Quagmire Interiors

Jedak · Post by **Jedak** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:58 am

I mean, like the cult gets so powerful (like a construction, thank you IATE) and so consistent that Vaernima counldn't fully stop the process and the player somehow gets in the middle of this.

Lets say first he finds people die in thier sleep, tries to help them and numerously enters Quagmire. Then in the middle of one nightmare, he gets a little surprise. He has a meeting with the goddess herself (or a very high ranking member) and all this time the player was trying to stop the goddess, and now they find themselves allied with her to stop the cult. Then they go on through an investigation, go undercover (like in MQ), get found out, and lose the tool that the goddess gave them to destroy the construction. Then the player must track down the tool, and the moment he gets it to return to Sentiel to find the construction reaking havok... by putting all in its path to sleep. This is known as 'the slumber of Sentiel'. The tool enables the player to survive the otherwise fatal nightmare caused by the construct, then wakes and destroys construct. Then a waking guard captain rushes towards the player, player explains and captain sais that many members of the cult would be needed to make the construct rise, and if they do not dispose of them within Sentinel, another construct could be built. They lock all citizens in houses and slaughter the cultists. The city is saved (the MQ could end here, but it would be interesting if the following happened)!... or is it? The next time the player sleeps, (or is just randomley teleported) he meets Vaermina and finds out that he was just her pawn all along. Now it could go many ways here, but for a good ending cinematic, I propose: Vaermina has made a deal with MD to remove her nightmares and replace them with oblivion gates. Now Hammerfell will be plaged with the oblivion crisis more. Just as Vaermina is saying that she has no use for you, a portal appears. A BIG portal, like and ob gate, and out comes Mehrunes Dagon (It seems he had no use for her anymore, your journal will state). You are frozen as MD and Vaermina have an epic battle, before MD manages to banish the goddess in her own realm. Then everything starts to shake and collapse (like the end of Camorans realm) because it cannot survive without Vaermina. MD escapes through another poral and you are teleported outside of where you were before. After long explaining to the ruler of Sentinel, you are awarded for your efforts and thus finish the Hammerfell MQ! Yay!

What do you guys think? Can we use a combination with my concept?

Post by **Gnomey** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:49 am

By the way, you might want to look at this old thread: [url=http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=16432&highlight=]My old idea's in there too, though it's full of cobwebs.

[/url] You might find something interesting in it.

El Scumbago · Post by **El Scumbago** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:47 pm

Good points, there may be some flaws but we can fix them. Another problem though is that we've been concentrating on Vaermina's invasion and we neglect that it's just an optional series of quests that the player won't even know existed if he enters Hammerfell after the vanilla MQ is over. We've yet to come up with the real MQ for Hammerfell.

IAMTHEEMPEROR · Post by **IAMTHEEMPEROR** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:30 pm

Ok, let me just summarize what the last third will be, because I'm too lazy to write another long essay-sized thing, I will later if everyone wants me too, but I think you can all come up with good scenarios in your head for all the fine details.

Player arrives in Hegathe, does a few more random quests conerning the cult (which is supported by Vaernima, not just using her for their own ambitions) for one he gets a unique sword that will break the construct, and after he does another one he finds out where the temple is. Under order of...not the count...who rules principalities again? Whatever, he orders the city guard to accompany you to the temple. So you go there, and it's an old structure, hidden in the desert, and right as you walk in you are assaulted by cult members who are wearing unique cultist robes. You fight your way through, and the guards, all essential, tell you to go on without them as they fight an endless group of cult members, and they want you to break the construct. You walk down the long hall, and you are in a big chamber. There is no roof, and the weather above is an eternal night. Quagmire plants are growing in here, and Quagmire Daedra are running around. There are about 5 cult leaders in there who all try to stop you, you run up, smash the construct (I imagined the construct as a large KotN orb on a big fancy support so it's not floating, so you hit it about 5 times, and it smashes. Then everyone, including you, is pushed back, and you teleport. You are now in the realm of Vaernima. I think I'll elaborate from this point on.

Journal: "After shattering the [CONSTRUCT NAME] with the [WEAPON NAME], I find myself in another realm. This looks like Quagmire, which I've seen a few times in the nightmares."

Suddenly the voice of Vaernima is heard.

