Questline Ideas/My Mod Showcase Ideas

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Meej-Dar's picture
Meej-Dar
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6 years 10 months ago

So, I was brainstorming ideas for what my quest mod showcase thing could be, and I revisited some old ideas for mods that I had in the past. One of those was a mod that added Great House Indoril, Dres, and Dagoth to the game as playable factions, in the same vein as the vanilla Great Houses. But then I saw that y'all are doing that for Tamriel Rebuilt (except for House Dagoth, although there are already mods that do this). Except y'all are actually wanting to do an in-depth version of these houses, with a great story that's not just comprised of fetch quests and 'go kill this guy/thing' quests. This inspired me to try to go in that direction, and revamp the Great Houses of vanilla Morrowind. So, as part of my mod showcase, I'd like to revamp House Hlaalu's questline. I want to do this not only as part of my mod showcase, but also because I want to... like, make sure I understand what y'all are looking for in a House Hlaalu questline. Because I read up on what y'all are looking for, and did my best to translate that to a Vvardenfell setting.

My plan for this showcase is to keep the Hlaalu questgivers, but revamp most of them to change the story line, and make it something that's engaging and interesting and has consequences. What I'll be doing is naming the quest giver and detailing the types of quests you can expect to get from them. I *will* make this mod, if not for you guys then just for me, but I would be thrilled if you guys like where I go with this and decide you want to implement it in Tamriel Rebuilt.

Dondos Driler: Nothing changes with him. He's still the go-to guy for building your stronghold. However, I am planning on adding a few things to the stronghold. Namely guards. Not really that big of a change, but I felt that a stronghold should have guards. Just like the other strongholds around.

Nileno Dorvayn: Nothing really changes with her, either. She mainly acts as the introductory questgiver. She will raise you up from a simple Oathman to a Tradesman in her last quest.

Edryno Arethi: Again, nothing really changes with her. She acts as the second act of the introductory quests, which are just to get you accustomed to the way House Hlaalu does business. She'll raise you from Tradesman to House Contractor, at which point you will need to get a sponsor, leading you to...

Crassius Curio: This is where things get interesting. After he makes you a Bonded Agent (which he thinks is just the funniest thing), he will begin the questline that will set up your trade routes. This is something that I thought the Hlaalu would be doing. When you build your stronghold, you claim an egg mine, but you really don't get anything from it. Curio will help you establish, in addition to the egg mine, an ebony mine, as well as trading in leathers with an Ashlander tribe. As for the mines, your people would mine the resources, and your mine foreman (for lack of knowledge of a better name) would sell the resource to the merchant that you chose. Beforehand, you would have found a merchant for your kwama eggs and ebony ore, and would have settled on a price that they would buy these from you for. This price would be determined by their disposition and your mercantile skill. Once you have a price, every seven days you would go to your trader (or whoever) and get your cut of the profits. Which, again, would be based on the prices you set with your buyer. As for the hides, you would not only find a buyer, but also a seller. Once you've gotten all your eggs in the same basket (so to speak), you will be promoted to House Officer and set to work for Odral Helvi. As for the location of the ebony mine, there just happens to be an empty ebony mine right near Rethan Manor. However, there are some uninvited guests when you go to scout the place out: Indoril guards who attack you on sight. So... be wary of that.

Odral Helvi: Just as in vanilla Morrowind, Odral Helvi isn't a good guy. He's corrupt. He's a smuggler. But, unlike in vanilla Morrowind, he's more than that. This doesn't come out until later in Odral Helvi's questline, but he's a secret member of House Dagoth. And, just like in vanilla Morrowind, you can go to Curio to report Helvi's actions. This all culminates when you discover Helvi's connections with House Dagoth, and you can either confront Helvi and kill him (which gets you the minimum reward), confront Helvi and flee (which results in Helvi escaping and you getting nothing), or not confront Helvi, show the evidence of his House Dagoth connections to Curio, and having Helvi arrested (which gets you the best reward). His quests offer clues that he's up to more than what it seems, and you may be able to figure it out beforehand, but it isn't until the last quest that you have the proof you need for the arrest. After this, Curio says that he cannot promote you to the next rank as you need a new sponsor. This leads you to...

