I have a question - where is Imperial Post Office and its reporters? I think you should add that place because these reporters names are nowhere in Skyrim really...
This looks interesting, and if you want to really expand it, I'd say it'd be a good idea to add a Stormcloak newspaper as well. Your mod can fill a separate niche and complement (instead of compete with) the Black Horse Courier well if it has a lot of propaganda content from both sides. Just like how in real life politicians and pundits can't let a 'good' tragedy go to waste, the many troubles in Skyrim will serve well as fodder for propaganda.
Examples:
- The Stormcloaks can 'interpret' (which some like Skald already do) dragon attacks as the wrath of the Divines upon the ban of Talos worship, while the Imperials say it means that the Stormcloak rebellion enrages the Divines, who recognise the Emperor as Tamriel's rightful ruler.
- The Stormcloaks say vampire attacks are a sign of growing darkness resulting from the waning faith that the ban of Talos worship brought forth. The Imperials point to the attacks and say that Skyrim's jarls are too weak to defend their own people without the help of the Legion.
- If the Dragonborn joins the Stormcloaks, the Stormcloaks capitalise on the current 'dragon of the north' being on their side, whereas the Imperials denounce the Dragonborn as a traitor who secretly covets the imperial throne and thinks they deserve it just because they have the dragon blood. If they join the Empire, the Stormcloaks denounce them with similar talking points, also for not being a true son/daughter of Skyrim, while the Imperials cherry-pick historical facts pointing out how previous Dragonborn have always been allies to Cyrodiil.
The writing itself doesn't much concern me (though some may disagree with my interpretation of events). The imperial side strikes me as the easy part because it's an established government while the Stormcloaks are a rebel faction. So the troublesome part is figuring out how to distribute Stormcloak news in a way that wouldn't be quickly crushed by the Legion.
Couriers will work nicely for individual distribution, and I'm honestly considering dumping the deposit chests entirely to focus on the courier. But if the deposit chests remain, something equivalent but less "official" for the Stormcloaks would make the most sense. I'm having trouble deciding what would work best within the world for that though, at least in a way that's relatively light and saves me umpteen hours of clickety click in the CK.
I might stop making proper sense for a little while, but I was pondering how the Stormcloaks might spread their news. They won't do it publicly, at least not in Imperial-controlled land. It would probably be more of an underground thing. Stormcloaks have camps all over the place, so I was thinking they could each have a knapsack around/in the commander's tent, where letters would be placed by courier delivering propaganda-dripping letters into the knapsack, after which the commander would presumably read them aloud or distribute the letters, or soldiers could take and read the letters at their leisure. People allied to the Stormcloaks would have meeting places where they can discuss the letters, whether delivered by courier and read in a group, meaning there wouldn't be much of a detectable presence in the game, or they would retrieve letters from the camps like the soldiers. As for getting their information to unaligned people, perhaps they could stalk the roads and give out letters to travelers, probably not dressed in Stormcloak garb, and maybe disguised in case of off-duty/disguised Imperials. The distribution zones would need to be out of the way of their bases, so if a distributor is captured, they aren't announcing the base's location. Obviously, they would also want to be away from Imperial patrol areas, or would at least hide as patrols pass. I don't know if any of that makes much sense, I haven't gotten particularly deep into Skyrim's politics.
The civil war is the bane of my existence because it's one of the few points in the game where progress through the quest line makes real changes in the world. For example, the camps of the losing side are adjusted as you come closer to victory, hold and fort control changes, and the big battles are actually radiant quests that are tricky to hook against.
This is really good, yesterday I got the first two messages from the courier, and one of them read "Mages investigate Saarthal." This way it feels like life in Skyrim does not solely revolve around my character.
That's one of my biggest beefs with Skyrim. It's like the world revolves around the player, and only the player can accomplish anything. With that in mind (also a few technical reasons), the editions tend more toward ignoring you or tangentially referencing you than following the "Prisoner is messiah, brah!" pattern.
I too prefer a feel of the world moving along even without you, and writing should reflect that.
