Goujoe

Holy crap, that's awesome! Though I wishwishwish it went through more then just the top-tier armor levels. Still though, thanks for that! :biggrin:

Huh, not a peep? Maybe the anime stuff and whatnot really is all what most people want...

To start, I can't resist going on a little bit about my philosophy on mods. Ever since I got into the Elder Scrolls games with Morrowind, I've always noted that the more subtle mods that add things in a lore-friendly or at least unobtrusive way have always been my favorites. While I'm sure plenty of time, effort, and skill go into the garish and out-of-place giant anime weapons and ladies' "armor" that would look more at home in fantasy-themed strip joint, those are certainly far from my cup of tea. Basically my point is this: The best mods, in my opinion, are the kind that after long enough you could conceivably forget weren't there the whole time, you know? Anyway, on to my modest little idea! I would absolutely love to see more variants for the vanilla armors! I'm speaking about things such as iron armor versus banded iron armor (without the armor bonus), or the two versions of steel armor. Skyrim is a cold, snowy place. How about some sleeves on that iron or steel armor? Or pants on that leather armor? Fur lining for those Imperial steel bracers? Really, the possibilities go on and on. The main point is that I (and I'm sure many others) would relish the opportunity to further customize their characters without breaking the game with deadric-stat armor out of some comic book! My second mod suggestion is very similar to my first, though not quite. I very much enjoy playing battle-mages, with spell in one hand and blade in the other, though I'm always left with the choice: Look like a mage? Or look like a warrior? Then I found the Dwarven Mage Armor from the wonderful Lore Friendly Armor Pack, and I could choose both! However, I still only have one option, and I must wait till I'm up to Dwarven armor to grab it. What I would absolutely love to see is this same concept applied to every style of armor in the game! The idea would simply be mage robes with an armored chest piece or breastplate along with perhaps a few other armored areas. Leather Battlemage Armor, Iron Battlemage Armor, Glass Battlemage Armor, Deadric Battlemage Armor, so on and so forth! The main thing would be that the looks fit side-by-side with the armors from the vanilla game (likely even use hacked up vanilla armors/robes for the models). While it would certainly be great to see someone else who actually knows what they're doing take on either of these ideas, I have considered attempting them myself (zero modding experience), since I would imagine at least the Battlemage Armor idea sounds basic enough for a beginner to take on. Though there are certainly plenty of modders out there who would be much better equipped, both in skill and the tools, to whip these out. If no one sounds into the idea, I can try my best to hobble together some sort of hack-job, heheh. So then! Does the nexus like the ideas? If anyone has input on additional things that go along with these ideas, or any other sort of comments, don't be shy! :thumbsup:

I hope you realize just what it is you're asking. Trust me, I've only just started on my quest line mod, and even using as much as I can scavenge from the vanilla game it's still incredibly difficult and time consuming. Not to mention I don't see you say anywhere what you will be doing to contribute to the making of your idea. I'm sorry to say, but ideas alone, no matter how cool you think they are, are not nearly enough to get people to do the hard work for you. Also, as much as I hate shooting you down, most of the things you talk about already exist. I know there are Kitsune style races, A guild of deadra-prince worshiping assassins, etc. One thing I have very quickly learned since breaking into the modding sphere: Assume from the get-go that no one will do any work for you. While that may change somewhere down the line should you be able to produce something concrete and presentable to attract help, until then you should at least try to learn what you can. I'm a writer and a voice actor, and in a perfect world that's what I would focus on doing in making my mod, but for the time being I am going at it like I am the only team member. Modding takes a LOT of time and work, but the best thing to do if you want to get into it is learn all you can about it. My advice: If you have an idea, cut away as much as you possibly can, boil it down to the simplest aspect of it, and learn to build that. That also will help you to examine your plot and your quest line in order to determine what aspects are truly necessary, and what aspects serve no purpose. As the french writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said, quite accurately: "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." When it comes to something as complex and difficult as modding, those are words to live by. I'm not telling you all this to discourage you from working towards your idea, I'm telling you this so that if you're truely willing to take your creative endevore all the way, that you know just what it is you're getting into.

I just use the Alternate Start by Boat mod. The main quest never even starts until you go to the sewers and find the Amulet of Kings. In most of my games it's rarely even a consideration.

I'm rather fond of playing thieves, rogues, necromancers, vampires and other such character types that are often at odds with the law of the land. However, I'm not a huge fan of the thieves guild, as when I play a criminal, I don't want to be some boring Robin Hood wannabe who gives to the poor and doesn't kill those unlucky innocents who get between myself and their oh-so-valuable possessions. Now when it comes to fencing said illicitly aquired goodies, I know there are plenty of mods out there that give you other places to pawn your stolen goods. Unfortunately though, as I look around the database, I can't seem to find any mods that allow you to have your bounty removed without being in a guild (I know that there's a Thieves Den DLC that I believe has that feature, but I am rather broke and don't want to pay the money for it, heh). Anyone know of something that could help me out here?

