[WIP]/(Casting Call) Immersive Quests

[Matthiaswagg]

 
 

If you want to join the team, see the If You Want To Help section! We urgently need modelers and texturers, but we're also looking for more level designers.

If you're any good at this sort of thing and interested, feel free to make a better icon/symbol for Immersive Quests and email it to me at matthiaswagg@gmail.com.

 

 

 

 

Immersive Quests will add new and unique quests to the game. It is not a mod that will add "filler quests" that are simply fetch quests or bandit bounty quests. Immersive Quests focuses on quality over quantity, which means fully, quality voice-acted quests with engaging plots and often uniquely textured rewards. Wherever possible, there will be new dungeons, some made with custom meshes and textures. Immersive Quests will be built to be as compatible as possible, but it also focuses on fully integrating into the game so the quests feel like they were there from release. In short, Immersive Quests will add more "big" quests to Skyrim like Blood On Ice or A Night to Remember.

My own personal motivation for this mod is Skyrim's own quests. In my opinion, most of them aren't all that great, and are more like filler quests. This is not me bashing the devs, or Skyrim, because both are amazing. I am simply of the opinion that Oblivion had better quests, as a whole, than Skyrim. So I'm attempting to bring an Oblivion-esque feel to the quests I'm adding, by following the guidelines below.
 
Immersive Quests is very much a work-in-progress. I began to work on it prior to buying a new computer, and I had completed about 5 quests by then, within about two months. While it may seem like a long time, I was still learning about the Creation Kit and Skyrim's new modding system. I lost my backups after getting a new computer, so I have decided to start again. Hopefully, I'll be able to release the first version of Immersive Quests within a few months. The first version will have at least a dozen quests that are fully polished, so the release date is subject to change.
 
If you're wondering what I'm going to base my quests on, here are my guidelines:
 

• Good dialogue. While there will be voice acting, and I'm looking for good voice acting, even the best voice actor can't make awful dialogue sound good. Well, maybe some of you can, but I don't want to make that necessary.
• Details, details, details. I try to put as much details into my quests as possible, to make them more immersive and real. Even the smallest ones can make it that much more interesting, say, having the questgiver put his old sword you retrieved for him on the wall.
• Freedom of choice. Wherever possible, I'm going to let the player do what they want. Do you want to kill the questgiver midway through the quest? Okay. Do that. You might even be able to still complete the quest, sometimes. Here's an example: You kill the questgiver before he's given you the information to find an ancient and expensive relic. But if you search around his house, you find his diary, so you can still go complete the quest and get the relic! This allows for many more options, and better replayability.
• Intriguing, engaging storylines. I want my quests to be interesting. And that means good storylines, with the proper plot twists and suspense. But not just the generic plot twist of "Go find this guy, and oh, look - he's dead." Something different. 
• Moral dilemmas. It might not always matter to you, since you might not be an RPer, but I want to make the storylines somewhat ambiguous wherever possible, to make the player choose. A good example of this was Saadia's quest - you never really know which choice was right. Or Two Sides of a Coin in Oblivion. 
• Believable characters. I'm going to make all the characters as believable as possible. They all have good traits, and downfalls. No one is truly evil. This also ties into the above point - even if the storyline itself isn't morally ambiguous, the characters will be believable enough that you might not want to kill them. And if you don't? See point 3.
• Not just kill/fetch quests. While I will have some more elaborate and interesting kill and fetch quests (not just "kill him and I'll give you gold"), I want to make some other types too. Think of the party that you can go to in the main quest, where Delphine takes you. Some quests like that. It's not all about killing.
   

If you've got anything you think I should add to this list, tell me. It might affect all the quests I'll be making. What do you think makes a good quest?
 
Something else to note is that I'm going to make there be no quest markers by default, but you can turn them on if you want. (Via SkyUI MCM if you have SkyUI, otherwise by the console.)

 
 

 
While I've got plenty of ideas for quests, I'd appreciate you guys suggesting more, and helping revise and polish my current ones, not least of which is thinking of better names. If you're suggesting a new quest, please try not to give an idea that exceeds the size of the entire main quest series . Seriously, don't do that. I won't make it. Just keep the size around that of Blood on Ice, and it should be good. So far, these are my ideas (I'll add yours once you suggest them, or revise them):
 
Beware of spoilers! When this mod comes out, I will be using many of these quest ideas, so know that some of these will spoil the quests for you.
 
