Skyrim - An Idea for a Major Conversion [ Alagaësia ]

[MCBM]

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?

 

Well I will answer your questions in the order you asked :)

 

1) The mod will most likely be set after the events of Inheritance. I understand that this would be the best choise as the other two ( like you already stated ) restrict us to a very meager ammount of choices. Linear storyline is not the goal, and as I'm sure you do too, I prefer the player to be free to do as he/she wishes.

 

 

As for the new Dragon Rider Order, I think that we could come up with an idea as to what place Eragon chose to set up. A city in the air is highly unlikely ( although cool ) since it would require a vast ammount of energy to keep it floating, and since that energy is taken from the body of the caster of the spell that makes this levitation possible, it would only make sense that whoever tried that would die.

 

Still we could say that Eragon found a way to get energy from the sun or from the air.. The matter is open for discussion.

 

 

2) At first I though of the player starting as a non-Dragon Rider. The Main Quest would eventually make him/her one, but in the mean-time I think that completing side quests would be a good alternative to jumping directly into the Main Quest ( I will elaborate on side quests in a bit )

 

So to sum-up I think the main quest would be something like that :

 

a) Start as a non-Rider ( probably as a prisoner. Bethesda has mastered the technique :P )

b) Be given an egg by the authorities as a candidate for the Riders.

c) The egg hatches, you are a Rider.

d)

You and your Dragon go to Eragon's Academy and are tought

 

e) You return to Alagaesia as a full fledged Rider to uphold the law

f) ....we will have to find a great danger for you to fight. Open for discussion.

 

3) The side quests are in my opinion the most obvious

 

The ideal thing would be to include hundreds of them.

 

For example a person would need a help here, a lord would give you a bounty there, Nasuada giving you an important assignment to wipe out remnants of Galbatorix's armies and of course the places Umaroth spoke of. The ideas can be endless.

 

4) As for the combat...

 

Dragonback combat is almost impossible, but you never know. Personally I'm no scriptwriter so I don't have any idea if it could be done. It sounds extremely complicated to me, however a skilled scriptwriter might be able to do it. That's why I requested scriptwriters to help me with this.

 

The swords can be made as they have always been made ( like in Oblivion ) so I suppose that is an easy thing to achieve. I think Tytanis has already achieved spears and lances, so it's possible.

 

As for the magic I was thinking about converting all magic to shouts + animation. Also the magic would draw from Health, not Magicka. And yes, translation is important. We can't have the Dragon Tongue be used in this. And in case we need more than three words in a shout then we simply create one sound for the entire shout. So it goes in one slot and we are set.

 

Finally, mages and warriors will have to be seperated. The easy way to do this, I suppose is to script most NPCs to always fight with their swords. That way we wont have to worry about magic. As for other NPCs , they can be scripted to fight only with magic. The Player, as a Rider will have access to both.

 

Unfortunately we can't create wizard's duels ( mind duels ). That's way too complicated.

 

I hope I've answered. If I've missed something, elaborate.

 

Thanks

[snakegpeo]

My idea would be the linear storyline from the books, while you have options to play the story of eragon, roran or murtaugh, I think it would be really nice to play it more often like this. Also there could be sidequests with things that Eragon in the books decided not to do, while in the game you still can. Also there could be located a few caves or dungeons that you could explore with some secrets inside. I think using the story of the books, you can still create a very good game, even if you know the outcome. I am definitely on for creating this amazing mod with you all.

[Darksun45230]

Sounds like an ambitious project with loads of potential and there are plenty of resources you want to take note from. Like I said a couple of weeks ago when another person suggested this project: Christopher Paolini is an author with good taste. Just look at all the things clever references he's made to other Fantasy novels.

 

http://aydee.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/eragon/

 

Why, if I were a modder I would be honored to recreate the world through Paolini's eyes. Good luck on your project!

[Caligrus]

Sounds like an ambitious project with loads of potential and there are plenty of resources you want to take note from. Like I said a couple of weeks ago when another person suggested this project: Christopher Paolini is an author with good taste. Just look at all the things clever references he's made to other Fantasy novels.

