Thorns of a Whiskey Rose: Development progress

[TotoThorn]

Hello.

I'm in the progress of creating a mod called Thorns of a Whiskey Rose, which is an attempt to integrate the scrapped idea mentioned by Jason Bergman in a developer interview (see here https://archive.is/Morid) where the player would get blackout drunk with Cass and wake up married to her. I saw this and immediately thought it would be an interesting quest, so I decided to try to implement the questline, while adding some additional touches. merge it with the second idea, of the player doing an actual on-screen marriage presided by The King, ending in him performing Love Me Tender.

The idea is still mostly unwritten and very WIP, but I'm making this thread to keep anyone following updated on the mod's progress. All I have to show right now is the basic questline idea, in the form of a (probably poorly formatted) flowchart. My aim is to update this thread as often as possible.

As I have no prior serious experience of modding on a scripting/GECK level, I may also put out help requests from time to time, which anyone is free to answer.

With the flowchart roughed out, my next step is going to be writing dialogue.

5/12/24: I've deleted and through-striked the old flowchart and concept, adapting to the newer concept outlined below.
Scripting has begun (currently banging my head against the wall trying to figure out basic trigger boxes LOL)

Edited May 12, 2024 by TotoThorn

[TotoThorn]

I have come to a crossroads of ideas.

My original draft for the questline is obviously outlined above, but a few users on the nexus (Deathstruck and Crygreg) have brought up an interesting alternative to me, taking the quest in a more lighthearted, comedic direction.

The idea is that the quest would follow a similar structure to the "Hung Over" quest from The Witcher 2, which sets up the scenario that the player and Cass get so blackout drunk that they get married, and wake up the next morning with no memory of it happening. The quest would then follow the player and Cass needing to pick up the pieces of how the night went, listening to NPCs who would tell you all the crazy stuff the two of you did. The quest would then end with the decision to either stay married to Cass, or "divorce" and act like it never happened.

Honestly, I think I like this idea more. It feels a lot more in-line with FNV's tone, and Cass' character, without being too self-indulgent or corny (which TBH, I feel like my original idea might be both of those things). It would also be significantly easier from a writing and scripting standpoint. I'd still like to make my version of the questline, but I think I'll try to make this one first, for people who don't want as much involvement, or want to stick closer to canon.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. All ideas will be credited.

[sullyvanj93]

I like the new idea! Seems much more "Fallouty" and "Vegasy". If you would like some assistance in writing the storyline or the dialogue, let me know. Seems like a fun project to help move forward!

[DoxxBoxx]

been wanting to see someone do this ever since i learnt about it, good luck man this looks really good

[madmongo]

I will warn you in advance that Cass's dialog is probably the worst in all of FNV. She often doesn't speak from the top level, so it is often difficult to get any new dialog to even show up as an option. There is a mod that overhauls her dialog to be more like other NPCs and forces her to speak from the top level more often (so you can more easily add your own options). You might want to have your mod require that. Another option is to make a copy of Cass that you swap in and out as necessary for your mod to function.