How to run a fantasy campaign inspired by Morrorwind?

[Yora]

Morrowind may be starting to collect a bit of dust by now, but as fantasy settings go in which you can play instead of just observe, it's still a very unique one. Unfortunately, I am not really sure what really makes it so quite different from other places you see in fantasy. The different plants and animals are the obvious thing, but I think that's not all there is to it.

The closest thing I can think of might be Dark Sun, but I am not entirely sure what makes that setting tick either.

How would you approach setting up a ...setting for a game inspired the uniqueness of Morrowind? And would it be better suited to certain types of adventures and not so much for others?

[LaserFace]

I think apart from the alien physical environment, there are a lot of things but it's hard to put a finger on it. It's been a while, but I'll try.

In that game, everything in the present is sort of stuck on events in the past. The great Houses have their ways and continue to rule a society that has clear social stratification, is xenophobic, and seemingly culturally stagnant. Also they were pretty religious, and prayed to their three living gods.

If I wanted to make a setting that mirrored my experience with Morrowind, I'd want to make nods at all the above. I would probably have all players be foreigners, thrown into a world with rigid restrictions for its people, and have to observe that things don't always happen here as they'd hope or expect.

Although they might be good fighters, the adventurers might not be treated with very much respect, and it could be hard to make friends; in fact they might have to rely on other foreigners to learn the ways of the native culture, and finally assimilate. Their lack of knowledge or understanding of the culture might occasionally land them in trouble, or otherwise give them greater difficulty than would be experienced by a local. Others might try to prey on them (directly or via manipulation) simply because they're Outlanders.

The game was also about a prophecy, maybe you could include something like that. Elder Scrolls seems to include star signs as a thing, maybe the circumstances of one's birth could have implications one how they get treated by a society, or something else important. You could also include story elements that incentivize learning more about the culture, perhaps even adopting the religion or otherwise adhering to how things happen in this setting.

Edit: more on the prophecy bit; you don't necessarily have to make one big prophecy. The culture could simply put a lot of faith in seers who form the upper echelons of society.

[Kalmageddon]

"Inspired by Morrowind"? Can't, that game is unique and a lot of it has to do with its art assets and setting, it's not something you can emulate on a small budget or by simply describing things at the gaming table.

[Keltest]

One thing that sticks morrowind out to me is that actions had repercussions beyond the immediate quest line. For example, killing a member of the fighter's guild as an assassin guild quest might end up preventing you from finishing the fighters guild quests because that NPC was important. And without a walkthrough, youd really have no idea who was important until it was too late.

[Yora]

In that game, everything in the present is sort of stuck on events in the past. The great Houses have their ways and continue to rule a society that has clear social stratification, is xenophobic, and seemingly culturally stagnant. Also they were pretty religious, and prayed to their three living gods.

If I wanted to make a setting that mirrored my experience with Morrowind, I'd want to make nods at all the above. I would probably have all players be foreigners, thrown into a world with rigid restrictions for its people, and have to observe that things don't always happen here as they'd hope or expect.
That's a very interesting idea. Constantly running into walls because of strange traditions and customs is actually a very good way to get the players to actual be confronted with them and learning to adapt to them. Creating a complex and unique culture that NPCs practice at home is something players might barely experience themselves at all. When it gets in their way it's something that is not just window dressing but something that directly affects the players and they need to understand it to reach their goals.
I think that might indeed be one of the strong points of the setting.

Another thing that came to my mind is that not only is the world full with unique creatures, there is also an almost complete absence of familiar ones. You don't run into wolves and bears and people don't have horses and sheep on their farms. That's something that Dark Sun also does the same way.

[MrZJunior]

That mysterious fog, as required by technical limitations, helps give it an otherworldly feeling as well.

[Yora]

One thing that sticks morrowind out to me is that actions had repercussions beyond the immediate quest line. For example, killing a member of the fighter's guild as an assassin guild quest might end up preventing you from finishing the fighters guild quests because that NPC was important. And without a walkthrough, youd really have no idea who was important until it was too late.

I think "institutions" are a pretty big thing in general. There's all these guilds and official organizations. Even an official, government licensed, assassins guild.

[LaserFace]

That's a very interesting idea. Constantly running into walls because of strange traditions and customs is actually a very good way to get the players to actual be confronted with them and learning to adapt to them. Creating a complex and unique culture that NPCs practice at home is something players might barely experience themselves at all. When it gets in their way it's something that is not just window dressing but something that directly affects the players and they need to understand it to reach their goals.
I think that might indeed be one of the strong points of the setting.