Very good advice, thanks a ton. Yeah, I suppose my philosophy when it comes to any mod is to avoid over-the-top-ness, you know what I mean? Sometimes it makes sense for a particular character to have some super powerful sword or huge manor when it comes to role play, but I try to keep that sort of thing to a minimum. I like simple and setting-appropriate homes, interesting but not outlandish races, unique but feasibly functional armor (as in not skimpy as hell with huge areas of exposed skin that just scream "stab here for insta-kill") on my female characters, and quests that don't make you feel like you have to save the world every other day. I suppose I'm just a bit anxious to take that first big step due to the chance of it turning out to be completely out of my grasp. However, I do realize that making models and textures and scripts completely from scratch is more then I could hope to undertake as it stands now, so I hope to "scavenge" as much as I can from the vanilla game and existing mods, and maaaaybe try to piece together one or two things frankenstein-style using existing stuff (much in the manner of the simple but interesting Dragon Skin armor). Oh, there's a couple things I have in mind that I'm curious as to the difficulty of. First of all, just how much of a process is it to get voice acting into an oblivion mod? That always lends a huge amount to making a mod come to life, and would help with this one a great deal as I plan on many characters with distinct personalities and such (I like to think I have a good voice for such things, and voice acting is one thing I do have some experience in). Also, a bit of a possibly more complex thing I have in my head that would really flesh out the fact that this is your crew is the concept of improving things for them through minor quests. One of which I have in mind is that once you're decently established, when you talk to your gang's mage, he tells you about how he was forced to leave his alchemy set behind when he had to flee as the Legion raided the base of the last bandit crew he was with. He then goes on to tell you that with some new alchemy equipment, he will be able to start brewing potions for you and the other gang members, which would allow them to drink those potions and heal in battle. The potions he could make would then be able to grow more powerful as you get him better alchemy sets (the initial quest being to get him a besic set, then up through jorneyman and eventually master). Along those same lines, if you talk to one of the members of your crew, they complain about how most of the members are getting tired of sleeping with bedrolls on stone, and talks to you about expanding the cave to make room for a proper sleeping area. You would then be sent to recruit (through greased palms or with threats of pointy implements) a group of miners to bring back and make said expansions (allowing for more areas to be opened up for other uses besides just the sleeping area). You then take things further by aquiring by one way or another some proper beds for your men to sleep in. The end result of that particular quest being a better looking base along with something like a bonus to a couple of the stats of all of your men (maybe Endurance and Agility) due to more restful sleep. If it's possible to impliment something like that, I would love to make that concept a large part of some of the minor quests, things to improve the effectivness of your gang members (getting training dummies to improve their strength and weapon skills, securing better sources of food to improve health and fitness, aquiring some barrels of booze to make them more content and happy, etc) which would then in turn improve the amount of money they are able to make for themselves and for you.

Who the heck is Bak Tol?

Just how difficult would a quest mod like this be? Am I just way out of my league?

Well, I suppose that makes some sense. Though you have to admit it still seems fairly boring.

