One of the nice things about a game like Skyrim is that you can safely ignore the main questline for, well, as long as you like. You’re the Dragonborn, but you don’t technically need to act like it. Some mods, like Alternate Start – Live Another Life (opens in new tab), help out by letting you skip the original introductory sequence and begin the game as just another citizen of Skyrim instead of the fabled Dragonborn.
And here’s yet another way to shirk your duties as a legendary dragonslayer and direct your efforts toward another equally noble pursuit: a desk job. The 9 to 5 Office Job Mod (opens in new tab) for Skyrim Special Edition lets you trade in your sword and shield for a pen and parchment. This may be a fantasy world, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t paperwork to be done.
Spotted by PCGamesN (opens in new tab), the mod adds a desk job at the Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun, where you’ll find an office through a door in the back of the pub. Speak to Olfina Grey-Mane, who now works in the office during business hours, and ask for a job. (If she’s dead in your game, you’re out of luck.) Once hired and at your desk, you’ll see some books stacked up and a prompt to get to work. Your new office job consists of a minigame where you’ll need to memorize a short list of words and then correctly enter them into your book. When your books are filled, you’ll put them into a box on your desk—consider it the fantasy equivalent of sending a spreadsheet attachment in an email.
But this job isn’t just a time-killer. You get paid, too. On Friday, ask Olfina for your paycheck (the office is closed on the weekends). And if you’re a good and accurate parchment-pusher, you’ll gain fame at your job. When you’ve accumulated 100 fame points, you can ask for a raise and you’ll gain a new title. As a new hire you’ll be considered a Drifter, but you can work your way up to Veteran, Demigod, and Praetorian.
And don’t worry, you won’t have to sit there for an entire nine hours of in-game time doing medieval data entry. Shortly after you busy yourself at work, the screen will fade to black and when your vision returns you’ll find the entire day has passed. Just like at your real day job! Or am I the only one who regularly blacks out and wakes up at the end of the day?
To get the mod working you’ll need a few other mods like SKSE (opens in new tab) and SkyUI (opens in new tab), which are standard requirements for just about everything these days. Find the 9 to 5 Office Job mod here at Nexus Mods (opens in new tab).