Another thing that came to my mind is that not only is the world full with unique creatures, there is also an almost complete absence of familiar ones. You don't run into wolves and bears and people don't have horses and sheep on their farms. That's something that Dark Sun also does the same way.

Yeah, I definitely think Morrowind is very alien in a lot of ways. The culture and people are a little weird, and the physical surroundings can make one feel quite out of place. You could probably throw them an occasional image of home through foreign enclaves or other adventurers; just finding a familiar feature could feel like a godsend if they're particularly homesick.

Actually, I'd be tempted to use that against the players, somehow; maybe they think "oh hey that almost looks like an animal I know" but then it sprouts a second head, or wings, or something else ridiculous. Alternatively, if knights and other warriors have a distinct look about them, having a western knight in plate show up might drop their guard a bit. And then, it might turn out he's an enemy.

[Actana]

One thing that would likely be required in order to unlock the setting's full potential is a much slower pace. If you want to explore the setting and cultures in a way that makes them meaningful, you need to give them time and focus. The game shouldn't just be a ride from one adventure to the other, it should be about exploring the land, its people and how the two connect in their ways of living. Morrowind had the Houses, the Ashlanders, the Imperial presence on the island, they were all unique in their own ways.

Morrowind is also very introspective in its plot. Sure, the Imperials are there, but the important matters are all confined within Vvardenfell. The setting didn't really concern itself too much with what's happening outside. There's a lot of religious ideas everywhere in Morrowind, and the conflict between traditional and modern ways of life are very important to the setting.

[LibraryOgre]

There's also a lot of tension between the Imperials and the Natives; while equal in technology, the two have very different mores, to the point where even a non-native Dunmer is viewed with suspicion. You're from "Away". The locals abhor necromancy, yet use the ghosts of the dead to protect their tombs. I'd go with a later version of vampirism, that lets you still interact until it gets "bad", which helps to add to the otherness of the people.

[Yora]

Actually, I'd be tempted to use that against the players, somehow; maybe they think "oh hey that almost looks like an animal I know" but then it sprouts a second head, or wings, or something else ridiculous.
http://www.empireonline.com/images/image_index/original/69650.jpg


One thing that would likely be required in order to unlock the setting's full potential is a much slower pace. If you want to explore the setting and cultures in a way that makes them meaningful, you need to give them time and focus. The game shouldn't just be a ride from one adventure to the other, it should be about exploring the land, its people and how the two connect in their ways of living. Morrowind had the Houses, the Ashlanders, the Imperial presence on the island, they were all unique in their own ways.
Yeah, it really doesn't strike me as a setting for treasure hunting dungeon crawls. If you're using a setting like that, interacting with the locals should be a major part of the game. The exception being actual explorations of old tombs and temples where the players can learn about their history and actually need to to figure out the obstacles.


Morrowind is also very introspective in its plot. Sure, the Imperials are there, but the important matters are all confined within Vvardenfell. The setting didn't really concern itself too much with what's happening outside. There's a lot of religious ideas everywhere in Morrowind, and the conflict between traditional and modern ways of life are very important to the setting.
Spears of the Dawn has a very interesting race of big villains. They have made themselves immortal through magic rituals and while they don't need to eat, drink, breath, or sleep, their bodies also no longer heal any damage done to them. The only way to get their bodies back into shape is by eating human flesh. And they also have an instinctive revulsion of living people. They don't have to be evil and they don't have to feed on the living. But over the years and decades their bodies get into increasingly worse shape and since they can not die the temptation to eat someone is always becoming greater. I think several of the creatures (http://spriggans-den.com/?page_id=2095) of that setting might work very well for such a campaign. Or just the setting in general.

[Eldan]

Yeah, there were a lot of cultural tensions. Looking at the IMperials, it seems that the supernatural is also much more immediate to the Dunmer. It is mentioned in the background that before the big ghost wall around the Red Mountain went up, many Dunmer estates had their own ghost walls to be activated in times of need. The Dunmer also summon the literal spirits of their ancestors quite regularly. And of course, their gods walk among them and can be spoken to. (Theoretically. Sota Sil is reclusive and the other two hide in palaces and behind hierarchies.)

And slavery, of course. One of the concessions that Vivec instisted upon when he gave up Morrowind to the Empire was that the elves get to keep their slaves, even if the enslaved are Imperial Citizens. That must be a legal nightmare.