Vaernima: "Mortal, you have stumpled into my realm yet again, not sleeping, yet not awake. This has never happened before, so consider yourself lucky. You did, however, destroy my cult, and for that you must pay dearly. You are in my realm now."

So the player is whisked off from nightmare to nightmare which is where most of the previously mentioned nightmare ideas come into play. After many nightmares, the player finds himself standing outside the dark palace again. He walks in and finds the guy again.

Dark Figure: "You. I was beginning to wonder when you'd come here again. You are as annoying as that knight was who defeated us last time. Yes, I was the leader of the cult, and still am, after plunging myself into Vaernima's realm forever. The war of nightmares is not over yet. There is yet another orb, located here, which only my blade is powerful enough to deastroy. This one is to link your realm with Lady Vaernima's, and using this one is how the nightmares spread. We've spoken enough, and now I shall deal with you personally."

So he fights the player, has many unique spells, but in the end the player needs to win. So you do, grab his dark sword, and walk over to the door at the far end of the room, which is now revealing itself, maybe it can fade in or something.

Journal: "I have defeated the leader of the [ENEMY FACTION], and a doorway to the other orb has revealed itself to me. I must destroy it with his sword, and it should send me back to the temple."

So the player goes in, and sees many prison cells, full of ghosts, who are the people who have died in Vaernima's realm. You see the old altmer, as well as his daughter, the captain, and many others. The orb is in the room as well. So you walk up and hear Vaernima's voice (controls disabled)

Vaernima: "So, hero, you have completely destroyed my cult. No matter, they have outlived their usefulness. Your world shall forget this all ever happened, and it never will. What did I gain out of all this, you wonder? Well, a rather amusing time, and more slaves, who are trapped forever in my realm. You may leave with the ones in this room, consider it your reward for living through this. I will ensure that Tamriel shall forget this ever happened, except for you, and everyone can go about their daily lives. Now, begone!"

The player shatters the orb (which looks fancier than the other one) and he is returned to the temple, along with the 8 or so other people from the chamber, the female Altmer, her father, and the captain, are among them. They're all wondering why they're in this temple, and they all leave back to civilization. You have the sword, an awesome weapon, and well, that's it. The End. Now go do something else.

Jedak · Post by **Jedak** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:20 am

I though that we may use Quagmire as the first or second MG for hammerfell. And my idea would go that once you finish the battle for Kvatch, a npc from hammerfell is dispached to inform you and ask you to help with these nightmares in lets say, Gilane.
Another point in my idea is that the cult needs the weak barrier to create the construct, but once they have the construct they don't and may rebuild more without the weak barrier. Its like in the Shivering Isles, the portal is created and sustained with ease because there is no fundimental law in nirn against it, and there is no need for a law to be against Quagmire.
In the ending scene MD can banish Vaermina even after the crisis, because he isn't going to nirn, and he isn't breaking a law going between realms. And plus, once the ob crisis is over and Vaermina didn't keep her side of the deal (supply space for ob gates) MD would get mad and banish her anyway.
Plus my MQ idea can be very, very long, I just made the most brief little sketch of it. If someone would like me to specify on the sections in my story/idea then I would be glad to write.
Just tell me if its good and are there any problems (and what) with it

Nomadic1 · Post by **Nomadic1** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:48 am

Can we step away from cults? Yawn. We've seen them as the baddies in Morrowind and Oblivion. It sucks when the badguy gloats and tells the PC how to destroy the evil device.

IAMTHEEMPEROR · Post by **IAMTHEEMPEROR** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:07 am

I'm not saying my ideas were perfect. There's a good chance they won't even be used at all. But they're always open to tweaking, as I'm not the arbitrary overlord of this quest making thing and you have better ideas for your own plans than I do. I'm still a TR noob.

Cults, yeah, not very original, but it's the best I can do. Without a cult to spur a silent invasion, Vaernima would do...well, what she'd usually do. You'd only be able to enter her realm through sleeping, which my character never does. But the only actual organized cult I've seen so far is the Mythic Dawn. The other cults, if you want to call them that, are pretty much random small clusters of people who gather around Daedric shrines. In both Morrowind and Oblivion, you wouldn't find more than ten people gathered around shrines, no more than 5 just in Oblivion. The Mythic Dawn is the only widespread and faction-organized Daedric Cult out there, which makes no sense, there need to be plenty of others. Dagon isn't the only Daedric lord who is loved enough to have many followers.