The Cost of Revenge (Author: Matthiaswagg)
This is the quest I'm currently working on, so if you want to suggest something, do it quickly!

You meet an old warrior named Joric Ironbeard in the Drunken Huntsman. He asks you for his help, and you can either refuse him or accept. During this initial conversation to start the quest, I've made it so this initial conversation changes depending on how you react to him, as well as a few subsequent conversations. The conversation can go a few ways, even with a chance to earn extra gold. He asks you to help him kill the former members of his bandit group, who tried to kill him (and thought they succeeded) many years ago. They've found out he's alive and intend to kill him. Should you accept, he asks you to meet with his contact, Aydron, at the Dead Man's Drink in Falkreath. Once you meet Aydron, he tells you that he only knows the location of one of Joric's enemies. He's a bandit leader hiding out near Falkreath. He tells you the general location Morn's bandits are at, and you have to go find him in his custom dungeon. You kill him and his bandits, and find a note saying Morn should meet with a Khajiit named Zar'roc (voiced by River Kanoff) in Riften. You go to the meeting place, where you are ambushed by the Khajiit. You kill him, and return to Aydron for your pay. Aydron tells you that there is one last person he needs you to kill - an Argonian named Rune-Tale (a nod to this amazing Oblivion mod) in the Windhelm docks. You go there, where you have a conversation with Rune who desperately tells you the story Joric told you was a lie. He says that Zar'roc and Morn were working with Joric to steal and kill for money, but Joric clearly wanted all the money for himself, which is why he killed Zar'roc and Morn, and now he's going after Rune because Rune refused Joric's offer to help.
 
You can either choose to kill Rune and return to Joric for some gold and a one-handed warhammer (same texture, but smaller and using all one-handed animations), return to Joric, lie to him about Rune (speech check) and return to Rune for a reward, or kill Joric and return to Rune for a reward (a new spell learned and some gems he'd been saving).
 
Of course, you can also kill Joric or Aydron early on in the quest. If you kill Aydron, Joric will attack you when he next sees you. If you kill Joric before accepting his quest, or after refusing him any amount of times, you can find a note on him talking about Rune. You can then go meet Rune who'll explain the story to you, and then reward you. Morn and Zar'roc will have fled upon hearing of Joric's death, fearing the same fate.

Caught in the Backstreets (Author: Matthiaswagg Editor: AirtightSpring3)
This quest is sort of a nod to the Orum Gang from Oblivion.

In a certain city (Solitude), you'll be approached by an old Breton man. He claims you are his friend, and while clearly crazy, asks you to follow him. You can refuse, and he'll curse at you and then run off, or you can agree to follow him. He leads you into a deserted alley (sketchy), where you are jumped by a gang of Orcs. They knock you out, take all your stuff and stuff you in a jail cell next to that of some other people in an old abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. (There will also have been a paper about missing persons that I'll place into a few locations in the city.) You can pick the jail cell door and sneak out, trick one of the guard's into opening the door and knock him out, then either sneak out or fight your way out, or you can try to bash down the door and fight your way out (obviously, you wouldn't be able to sneak out after that). On your way out, you might hear some conversations about what the gang does. Apparently, they're a gang of skooma dealers, but they're trying to make a stronger and more addictive variant of skooma and they're testing it on the other prisoners. Once you get out (and optionally, get your stuff, though it's probably a good idea, though you can still get it once the quest is over by talking to the city guard or going back in, if you didn't take out the gang), you can either go to the city guard, or decide to take the gang out by yourself. Or just leave them alone, in which case a new brand of skooma will be distributed throughout Skyrim. If you decide to take them out, then you need to find out where there actual hideout is, since the one you were trapped in was where they kept their prisoners. You may have picked up a helpful note while in the hideout, but if you didn't you have to go back in and get it. Then, if you go to the city guard, you get to storm the actual hideout with them, or you can go in on your own. There won't be any unique rewards, but lots of gold and (I hope) uniquely textured skooma bottles. Afterwards, not too many people will acknowledge what you did, since the city guard wanted to keep it secret, but the prisoners you freed may present you with gifts if you're in town.

