This Skyrim mod gives the Dragonborn their greatest challenge: A desk job

Man sitting at a desk in Skyrim
(Image credit: Bethesda)

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, 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 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, 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 and SkyUI, which are standard requirements for just about everything these days. Find the 9 to 5 Office Job mod here at Nexus Mods

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.

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