Or how the Imperials tend to see the Daedra as evil, while the Dunmer have a history of worshipping them, acknowledge some as good and all of them as complex, and even see some of them as... aspects, I Guess?... of their gods.

Another thing I like is the ambiguity. Especially about history. Did Vivec kill Nerevar? Well, it was centuries ago. Vivec himself will never give anyone a straight answer to anything. What, exactly, happend to the heart? Was Dagoth Ur a traitor, or the last loyalist? Everyone seems to have their own story, and though the actors are all still around, most of them are probably lying. And then there's Azura.

[Yora]

I thought the daedra were really fascinating when I first played Morrowind, knowing nothing about the setting at all. Skyrim seems to treat them just as regular evil gods, which I found rather disappointing. Though I didn't get that far into Morrowind to have any real contact with them.
But the idea of the dunmer worshiping some dangerous spirits instead of the classic gods was very intriguing.

[Eldan]

Also, the 36 lessons. Because the 36 lessons deserve to be mentioned over and over again everywhere.

[Keltest]

I thought the daedra were really fascinating when I first played Morrowind, knowing nothing about the setting at all. Skyrim seems to treat them just as regular evil gods, which I found rather disappointing. Though I didn't get that far into Morrowind to have any real contact with them.
But the idea of the dunmer worshiping some dangerous spirits instead of the classic gods was very intriguing.

Skyrim doesn't treat all daedra as evil, but from the perspective of the Nords they would certainly not be gods, and many of them are in fact evil, even acknowledged by the Dunmer.

[Actana]

Also, the 36 lessons. Because the 36 lessons deserve to be mentioned over and over again everywhere.

This is an interesting point, because a lot of Morrowind's tradition does come from religious dogma from a single physical entity - Vivec. And he's still very much around too. Then there's the Tribunal itself, which contributes highly to the culture. Compared to the Nine Divines, the gods of Morrowind are very much physically present - an unusual place to be in for an outsider.

[Keltest]

This is an interesting point, because a lot of Morrowind's tradition does come from religious dogma from a single physical entity - Vivec. And he's still very much around too. Then there's the Tribunal itself, which contributes highly to the culture. Compared to the Nine Divines, the gods of Morrowind are very much physically present - an unusual place to be in for an outsider.

Lately however they have retreated to isolation and their powers are fading. And people are noticing. Not everyone of course, but some people.

[LibraryOgre]

I think another aspect of it is the tracklessness of a lot of Morrowind, and the wilderness. Some of this, from the gamer's perspective, is obviated by the fact that silt striders and boats move you instantaneously, but the relative availability of teleportation and the compactness of settlements leaves even tiny Vvardenfell feeling huge and unexplored.

[Keltest]

I think another aspect of it is the tracklessness of a lot of Morrowind, and the wilderness. Some of this, from the gamer's perspective, is obviated by the fact that silt striders and boats move you instantaneously, but the relative availability of teleportation and the compactness of settlements leaves even tiny Vvardenfell feeling huge and unexplored.

Until you get the permanent levitation bug, in which case traveling over terrain is quick and painless, and Vvardenfell really does seem tiny.

[Eldan]

Or you got some of the newer graphics upgrades and suddenly, you have infinite draw distance and can see the entire world in detail, if you hover high enough. (Still worth it).

[M0rdecai[QC]]

Have you looked into actual multiplayer mods for Morrowind? :smallamused:


Until you get the permanent levitation bug, in which case traveling over terrain is quick and painless, and Vvardenfell really does seem tiny.

What about Boots of Blinding Speed (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Boots_of_Blinding_Speed#Boots_of_Blindin g_Speed) + Resist Magic?

[Eldan]

Pff. Icarus scrolls and very careful aiming. The only way to travel quickly.

[Kalmageddon]

Why would you even want to do that, anyway? Just run a campaign set in Morrowind.

[Gamgee]

You need the Numenera core book or Cypher core rules. Practically built to run a weird game. Just file the ninth world setting off of the Numenera book.

http://www.numenera.com/

[goto124]

At least Morrowind has a lot of detail that makes sense in a tabletop.

I tried to run a setting ripped off a game that was a lot more like Dark Souls (a hack and slash, where every NPC was mindless and just attacked you). Sense got thrown out of the window very quickly, and I found myself resorting to railroading because I had no idea what else to do. Especially when the players tried /talking/ to the NPCs, which was previously not an option in the original game. It made me realise how quickly things would've been solved if NPCs could be communciated with.

