Morrowind

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Mithras

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iamthemithras2

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About this mod

An immersive consistent alternative start where you can choose to play as the Nerevarine or not, begin in a different area, changes when/if the Dark Brotherhood attacks and makes it possible to travel to Mournhould without being attacked, fixes Solstheim rumors, and some more changes while keeping it compatible with your existing saves.

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Permissions and credits
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Morrowind - The Roleplaying Game Mod
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An immersive consistent alternative start where you can choose to play as the Nerevarine or not, begin in a different area, changes when/if the Dark Brotherhood attacks, fixes Solstheim rumors, and some more changes while keeping it compatible with your existing saves.

By Mithras

The goal of this mod is to make the game feel less like a Bethesda game and maybe more like the RPGs worthy of the title like the Fallout series (1,2, and New Vegas!), Arcanum, and Planescape Torment.

It does this by removing DLC inconveniences like the forced Dark Brotherhood attack and the persistent Solstheim rumors, and also have the option to NOT play as the Nerevarine with the world correctly reflecting it - while still being able to play as one with a different character at chargen.

Although it is the foundation, this is not just an alternative start mod.


If you choose not to play as the Nerevarine, you'll be able to generate your character immediately and given a choice where to start your adventure - even Seyda Neen if you want.

If you're not playing as the Nerevarine, you'll NEVER be tasked to go to Caius Cosades. And all the chargen characters will function as if you already went through them. Pop up messages won't appear, and the chargen boat is correctly disabled.

If you do create a new character to be Nerevarine, you can select from either a quick chargen or go through the original character generation with all their pop-ups. Selecting a quick chargen will teleport you to Sellus Gravius and a small narration of events will pop up to pace the transition.


No cell has been modified to ensure maximum compatibility. Teleportation is handled by one-time scripts. If you have any mods that places items in Seyda Neen or anywhere, they should be fine.


Your existing save files will be fine.

YOUR EXISTING SAVE FILES WILL BE FINE.


But of course, this mod plays best with a new character - that's the intention.
(As a reference, with this mod I've played with two new characters for my own playthrough - a breton morag tong nightblade, and an orc crusader with the imperial cult, both non-nerevarines and played faction quests (imperial cult quests are surprisingly fun.) And I can switch back to my Nerevarine Dark Elf character fine with no errors.

Also features support for:
Antares' Big Mod, or his Privileges And Services, Scout's Services (The respective topics are enabled, but no issues if you don't use them)

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Not compatible with:

Expansion Delay  ( This mod already has its own system of delaying Tribunal and Bloodmoon )

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What's done so far:


* Be able to have starting items based on your stats - or refuse! and start with only the clothes on your back (bad idea unless you're spawning in Seyda Neen). Clothing is also randomized. I figure nobody wants to wear the same guar-skin shirt and pants every playthrough. Even the veteran players. You do not get additional starting items or random clothing if you are playing as the Nerevarine, for consistency.

* Choose from more than 16 starting locations, or let the game choose a random starting location for you! Teleportation is handled by script, no existing doors or cells are affected. * Includes a short narration of how you first arrived to your location, for immersion.

* You will be stopped from taking Keening, Sunder, and Wraithguard, and you will instantly be killed the moment you acquire Moon-and-Star IF you are not playing as the Nerevarine (You will be warned first, but not overtly).
If you ARE playing as the Nerevarine, then you will still be able to acquire and use them normally.

* Dagoth Ur will not welcome you as Nerevar, his old friend, to his place where destiny is made if you visit him and are NOT playing as the Nerevarine. You also won't be able to kill his first encounter - no point to deceive you since you're not Nerevar anyway.