 

http://aydee.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/eragon/

 

Why, if I were a modder I would be honoured to recreate the world through Paolini's eyes. Good luck on your project!

 

That's the problem with this. Honestly, I like Paolini's world - I just wish it was less... derivative? And his writing is abysmal. Honestly, even if his books remained escapist trash, if he was at least decent at prose and slightly more original, his name wouldn't carry so much scorn as it does and as lovely as the anti-shurtugal community is, it wouldn't have to exist. And there wouldn't be the stigma surrounding such a project because the original incarnation was just so rubbish.

 

I guess having written "corrective" fanfic (or rather, anti-fanfic) for Paolini's world, I see the potential there. Just you'd have to be willing to make up your own lore, because his is lacking so much in depth and what little there is... er, stolen? And you'd also have to rehash the original characters completely into far more complex and interesting individuals, adding backstory and complexity and intrigue which wasn't there before. And of course, you'd need writers worth their salt.

 

Probably the reason this has come up so much is because Skyrim and the IC share a lot of superficial details. Dragons, elves, swords and sorcery, voice-activated magic, Empire vs. Rebel conflict... there's rather a lot to pick out there.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Caligrus

[snakegpeo]

I hate to admit it but you are right. There are some stupid things in the book, but i can feel a link between myself and the eragon character, I understand 99% of what he does and why he does it. I might have done a lot of things the same. I am merely an 18 year old lad, but i just love the series i cant help it. But i agree, we have to make the story more interresting, and give the characters more depth. Why dont you help us and create the ultimate inheritance mod that the books should be like. I still think it should stay the same story in rough lines though. (less rough than the movie, much less. Just more things added.) Edited December 30, 2011 by snakegpeo

[Jinxxed0]

I say take it one step at time. Taking on a giant project like this will get boring and discouraging eventually for you and anyone else on the team. Like maybe start with easier stuff and then tackle the harder stuff. A lot of people try making giant mods like this, but end up just stopping and never returning.

[Caligrus]

A side-quest idea:

 

 

 

Galbatorix is actually alive. No, this isn't as bad as it sounds:

 

> Galbatorix, after his death, literally disappears with an explosion, and nothing is left. You never see his body. What "actually happened" was an attempt on Galbatorix's part to teleport himself out of the fray, which backfired and broke his mind.

> You, the hero, are travelling in a remote part of the country - fairly uninteresting - where a few townsfolk talk of nightmares/visions they've been having, and odd magical occurrences. You are given the suggestion to explore an old ruin/barrow/fort/whatever.

> Galbatorix is actually living in this dungeon. He's pretty weak - no eldunari - and really insane. And I mean actually insane - his mind is clearly not in the right place - incredibly unpredictable, suffers frequent delusions and horribly in denial about his previous self. He has broken memories, and can't recall much of magic either (he definitely can't recall the name of the Ancient Language). He's basically a minor enemy in this state.

> What you'll be battling against in this dungeon is a re-imagined and glorified version of his palace in the Empire's heydey, on the night of celebration - perhaps his birthday, it's ego-centric enough, isn't it? Each room will be filled with monsters/puzzles related to his fragile mental state, his weaknesses, and involve flashbacks to his life at different points, and reveal a lot about Galbatorix's insecurities and rather... broken state. These will grow more twisted and dark as you progress.

> Eventually, you'll find Galbatorix sitting on his throne. He is quite fast, but as soon as you hit the man himself, he'll kneel down (as an unkillable NPC does once defeated), and you'll find yourself standing in a dusty, shabby room, talking to an old man in rags. You have a choice:

> 1. Kill him.

> 2. Help him.

