Skyrim mod adds Red Dead Redemption 2's sketchbook journal

Skyrim sketchbook mod
(Image credit: Bethesda)

One of the rather charming things about Red Dead Redemption 2's Arthur Morgan is his habit of sketching some of the places he's been in his journal. Rather than just keeping a dry questlog, Arthur writes down his own story and adds drawings of some of the places he's been and the things he's seen.

Now your character in Skyrim can do the same—at least when it comes to the sketches. The Adventurers Sketchbook mod for Skyrim Special Edition adds a nice new journal to the RPG. If you carry it with you, when you visit certain notable or picturesque locations in Skyrim, a sketch of that place will be added to your journal. Ah, memories.

There are 66 possible sketches in all, and when you open the journal for the first time you'll notice it isn't exactly blank. You can see just a shadow of the future sketches, giving you some hints about where you should visit to fill them in. Or you can just wander around and check your journal from time to time to see what new pictures have been drawn.

There are three versions of the mod to choose from. Your motivation may be purely about exploration and enjoyment of the scenery, but if you want a tangible bonus for filling up your book you can also acquire a skill called Lay of the Land, which will improve your movement speed or add a critical hit bonus. 

"Finding 30 locations will give you the first stage of The Lay of the Land, which gives you +5% critical hit chance and -5% chance to be critically hit by enemies, or alternatively bonus 5% movement speed, depending which main file you download," says creator wtfModMan. "Successive stages can be unlocked at 50, 60, and 66 completed sketches; each stage adds a bonus 5% boost."

I took the book for a spin and found a spot just outside Solitude to sketch, so that's a good place to start. The mod is easy to install: Just dump the files into your Skyrim Special Edition data folder and enable the .esp file when you launch the game. After a restart, you'll find the journal at the Guardian Stones near Riverwood, leaning against the Warrior Stone. And wouldn't you know it, that's also the site of the first sketch you can add to your new journal. Happy travels.

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

Read more
Skyrim warrior performing shout
A bizarre mod that adds human poop to Skyrim led me on an enlightening journey into Viking sanitation: 'Your world will certainly be more immersive, but it will also certainly smell worse'
A redhaired woman holds a sword in Maelstrom, one of the best Skyrim Special Edition mods
The best Skyrim Special Edition mods
A screenshot of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 using the ultra low graphics mode mod, depicting a blocky NPC's head and shoulders, with a textureless castle wall in the background, and behind that a tower on a smudged rockey outcrop.
Make Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 feel even more like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion with this charming potato mode mod
Serana from Skyrim, modded to look like a desiccated corpse.
Skyrim realism mod fixes your vampire girlfriend, giving her a voice and look more suited to someone who just got out of a coffin after 2,000 years
kingdom come: deliverance 2 fast travel
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 turns boring fast travel into a thing of beauty
Godwin, Hans, and Henry stand side by side. Godwin is saying something to them while hunched over slightly.
The best Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mods: unlimited quicksaves, increased carry weight, instant herb-pickin'
Latest in RPG
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed
Latest in News
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event