**(Tribunal)
You will not be targeted for assassination by King Helseth, unless you are both declared Nerevarine by all four velothi tribes, and Hortator by all three houses - or until you have defeated Dagoth Ur (for the Nerevarine players). For Non-Nerevarine characters / or Nerevarines that decided to skip the conditions above, you will be targeted if you have a very high level (level 45) and a rep of at least 30.
>
- My reasoning for this is I based this on Helseth's dialogue "One of our informants had suggested that you could pose a threat to our monarchy. That cannot be allowed, as I'm sure you understand." I figure if I was Helseth, if I heard of a reputed Nerevarine to have the support of not only all the native aborigines, but also all the great houses situated in Vvardenfell, I would only then start to feel my sovereignty to be potentially threatened in the long run. Who cares if he's guildmaster of the Thieves or Fighter's guild or something like that if he's just a nobody otherwise. And who especially cares if he's just a new arrival fresh from the boat from a no-name town, homeless and resting up on his junkie bestfriend's bed? Stoopid.
>
Helseth also said "I know all about you and the prophecies. And I know the Temple's position on the matter. My policy is to avoid involving the government in Temple matters wherever possible." This made it a bit tricky. Surely he wouldn't act unless you finally defeated Dagoth Ur yourself. At this point, the Temple is against you. And even when they eventually publicly cease hostilities to you, thanks to Vivec declaring you his champion, there's still a chance you can get killed by Dagoth Ur, so why show his hand by sending an assassin after you?
>
But this is assuming that Helseth even believes in the prophecy, and he himself believes the signs that you're the Nerevarine. It's hard to tell for me. In his quarters, he has notes on the Nerevarine prophecies lying on his desk - and of course I can't say for sure, but I will have to assume he only recently acquired them on the subject of you recently gaining his attention rather than being a firm believer of the prophecy from the start.
>
It's hard to tell if he sent the assassins after you knowing you would survive the encounter, or if he truly want you dead is what I'm saying. But based on his actions on the Tribunal main quest, I lean more on the notion that he truly wanted you dead. He risked his own mother's life just to get you killed, man. While he did use the same failed tools (Why didn't he just tried to poison you?), it also felt unnecessary because he already got you working for him at that point. If he wanted you only for your service, then he wouldn't have sicced his dog Karrod on you as well, who he says have never been defeated. Hell, the fight only stopped because Karrod yielded, and it surprised Helseth too much because Karrod never speaks.
Personally, I stealth-kill this bastard as soon as the duel is over. I would've killed him much sooner and damn the Tribunal quest if Karrod isn't scripted to be invulnerable until just after the duel. I kill Helseth every playthrough for two reasons - this asshole has put me through enough and killing him feels great, and his Royal Signet Ring makes you invulnerable to magic. The pros heavily outweighs the cons.
>
But I digress, the reason I scheduled the Dark Brotherhood this way is I believe that Helseth is prudent, but haphazard enough to want you dead at the point where you have the support of both the Ashlanders and the Houses. It's a guarantee he'll want you dead after killing Dagoth ur, too.
>
Regarding the level and reputation requirement, it's mostly there so Non-Nerevarine characters can trigger the Tribunal quests too. I think I set it high enough to make Helseth paranoid to think a successful adventurer like you might threaten his position, or make him want someone like you to work for him - Up to you how you want to play it in your mind. As a reference, Helseth is level 35 with a rep of 20. I think being level 45 with 30 rep is cause enough to make the king a little jealous. Hard to tell though if you'll breeze through the Tribunal quests, but it depends on how efficient you leveled your character. You most likely will though at that point.
>
This a huge wall of text introspecting on just two lines of dialogue from a character, so let me say thanks for reading this far.



** You can get transport to Mournhold before getting attacked by the DB in the first place. Ask for the latest rumors in Ebonheart when you're at least level 10. For now, you can try to convince Asciene Rane to secure transport, but there will be a stat check - not a disposition check, so don't bother bribing or admiring her and such. You will not be able to advance the Tribunal main quest without being targeted though.

** Also fixed the Dark Brotherhood topic so guards and such in Mournhold won't trigger the quest if you haven't started it. Don't worry about exploring the sewers as well, the assassin leader with the contract for you will be disabled until you have been targeted.
Uh, the rest of the brotherhood will still attack you though.

** You can be attacked in Mournhold to trigger the Tribunal quests if you met the conditions while being there, for some reason.

** Fixes a vanilla bug where you'll get an infinite loop of "Who's there?" If you managed to stealth kill the leader, Dandras Vules. Man that was annoying.




** If you're not the Nerevarine there will be a point where the Tribunal main quest will stop advancing for you. Almalexia will not task you to restore Trueflame, because you're not Nerevar. This is after killing her missing hand. You will be stuck with ashtorms in Mournhold though. If you don't want that to happen beforehand, you will be given a choice to refuse her quest to cause ashstorms in the city. Ashstorms are only cool in Ald-ruhn. This choice is only available to Non-Nerevarines.
>
In the future I may include code so that after a few days, maybe a week or so, she would disappear and the ashstorms ceased without explanation. Implying that the Nerevarine has finished the Tribunal quest for you. I'll have to figure out how to do this first though.


*** Fixed the Solstheim rumor so not everyone will have heard that it's a terrible place, and knows of a boat in Khuul if you have any reason to go. Nolore npcs will not mention it. Only guards from the West Gash region will mention it (Khuul's region) and also Khuul residents. Agents can mention it with 70 disposition, and only Appelles Matius from Ebonheart will mention his son got sent there.



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Some more Miscallenous changes:

Propylon Master Index:
* The master index for the propylons will be able to transport you to all the strongholds, but there will be a stat check first of either Enchant or Mysticism to first study the item and make it possible.


Morag Tong:
*Receive a Morag Tong helmet upon officially joining by killing your first mark.