[Yora]

I think another aspect of it is the tracklessness of a lot of Morrowind, and the wilderness. Some of this, from the gamer's perspective, is obviated by the fact that silt striders and boats move you instantaneously, but the relative availability of teleportation and the compactness of settlements leaves even tiny Vvardenfell feeling huge and unexplored.

It's much more of an outdoor setting than an indoor one. I can't really imagine true city adventures in that world. There may still be plenty of plotting and conspiring by people you meet in towns, but you still will be doing most of the action somwhere in the wilds or going to other settlements.
I believe in the game it was mostly a technical limitation, but settlements in Morrowind seem to be very small in general. There are no real cities but only towns, often found next to the castle of the local ruling family. It's very decentralized.

[Eldan]

Vivec, I think, was supposed to be huge. It was pretty big in the game, but it was supposed to be gigantic. Each of the cantons a proper pyramid with thousands of people. Certainly Mournhold, too. A few others probably should have been bigger too, Sadrith Mora, Balmora, Al'druhn...

Part of it is, I think, that Vvardenfell is a bit of a backwater. All the larger cities of Morrowind, other than Vivec, are on the continent. Necrom, Mournhold, Narsis...

[Anonymouswizard]

Why would you even want to do that, anyway? Just run a campaign set in Morrowind.

I'm just remembering the story on the 5e forum of the guy who decided to run a game in Dark Souls' Lodaran, complete with 'press X to talk' and canned dialog from the NPCs.

Makes me want to run a game where the PCs try to escape a games console.

[FlumphPaladin]

Morrowind may be starting to collect a bit of dust by now
YOU N'WAH! MORROWIND IS TIMELESS!


How would you approach setting up a ...setting for a game inspired the uniqueness of Morrowind? And would it be better suited to certain types of adventures and not so much for others?
Personally (I once tried to write a sourcebook for Tamriel), I would make sure to have a detailed background and have it show in gameplay. Indeed, for me, what made the Elder Scrolls come alive was this ability to really dig into the setting--I read all the books I picked up, talked to the NPCs, looked up the lore on UESP... not only did it make Morrowind feel deeper and greater, it made me feel at home there, and likewise in Oblivion and Skyrim. Designing this kind of background and history may be risky depending on how single-minded your players are, but definitely, creating a Morrowind-inspired setting is going to be a bottom-up affair.

As everyone else has said, being in a rigid, xenophobic culture is going to go far in setting the mood, as is the general environment. Everything I remember is dun and dusty, with the exception of the vivid, beautiful Grazelands. If you can't describe it all the time, perhaps you might make the impression by altering the play area a bit. Warm-colored lighting, redecorate your GM screen, get as involved or as subtle as you want here.


That mysterious fog, as required by technical limitations, helps give it an otherworldly feeling as well.
This, this, a thousand times this. To this day, certain musical textures take me right back to the shrine of Azura at sunrise, and I can almost feel the fog coming in off the sea, the cracked volcanic rock under my feet... gives me chills.


;19639119']Have you looked into actual multiplayer mods for Morrowind?
I thought that was impossible because of Morrowind's engine! Is it true?

[Yora]

When running a campaign, I think players are generally mostly interested in "story progress". Meandering through the world and enjoying the sights and culture is not something that really works in a game like this. If you want to tell the players about history and culture, their main question will almost always be "How does that concern my character and how does it help us progressing the story?" It works best when telling the players about a piece of history or culture is the answer to a problem they are facing and need to overcome to progress.

Learning about the social structure of the society and the propper ways to adress people of various ranks becomes very important if otherwise people refuse to cooperate with the PCs and dismissing them as rude and uncultured. And if you can pull it off, this can even be a way for the players to game the system by figuring out who they need to talk to for certain requests and how to praise people to get on their good side, or how to intimidate or taunt them to make them back down or provoke them into something foolish.
When using skill checks for persuasion and intimidation, I think the players should get very significant bonuses or penalties to their checks based on how well they include these culture specific things into their argument. And perhaps even make the NPCs overreact when the players try to do something that is either spot on or completely inappropriate. Adding a secret -4 penalty to a persuasion check isn't teching the players anything. Having the NPC being outraged by such a blatant insult to his station and honor will make it much more visible for the players. And they probably will catch on quickly and try to find the best way to get people to do what they want. Even if it's trial and error and sometimes a friendly NPC has to point out the big social mistake they just made, it will matter to the players. It is something they can use.