Dram Bero: In vanilla Morrowind, you have to fight his guard guy to prove yourself. In this, however, he sends you to a cave that has been causing problems. If you can deal with the problem, he says, he will sponsor your advancement. This leads you to a Sixth House cave, where you will kill a Dagoth (in my mod, since I have House Dagoth, this Dagoth will be Dagoth Mehz, the person who constructs the Dagoth stronghold of Mehzal). When you return (with a keepsake from the Dagoth you killed), Dram Bero will be your sponsor and promote you to Gnostic Officer. He will then let you in on a secret: House Dagoth is returning. With Bero's assistance, you will put a significant dent in House Dagoth, all of which will help you when you decide to do the main quest. Which... I just realized this wouldn't make sense if you've already completed the main quest... Oh well, WIP. Anyway, in Bero's last quest he will send you to Orvas Dren in an attempt to gain more knowledge on the Sixth House as you make your last steps toward stopping this house. Depending on his disposition of you and what you say, Orvas Dren will either attack you or help you. If he attacks you and you kill him, you can loot his body for a note from Sixth House cultists leading you further in the quest. If you end up killing Orvas Dren, Bero will direct you to speak with his sister to tell her the sad news. If Orvas Dren lives, then he will suggest that you visit his sister to help her out. Once you reach the rank of Gnostic Officer, you will not be able to be promoted to House Peer unless you have finished the second stage of your stronghold, you have established your egg, ebony, and hide trade, and you have at least 35,000 septims (or something around there, I might change that later) to prove that you are self-sufficient and worthy of 'Noble' status. Once you've dealt with the House Dagoth threat, Bero will promote you to Council Elector.

Ilmeni Dren: Once you speak with Ilmeni Dren, she will make you a member of the Twin Lamps and send you on several slave liberation missions. These are basically the same as they were in the vanilla game, but there are more of them. Also, some of these slaves that you free are guarded by House Dres. Once you're done with her quests, she will send you to...

Duke Vedam Dren: The Chancellor of House Hlaalu (for the purposes of this mod only), Duke Vedam Dren will first send you on a very important mission to Odirniran to check on the status of the Hlaalu there. Like in vanilla Morrowind, Odirniran is under attack. Unlike in vanilla Morrowind, Odirniran is being attacked by House Indoril. When you clear your way through the Indoril guards and speak with the Hlaalu in charge, there will be another wave, this time of House Dres guards. You kill them, talk to the Hlaalu in charge again, and get the report. Outside will be more Indoril and Dres guards. When you return to the Duke (or if you read the report), you learn that these two Houses are not particularly happy with House Hlaalu. House Indoril was trying to get a foothold on Vvardenfell and chose to take over the abandoned ebony mine of Vassir-Didanat, which you (the player) took from them. House Dres was attempting to get a foothold on Morrowind by getting in on the slave trade which, thanks to you and Ilmeni Dren, took a bit of a hit. The rest of the quests with the Duke involve you fighting with these other two houses, then attempting to repair your relationship with these Great Houses by speaking with their Vvardenfell representatives. You find a way to make peace (WIP) and, as a sign of gratitude, Duke Vedam Dren gives you his Chancellor's Blade (a Daedric tanto with a very useful enchantment and enhanced stats; not too gamebreaking, but excellent for a mid-range level character) and promotes you to Chancellor, saying he thinks you will do a great job of leading the House and defending Morrowind.

This is what I have so far. I'm beginning to make the quests in the CS, which was the easy part. There will be a few scripts that I'll need to write, and I'm not terrible at writing scripts, but I think I can get it. If not, I'll ask for help. I'll almost definitely be asking for help. If you guys like it, tell me so. If you guys think it can be improved, tell me so. If you guys would want to implement this into the mainland House Hlaalu questline, then feel free to. Or I could do that with/for you. If you don't, then that's fine, too. I'll just release it myself as part of the Great Houses of Morrowind mod. So guys and gals, let me know what you think. Also, I apologize if I put this in the wrong place. I got the feeling this is where it was supposed to go, but I could be wrong.

Meej-Dar's picture
Meej-Dar
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One thing I forgot to mention: There is a change to the stronghold. Dondos Driler will offer you one of three shops to build on your stronghold. You will get to choose between a trader, a smith, or a mage shop. Every week, each shop will give you stuff. The trader will give you a random amount of gold (higher than the smith and mage), as well as a random pick or probe. The smith and mage will also give you a random amount of gold (not as much as the trader), and the smith will give you a random armorer hammer and a random weapon or piece of armor. The mage will give you a random potion and a random scroll. Just... just something I forgot to mention earlier.

Rot's picture
Rot
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I don't know the quests in question and can't really comment on specifics (though the indoril and dres attacking a vvardenfell hlaalu camp one after the other is not something that fits with how their conflicts are portrayed here or in lore) but,
overhauling the original game's quests is not within the scope of TR, and for mod compatibility among other reasons, vanilla content is only modified when it is necessary to integrate mainland content, so something like this is never going to be added into TR. People might be interested in such a mod though.

