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WARNING, THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILER!!!
Skyrim's quests tends to force you into them, especially the main quest. In Nolvus Awakening the main quest and some guild quests are modified to allow players to play them the way they want and when they want.
This is done through the mod At Your Own Pace
Though these modifications can easily been taken as bugs and some players can be confused.
This section helps you to understand how these modifications work and the impact they have in the game.
Firstly, after telling the Jarl about the Dragon, you are paid, and that's it. No epic quest, no quest marker, just play the game how you want. If you choose to offer help to Farengar, he will send you to Bleak Falls Barrow.
After returning to Farengar, he pays you and that is it. No immediate fight to the death between a brand new character and a Dragon. To spawn the Dragon attack on the Watchtower, ask him if he has seen any Dragons. After he tells you he would love to see a Dragon, a Dragon immediately turns up, and he isn't allowed to see it.
The main quest continues unchanged until you get to Ustengrav. The horn is still there, allowing you to return it, gain the third word of Fus Ro Da, and then ignore Delphine for as long as you like. Again, talking to Farengar progresses the main quest. Ask him to contact Delphine for you, and a letter will be sent shorty.
Attunement Sphere has been given to Sulla, in Afltand. This is to allow players to explore Blackreach, without doing the main quest, or roleplaying a reason to explore every iceberg in the Sea of Ghosts.
Finally, Season Unending is skipped entirely. Jarl Balgruuf will help you whether or not the Civil War is ongoing.
You can customize that in the AYOP - Main Quest MCM Menu
You are forced to go to the College for the main quest, and therefore join it. This is a huge problem for any character that doesn't want to be a mage. In Nolvus Awakening, an option to do the College Questline as a non-Mage has been added, just hired on to help with Saarthal. There is a note on Farengar's desk, and outside the College letting you know of the job, but you can just walk in and ask Tolfdir for work as well. The Entry Exam has been removed to facilitate this, although it can be added back via the MCM. Now to start the College Questline as a Student, speak to Mirabelle.
After joining the College and listening to Tolfdir, nothing happens. Only if you ask him about more lessons will Saarthal start. On ending Saarthal, the Archmage rewards you, and that's all. If you choose to tell Urag that you wish to look into it he will send you to Fellglow Keep. Returning the books finishes the quest, without any prompt to continue. Tolfdir now spends his days starring at the Eye. If you ask him about it the questline will continue, this time until it's end. Staffs and Scrolls have been placed where needed to allow you to finish the Questline without a single spell.
If you have not done enough Ritual quests before ending the storyline, you will never be offered the position of Archmage. By default 3 missions are required to prove you are a mage worthy of the title, but this can be adjusted via the MCM, or disabled. Even if you are worthy, you can refuse the position.
You can customize that in the AYOP - College of Winterhold MCM Menu
Brynjolf will now only talk to players that have stolen ten or more items. Otherwise he just ignores you. If you choose to talk to him, the questline will start. New options have been added to the next quest to forgive the debts and trick Brynjolf. After collecting the debts for the guild the first break occurs. Delvin and Vex will give you radiant quests and you can trade with Tonilia, but the guild proper doesn't open up until you have proved yourself.
Radiant quests are now independent of each other, so you can now take up to seven at once. They can now in anywhere in Skyrim, not just the cities, or if you choose, just in the city of your choice. Once you have done ten, the Whiterun special job will unlock, and another special job for each ten after that. The number of jobs done per city now doesn't matter, just the total. The number needed can be changed via the MCM.
Each special job you do unlocks another stage of the main quest. After Whiterun, Brynjolf will let you in to the guild to see Mercer, and Goldenglow will be available. Each of the next three quests follows the same pattern, do a special job, then speak to Brynjolf or Mercer to progress. If you don't want to do radiant quests, and instead prefer to just do the main quests, an MCM option has been added to unlock all main quest missions.
When you are asked to become a Nightingale, you can now say no. Brynjolf will follow your lead. You can also refuse to become the Guildmaster and give the role to Brynjolf. You can still get all unique artifacts if you choose these paths, the difference is only roleplaying.