 

1. You obviously get cash/his stuff + nice weapon/armour of some kind.

2. Galbatorix wants you to steal his old crown/old cloak/some kind of comfort object. This will also open an amusing dialogue option for a while where you can say to certain important NPCs (Queen Nasuada, King Orrin, Queen Arya, Eragon, etc.) that Galbatorix is alive - and they'll all laugh at you, accuse you of being mad. Anyway, you find a 'fake crown' which is obviously broken/rusting and belongs to someone in the town the quest is set in - you can steal it or buy it cheap. Return to Galbatorix, and you get nice spell of some kind + chance to have Galby as a follower. He's more powerful than he is when you face him, but nowhere near his state as King.

 

 

It would nice to have quests where you go into the resting place of each Forsworn, similar to this. They'd sort of be an equivalent of the Daedric quests in content - slightly eccentric, slightly different, and not your usual Here's an arbitrary problem -> Clear out dungeon -> Reward.

[MCBM]

My idea would be the linear storyline from the books, while you have options to play the story of eragon, roran or murtaugh, I think it would be really nice to play it more often like this. Also there could be sidequests with things that Eragon in the books decided not to do, while in the game you still can. Also there could be located a few caves or dungeons that you could explore with some secrets inside. I think using the story of the books, you can still create a very good game, even if you know the outcome. I am definitely on for creating this amazing mod with you all.

 

A linear storyline might be appealing to some, but not to all. Personally I prefer a non-Linear storyline as do most of TES players since The Elder Scrolls, as a series of games are renowned for their non-Linear stories. If we were to create Eragon's, Roran's or Murtaugh's stories, and add stuff that never happened then it wouldn't be their story at all...

 

I propose we leave Eragon, Roran and Murtaugh be and proceed to expand their world. ( of course I plan to include them in the mod, but not as the main characters. For example Roran will be the Earl of Palancar Valley, living on his castle. Murtaugh could be a teacher in Eragon's City and Eragon...well, he is the Grandmaster of the Riders )

 

Sounds like an ambitious project with loads of potential and there are plenty of resources you want to take note from. Like I said a couple of weeks ago when another person suggested this project: Christopher Paolini is an author with good taste. Just look at all the things clever references he's made to other Fantasy novels.

 

http://aydee.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/eragon/

 

Why, if I were a modder I would be honored to recreate the world through Paolini's eyes. Good luck on your project!

 

Thanks a lot for the info :)

 

If you want you can assist as a voice actor and will be fully credited in the end, of course

 

That's the problem with this. Honestly, I like Paolini's world - I just wish it was less... derivative? And his writing is abysmal. Honestly, even if his books remained escapist trash, if he was at least decent at prose and slightly more original, his name wouldn't carry so much scorn as it does and as lovely as the anti-shurtugal community is, it wouldn't have to exist. And there wouldn't be the stigma surrounding such a project because the original incarnation was just so rubbish.

 

I guess having written "corrective" fanfic (or rather, anti-fanfic) for Paolini's world, I see the potential there. Just you'd have to be willing to make up your own lore, because his is lacking so much in depth and what little there is... er, stolen? And you'd also have to rehash the original characters completely into far more complex and interesting individuals, adding backstory and complexity and intrigue which wasn't there before. And of course, you'd need writers worth their salt.

 

Probably the reason this has come up so much is because Skyrim and the IC share a lot of superficial details. Dragons, elves, swords and sorcery, voice-activated magic, Empire vs. Rebel conflict... there's rather a lot to pick out there.

 

Yeah, that is the main reason I picked Skyrim for this mod.

 

I have to agree with you on the fact that Paolini might have "borrowed" a few stuff from other great writers but his world is still very interresting and that's the reason I am proposing this mod.

 

Of course, I plan to add more depth to the lore and reveal more facts about certain characters ( such as Angela ).

 

As for Paolini not giving much depth to his story..well he said that most questions would be answered on a future Alagaësia based book ( or book 5 as some people call it ).

 

I say take it one step at time. Taking on a giant project like this will get boring and discouraging eventually for you and anyone else on the team. Like maybe start with easier stuff and then tackle the harder stuff. A lot of people try making giant mods like this, but end up just stopping and never returning.