 

Meej-Dar's picture
Meej-Dar
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This mod that I was planning for my showcase was just meant as an example of what I read up on your guys' discussions and planning documentation. I read that House Hlaalu has a secret, and that their relations with House Indoril and House Dres seemed to be poor. I believe it was a meeting in April 2015 where I read that the construction of the player stronghold Nav Andaram will lead to House War with Indoril, and that Hlaalu offends House Dres and it looks like Dres will side with Indoril. But... I'm reading through it again, and it says Hlaalu and Dres will patch things up and become allies, which I forgot. So I'll change things up in my actual mod to reflect this.

So, like I said, this was just meant as an example of what I thought y'all wanted. If you guys liked it, then the locations, people, and events would be changed to the mainland, leaving the Vvardenfell branch out of it. I can see how the Sixth House incorporation could be a problem, but since House Hlaalu has a secret (which I don't know, as I'm not a high enough rank within the House to be trusted with it), I decided to use the Sixth House as an example. It would invariably be changed for the mainland.

As for House Indoril and House Dres attacking Hlaalu not being lore-friendly, I... did not know that. I don't know much about Dres or Indoril (although I am very excited for the House Dres storyline to be completed and implemented into TR). So any way to make that more lore-friendly would be appreciated, as that is a major concern for me. If the only reason that it wasn't lore-friendly is because it was on Vvardenfell, though, then that was just done as an example of what would happen on the mainland.

If y'all don't want to incorporate this into TR, though, then that's fine. I'll make any changes that would make it more lore-friendly and release it once it's done as part of my Great Houses of Morrowind mod, keeping it on Vvardenfell. But ideally it would be moved to the mainland. If you guys do want to use it, then I'll just do what I was originally planning to do with the Great Houses of Morrowind mod, and simply make House Indoril and House Dres on Vvardenfell, as well as some vanilla-style quests for them. And adding some quests to Endarak's Sixth House mod. And a few to the vanilla Houses.

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Kevaar
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As far as Hlaalu and Dres allying, they apparently do eventually in the lore, due to a marriage RP that was done on the official forums at one point, and then tear apart Indoril between them. But your mileage may vary on how well that is accepted, considering how completely opposite the two Houses are in everything but their taste for trade and making deals... IMO, the relationship between Dres and Hlaalu is more like a traditional third world country meeting a progressive first world country. AKA, the first world country's aims may seem all right and noble (in this case, abolishing slavery and becoming more outlander friendly), but in reality, completely wreck the third world country's culture and economy in the process--something about the Dres becoming wage slaves after enslaving so many others seems like poetic storytelling justice to me. BUT. That is more along the lines of my personal headcanon, to patch the glaring logic holes in the more official account, and all that happens after TES3 anyway.

Any House Dagoth quests would have to be done carefully, and either set to only happen at certain times during the main quest (meaning the player could completely miss it) or constructed so that the major plot points can stil happen no matter where the player is in the main quest (takes careful quest design). For these reasons, and also that House Dagoth is pretty restricted to Vvardenfell, TR doesn't usually touch them.

For a showcase, I would seriously advise you to narrow in your focus to a max of 3 quests. Showcases are to prove your CS skills and writing abilities so that you may begin to work on claims; they may also be accepted into TR as quests in their own right if they meet the requirements: namely, that they're good, don't touch Vvardenfell, and don't break anything already planned. Your plan could take on upwards of 15 quests, plus of course approval for capturing the correct feel for the House(s) to be usuable in TR. TR also already has some planning in place for the Houses: House Dres' plotline has been fairly well structured, give or take some filler/build-up quests; House Indoril's is half-done and needs a good mid-to-late game sequence; I don't believe Hlaalu has gotten much love at all.

Not to discourage you too much--I love the enthusiasm! Just a caution not to bite off more than you can chew, and of course we'd love it even more if the showcase you do comes in a form we could use eventually. :)

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Meej-Dar
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Pick three quests? Okay... I have an idea for the three quests I could do. I'll just set aside this whole mod thing I was planning for later when I have more time (I'm going to Boot Camp on May 9, and I'll be gone for two months--after that I'll have more time on my hands), but I'll do three of them as kind of separate quests just as a showcase. And I would love to work on the Great Houses if I get asked to help out. Not crafting the story itself, but just implementing quests y'all come up with.

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Rot
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(even just one quest that is new and not an edit of another is enough as a showcase)

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Meej-Dar
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Okay, so now I basically just want to know if this is anything like the direction you guys were planning on taking with House Hlaalu. Because if the direction y'all are going with House Hlaalu is anything like this, then I don't want to make this mod and have it be just a copy of what you are doing.