Dagoth Ur:
*Dagoth Ur can be soul trapped. He has a soul value of 2000. (For reference, Almalexia has
1500, and Vivec has 1000)


# Quest changes
Balmora:
*Larrius Varro over at Fort Moonmoth won't ask for you unless you are at least level 7 with a rep of 3. (Originally only required level 3 characters, no rep). The bad people topic will also stop appearing upon quest completion.

Imperial Cult:
*Topic Mossanon available only until quest completion.
*Topic caryarel available only until quest completion.
*Ice Blade of the Monarch: If you explore Rotheran by yourself without going through the Oracle quests and rescuing the slaves, your journal entry will not imply being told by the Oracle to do this task.
*Imperial Legion: Can only duel Varus Vatinius when you've reached the appropriate rank.


# Active Quests Journal Cleanup
Refusing, failing, forced, or finishing quests (but left active in journal) marks them as finished in the journal to remove them from your journal's active quests. This is to clean your quest list and you won't get a migraine looking at your active quests.
Just a clarification for some, getting marked finished doesn't mean the quest IS finished, you'll still be able to progress if you can:
*Pemenie The Trader (When refusing)
*Recovering Cloudcleaver (When sided with Sosia)
*Viatrix the annoying Pilgrim (When refusing)
*Larrius Varo tells a Story (from the start)
*Fjol the Outlaw (from the start)
*The Beauty and the Bandit (finished when you deliver the note)
*Death of a Taxman (from the start. Who says you have to do anything else?)
*A Bounty for Trerayna Dalen (from start)
*An Island to the North (from start)
town_Vivec 1 (from start)
town_Vivec 5 (from start)
"town_Sadrith" 1 (from start)
"MS_Umbra" 10 (from start)
"EB_Pest" 10 (from start)
"EB_DeadMen" 10 (from start)
"VA_VampMarara" 10 (from start)
"VA_VampHunter" 40 (upon getting from rumors)
VA_VampCult 40 (upon getting from rumors)
MV_TraderMissed 10 (from start)
MV_PoorPilgrim 10 (from start)
House Redoran: Shut the Mines Down (Upon freeing Dahleena, without being given this quest)
Imperial Cult: Ice Blade of the Monarch (Saving Adusamsi Assurnarairan without finishes the quest, also renames the quest)
House Hlaalu: Twin Lamps (being told by a slave about the Twin lamps finishes the quest, also renames the quest)
Imperial Cult: Boots of the Apostle (Meeting and saving Ama Nin is its own quest and renames and finishes it upon acquisition)
The Bad Actor (when refusing)
The Dwemer's Bone (from start or refusing)
A Friend in Deed (from start or refusing)
EB_Express (when refusing)
EB_Invisible (when refusing)
EB_Unrequited (when refusing)


Sleepers Awake (from start)
Kurapli Seeks Vengeance (from start)
Ashlander Nerevarine (finished when killing a tribe member)
Redoran, Hlaalu Hortator (when killing a councilor except Yngling Half-Troll)


In Search of the Falmer (when refusing)
The Mead Hall Massacre (when refusing)
The Missing Missionary (from start)
The Moon Sugar Mystery (when refusing)
A Wife's Retribution (when refusing)
The Sad Seer (when refusing)
Tymvaul in the Well (when refusing)
Rite of the Wolf Giver (from start)
A Woman Scorned (when refusing)





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Plans for the future (Morrowind Roleplaying 2.0!)
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In order of preference:

*More starts. Vampire and Werewolf option

*In the future, I will include storyline progression for the Morrowind main quest so you can feel a different Nerevarine going through the quests alongside with you. NPCs will talk about it through rumors. And he will even defeat Dagoth Ur. All I gotta do is figure out how to do it, haha.

*Racism will be more prevalent, particularly among Cammona Tong and maybe some House Dres npcs. My inspiration is that it would be like Arcanum. When NPCs act gruff, insulting, or hostile to you because of your race you have an option to implore them to be civil, leave them as they wish, or challenge their insult. Some may retract their statements, or not, and some may even attack you outright if you take them on. If possible, I want to make this stat based.

*You will be able to finish quests from factions you are not a part of when you encounter them, maybe even get credit for them. In vanilla, when you rescue someone from a dungeon let's say, and they're actually part of a faction quest you're not a part of, their quest will remain open in your journal so they will never go away unless you join the faction in question and advance far enough with the quest giver to reward you for it. Big pain in the ass. I plan on fixing this for every vanilla quest.

*Make it possible to play as a native Dunmer. Nobody will call you an outlander by voice greetings and such. Also a possiblity to join the Cammona Tong and help rid the n'wahs from Morrowind. Actually this sounds like a really huge undertaking so I might not do this after all.

*Also stat-based Main Quest. I'm hoping to include stat-based choices that mesh well with the vision of the original quests.