You can customize that in the AYOP - Thieves Guild MCM Menu
This plugin alters the start of the Dark Brotherhood questline. Firstly, it allows Lawful Good characters to complete Destroy the Dark Brotherhood without a single crime. Aventus leaves his door unlocked. A misunderstanding leads Grelod to attack you instead of the other way around, and a new dialogue option allows you to tell Astrid to defend herself. This allows access to the Marked for Death Word for all players, regardless of morality.
The Companions storyline is just too short. So to fix that more radiant quests are now required before you progress. Forty in total by default, but this can be changed via an MCM menu. Doing the required number of radiant quests gives you the option to ask for harder work, which will start the quests.
You can now take multiple radiant quests at once. At first only Farkas and Aela will give you quests, and only in Whiterun, but as you complete more you will get quests in other holds, and from Skjor and Vilkas as well. The quests will get harder as you go, starting out with just bandits, with harder enemies unlocking the more story missions you complete. Aela has had a cut radiant quest restored, to gather animal pelts. By default, you need to do 10, 25 then 40 radiant quests to unlock all the main story missions. With the ability to do multiple at once, this means you need to do two rounds of radiants for each main story mission, filling out the questline.
The storyline also is quite limited in who can do it. You need to be a Warrior who is willing to become a Werewolf. From a roleplaying perspective this prevents almost all characters from completing the storyline. So alternate ways to do the storyline have been added. You can skip becoming a Werewolf by just telling Skjor you won't do it. Once you know that they are Werewolves you can just talk to Kodlak at any time to skip to Blood's Honor and the cure. You don't even need to join the Companions either. Just discover the secret by a finding a note in Gallows Rock, then talk to Kodlak.
A way to become a Werewolf without doing the Companions storyline is also available. Defy Hircine in Ill Met By Moonlight and he will turn you in response (this can be toggled off in the MCM). Regardless of how you complete the quest, the Silver Hand will show up at the end to kill Sinding, and a note they have will let you in the the Companions secret, letting you go up to Kodlak and start Blood's Honor, to either cure yourself or them.
Finally you can refuse the role of Harbinger, or just not be worthy to be offered it. When Vilkas tells you he is staying behind in Ysgramor's tomb, you can tell him you will lead the Companions (assuming you have completed Proving Honor, and have a Archery, One Handed or Two Handed skill above 75, changeable in the MCM). Or you can tell him that he is now the Harbinger, at which point he will follow you to Kodlak and assume the role of Harbinger.
You can customize that in the AYOP - Companions MCM Menu
The Dawnguard DLC is hard to roleplay, especially as a Vampire, as to start it you need to join a Vampire Hunting guild first. To fix this, notes have been added to the Nightgale and Windpeak Inn's, letting you know about the Vampire menace in Dimhollow Crypt. Just visit Dimhollow and the questline will start, without joining the Dawnguard. After this, if you refuse to become a Vampire, Durak will find you, starting the Dawnguard route. The usual breaks have been added to both routes, allowing you to delay the questlines for as long as you like. The boat leaving from Castle Volkihar now goes to any city on the coast, for those of you looking for an immersive fast travel option.
Depending the difficulty preset you selected, the Dimhollow Crypt encounter zone level will be different
Solstheim is a pain to explore in vanilla if you are roleplaying. You can't sleep without being mind controlled, which would lead any sensible character to immediately flee the island and not come back. So the Standing Stones now no longer effect the player, meaning you can travel to Solstheim safely. In addition, you now no longer have quest markers for the first quest to go to the Temple of Miraak, allowing players that what to ignore it for most or all of the playthrough to do so, without it cluttering your quest journal.
Becoming Thane of every hold is a bit too easy in Skyrim, and owning property in every hold is the same due to the low prices for houses. This creates an MCM menu where you can tweak how you become Thane. The default setting make it much harder, taking an entire playthrough if you want to do it all.
You can customize that in the AYOP - Thane Overhaul MCM Menu
On entering the Bards College, Viarmo will ignore the player. Only if you speak to him will the quest start. All the items gathered for the College are no longer quest items, so you can do Dead Men's Respite without joining the College, without the book being stuck in your inventory forever.