The evil guy telling the player about how to destroy the construct, well I really didn't know how to go with that one. The reward for it would be his sword, which I would force the player to take because they need it to leave. But if he never said so, how would the player know to take it?

Post by **Gnomey** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 10:29 am

That would be the fun part of it. The door to the orb might be opened, the player might get the sword, but then what? He's stuck in that realm, the cult leader didn't say anything about how to get out, no journal entry hinted at it, etc. But there is the orb, and the sword. Eventually he should get it. (Even if it is after visiting TR and saying that the quest is broken).

Anyway, with Vaernima's attacks, I agree with Nomadic when he says that that wouldn't be very original. I suggest that Vaernima attacks on her own accord, in whichever way we decide she does, and her cultists are simply a group of people who help her along, maybe creating the gates from Nirn to Quagmire if need be. I can actually imagine a siege that ended badly for Vaernima, where her Daedra retreat and the defenders chase after them. They finally thought that they caught up when they came upon a witch's coven, with no Daedra in sight. I wonder how that happened...

However, this is just my opinion, and I did like your main quest, if I don't exactly agree with it.

Actually, there's one more thing: I'm don't think that Vaernima could make everyone forget that anything happened, except in their dreams, nor do I think that she has any reason to want it. The main advantage of your cult idea is that it isn't that major, it isn't a mass invasion, the player stopped it from becoming that, if anything. A few people had very, very nasty dreams, less died, and at the very end, the leader of a city becomes worried enough to send out a group of guards, and it's over. I'm not saying that it isn't epic enough, I'm saying that really it's unimportant, in a good way.

@El Scumbago: I think that it is actually the main quest. Remember, TR assumes that the player just started a character and is took the fastest route to Hammerfell. So if anything we should have the major quest take place before Kvatch, which couldn't really be that major or interesting if the player could beat it in level one. So goes to the siege of Kvatch, returns, and then Quagmire starts. Quagmire is, AFAIK, one possibility for the main quest, if nothing more.

@Jedak: Personally, I don't think that MD having an epic fight with Vaernima is a good idea. Two points: MD is already fighting Nirn, which takes away a lot of his strength. If he begins to turn his head away from it to kill the people who won't be his allies, he'll have a hard time recovering. The second point is that if he fights a Daedric Prince, he has a good chance of losing. And loss means banishment. And banishment means that his whole invasion etc. will be over, with only a few Daedra and cultists still hacking away, who will be smashed before MD returns. It's too much of a risk and I think that even MD, who isn't the most reflective Daedra even at his best, would see that.

Also, remember that MD isn't necessarily the strongest of the Daedric Princes, he just fights Nirn the most. I'm pretty sure that all of the Daedric Princes, if they felt like it, could launch an invasion rivaling, or maybe even surpassing him, and a few probably have strong alliances, so that they'd attack with the strength of more than one realm. (As MD might also be doing).

Anyway, this has the beginnings of a very long post, so I'll say this as simply as I can: My current idea is that Vaernima is fighting a lot of/one strong Daedra Prince(s), and MD, who also is allied with some other Daedra Prince, is willing to help by sending some of the other Daedra Prince's forces. In return, Vaernima should do what she does best and invade Hammerfell through peoples dreams, so to say.

Vaernima, being "between a rock and a hard place", decides to do so, as she feels that her Daedra, while being at a level with other Daedra, could easily win over people from Nirn, especially as she controls their dreams. So she wholeheartedly rushes in, (figuratively), gives everyone nightmares, which kill a few people, and using the bodies as sort of gates, and then launching a more general invasion.

The city guards fight an uphill battle against her invasion, any town without enough guards is sacked by them, and then the player enters. The guards have been able to protect the cities, as the cities happen to be full of sword wielding Redguards only too happy to defend their towns to the last breath so, unless a city is mentioned as being destroyed in-game, I think that it is reasonable that the cities are protected up to the coming of the player.

So the player enters, does his stuff and, by whatever method, halts the invasion long enough to last the rest of the game, or completely stops it. If he killed MD he will naturally be saved the trouble. Then, finally, MD gone, the player walks around, hears accounts of the Daedra and maybe, in a single (TR) book in TES: V, the scholar will mention that many Redguards spoke of nightmares, and blue-and-yellow Daedra, and says that, perhaps, MD didn't fight un-aided.

