing solo
Moderately challenging when traveling with a single follower

If you wish to fine-tune your experience — whether to make the game more punishing or balance it for multiple companions — consider these options:

Increase the game difficulty slider in the Skyrim Gameplay Settings
In the SkyValor MCM, raise the follower damage reduction from 25% → 50%, or up to 62.5% by checking both boxes
Install and configure Dynamic Follower Weakening to fine-tune follower strength even further

🦌 The Hunt favors the strong — tread carefully, Hunter.

⛺ Survival Suite and Immersion

DOD utilizes the following survival and needs mods — please see their modpages for details:

In addition to those, we have dozens of mods making smaller changes to many facets of gameplay: Modifications to health and magicka regeneration, fast travel, fishing, bribery, sleeping, dragon claws, food and drink, and much more. We encourage you to browse the Gameplay Expansions & Additions portion of the modlist in MO2 and familiarize yourself with any mods you don't recognize.

⚔️ Combat

DOD utilizes the following combat mods — please see their modpages for details:

🧭 Questing

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.

General Advice

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

Main Quest

To commence the main quest, you must either start the game in Helgen or return there later and kick things off.

Our recommended start is to use the button behind the table in the starting shack to begin the game at the end of the Helgen Tunnel, ready to jog to Riverwood with Hadvar or Ralof.
Alternatively, parkour into the Helgen Inn's backyard at any time, and speak to the Messenger there to either start the Helgen Keep sequence, or skip ahead to Ivarstead with Dragon Rising already complete.

Vicn Questline

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

Prerequisites:

To begin DAc0da, you must first reach level 25 and explore Yngol's Barrow.
To begin Vigilant, you must first reach level 25 and complete House of Horrors.
To begin Glenmoril, you must complete Vigilant and Discerning the Transmundane
To begin Unslaad, you must complete all prior Vicn quests and the vanilla main and DLC quests.

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

Project AHO

The standard start for AHO is a bit abrupt and can be disorienting to players who aren't expecting it. We have chosen to implement a modified start to prevent this disruptive experience.

When you are ready to start Project AHO, and are level 15 or higher, head to the Braidwood Inn in Kynesgrove. Talk to Iddra the innkeeper; she will have a note for you to investigate a suspicious orc at Mixwater Mill. After reading the note, the mod's storyline will commence the next time you approach the mill.

Sinister Seven

For Diaries of Dibella, the Sinister Seven MCM settings about level cadence are ignored. Assassins may or may not appear at random intervals between levels 15 and 35.

🧑‍🎨 Face & Appearance Issues

Problem: Black Face or Unexpected Tattoos

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

Solution: Vanity Mirror (Preferred)

If you received the Vanity Mirror in the starting room:

Open your Inventory
Click on the Vanity Mirror
This will open Limited RaceMenu
Press R to finalize and confirm your appearance
Your character's face should now display correctly

Alternative Fix: Using Console

If you did not get the Vanity Mirror:

Press the ~ key (tilde, left of 1) to open the console
Type: showlimitedracemenu and press Enter
Press ~ again to close the console
Press R to finalize your appearance
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.

🗺️ Map Marker Issues

Problem: "I'm at a map marker, but there's nothing here!"

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

Solution: Disable Soul Cairn Markers

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

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

🏃 Change Dodge Key

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.

The scancode link provided in the .ini file is outdated. For an accurate list, refer to: https://ck.uesp.net/wiki/Input_Script

💀 Acheron Death Alternative

Diaries of Dibella 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 Defeat Triggers

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.

🩸 Hunters Pride & NSFW Integration

In Mantras of Mara, Acheron is also leveraged by select NSFW systems to expand what can happen after a defeat occurs.

Hunters Pride (Acheron Option)
When enabled, Hunters Pride causes NPCs you would normally kill to instead enter Acheron's Defeat State.
This shifts lethal encounters into post-combat outcomes rather than instant death, creating additional narrative and gameplay possibilities.
Yamete Kudasai Integration
Yamete Kudasai builds directly on Acheron's Defeat State, significantly expanding the interaction options available while an NPC is defeated.
Rather than defeat being a simple knockdown or recovery moment, Yamete introduces additional contextual actions, outcomes, and roleplay-driven consequences during this vulnerable state.

Together, these systems tie combat, defeat, and NSFW mechanics into a more cohesive loop—where victory does not always mean death, and defeat does not always mean a reload.

🗡️ Attacking Innocents

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.

🔒 Lockpicking

Most unlocking spells have been removed. The surviving unlock spells include Unlock Container from The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal, which can open up to apprentice tier locks, and Detonate Lock, an Expert-tier alteration spell which can open up to Adept locks, or Expert locks once 100 Alteration skill is reached.
Apprentice scrolls of unlocking can be found as loot or occasionally for purchase from general vendors. An adept version may be available from a few less upstanding sources.
If you do wish to do traditional lockpicking (the only way to open Master tier locks without a key), take the Lockpicking Mastery perk normally. As usual with SALSa, you will not be able to pick any locks at all without the initial perk.

✅ Conclusion

Diaries of Dibella is crafted to deliver an immersive, challenging, and deeply rewarding experience right from the first hunt. You don't need to study every page of this guide to enjoy the list — it exists to help you understand the systems at play, avoid early frustrations, and fully embrace the spirit of the Hunt.

Whether you're a hardened survivor or a newcomer answering Dibella's call for the first time, DOD is built to feel intuitive, atmospheric, and brutally fair — a world that rewards preparation, punishes recklessness, and celebrates resilience.

If you ever need guidance, encounter an issue, or simply wish to share your triumphs and tales from the wild, join our Discord — the pack is always ready to lend a hand.

Step lightly, Hunter. The chase begins — and only the worthy shall endure.