Dungeon Location Randomization (possible?)

[ucal]

IMO, one of the biggest balance issues in this game is not that there are overpowered weapons, but that everybody knows where the hell they are to begin with, so instead of rewarding exploration, they reward a quick hop, skip, and a jump to the dungeon to get them. My idea is that every dungeon entrance would be replaced with a door tied to a script, that either using in game variables such as class (major skills could possibly be worked through some sort of script filter to generate a pseudo random sequence) or a random number that is saved upon first activation of the script, transports the player to a random dungeon space.

 

There would have to be some catches. Main quest dungeons would have to be left untouched, or dialog edited to reflect their now unknown location. I think the best option is to leave these dungeons alone. Sidequest dungeons would have to have the same options, but I think the second option is best for this. Overall, it would have to be looked at on a case by case basis. Then there's dungeon groups. We don't want someone opening a door to what is obviously a burial chamber only to find a cave with slaves in it, as opposed to ghosts. As such there would have to be separate instances of the script for each dungeon type.

 

If we go with the random number generated approach, it would add some data to the save file, as the number would have to be saved to avoid a player trying to come back to the dungeon, only to get teleported to a different one.

 

The overall goal of this mod would be to encourage dungeon campaigns, searching for good loot, rather than just going straight after all the various pieces of daedric (some of those are in dungeons right? It's been a long time since I've played Morrowind), as well as provide some break from the tedium.

 

An alternate approach would be to modify the dungeons to include a chest affected by a similar script. The chest (or chests maybe, depending on the workings of the script) would be attached to different item lists, that would be determined upon entering. Some of these lists would contain the epic loot (which consequently would have to be removed from wherever it is ingame), and there would be a list for each dungeon, to guarantee that upon playing a long enough time, one would find the loot they're looking for. Though, I would prefer the first approach I mentioned, as it would add more variety to the game (as players wouldn't know what dungeon they're getting, as opposed to just making the loot a surprise).

 

So is it possible? And is it worth doing? Any ideas on perhaps a less complicated alternate approach?