The Elder Scrolls series is a popular series of RPG games by the company Bethesda. There are five main games with a handful of spin-offs.
Arena, the first Elder Scrolls game was released in 1994. Want to check out the game that started it all? Well you can, for free. For the 10th anniversary of Arena, Bethesda provided the game free for download from their site. You can grab it here. You'll need DOSBOX to run it. Don't worry, a guide is included. Want an executable of it? Use this.
Daggerfall, the second installment in the Elder Scrolls series takes place across a landmass the size of Great Britain. Daggerall greatly improves upon Arena. Like Arena, it can be grabbed free from Bethesda. Click here for a download link.
Morrowind, the third installment in the main series takes place on the island of Vvardenfell. This game is much different than previous installments of the game. Morrowind featured two expansions. Those being Bloodmoon and Tribunal. You can grab a GOTY copy off of Steam for $20 or find a boxed copy on Newegg for the same price. If you're looking for graphic mods then use Morrowind Overhaul. This question seriously gets asked every other page.
Oblivion was the fourth game in the series, releasing in 2006 for Windows and the Xbox 360, with a PS3 port coming a year later. A GOTY was yet again released with the two expansions, Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles. It can be grabbed on Steam for $20 or at various other stores for around the same price.
Skyrim, released some eight months ago is the latest installment in Bethesda's Elder Scrolls. Skyrim features the return of the dragons and is somewhat more action centered than previous games. It can be grabbed on Steam or at retail for $60. Multiple graphic mods can be used to enhance the game. Most commonly enb's are used. You can find them on sites such as the skyrim nexus. The Steam Workshop also features a menagerie of mods for Skyrim to keep the fun rolling. Dawnguard was recently released for Skyrim.
Other Games
There have also been a handful of other less prominent Elder Scrolls games.
Redguard is the first (and probably only) game in the spinoff series called The Elder Scrolls Adventures. Unlike the main sequence of Elder Scrolls role-playing games, Redguard is designed as an action-adventure game. The player character is Cyrus, a Redguard mercenary, who returns to his native Stros M'Kai in search of his missing sister, Iszara.
Battlespire is the first (and probably only) game in the spinoff series called An Elder Scrolls Legend. It was originally conceived as an expansion to Daggerfall, but evolved into a standalone game. The action takes place within a single multi-level dungeon, the Battlespire, where the player is sent to investigate some unusual events. It also features a multiplayer option.
Stormhold, Shadowkey, Dawnstar, and Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls Travels are a series of four mobile TES games.
Morrowind: Morrowind Overhaul, Tamriel Rebuilt, and Morrowind Comes Alive
Oblivion: Ancient Towers
Skyrim: SkyUI, House Map Markers, Reduced Distance for NPC Greetings, Dynamic Merchants, Live Another Life, Morrowloot, and Auto Perks.
Facepunch User Mods
The golden: Cosy Valley Home
Modding varies from game to game. It is practically non existant in both Arena and Daggerfall. In order to make mods.
Morrowind and Oblivion
For Morrowind you'll need the construction kit which can be found on your disc copy of Morrowind. Note: there is a version on the nexus for the Steam copy of Morrowind.
Like Morrowind, Oblivion has a construction kit as well. You can find it on Bethesda's website for download. This is a great site for learning Morrowind and Oblivion modding.
Skyrim Modding
Grab the creation kit off of steam. You can find a plethora of tutorials on the official wiki for it and at the bethesda forums.
UESP.net is a great source of information on all games. Please check it before asking about any bugs you may be having in game. UESP has information and methods to solve bugs in every quest for practically every TES game. It is also a veritable resource for modding. It's your go to place for in game needs.
The Imperial Libary is where you'll want to go if you want any info on TES lore. It has literally every book ever written in TES as well as many other snippets.