The End.

Jedak · Post by **Jedak** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:59 am

Don't you feel good after writing something like that, gnomey?

Post by **Gnomey** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:01 pm

I do.

I might go into more details about the questline itself, as TOYB has done, but I need to rest for a while.

Jedak · Post by **Jedak** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:12 pm

TOYB?

Nomadic1 · Post by **Nomadic1** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:20 pm

Gnomey, you inadvertantly gave me an idea of what could be behind it all: witches. Not cults, vampires, necromancers, <insert generic baddies>; and not at all necessarily evil. Maybe their motives aren't evil at all. Maybe they are targetting the baddies. IMO TR needs a little of the moral ambiguity and convolution in the questlines. I mean compare Morrowind to Oblivion. In Morrowind, Dagoth Ur wasn't necessarily evil (he was actually the good guy and the victim of circumstances and the Tribunal if you think about it), but he was causing a lot of trouble and had to be stopped. On the other hand in Oblivion, Mehrunes Dagon and Mankar Camoran are evil and must be stopped. The difference is that Morrowind's MQ was IMO the more memorable, and IMO the better one. Oblivion was almost made for 13 year olds with ADD.

I'm trying to say that maybe what is going on with these Quagmire ints is that maybe what is happening isn't necessarily evil, and maybe secretly they are targetting baddies.

*****

TOYB: The Olde Ye Bard. Former member, is doing stuff for a Skyrim mod IIRC.

Jedak · Post by **Jedak** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 1:09 pm

I... I like your idea, Nomadic...
I'll post some thoughts... later...

Post by **Gnomey** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:34 pm

Drat that, I mean IATE. They've both got four initials.

Anyway, I didn't really suggest "witches" inadvertendly, Nomadic. I was thinking of who could help Vaernima and decided that witches sounded better than cult members. Give me that much credit.

Anyway, I do like your idea of a battle of good against good against evil. Maybe the witches are actually trying to stop a Mehrunes coven in Hammerfell, but end up doing a messy job. It really is more interesting, IMO, and it also allows modders to get their own perspectives on it, rather than just "those people are evil, they have to go". I personally, am a great fan of Dagoth Ur.

Edit: I'm using a lot of smileys today, along with writing very long posts and making comments like this.

IAMTHEEMPEROR · Post by **IAMTHEEMPEROR** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:35 pm

Yes, TOYB is my co-leader/parter however you call it for Thras

I like some of those ideas Gnomey. I do think a Redguard city could defend themselves, most of them are adept warriors unlike the people of Kvatch who are everyday Cyrodiilic citizens. I don't know if the Redguards would win, but they can certainly hold them off for a good time while the player can rush over and save the city from being destroyed like Kvatch was.

The cult was evil, I didn't know what else to do. How could I make "We're killing off random people" sound good and/or misunderstood in any way?

Post by **Haplo** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:55 pm

Nomadic1 wrote:Brilliance was here

Give purpose to the random quagmire interiors... Yes!

Post by **Gnomey** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:29 pm

IAMTHEEMPEROR wrote:The cult was evil, I didn't know what else to do. How could I make "We're killing off random people" sound good and/or misunderstood in any way?

Pfft, where's your creative flare? Obviously the MD cult they were targetting managed to get a mole into the coven, who proceeded to supply the names of the MD cult's enemies to let the coven do their dirty work. Or maybe even supply random names, just to get the coven killed off. Or the MD cult/coven has so many members, and is so secretive, that the guards and player think that the quagmire coven was just attacking innocent townspeople at random, when the coven is actually helping the guards and player. That would be fun.

Nomadic1 · Post by **Nomadic1** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 10:56 pm

Woohoo! A liked idea

I was thinking about it more, and if it is witches like this we don't even constrain ourselves to the level of which the PC has done the Oblivion MQ. Witches have a greater understanding of magic and Daedra than most, and they won't necessarily need the weakened barriers to create these deadly nightmares in the badguys (although it would probably help immensely to start). They are also seem to be left out of pacts and some rules in respect to the Daedra; for example when Sotha Sil made a pact with the Daedra during the war with the Reman Empire not to invade Tamriel, or allow the conjuration or summoning of Daedra and Daedric stuff, witches were excepted.

