Skyrim - An Idea for a Major Conversion [ Alagaësia ]

[MCBM]

Hello everyone.

 

I had an idea after I finished reading "Inheritance", the 4th book of Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle. As a TES fan ( ever since I gained a PC ) I couldn't pass on Skyrim, so I bought it the first chance I got, and while playing, I couldn't help but notice the potential the game had to be the host of an Alagaësia mod.

 

For those that don't know, I will briefly explain the basics about Alagaësia ( spoilered to conserve space ).

 

 

Alagaësia is a continent in which the Inheritance Cycle [ Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance] takes place. This is it's map:

 

 

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080511175008/inheritance/images/thumb/4/49/Alagaesia.jpg/687px-Alagaesia.jpg

 

 

The races present within this world are thus : The Dragons who live pretty much everywhere, Men who occupy the plains, Elves who live in Du Weldenvarden, Urgals who live in the Spine, and the Dwarves who live under the Beor Mountains.

 

Magic is totally existent as are various religions.

 

Once a year, the dragons give two eggs to the various races and the dragons within them chose a person to become their Rider. The Dragon Riders are the main policing force which keeps the peace in cities and manage the impossible, keeping evil at bay.

 

 

So the idea is this ( also spoilered )

 

 

It occured to me that an Alagaësia mod could be made with the Creation Kit. Skyrim is, in fact, the ideal game for such a mod.

 

In Inheritance, releasing magic happens through speaking words of the Ancient Language and Skyrim has a built-in Voice System. All it would take is replacing the Words of the Dragon Tongue with Words of Power. Luckily, Christopher Paolini has provided us with a glossary which has a lot of words.

 

Also, it only makes sense that since dragons already exist in Skyrim, mods will be created to make them mountable ( if it hasn't happened already ). Thus Dragon Riders are easy to create, I think. Plus, Dragons in Skyrim can talk, and are intelligent, something which is a big plus.

 

Creating Alagaësia through mapping is very possible ( except perhaps for the Beor Mountains ) though it would take time.

 

The system should also allow us to create quests and a storyline which will most likely be set after the events of Inheritance with many references to past events so that anyone could play.

 

What I am requesting is a team. A team of modders willing to assist me in creating this world

 

I would need:

 

1) Script editors ( either one, two or three of them so as to make dragons mountable, and add more scripts to adjust the magic )

2) People that will work on quests. I can do that too but I could use even more people ( the more quests the better ).

3) Map Editors are necessary to create Alagaesia itself. I am mainly a Map Editor but Alagaesia is too big for just me to do the job. 10 of us would be the ideal number to make the job much faster, however any number is acceptable.

4) Voice Actors : well, I think anyone can do that as long as they are believable. Accents are not rejected I think they would be very suitable for the various races.

5) Modelers to create meshes ( such as armor, buildings, weapons, etc etc )

6) Texture makers to create textures for the weapons, armor, etc ( to complete the Modellers' work )

7) Animators

 

The rest will be the work of Skyrim's own engine :)

 

I hope this will be of interest to some people. I understand that this is no easy project, but any help would be much appreciated :)

 

 

Unfortunately due to my school duties I will initially only help with Quest Writing and voice acting if possible. But after mid June I will be totally free :)

 

Following is a list of the Current Team Members

 

 

• MCBM - Leader, Voice Actor, Quest Writer, Map Editor
  
• Niko Enko - Quest Writer, Voice Actor, more to come
  
• Snakegpeo - Quest writer, Map Editor, Voice Actor
  
• Brunnwag II - Quest writer, Map Editor, more to come
  
• AnonDraco - Script Writer, probably more to come
  
• Urwy - Modeler, Texture Maker
  
• kirk112 - Texture Maker, Voice Actor, more to come
  
• iiNNeX - Texture Maker, Voice Actor, Forum Maker
  
• Raziel - Map Editor, Miscellaneous
  
• AnswerMan - Texture Maker, Modeler, Voice Actor
  
• AspenShadow - Script Writer, Map Editor, Voice Actor
  
• RenownedWolfman - Script Writer, Map Editor, Quest Writer, Modeler, Voice Actor
  
• xXActedXx - Quest Writer, Voice Actor
  
• saker227 - Script Writer, Quest Writer
  
• blazingsentinal - Quest Writer, Voice Actor, Junior Modeler
  
• VanTehMan - Quest Writer
  
• jierda - Quest Writer
  
• Barrett712 - Quest Writer, Voice Actor
  
• Dauthleikr Arget - Modeller
  
• Matttt - Quest Writer, Voice Actor
  
• Jonix - Map Editor,Texture Maker, Modeller
  
• assassinator971 - Map Editor, Voice Actor
  
• Zetabyte - Voice Actor, Music Composer
  

 

 

Also, follow our progress here ( more options will be opened as soon as we begin work )

 

 

• Things we have decided on
  
• AnonDraco's Progress ( Models }
  
• Urwy's Progress ( Textures )
  

 

 

The project is underway, good luck to us :D

 

We are still recruiting.