I've been mulling over and developing in my head an idea for a series of quests for a while now, and I figured I might put some of them out there to find out from the community whether or not they're as interesting as I find them as well as just how much effort it might take to tackle. I'll start out by saying (on the off chance that this generates some interest) that I have absolutely no modding experience, texturing/modeling programs, or any other experience or means when it comes to the technical aspects of mod making. However, I do have plenty of experience (and I like to cautiously think talent) when it comes to writing and story telling, for whatever difference that makes. I suppose I'll start by going into a little detail as to what inspired this idea. After downloading the so far wonderfully interesting mod "The Golden Crest" (a pirate themed quest mod that I would highly recommend even though I've yet to finish it) I started a pirate/bandit themed character to play it. As I played with this character, for one reason or another I began a bit of meaningless fun by gathering companions (using the brilliant CM Companions system) and starting a "gang" of sorts. I would gather these followers, outfit them all in a "uniform" (Blood Leather cuirass, boots, and gloves, along with Dark Leather greaves and hood, topped off with an oh-so piratey cutlass. I can't quite remember which mods the armors came from), and purchase the various houses to fill with a small crew of these gang members. Aside from the pointless fun of this, it gave me plenty of readily available manpower for whenever there was a tough dungeon or quest that I needed some backup to tackle. Anyway, this little self-given quest got me thinking: How fun would it be to actually have the chance to start your own gang? Complete with characters, quests, a story, and rewards? Soon enough, my little brain was wallowing in the ideas, possibilities, and potential fun this could bring! Now I should note that I'm trying my best not to get too ambitious, I do have an inkling of how difficult even a simple mod is, let alone how difficult a faction mod likely is. Which is why I'm testing the waters and asking for advice before getting too committed to the idea of starting something that I may not get any support on. SO! I figure if I am going to have a chance of getting anyone interested in helping with this, I should describe the story I have in my head so far. To begin, the player would find one way or another (maybe through rumor, a journal, or some other means) a cave near a town or village that is rumored to be haunted. As the player goes to investigate, they would find a relatively modest cave perhaps filled with a few rats or such. However, as they explore deeper the player would stumble upon the skeletal corpses of perhaps four or five unfortunate men. As they investigate, they suddenly spot a ghostly dunmer in the room with the skeletons! Instead of attacking though, the ghost approaches the player and begins to speak with them. As they converse with the oddly non-hostile ghost, he would tell the player about how he and his comrades met their early end. In life, they were a group of roguish friends and petty criminals who decided to forgo the "rob from the rich, give to the poor" philosophy of the Thieves Guild (Which actually rather bugs me. When I want to be a rogue or theif, I want to be an actual criminal, not some damned Robin Hood wannabe!) and set out with high hopes of forging their own bandit crew that would eventually rise above the other chaotic and disorganized gangs throughout Cyrodiil and grow into the richest and most feared criminal organization in all the empire! Fate, however, had other plans for them. Just a day or two after declaring themselves the (insert gang name here) and ambitiously starting their career by making their first robbery of a small travelling caravan, the entire group was promptly cut down by a single lucky adventurer who happened to be passing along and responded to the caravan master's plea for help. The ghostly bandit was never quite sure why he stayed behind while his companions moved on to the next world, but should the player be of like mind, he sees an opportunity for the both of them. With that, has asks the player if they wish to carry on in his stead, to bring to fruition the dreams he failed to carry out in life, and to re-found his gang in the hopes that this time around it might become many times greater then what he and his companions ever could have achieved! There you have it, the initial story that starts things off. I have ideas for the further story line and quests (such as making contact with his now somewhat older brother-in-law who is a crooked imperial watchman in order to gain his protection. Or seeking out the various core member of the crew such as a hedge mage, blacksmith, fence, and so on) though I think for now I'll spare the details, as I've rambled on about the story aspect long enough. I don't plan for this to be a hugely epic quest line, but rather something a bit more humble for the roguish, role-play minded player who's looking for a few financial (among other) opportunities in lue of the more lofty save-the-world quests. Along the way they would develop the cave into a base of operations (and a simple but functional home for themselves and their companions) along with explore perhaps some non-linear endevours such as robbing travellers, raiding villages, combating rival gangs, avoiding the rath of the Imperial Legion, and so on. I think I've gone on long enough for the time being. So I would love any feedback that anyone could provide, along with advice. And would jump for joy if this actually seems interesting enough to attract some people with more expertise then I who are willing to undertake this with me. Oh, and thank you kindly if you've actually taken the time out of your day to read all of this, heheh.

Well, now that I've gone and browsed through a bit of lore on Oblivion, it seems that my assumptions about multiple realms within it and those belonging to the deadric princes being shaped in the manner of their choosing is entirely accurate. So now I just have to wonder, did the Elder Scrolls team just... not bother to follow their own lore? I suppose that's a question that a lot of fantasy and sci-fi fans ask of game/book/movie/etc creators. Though the difference between many of those other situations and this one is the wonderful magic that is modding! So, anyone interested in putting the effort into remedying this? It would certainly be nice to see some creative interperetation put into this.

Alright, so I may not be entirely well versed in the lore pertaining to the deadric princes or the planes of Oblivion, but one thing that always bugged me about it was when one undertook the quests for the deadric princes that required going to Oblivion (Peryite, Boethia, and I believe one or two others), it always seemed to be the SAME oblivion. This bothers me because A: Here and there it mentions the Plane*S* of Oblivion, implying that there are multiple realms within Oblivion. And B: I may be mistaken, but isn't the Shivering Isles a plane of Oblivion ruled by Sheoggorath? The Isles certainly are nothing like the fire-and-brimstone hellscape that makes up the Oblivion that is attacking Cyrodil (which I assume is specifically Mehrunes Dagon's plane, as it fits him quite nicely), but fit ol' Beardy quite well. So what about the other Princes? My point is this: I would absolutely love to see a mod that redoes the places you are sent to by the Deadric Princes to actually FIT the prince who sends you there. Peryite is the prince of pestilence, which has nothing to do with lava, burning skies, giant metal torture devices, or anything else that makes up the place he sends you. However, what WOULD be appropriate for Peryite might be a realm filled with zombies and other disease-ridden creatures, fetid air, and a much more subtle mood of suffering and pain then what one finds in Dagon's neighborhood. Same goes for the other princes that send you to Oblivion, have them send you to THEIR Oblivion! Just how tough might this be for someone to work on?