 
The Engineer (Author: AirtightSpring3, Editor: Matthiaswagg, AirtightSpring3)
Thanks to Airtight for the idea!

There is a Dunmer man (Orilin Sandai) in Markarth staying at the Silverblood Inn. He's an expert on all things Dwemer, and he came to Markarth after discovering something that leads him to believe there may be living Dwemer living in the depths of Nchuand-Zel, likely in a previously unexplored area. He asks the player to look into it for him, and if you can, bring back whatever's down there, in return for gold and a hybrid Dwemer sword (half-Dwarven, half another material - stronger and more flexible). So the player goes down into Nchuand-Zel, and finds a new area. There, you find some new Dwemer automatons (this resource?)and fight through them, and then find an old man who calls himself the Engineer. He's a bit insane, but he's managed to find the secret of creating new Dwemer artifacts (correct me if I'm wrong, but no one's been able to do this before - only weapons, right?). He asks you to help him find some things in parts of Nchuand-Zel, and you can either accept or tell him he needs to come back with you to Orilin, in which case he'll say if you help him he'll go with you. You can decide to kill him at any point during this and loot his lab/engineering area which will have some Dwemer artifacts, broken automatons and maybe a little Dwemer mudcrab follower. So you help him, and then return to him. You tell him to come back with you, or you can say he'll stay, in which case he'll offer his rewards. If you say to come back, then he'll beg you to lie about there being nothing to Orilin. If you force him to come back, he'll run and you'll have to chase him through his lab, where broken automatons will come to life. Then you kill him and return to Orilin, where you can say you found nothing and get the reward if Orilin believes you (only get the gold - not the hybrid sword), or Orilin won't believe you/you say that you found the Engineer but he died, and Orilin will give you no reward. If you help the Engineer, then you go back to Orilin and say there was nothing there in which case you get just the gold ,or fail the speech check in which case Orilin will get the truth out of you and return to his association. Then they'll go and retrieve the Engineer, and take all the stuff from his workshop, though you'll find some dead bodies killed by the Engineer's automatons. However, if you convince the Engineer to give you one of the automatons he made - one that's malfunctioning, then you can bring that back to the Engineer in return for the whole reward, saying there was nothing but this broken automaton and some Falmer, and then you can go back to the Engineer for his reward. If you succeeded in lying (the Engineer will know because he was watching you with a Dwemer automaton), then you can return to the Engineer and he'll give you one of the following rewards, depending on your choice.
 
A Dwemer Steam Horse (fully rideable - I'm thinking of using this resource, but I want to give it a custom texture - see the If You Want to Help part)
A Dwemer Mudcrab Follower (using this resource, though I want to make it controllable which I think I can do but might need a bit of help with)
A Dwemer Sniper Bow (using this mod - I have permissions)
 
If you have any revisions, say so in the comments.

 
Disrupted Service (maybe Lost at Sea - sounds cooler but makes less sense?) (Author: Matthiaswagg)

On the road from Markarth to Windhelm (a long road, I know - probably around where Ivarstead is), you find the dead body of a courier. On him is a large package, as well as a note from the courier service he was working for saying where he needs to deliver the package. It doesn't say the contents. You can choose to open it immediately, and fail the quest, gaining the item inside (a custom mesh/texture cutlass, if possible - I might use this mod if I can't have somebody make one, as well as a unique meshed and textured Elven Shield), or you can decide to deliver the package to the original owner, a renowned Dunmer ship captain named Saerileth Rae. Despite being a Dark Elf, he had worked years to become one of the best ship captains around, so he was well-known and respected even in Windhelm, even though some hated him. Should you decide to deliver the package, you are met at the entrance to Windhelm by a teenage boy. He says he's been paid money to tell you to meet Saerileth Rae at a different location (Candlehearth Hall) than the one written on the note. Then he runs off. You can either choose to go to the man in Candlehearth Hall and deliver the package, where he will pay you 200 gold, or you can go to the original meeting location, the New Gnisis Cornerclub. There is another Dunmer there, and you can ask him about the other man or just give him the package. If you ask about the other man, he explains that he is an imposter who has stolen all his property, including his ship. (How? Basically, he says the imposter drugged him and had him thrown in prison for a while, then assumed his place after getting facial surgery from the woman in Riften. When he came back, the original wasn't recognized by anyone since his ship's crew had been disbanded, and no one believed his story.) He thanks you for bringing him the package, and asks you to give it to him. You can say no and go to the other Saerileth Rae, who says the other guy is just a beggar who has illusions of grandeur, and then gives you the same reward he would have otherwise. Or, you can agree to help the one who claims he is the original, and help him reveal Saerileth as an imposter. This involves stealing the deed from the supposed fake, via pickpocketing, brawling or speech/bribe, going to a forger, verifying the deed is forged, bringing the deed to a guard, and having the forger tell the guard that the deed is forged. Then, the original is reinstated, gets all his properties back, and the imposter is thrown in jail. The original decides to get away from Windhelm for a bit, and sail off. Before he does, he rewards you with almost 2000 gold, as well as your choice between the shield in the package, or the sword (cutlass). 