That is to say that this could be a MQ for Hammerfell largely unconnected to the MQ in Cyrodiil, and we don't need Mehrunes Dagon or another Daedra to be the bad guy yet again. If we do go with the witches being good guys in their own respect, I don't yet like the ideas of the suggested baddies (another coven, cults, Mehrunes Dagon or another Prince) since they just aren't all that original or interesting.

Also TR should at least consider coming up with a few new Deadlands Daedric portals, just so when the PC comes to Hammerfell they don't go "Lame, the same old portals. I won't go in these ones either".

PS: Gnomey, you still gave me the idea

IAMTHEEMPEROR · Post by **IAMTHEEMPEROR** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:19 am

My creative flare is on vacation..... couldn't even make this lame joke creative.

I like that idea Gnomey. Add a unique flair to the game, good idea there.

Lady Nerevar · Post by **Lady Nerevar** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:28 am

you people write too much

at any rate, quick mention of why the "cult" could be killing off "inocent" people. the obvious reason is that they are not inocent at all, but perhaps guilty of some serious sin (eg. husband killed his wife when she was trying to stop him from rapind his pre-pubesent daughter). this is constantly in the movies, and it provides moral ambiguiety, but i think its a bit hard to make it work well and originaly. Other idea. perhaps go terminator on it, in that the people to kill off (or go to sleep, or what ever) would have caused some shit to go down. me not realy likey this idea though. neh, i supose i write too much random shit too. ok, last mini-idea thing. Since the realm is one of dreams and nightmares perhaps the people to kill off are actual normal cultists who somehow can make their dreams (and nightmares) into reality. or maybe have aquired some other power of manipulating people's psichy *halucinations, causing insomnia... you think about it). therefore, the other people have to kill them off both because they chalange vermina's authority and because they pose a threat to other people and to the cult thing (if the authorities find out that its the cultist's doingm they could go on an extermination of the whole daedra cult faction thing, wich the "good" cultists dont want)

this post be writen without reading most of the proposed outlines and stuff. this post also be writen in minimal creativity. been watching too many movies to pass boredom....

peace out, you can do better then me. maybe something i typed can provide some kind of creative spark or something.

Jedak · Post by **Jedak** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:10 pm

Lady Nerevar wrote:eg. husband killed his wife when she was trying to stop him from rapind his pre-pubesent daughter

halucinations, causing insomnia...

this post also be writen in minimal creativity

When I put it like that, It makes me having funny thoughts about you and your past...

NexUmMonastica · Post by **NexUmMonastica** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:02 pm

rape doesn't exist in Tamriel, and neither do teenagers and children.

while we're on the subject: lets import some cherubs from doom3 and give them unlimited spawn rate in the imperial city.

we have scripts, collision, havok, and a new trap system in OB. make walls crash together and piles of bones spew from all directions. have hanging corpses and body parts. zombie bodies that spawn dead and drop from the cieling. use the trip wires and mancatchers but pile dozens of boulders and debris on top of them so the PC get's the sh*t beat out of him/her. I especialy like the ideas about being dropped into a room with dozens of zombies: good stuff.

why not get dropped into a room with 60 zombies that have 10% health. give the player a festival of hack&slash mayhem but still leave the PC near dead at the end. take all weapons away and drop a few (almost broken) ones on the floor (making the PC swith weapons quite often). maybe put an area-effect enchanted elven shortsword up on a trapped pedastle guarded by sentries. kill zombies and skeletons and watch them fly.

2.0 size dremora lords with warhammers.

etc.

Post by **Gnomey** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:02 pm

NexUmMonastica wrote:rape doesn't exist in Tamriel, and neither do teenagers and children.

Actually, it does exist. In dialogue. I think that dremora use the word in a taunt. As for teenagers and children, they also exist in books, but strictly and books and out of the way. But as long as the child doesn't have to be seen, and we don't make any new animations for rape, then there's no problem with using them.

NexUmMonastica wrote:why not get dropped into a room with 60 zombies that have 10% health. give the player a festival of hack&slash mayhem but still leave the PC near dead at the end. take all weapons away and drop a few (almost broken) ones on the floor (making the PC swith weapons quite often). maybe put an area-effect enchanted elven shortsword up on a trapped pedastle guarded by sentries. kill zombies and skeletons and watch them fly.