 

Thanks a lot in advance,

MCBM

 

Join the Discussion on The Inheritance Forums. Team Members will be added from both sites.( My nickname there is Constantinus )

 

JOIN OUR FORUM HERE

Edited February 5, 2012 by MCBM

[ALittleBird]

You know about this mod? http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/480585-dragon-riders-of-skyrim-an-eragoninheritance-based-mod/page__p__3932547__hl__inheritance__fromsearch__1#entry3932547

Maybe you could work together, or something, to make the best Eragon mod (I'm an Inheritance fan myself), I don't know. Although I believe his mod aims to get Dragonriders and quests involving them as a mod, and you aim to remake the whole of Alagaesia. But just pointing out his mod is there.

[MCBM]

hmm no I didn't know about this. However, his plan is working this mod in Tamriel. I was thinking about Alagaësia.

 

I will however speak to him. See if he wants to join me, or me him, we'll see.

 

Thanks for directing me :)

Edited December 26, 2011 by MCBM

[bowlofPetunias]

How do you plan to account for the fact that shouts are totally different than words of power? Words have no cooldown, and would draw from stamina or health. I vote health, as it would be easier for the modder (abolish magicka, make spells draw from health, boost either spell power or health pool to rebalance) and fits with Inheritance lore better. People become weak and frail, and sickly(See Cairn in the siege of Aroughs, after casting his large fireball). In addition, people die when they overdraw from their pool of whatever. NPC spellcasters would have to stop casting after loosing a certain amount of health, so you would have to re-work their AI. Also, if you want to turn words into shouts, you're going to have to abolish unlocking, turn up dragon frequency, or unlock multiple shouts(words) with a single soul. At the same time, spells have a lot more than 3 words, they're usually a sentence or more in Inheritance, so I dunno how you're going to deal with that issue. I can't do anything on that list besides voice acting, and I'm not up for that. I'm just throwing it some mechanics ideas, trying to help a bit.

[MCBM]

How do you plan to account for the fact that shouts are totally different than words of power? Words have no cooldown, and would draw from stamina or health. I vote health, as it would be easier for the modder (abolish magicka, make spells draw from health, boost either spell power or health pool to rebalance) and fits with Inheritance lore better. People become weak and frail, and sickly(See Cairn in the siege of Aroughs, after casting his large fireball). In addition, people die when they overdraw from their pool of whatever. NPC spellcasters would have to stop casting after loosing a certain amount of health, so you would have to re-work their AI. Also, if you want to turn words into shouts, you're going to have to abolish unlocking, turn up dragon frequency, or unlock multiple shouts(words) with a single soul. At the same time, spells have a lot more than 3 words, they're usually a sentence or more in Inheritance, so I dunno how you're going to deal with that issue. I can't do anything on that list besides voice acting, and I'm not up for that. I'm just throwing it some mechanics ideas, trying to help a bit.

 

Heh, you're in my head. That's exactly what I was thinking myself, although I had first thought about magic ( shouts ) drawing power from Stamina, though directly drawing from health is a better idea ( it helps that Skyrim has a system in which health slowly regenerates. )

 

I think that abolishing magicka is not going to be so hard. What might be hard is abolishing the magic menu altogether. The mod has got to be centered around shouts ( like Brom said in Eragon, your power is only limited by your body and your knowledge of the ancient language ). I think Spell Tomes could be remade into Dictionaries which will contain Words of Power abolishing Dragon souls at the same time, and making shouts available as soon as the player learns them.

 

As for NSCs dying from overcasting, well most spells will be instantaneous ( such as thunderbolt, or ice spike ) so that they won't draw health continuously. I think that with a script, NPCs can be stopped from using magic when it will kill them. Besides, not all NPCs are will be mages. The player will have to be though, since he/she will become a Dragon Rider.

 

As for words of power that are very long, we can bypass them, since they are not really useful. For Instance in Teirm Eragon uses the words "Thverr Stenr un atra eka horna" which means "Traverse stone so that I may hear". He used to eavesdrop on Brom. I don't think that such a spell could be useful in the game. Most spells that are useful have like one or two words. For example "Brisingr" can replace "Yol" for Fire. Or "Reisa" can be used to add a telekinesis shout. "Adurna" for "Water" or "Jeirda" for "Hit/Break".