The other good method I can think of are puzzle dungeons with historic backgrounds. The players need to understand who the historic characters were and the story of the event that is remembered in the construction and decoration of the dungeon to reach their goal. Unfortunately I don't really have any experience with doing that well. Puzzles are not really my thing. But I think telling the players they have to go to the tomb of Blahblah to get the scepter of something something something of destiny and combine it with the something something something of healing usually doesn't work. It doesn't make the players care for the history, all that sticks is "Go to place, find thing, pull lever". The historical and cultural information needs to be usefull, not just decorative.

When it comes to "visuals", I like to make a short cue card for major locations visited during the adventures that are just a simple list of the most interesting features the players see. Not prewritten descriptions (because everyone hates box text), but just the keywords that you think should be mentioned in your description of the place as the players arrive. When you purely improvise on the spot you often forgett 90% of the ideas you had when you created the place.

[Eldan]

There's actually some nice overhauls that make the game a bit more colourful and work well. Like the swamplands where you first arrive, some vivid greenery isn't out of place there.

[LibraryOgre]

Part of the smallness of Vvardenfell's population is due to engine limitations.

[Yora]

It's a necessity and result. But it also has a direct effect on how the world is percieved. They could not make an urban setting and had to make a very rural one. When preparing an RPG campaign you do have the option. But I think to make it feel somewhat like Morrowind, you probably have to chose to go rural as well.

[Eldan]

They did have Mournhold, which was huge and an expansion all of its own. But from what I remember, still felt quite empty. Just gigantic and urban and empty.

Anyway, I thought this was something interesting to maybe take to the worldbuilding forum. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?432673-Vaguely-inspired-by-Morrowind-Collaboration-project&p=19641446#post19641446)

[goto124]

So... political intrigue?

[Yora]

Because of the setting, all politics in Morrowind takes place between rival factions within the state and not between different countries. And since it's a remote and quite autonomous province of an empire, it all feels quite decentralized. Which I think makes political intrigue even more interesting, because it really becomes a lot more about specific people instead of abstract organizations or institutions.

[Keltest]

Because of the setting, all politics in Morrowind takes place between rival factions within the state and not between different countries. And since it's a remote and quite autonomous province of an empire, it all feels quite decentralized. Which I think makes political intrigue even more interesting, because it really becomes a lot more about specific people instead of abstract organizations or institutions.

It did help though that one of those specific people was you.

[Eldan]

Quite true about the decentralization. Pretty much no one, not even the Dunmer factions, have their headquarters on Vvardenfell. Vivec and the temple are an exception, and Vivec is halfway to the continent anyway and much of the temple is in Mournhold. As is the King. And the houses... house Dres is in Tear, Hlaalu is in Narsis, Indoril in Mournhold, Redoran in Blacklight. The Telvanni in Sadrith Mora are the only ones nearby, and Sadrith Mora, like Vivec, is right on the border, again, almost on the continent.

So one always deals with mid-level agents. Imperial governors, not senators, agents from the East Empire company, not directors, etc.

[Gnome Alone]

I have nothing much to contribute (my own world-building skills are pretty lacking; I may have passingly well ripped off my favorite elements of Earthsea and Lankhmar, but that is neither here nor there) but I would like to note that everyone is doing a bang-up job of pinpointing exactly what I loved to death about Morrowind and yet could not put my finger on.

[Yora]

Yeah, this is a lot better than I expected.

Other than the setting, what would you think makes good adventures for this kind of setting?

[Eldan]

Morrowind had quite a few archaeology hunts. The artefact so-and-so has resurfaced, go and find it for me.

A bit more interesting and setting-specific: many Dunmer are waiting for their Messiah and there's also doomsday and daedra cults. Suggestion on something ingame: a charismatic, young native seems to fulfill most of the prophecy requirements and he's getting a bit of a following. Sadly, he preaches some politically very inconvenient things and a player-associated faction would rather like to see him massively discredited (not assassinated!) in some way.
That plays into the idea of the previous false Nerevarines in Morrowind.

[Keltest]

Morrowind had quite a few archaeology hunts. The artefact so-and-so has resurfaced, go and find it for me.

A bit more interesting and setting-specific: many Dunmer are waiting for their Messiah and there's also doomsday and daedra cults. Suggestion on something ingame: a charismatic, young native seems to fulfill most of the prophecy requirements and he's getting a bit of a following. Sadly, he preaches some politically very inconvenient things and a player-associated faction would rather like to see him massively discredited (not assassinated!) in some way.
That plays into the idea of the previous false Nerevarines in Morrowind.