2.0 size dremora lords with warhammers.

etc.

I like this idea, though I think it needs an interesting setting. (Something like Lutemoth's marionette idea earlier in this thread). If there is a script that makes critters appear and appear until he finally dies, no sooner, no later, that might give the player some hopelessness. Especially if we make it a maze with no ending like another mentioned nightmare, (and have a thinner trickle of critters to help FPS). I can see myself, as a player, running around and looking for an exit, as an endless stream of monsters rush at me, drinking every potion and using all the magic that might help me on the way, until my character finally dies and goes to the next dungeon, completely devoid of protection in potions etc. and facing a new nightmare. That would sting, alright.

IAMTHEEMPEROR · Post by **IAMTHEEMPEROR** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:02 pm

Mass slaughter? That's no nightmare, that's a good, no, perfect dream!

Post by **Gnomey** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:01 pm

I was talking about the player being bombarded with enemies, overwhelmed and finally overpowered. I hadn't taken the possibility that the hero of Cyrodiil liked that sort of thing.

I really don't take Tampriels cultures into account, though; for a Nord that might be the most fitting way to die.

IAMTHEEMPEROR · Post by **IAMTHEEMPEROR** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:05 am

That doesn't mean the Nord wants to die though.

A constant bombardment of enemies would be really laggy, we'd need to disable them as they die so we're not overpowered with lag.

El Scumbago · Post by **El Scumbago** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:45 am

Let's get back to the good old naked-Nords-versus-nymphomaniac-and-hysterical-Dunmeri-witches, shall we?

IAMTHEEMPEROR · Post by **IAMTHEEMPEROR** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:09 am

Witch? What witch? There's no witch! Nor was I tricked by one! Why am I wearing no clothes? It's just too damn hot! That's all! There's no witch! None! None at all! It's hot I say! Now leave, because there is no witch nor will there ever be! No witch would ever trick me and take my clothes! Never! Nuh-uh! Go away I said, there's nothing to hear because there is no witch!

That is called Nord in extreme denial. This nord is also standing in the north of Solstheim, with all of the ice and snow. Don't bother looking because I made him up.

Back on topic: I don't think Vaernima punishing bad people is something she'd do. Daedra find it very funny to mess with the lives of perfectly normal people, because it's funny. Really funny. If you kill someone's pets, 8 of them, and stick them at their dinner table in chairs with their heads in piles of food, then watch them come home and be driven insane because their favorite cat Mr Fluffums has his head in the pie they baked for grandma for her 99th birthday that night, that is funny. Giving a death sentence to someone for murdering people isn't funny, it's just justice. It's what good people do. Vaernima isn't a good person. She's funny. And that's why I make sense by not making sense. Any questions?

Nomadic1 · Post by **Nomadic1** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:35 am

For a second I almost thought you were quoting the naked Nord from Mournhold.

Jedak · Post by **Jedak** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:36 am

Same here.

IAMTHEEMPEROR · Post by **IAMTHEEMPEROR** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:40 pm

Yeah, I was origionally gonna quote him, but it seemed funnier to drag the quote out. And he's saying it's hot, so it would be funnier to stuck him on top of Mortrag Glacier.

Ayedail · Post by **Ayedail** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:57 am

well i dont know if this hasnt been written before in this topic, didnt have time to read all of it, but a thing people usually have at nightmares is that they wake up just instant before they would ''die''. and another idea, ive tried at a mod of mine, is a really, but then i mean really long vertical cave, just made of hallways rotated 90 degrees, and with some big open spaces in it with some architecture or something, (like in LotR when gandalf falls down in moria with the balrog) and you could also have some traps at the sides or something, it worked out pretty good acutally!

PieXags · Post by **PieXags** » Thu May 01, 2008 8:33 am

Having read through a great deal of this thread but not the entire thing, I have a few ideas, forgive me if they've already been listed off or aren't of appropriate style.

I've considered two scenarios: One "nightmare" being simple. The most wonderful place in the world.