 

Thanks for your help in giving me ideas, I hope I've elaborated :)

[bowlofPetunias]

This is very ambitious, good luck! I hope I've helped somewhat, and I hope it goes well for you.

[MCBM]

Thanks a lot :)

[snakegpeo]

Hey, ive been thinking about this too and i wanted to create the entire map of alagaesia to be able to travel to, and eventually play the entire story with quests and cutscenes. Also the shouting system would be expanded. I currently use Thu'mic which you can use your own voice for shouting. So for Yol, i put in Istalri, and for the final word of firebreath i put in Brisingr. And for unrelenting force 1 2 and 3 i put in: Stydja, Thrysta and Jierda. I also think in alagaesia you shouldn't get the words from slaying dragons, because it isnt very often that it happens in the books. I think it should be passed on from Brom, Oromis and from scrolls. I think this game has lots of potential. I need a crew to be able to create the entire world, to include all that is in the books. We should stay in contact. Edited December 28, 2011 by snakegpeo

[MCBM]

Hey, ive been thinking about this too and i wanted to create the entire map of alagaesia to be able to travel to, and eventually play the entire story with quests and cutscenes. Also the shouting system would be expanded. I currently use Thu'mic which you can use your own voice for shouting. So for Yol, i put in Istalri, and for the final word of firebreath i put in Brisingr. And for unrelenting force 1 2 and 3 i put in: Stydja, Thrysta and Jierda. I also think in alagaesia you shouldn't get the words from slaying dragons, because it isnt very often that it happens in the books. I think it should be passed on from Brom, Oromis and from scrolls. I think this game has lots of potential. I need a crew to be able to create the entire world, to include all that is in the books. We should stay in contact.

 

Yep that's my general idea, and I plan to make it happen. Can you help in any way? I need as many people as possible. Read above for the details :)

 

Thanks in advance!

[Caligrus]

Wondering how this would work.

 

1. What time period would it be set in?

 

Before the Fall, during the books, or after the books? The first might be unpopular because of limited cameos (you'd be restricted to Brom, Morzan, Galbatorix, and Oromis, and their dragons... that's really about it). The second one might be difficult because of plotting (unless you would go through the main quest as Eragon, but that would deny the whole point of having an RPG as opposed to any other genre of game - Skyrim is great because you can do anything and no one is telling you what to do or who to be; you make up your own character). The third option might also be unpopular because of Inheritance spoilers, although by the time it comes out, I doubt that'll matter.

 

 

And obviously, for the third option, the actual dragon rider Order itself exists outside of Alagaesia. How would you manage that? (A city in the sky would be a really cool idea, thinking about it... it could be, like at the end of the main quest, an area which you can only fly to via dragon.

 

 

2. What would the main quest be?

 

I'd presume you'd take up the role of a Dragon Rider and go from there, and choose races from the books. If you're not setting it in Eragon's time in the books, then you'd have to think up a completely different plot, with a new villain - possibly a shade Rider, or something completely original? You'd possibly have to make things up, since the IC's lore isn't as wide-reaching and as detailed as something like LotR or Star Wars. I think it'd be also good if you

 

3. What would the side quests be?

 

I think a good idea would be following different canon characters and having several of those linked in. For example:

 

 

At the end of Inheritance, Umaroth warns Murtagh that he should avoid:

 

1. The barrows of Anghelm, where the one and only Urgal king, Kulkarvek, lies in state.

2. The ruins of Vroengard and El-harim

3. The deeps, where the ground grows black and brittle and the air smells of brimstone, "for in those places evil lurks".

 

All of those would be great ideas for side quests, methinks. A quest-line which involves tracking down Murtagh would be fun as well, although he's - like the new Rider Order - hanging around 'off map' and so new landscape would have to be planned and invented around that.

 

I also think that since there was no romantic resolution for anyone really at the end of the series, there would a few short side-quests where you could 'resolve' that - or perhaps, if you choose, defy canon completely, and place unlikely characters together. Or you could obviously marry single canon characters.

 

 

4. How on earth would combat work?

 

You'd need to come up with dragon-back combat. Which'd be difficult to code, since you lack combat on horseback as it is. You'd need new weapons to do that effectively - swords are too short - you'd need something with reach like a halberd or a glaive or a lance (lances tend to be one-use only weapons though), as well as bows + magic.

 

You could also translate some already existing Skyrim illusion/alteration spells and shouts which you only tend to use once into longer phrases. So like, Kyne's Peace could be turned into your typical 'I am a dragon rider and mean you no harm' that they tend to use to calm animals & mother nature down. You'd just change the magic-animation into a phrase said aloud.

 

Aside from that, since you can use most magic and combat simultaneously, would choosing between being a mage and a warrior and a thief be somewhat arbitrary?