On that note, Morrowind has guilds and factions out the wazoo, as a result of the Dunmer and Imperial cultures both shipping out everything they have to Vvardenfell. If you have a class, theres at least two guilds for it.

[Kriton]

Yeah, this is a lot better than I expected.

Other than the setting, what would you think makes good adventures for this kind of setting?

A good deal of hexcrawling, with many chances for combat encounters and an assortment of ancient ruins and interesting places populating the tables, also strange weather. Maybe an adventure about traveling form one place to an other on the map, on foot would be fitting.

[LaserFace]

Some adventure ideas:

-Visiting important religious sites, maybe the kind that are seen as part of a pilgrimage (some could be very remote, or perhaps threatened by monsters etc).

-You might also consider legends about magical knowledge, or something else important, that are hidden by lies by priests of the dominant religion (maybe they're corrupt, or genuinely trying to protect people); maybe this leads to finding secret temples ; could be just an urban adventure, not necessarily a trek into the wilderness.

-Any one faction might try to manipulate outside adventurers to do seemingly-good work that actually just furthers their goals against a rival; could gain the party some powerful enemies.

-Spirits of ancestors of locals are suddenly violent, maybe the adventurers try to clear out the nearby tomb of ghosts; might turn out they're upset about something in town, or maybe an important object was stolen from the tomb, and the adventure could take an entirely new turn.

[Small Grey Cat]

This has been touched on, briefly, but what I love about Morrowind - and the whole Elder Scrolls series, really - is the feeling of ancient, alien lore that underlies it. I haven't found a fantasy setting before or since that includes so many different philosophical and religious perspectives. Instead of the usual "here is the pantheon of gods, everyone worships them" the Elder Scrolls has state religions and mystery cults, orthodox and heretical texts, philosophy and legend and myth and metaphor, by different people, from different cultures - and it all feels authentic.

A key point of a Morrowind campaign would be recreating that feeling. Work out some different religions, sects, and cults. Give them different, not necessarily contradictory beliefs. I would write up some actual documents purporting to be parts of holy texts and make them available for players: look on the Lore sections of UESP for inspiration. Draw players into the different cults: make them employers, sources of lore, magic, or aid, and get them talking to priests and scholars.

[Yora]

It's really a subject that isn't really given much attention in most mainstream fantasy. Dragon Age also has lot of plots and large scale conflicts going on that are based on religious disagreements, and quite often ideological conflicts flowing together with very clear cut political and economical fights. And it's a source for many interesting stories that can be quite different to the stuff most people are already very familiar with.
Most fantasy settings have gods, few have religion.

[Kriton]

I think it's easier(or maybe makes more sense) to build political intrigue in the context of religion and heresy, if the gods worshiped are absent form the world, or indifferent to it.

[Yora]

I wasn't really happy with the Daedra quests from Skyrim because of that reason. It creates the appearance that daedric princes are simply normal people with lots of powers and too much time and that the divines wouldn't be much different as their counterparts. Religion with human-like gods that directly give orders is just politics.

[Kriton]

Even worse, said politics don't have to make sense to our puny, little, mortal minds.

[Eldan]

I wasn't really happy with the Daedra quests from Skyrim because of that reason. It creates the appearance that daedric princes are simply normal people with lots of powers and too much time and that the divines wouldn't be much different as their counterparts. Religion with human-like gods that directly give orders is just politics.

Though in Morrowind, too, Talos and Azura personally show up in the main quest.

[Keltest]

Though in Morrowind, too, Talos and Azura personally show up in the main quest.

And Akatosh and Mehrunes Dagon do in Oblivion's main quest as well.

[Kalmageddon]

I wasn't really happy with the Daedra quests from Skyrim because of that reason. It creates the appearance that daedric princes are simply normal people with lots of powers and too much time and that the divines wouldn't be much different as their counterparts. Religion with human-like gods that directly give orders is just politics.

I don't remember the daedric quests in Skyrim being fundamentally different from those in Oblivion or Morrowind, to be honest.

[Telok]

One thing you could do to rope the players into the culture and atmosphere is to allow the spells that teleport you to the nearest temple to only work for people who are empowered by that religion. What this would mean is that you can put the players through the two church faction quests (Tribunal and Imperial) which lets you highlight the in game books. Especially if you print out the pages and hand those to them saying that the priest hands them a book with the answer in it.

