Tips and tricks: How to get ahead in Skyrim

General Tips
There are a lot of mechanics at work in Skyrim, but unfortunately the game doesn’t include any way of delivering the basics other than the loading screens. Even 50 hours into the game I was still being told things I should have learned at the very beginning. I’ve compiled a list of the more pertinent ones so you don’t have to suffer the same fate.

• First and foremost, save often. You can save anywhere, at any time, so make sure you don’t lose out on an hour of dungeon-crawling due to an unexpected death. If you’re about to go into battle with a dragon or boss character, or about to go on an epic enchanting spree, make sure you save. Better to be safe than sorry.
• Likewise, you can abuse the save system to ensure the outcome of certain actions always go your way. If you’re about to pickpocket someone, save first, then have at it. If they catch you, simply reload and try again within seconds.
• Viewing a character’s possessions is not a crime, but taking them is.
• Leveling up requires you to advance your skills. Advance enough skills and you’ll gain one character level. The higher the skill you’re advancing the more character XP it will grant, so if you use my sneak boosting method, you’ll be leveling up quite rapidly as you get closer to master rank.
• Magic skills only gain experience if an enemy is around, even restoration spells.
• If you get a new quest, it won’t be set as active unless you have no other quests, though you can have as many quests currently active as you wish.
• You can only store items in containers that you own, such as a chest or dresser at a home that you’ve purchased. If you put your crap in someone else’s box, it probably won’t be there when you come back for it.
• If you’re carrying junk around that you don’t want anymore during a dungeon, you can actually place it all “inside” a dead body. This way you won’t have to drop a bunch of items all over the floor and worry about it straining the game’s memory or causing glitches.
• You can fast-travel to any location you’ve visited before. It has to register on your mini-map first, and you have to be outside (ie. not in a building or dungeon) to fast-travel.
• Shop owners have a finite amount of gold for which to barter. This means you can’t lug everything you’ve ever found/made/earned in at one time and walk out a millionaire. After about 48 hours of in-game time, their money should be replenished.
• Shop owners also only buy certain types of items, and there’s only one character that I know of who will buy stolen goods. Access to her requires joining the Thieves Guild. However, you can level up your Speech skill enough to eventually allow you to sell items of any kind to any merchant, including things you may or may not have acquired legally.
• If Achievements are your thing, check out this handy Achievement Guide from x360a.
• Finally, have fun and play the game however the hell you want.