SSE Skyrim Randomizer

[aozgolo]

Following from the idea of randomizers used on games like Legend of Zelda, a Skyrim Randomizer would randomize the rewards you get from certain locations at the start of a new game to create a fresh experience. I've listed a few ideas for things that could be randomized:

 

SHOUTS: Word Walls would still appear in the same locations but the shout you get from them would be randomized. There would be a few exceptions where certain shouts are required to beat a certain dungeon or complete a story check (such as Bleak Falls Barrow Unrelenting Force Shout) but it would create a more interesting and dynamic experience to never know which shout you are going to find next.

 

DRAGON PRIESTS: Still appearing in the same locations as before, the Dragon Priests would now be randomized which in turn allows the dragon priest masks to be randomized as well.

 

DAEDRIC ARTIFACTS: When completing a Daedric Quest, you are now given a random Daedric Artifact instead of the one specifically tied to that Daedric Lord.

 

STANDING STONES: Randomized Standing Stones means you may find the Serpent stone where the Warrior stone is or the Atronach Stone where the Lady Stone is, and so on, etc.

 

HOUSECARLS: Lydia may be the Housecarl for the Rift, Calder may be the Housecarl for Falkreath, and so on.

 

MINES: The Iron Mine may now be an Ebony Mine, and the Glass Mine might be a Corundum Mine

 

BOOKS: In places where it is known a valuable skill book is always located may now contain a completely different skill-book.

 

OTHER: This can of course be theoretically applied to any unique item, activator, NPC, location, or enemy that's not just a levelled spawn/list.

 

 

 

Considerations: The most important part in making a randomizer is knowing which things to exclude from the randomization, these would be things that would break the game and make it unwinnable, either by preventing you from accessing a certain place or completing a necessary story check (particularly early game). Another good thing to have is options, it's best if it's a modular randomizer and either each part is separate or lets you toggle on/off what you want randomized. You also want to be careful to not remove anything from the game, only randomize where you acquire it at, so you would for example still want all 13 Standing Stones to exist, and not have any duplicates, just rearrange which one is where.

 

This mod would also be considered potentially lore-breaking, particularly in Daedric Artifacts where it wouldn't make sense for example to have Meridia in possession of The Ring of Namira, or in the Azura quest where the artifact itself is central to the story, not to mention most Daedric Lords have voiced lines mentioning the gift they are giving you so all story cues would have to be ignored for the Daedric Randomizer

 

I honestly know nothing of scripting so I have no idea how a randomizer would even work to begin with or if it has limitations within the Creation Engine but I know it wouldn't be the same process randomizing something like a specific item vs. a word wall vs. a standing stone vs. a housecarl/companion vs. a mine, I am sure they all would have to be done a separate kind of way, some being harder than others, and some with special considerations (such as map markers for Standing Stones).

 

You could theoretically even create brand new locations to shuffle these items/activators into to make them even more hidden but for the sake of compatibility it would be best to stick with known locations, so it's not about "finding" the item so much as it is not knowing which item you might get.

[thumbincubation]

I have no idea how to do this, but it sounds like a fun idea. I have always wanted a random character creator, except changeable things like hair and facial hair, war paint, etc. Start the game, deal with whatever race you are, whatever power, starting spells, resistances, etc.