If the players want to go dungeon delving things can get interesting. The bandit and smuggler lairs are simple enough, the egg mines are interesting, and most of the tombs are pretty simple. But then you get tombs with vampires living in them and caves with the sixth house monsters. If you have citizens who know facts or rumors about what's out there you can let those drop when the players are looking for the next dungeon. The ancestral tombs are well known unless the family has died out, and someone may know of a family that died out except for one guy who only shows up at night. The smugglers and bandits have to work with the shadier traders to move goods, they may have rumors about former caves that are suddenly bad mojo to go into.

Of course there are the old dwarven ruins and those giant remote fortresses. Information on those can be contained in some of the books, including which ones are still in use and which have been abandoned to the monsters.

[Yora]

I think infodumps delivered by printout are probably going over even worse than monologues. Only one player will most likely read them while everyone waits and entertains themselves and that one player might even browse through it quickly hoping to find the relevant section.
If you wan to show the players the worl you probably have to do it through interaction. In an RPG, the players are the characters, not the audience.

[Telok]

I think infodumps delivered by printout are probably going over even worse than monologues. Only one player will most likely read them while everyone waits and entertains themselves and that one player might even browse through it quickly hoping to find the relevant section.
If you wan to show the players the worl you probably have to do it through interaction. In an RPG, the players are the characters, not the audience.

Those books aren't generally worth calling infodumps. About half of them are only four or five short paragraphs. I'd call them about as long as the posts in this thread, some long and others short. Plus you don't have to give them the long ones or you can cut them down to size. For example, sort the 36 lessons of Vivec into seven or eight shorter peices with your clues stuck in them and give them out as needed. As long as you don't give them more than one a session there really shouldn't be any problem. The players will look through more spells on a regular basis that that.

[JellyPooga]

Cliff Racers...

...So many Cliff Racers...

...everywhere.

*twitch*

[LibraryOgre]

Cliff Racers...

...So many Cliff Racers...

...everywhere.

*twitch*

Man, I remember getting cornered in a cave by some cliff racers. I couldn't rest, I didn't have any way of getting back my magic...

[LaserFace]

While we're on the topic, I think any Morrowind-inspired game is lacking if it doesn't include something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4rXsrZRchQ

[Yora]

Has anyone here played Albion (did that even get an English release?) That seems also like a game that should have a lot of ideas to lift.

[Yora]

I would make sure to have a detailed background and have it show in gameplay. [...] Designing this kind of background and history may be risky depending on how single-minded your players are, but definitely, creating a Morrowind-inspired setting is going to be a bottom-up affair.
I've been reading through the whole thread again (since there's too much to catch and remember all the great ideas on the first pass), and this comment stood out to me as a very interesting idea. How could you include background (especially Morrowindesque) in actual gameplay? Eberron has dragonmarks and elemental airships, which really allow you to interact with the special lore of the setting and use it to your benefit. Anything similar we could do with Morrowind?


Draw players into the different cults: make them employers, sources of lore, magic, or aid, and get them talking to priests and scholars.
This certainly is a very good idea. Don't just have a temple of a cult in a town, have the players do quests for the priest. And to go even better, don't have the priest offering a generic quest that could be from any tempel or craft guild, but one that is somehow related to either the temples specific religion or its relationship to another organization.

[JellyPooga]

I disagree that background has a big impact on attaining that "Morrowind feel". I have quite the contrary opinion. Morrowind gave zero attention to your character background and every attention to your characters future. That is the aspect you should try to foster; the destiny of the PC's is way more important than where they came from.

Encourage the players to explore their options; join the guilds, sign up with the temples and the legion, even the Blades if you feel like giving them the opportunity. Encourage them to travel; see Sadrith Mora and it's giant mushrooms, explore Gnisis and Ald Rhun with their giant crab-shell buildings. Let them wander the wilderness and encounter the Alits and Guars and Bettys (and Cliff Racers...oh so many Cliff Racers...). Throw them strange quests like finding the witch who curses people with nakedness, Orcs that want to die by anothers' hand and love stories between common thieves and wealthy nobles.

Involve the mythology; in books, common phrases, iconography and attitudes, but make sure it's the mythology of Vvardenfell. Wherever the PC's came from is irrelevant; it's where they are now that is what will make them heroes.