I am curious, would this mod work with these two mods?
* The Useless Shop and Interior Overhaul: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61237/? * Jk's Skyrim Allin one version: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61035/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D61035%26preview%3D&pUp=1
Whiterun is Imperial friendly and the first mod makes changes to the Bannered Mare, and I think I do not need to mention the many changes from JK's mod.
I gave those a quick test in the Bannered Mare and regardless of ordering, they both seem work fine. However, the Useless Interior Overhaul did show some slight clipping between the location of the chest and objects added by the overhaul.
Nice mod I have this and Black Horse running at the same time I get all the news. lol I wish more people would work on mods like this that adds more depth to the game.
Even though I usually go Stormcloak, I love that you have an Imperial Friendly news agency, because that would honestly make sense! Thanks for this! downloading!!
26 comments
Stormcloak versions added as of v2.5.
Pending Updates:
Waiting for feedback, baby.
Examples:
- The Stormcloaks can 'interpret' (which some like Skald already do) dragon attacks as the wrath of the Divines upon the ban of Talos worship, while the Imperials say it means that the Stormcloak rebellion enrages the Divines, who recognise the Emperor as Tamriel's rightful ruler.
- The Stormcloaks say vampire attacks are a sign of growing darkness resulting from the waning faith that the ban of Talos worship brought forth. The Imperials point to the attacks and say that Skyrim's jarls are too weak to defend their own people without the help of the Legion.
- If the Dragonborn joins the Stormcloaks, the Stormcloaks capitalise on the current 'dragon of the north' being on their side, whereas the Imperials denounce the Dragonborn as a traitor who secretly covets the imperial throne and thinks they deserve it just because they have the dragon blood. If they join the Empire, the Stormcloaks denounce them with similar talking points, also for not being a true son/daughter of Skyrim, while the Imperials cherry-pick historical facts pointing out how previous Dragonborn have always been allies to Cyrodiil.
etc. Just some ideas
The writing itself doesn't much concern me (though some may disagree with my interpretation of events). The imperial side strikes me as the easy part because it's an established government while the Stormcloaks are a rebel faction. So the troublesome part is figuring out how to distribute Stormcloak news in a way that wouldn't be quickly crushed by the Legion.
Couriers will work nicely for individual distribution, and I'm honestly considering dumping the deposit chests entirely to focus on the courier. But if the deposit chests remain, something equivalent but less "official" for the Stormcloaks would make the most sense. I'm having trouble deciding what would work best within the world for that though, at least in a way that's relatively light and saves me umpteen hours of clickety click in the CK.
They won't do it publicly, at least not in Imperial-controlled land. It would probably be more of an underground thing.
Stormcloaks have camps all over the place, so I was thinking they could each have a knapsack around/in the commander's tent, where letters would be placed by courier delivering propaganda-dripping letters into the knapsack, after which the commander would presumably read them aloud or distribute the letters, or soldiers could take and read the letters at their leisure.
People allied to the Stormcloaks would have meeting places where they can discuss the letters, whether delivered by courier and read in a group, meaning there wouldn't be much of a detectable presence in the game, or they would retrieve letters from the camps like the soldiers.
As for getting their information to unaligned people, perhaps they could stalk the roads and give out letters to travelers, probably not dressed in Stormcloak garb, and maybe disguised in case of off-duty/disguised Imperials. The distribution zones would need to be out of the way of their bases, so if a distributor is captured, they aren't announcing the base's location. Obviously, they would also want to be away from Imperial patrol areas, or would at least hide as patrols pass.
I don't know if any of that makes much sense, I haven't gotten particularly deep into Skyrim's politics.
I too prefer a feel of the world moving along even without you, and writing should reflect that.
* The Useless Shop and Interior Overhaul: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61237/?
* Jk's Skyrim Allin one version: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61035/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D61035%26preview%3D&pUp=1
Whiterun is Imperial friendly and the first mod makes changes to the Bannered Mare, and I think I do not need to mention the many changes from JK's mod.