Finders Keepers (Author: batmanna Editor: Matthiaswagg, AirtightSpring3)
Thanks to batmanna for the original idea!

The player stumbles upon an Imperial encampment by a mine in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a bunch of freshly dug graves. If he asks the Imperials what happened, they'll say that a group of wizards had killed the miners they hired. They won't say why the mine is so important, but if you go in you can find a bunch of dead bodies, though there's nothing else in there since they cleared it out. If you talk to the captain of the Imperials, you'll find him discussing how they can eradicate the wizards. You can offer to help, in which case the captain will refuse. However, if you're a high enough level and insist, or if you're a Legionnare, he'll say that they've been preparing to raid the wizard camp, but they've been fearing losses. They say that the expedition was never supposed to have anyone harmed. So they tell you the location, and you go to the wizard camp. When you reach the camp, you are met at the gate (it has some wooden walls) by the leader of the wizards. He claims that the Imperials were the ones that killed the miners, and when the wizards tried to protect them they were run off. You can either choose to kill the wizards, and return to the Imperials for a lot of gold (2000), but no explanation about the mine. Or, you can listen to the wizards, and kill the Imperials. (You won't be attacked by other Imperials since the expedition was supposed to be fairly secret, and you kill all the witnesses.) Then, the wizards tell you that the contents of the mine was actually an incredibly rare and newly discovered ore that's been prized for its high enchantability and magical capabilities. It's very volatile and they're still experimenting with it though. For a reward, they give you a piece of the ore, worth 3500 gold, and teach you a bit of whichever magical school you prefer. At the end, they say they'll hire more miners, but be sure to protect the cave. Later, you can come back to find miners working in the mines, as well as the wizards protecting it. However, they won't let you in, despite you helping protect it, since their old leader was killed in yet another Imperial raid and the new one doesn't trust you. Alternatively, if you're a Legionnare or above, you can tell the Imperials - who recognize you - to leave, and let the wizards come back. The lead wizard will protest, but you can pass a speech check to make him leave or have an Imperial in the camp speak to General Tullius, and return with a letter of approval from him. Then the Imperials will leave, and the wizards will give you the same reward as before, but with a smaller piece of ore worth 2500 gold (they don't trust you as much). If you return, they'll have hired more miners, but they won't let you in on account of still not fully trusting you. 

 
 
 

 

Current Team Members: Matthiaswagg (Scripter, Quest Designer, Main Quest Writer), AirtightSpring3 (Level Designer, Quest Writer), Vulon (Quest Writer, VA)

If you're interested in helping with Immersive Quests, I'd be grateful. Aside from submitting new ideas for quests and helping me revise my current ones, there are a few other things I need. I don't need help with any of the quest making, or really any of the scripting (though if I have any quest design/scripting related questions I'll post them at the bottom of this OP and I'd appreciate you answering them), but I'd love to have a modeler/texturer(s) on hand who could create custom meshes and textures, and a level designer(s) would be great too. I usually post voice acting related stuff here, and level design related stuff here, but if there were somebody who I knew I could count on for help with level design and texturing and modeling, that would be great. So if you are a level designer or texturer, or modeler (preferably both), and want to join the team, you can PM me or email me at Matthiaswagg@gmail.com. If you're just interested in helping me find, or making one of the following, here's what I need done (things marked in asterisks are necessary to continue, green is texturing/modeling related, and orange is level design related):
 