You guys know the movie 1408? I'd really like to see something truly nightmarish, I mean to say, a series of nightmares that really, REALLY push the player to their limit and scare the crap out of them, truly wishing they were out of there. Being transported then, to a beautiful landscape --- or even supposedly, out of the realm. Perhaps even appearing in said realm surrounded by treasure, riches, insane loot. But being stuck in place --- or, when getting close to it, transported to another nightmare.

I've also considered something concerning a "hellish" experience. Something like creating an EXTREMELY powerful, extremely rare alchemy ingredient. Like one containing the "banishment" effect from Mehrune's Razor. And having a nightmare be full of them, like a tree full of the ingredient or a field full of the flowers. But having the objects all set to "ghost". ...obviously not...enemy ghost, but like, Mannimarco glitch ghost. No interaction possible.

I don't know why but the idea really appeals to me, having the the most insanely powerful alchemy ingredient surrounding you and not being able to pick any of it. Or filling a nightmare with an entire field of the ingredient, and placing a book in front of the player when they enter the nightmare that tells them (lies to them) that they've entered into the rare "Dream" zone of the daedric prince, and that one of the flowers --- only one, would yield to them the ingredient.

When they finally find the one flower (a different color, or something of the sort maybe) - the player gets killed (or seemingly killed, maybe losing something valuable in the process...), and is forced into the next nightmare, with no ingredient.

angelus6 · Post by **angelus6** » Thu May 01, 2008 10:12 am

I know that myself and Thriggy did a fair few of the Quagmire Ints a while ago and we really tried to push scary/confusing/odd in all of them.

the personal favourite of mine was whichever Int that had scripted layout changes. those were a real nightmare. say we do more "shifting" dungeons

I've also considered something concerning a "hellish" experience. Something like creating an EXTREMELY powerful, extremely rare alchemy ingredient. Like one containing the "banishment" effect from Mehrune's Razor. And having a nightmare be full of them, like a tree full of the ingredient or a field full of the flowers. But having the objects all set to "ghost". ...obviously not...enemy ghost, but like, Mannimarco glitch ghost. No interaction possible.

i like the idea of this also, sounds intrieging.

if we do do anymore Quagmire Ints 'd very much like the chance to give the player a "zombie" costume and make them wander through a dungeon infested with the critters. wouldnt be too hard, just a case of making the zombie creaturemesh into armor
Script s even coverd already

Code: Select all

OnActivate
Player.additem ***IDhere***
Player.Equipt *ItemNameHere*

and to finish just script removal of those on touching the exit door[/code]

El Scumbago · Post by **El Scumbago** » Sun May 04, 2008 10:21 pm

Just had a fun and possibly very Hell-ish experience.
The player's in a dungeon and must get from point A to point B. The catch is that if any of the dungeon's inhabitants comes in contact with him, it's instant death. So, the player must use sneak, or run like hell, hoping he'll not stumble on any enemies. Including areas where sneaking is impossible would be fun too.

Deeza · Post by **Deeza** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:37 pm

THE ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE (for someone who lives in Tamriel anyway):

The Player wakes up in a world where magic doesn't exist.

No quests, no monsters, just a nine-to-five job at a mine to hold down, a divorce that's coming through and lots of bills.

Just before they scream themselves to death at how boring their life's going to be from now on they get yanked back out.

Or is that too metafictional?

Gez · Post by **Gez** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:40 pm

Far too metafictional. Plus, making the game boring isn't a desirable design decision.

Deeza · Post by **Deeza** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:55 pm

I wasn't really being serious, don't worry.

But still: having to deal with a normal situation in Oblivion (a big fight with Daedra, say) with all your magic disabled might be fairly nightmarish, no?

Or if all the controls reversed suddenly, for example. We could really try to mess with the player's head. Without it getting too annoying of course. Mustn't get carried away.

FLESH · Post by **FLESH** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:59 pm

Oh oh my turn. The player loads into Quagmire, AND BAM, CTD. That'll learn 'em.

Orix · Post by **Orix** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:11 am

Well, suspending the player in a limbo is always fun.

Anyone seen THX-1138, or gotten stuck in the Rakatan Mind Prison in KOTOR? A vast white space, no beginning or end, no point of reference, agoraphobia inducing... and perhaps have the floor start to fall away into blackness...

Also, areas of extreme fog, with lots of deadly traps (not those weak Oblivion efforts), always fun, make people paranoid!