It would be a Skyrim-esque open-world game, so no levels as such.
The player wakes up in their smallish house in the town of Houndsmoor. They can hang around the house, make breakfast in the cooking pot, or whatever, but the real treasure of the house is the chest at the foot of their bed, which holds a messer and a buckler intended as their starting weapons.
If the player has the presence of mind to sell some of the superfluous "clutter" items around their house, then they can drop a bit of cash at the local smithy right away in exchange for some armor. It's a godsend in the early game, and can last the player well into the mid-levels when enemies start wearing mail and plate.
The first objective in the player's journal is to pop down to the tavern and ask about recent bounties (compare with the radiant quests in Skyrim). Most of these early bounties will be wild animals or low-level bandits, but one of them is a mission to track down Tom Blacktongue, a local highwayman operating out of a cave full of moderately difficult (for the area) bandits. Make sure you bought that armor! Tom is actually recruitable after you slaughter your way through his buddies; it is recommended that the player grab Tom as soon as possible, as he can greatly ease combat and can carry slightly more weight than the player. Most importantly, he is one of the few party members who will abide outright theft. If the player opts to kill him instead, the bounty is completed as normal; however, it is such a paltry sum that a money-oriented player would be more apt to recruit him and then sell his default gear, as it fetches significantly more money and lets you keep him as a party member.
After completing a sufficient number of bounties, a courier shows up in town who tells the player to travel to the city of Claydee and meet with the local Count. As it's basically impossible to afford a horse of your own at this point, the player has to either catch a ride on a merchant's wagon or just walk; this may take several days, but the stops on the road offer their own quests, and the journey as a whole serves as a showcase for the rest of the game world. Of course, the player is free to simply ignore the Count's summons and wander off into the world as with any sandbox game.