Glowing Blue Ore Texture (Finders Keepers) - I need a new texture and glowmap for a new ore from Finders Keepers. It can pretty much just be a copy of Moonstone, just a bit glowier and blue - like that color.
Cutlass Mesh and Texture/Just Texture (Disrupted Service) - While I can use somebody else's resource, I'd like it if I could have a custom mesh and texture for a cutlass, something like this, or even if somebody could just retexture this mod to be a bit higher quality and more like the previously linked image. If you do either of those, you can send me the mesh and texture (or just the texture) at matthiaswagg@gmail.com.
Elven Shield Mesh and Texture (Disrupted Service)* - For the quest Disrupted Service, I need a more rounded Elven Shield, like a buckler. If you could create an all Elven Metal version of this (no leather), that would be amazing. Try to keep to the vanilla Elven look, but a rounded version, if that makes any sense. You can email me the mesh and texture at Matthiaswagg@gmail.com.
Package Mesh and Texture (Disrupted Service) - If someone could just create a texture and mesh of a package (not too large, about the size of a chest, but flatter), that would be great. Something that looks like this is what I'm going for (without the neat little bow on top, and larger, and maybe a bit rougher/dirtier looking).
Steam Horse Texture (The Engineer)* - If someone could create a texture for this mod, that would be great. The current texture uses a mix of vanilla textures, and looks pretty bad/low quality. It wouldn't look incredibly pretty or anything, but an actual texture that fits the mesh would be much better looking.
 
If you can't help with that, then I'll need some testers soon. When the first quest comes out, I'd like some people to test it, not so much for bugs, but just to tell me what you think of the quest and what could be improved. Even if you can't do any of that, just supporting this thread, and this mod, helps a lot.
 
Scripting/Quest Design Questions:
If I've got any questions about the mod-making process for you scripters and quest designers, I'll post them here.  

 

If you'd like to see the original thread, you can find it here. I'm more likely to post updates there.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Matthiaswagg

[Matthiaswagg]

Definitely still looking for modelers and texturers! If you're interested PM me or (preferably) email me at matthiaswagg@gmail.com.

[Matthiaswagg]

First quest released for testing! See this thread if you want to test.

[Matthiaswagg]

First quest completely bugfixed, with fixed voice files.

 

Going to start on Disrupted Service now.

[Matthiaswagg]

Immersive Quests DC Forums

Oh, to all project members:

If you don't already have an account at Dark Creations, please create one with the same name (or similar and then tell me) so I can add you to the Immersive Quests project there as a team member.

I'll also PM each one of you.

To entail what will happen now that we're hosted on DC:

- I will make a bunch of posts explaining the Forums at DC.
- All recruitment SHOULD happen at DC though you can post here if you want.
- Quest Ideas may be submitted either here or DC.
- Mod Ideas (possible resources, ideas not related to quests, sites where we might find team members, etc.) will be posted there. If they are not I will still listen BUT I may copy and paste your post (EXACTLY) into one at the DC Forums so stuff like that can remain over there.
- All progress updates will be posted here. Only official ones (I.e. Model+texture finished, quest finished, etc.) will be posted in the Progress Updates of the DC Forums.
- Anything detailing sound creation (music, unique sounds), including applying to be a sound creator, should happen at the DC Forums.
- Testing reports may be submitted here OR at the DC Forums.
- Testing downloads will be at the DC Forums. I'll link to the download here as well, but since I've got storage there I'll use it.
- Private files shared amongst the team should now be uploaded to the private files section if possible. That way any files we share can be kept for later reference and everyone can access them.1 Not every file needs to be uploaded there. Just things like finished models and textures, (zipped) FINISHED voice files (those processed by Vulon or another), and .esps for FINISHED dungeons. Anything WIP can be uploaded to a site like Mediafire so I can look at it.
- There is also a private forums for project members only, for discussing whatever.

I'll set up pinned posts and explain everything over at the Forums when I really wake up.