 

Don't worry, this is just the announcement thread :D I plan to follow the good example of the Tamriel Rebuilt Team and make the mod in Parts. This way it will be much better and much more complete. And the milestones we will set will give us some rest.

 

Thanks for the warning

 

A side-quest idea:

 

 

 

Galbatorix is actually alive. No, this isn't as bad as it sounds:

 

> Galbatorix, after his death, literally disappears with an explosion, and nothing is left. You never see his body. What "actually happened" was an attempt on Galbatorix's part to teleport himself out of the fray, which backfired and broke his mind.

> You, the hero, are travelling in a remote part of the country - fairly uninteresting - where a few townsfolk talk of nightmares/visions they've been having, and odd magical occurrences. You are given the suggestion to explore an old ruin/barrow/fort/whatever.

> Galbatorix is actually living in this dungeon. He's pretty weak - no eldunari - and really insane. And I mean actually insane - his mind is clearly not in the right place - incredibly unpredictable, suffers frequent delusions and horribly in denial about his previous self. He has broken memories, and can't recall much of magic either (he definitely can't recall the name of the Ancient Language). He's basically a minor enemy in this state.

> What you'll be battling against in this dungeon is a re-imagined and glorified version of his palace in the Empire's heydey, on the night of celebration - perhaps his birthday, it's ego-centric enough, isn't it? Each room will be filled with monsters/puzzles related to his fragile mental state, his weaknesses, and involve flashbacks to his life at different points, and reveal a lot about Galbatorix's insecurities and rather... broken state. These will grow more twisted and dark as you progress.

> Eventually, you'll find Galbatorix sitting on his throne. He is quite fast, but as soon as you hit the man himself, he'll kneel down (as an unkillable NPC does once defeated), and you'll find yourself standing in a dusty, shabby room, talking to an old man in rags. You have a choice:

> 1. Kill him.

> 2. Help him.

 

1. You obviously get cash/his stuff + nice weapon/armour of some kind.

2. Galbatorix wants you to steal his old crown/old cloak/some kind of comfort object. This will also open an amusing dialogue option for a while where you can say to certain important NPCs (Queen Nasuada, King Orrin, Queen Arya, Eragon, etc.) that Galbatorix is alive - and they'll all laugh at you, accuse you of being mad. Anyway, you find a 'fake crown' which is obviously broken/rusting and belongs to someone in the town the quest is set in - you can steal it or buy it cheap. Return to Galbatorix, and you get nice spell of some kind + chance to have Galby as a follower. He's more powerful than he is when you face him, but nowhere near his state as King.

 

 

It would nice to have quests where you go into the resting place of each Forsworn, similar to this. They'd sort of be an equivalent of the Daedric quests in content - slightly eccentric, slightly different, and not your usual Here's an arbitrary problem -> Clear out dungeon -> Reward.

 

 

Hmm this sounds like a main-quest to me. Still it's pretty intriguing. However I think that Paolini made it rather clear that old Galby is dead. I mean he shouted "Be not!". Killed himself, or made himself non-existent. Maybe that's why he disappeared. Still it's a great idea. And the element of choice would add more appeal to the mod itself.

 

[snakegpeo]

we can say that he altered the meaning of Be not with the name of the ancient language, so he actually teleported himself instead of killing himself. Or am i thinking in the wrong direction?

[Caligrus]

Naw, that's fine. I tend to be hit by the most random ideas and get overexcited - I should probably slow down. We should probably focus on making some tester mods in the Skyrim game - so tweaking the magic system, and making shouts learnable from spellbooks, etc. Then perhaps try to recreate a small quest/dungeon in the Skyrim world. Then create our own world, without any quests or anything - just infrastructure and some NPCs. Then obviously we place in the main quest, and other questlines come in after that - it'd be a huge WIP, I imagine, and constantly expanding.

 

I think if we were to involve Galby, it'd be lame to have him in the main quest. Mainly because we've seen enough of him already XD

Edited December 30, 2011 by Caligrus