[Yora]

Encouraging to travel is something I've actually never considered before in this context. It doesn't have to be very far and not an overly complex thing, but the journey to and from a destination can be a very good opportunity to make the players interact with the world, even in an adventure that has a tight narrative. When you go from A to B and have to cross through a forest that has wolves and bears, that's not particularly interesting. But a setting like morrowind is a world of exotic and strange environments and you can easily have the trip to the ancient tomb pass through a forest of giant mushrooms which is inhabited by giant moths and packs of dog sized amphibeans hiding in the many shallow rivers and lakes.
In a regular european medieval fantasy setting, traveling through the countryside is something that very often gets skipped, and for very good reasons. There isn't going to be anything new or unusual going to happen. For the characters in a much more exotic setting the mushroom swamp forest might be just as mundane and its creatures just as ordinary, but for the players it's still something new and fascinating. And that's exactly the possibly strongest point of Morrowind. Skyrim is pretty, but Vardenfell is fascinating. Concentrating on the "story progress" parts is doing a disservice to this kind of setting. The travel itself should be a major part of the game. Even if it's just traveling on an established road from A to B without any specific "exploration" or hexcrawling.

[Keltest]

Make sure to regularly interrupt their rests with non-hostile scribs that apparently cause enough of a ruckus to wake people up without hurting them.

[GungHo]

Part of the smallness of Vvardenfell's population is due to engine limitations.
Yeah, Oblivion and Skyrim also have low populations compared to their "reality", as does just about every other game. Where the computer shows 1 person, imagine there are 10 or more, depending on what makes sense. Even Fallout, which has reason to be thin on population, should really be interpreted as being a representative extrapolation when it comes to large village population. For some games like Grand Theft Auto... one person or one car may be a few dozen, but both the computer couldn't handle more and you'd lose your mind being stuck in traffic for an hour to go a few blocks during rush hour.

[Yora]

Someone pointed out to me that the Elder Scrolls games and especially Morrowind are very much inspired by Glorantha. All the many factions and conflicting religious ideologies seem to be really one of the main heartpieces of Glorantha, which also has various unique humanoid races. Somehow I've never thought of that before. (But not knowing much detail about Glorantha either.)

I've been thinking a lot about actually preparing and running adventures in such a campaign, and I think the best approach is probably for the GM to be very hands off. I wouldn't do a hexcrawl, and personally prefer to have some kind of main story, but I think to run an adventure that captures Morrowind the GM should probably just tell the players what goal they are supposed to accomplish and give them directions how to get there. Other than that I wouldn't give the players any nudges what they are supposed to do or what is supposed to happen (unless they get completely lost and need another pointer into the direction of their target). Just sit back and answer the players questions about what they see and what happens when they do something. NPCs can also provide information the players are asking for and do things the players tell them to. But I would avoid preparing an adventure as a number of scenes. It's not "here is the room where you fight and kill the vampire and find the scroll in which his boss explains the plan and where the vampire can find him once his current job is done". And especially no "here is the scene where the players have to infiltrate a party dressed as servants while the lord is holding a party on the ground floor" or "the players have to win a card game tournament to lure out the agent of the thieves guild". Simply tell the players "I want you to get an item", "destroy the evil magic mirror", or "kill the vampire ogre" and tell them where they need to go to find them. The route and method of reaching their target should be entirely up to the players with the GM not preparing any course of action for them to follow.

[veti]

In a regular european medieval fantasy setting, traveling through the countryside is something that very often gets skipped, and for very good reasons. There isn't going to be anything new or unusual going to happen.

I wouldn't say that. Any time an Arthurian or Carolingian knight, or Robin Hood, travel anywhere, the journey is a whole story in its own right. Heck, sometimes you get a whole poetic epic about what's basically a random encounter (e.g. Gawain and the Green Knight). 'The Canterbury Tales' is a collection of, essentially, campfire stories told between travellers on a journey. Even in 20th century literature, the most iconic stories - 'The Hobbit' and 'Lord of the Rings' - are 80% about journeys and travelling.

"Skip straight to the destination" is very much a modern invention, and it has no place in medieval stories whether fantasy or not.

[LibraryOgre]

I disagree that background has a big impact on attaining that "Morrowind feel". I have quite the contrary opinion. Morrowind gave zero attention to your character background and every attention to your characters future. That is the aspect you should try to foster; the destiny of the PC's is way more important than where they came from.


While the background of the PCs isn't important, that's somewhat a conceit to the main character being a blank slate, of any race and class you want to make them. The background of the world, however, very much takes center stage, and a PC in a TT game can expect that their background will have more impact on the game.

[BootStrapTommy]

Everyone seems to have missed an essential part of the Morrowind atmosphere: an incredibly bigoted dominant racial group!

[Eldan]

Not that the non-dominant groups are all that much better.

[Yora]

Everyone seems to have missed an essential part of the Morrowind atmosphere: an incredibly bigoted dominant racial group!

Except Laserface. Who mentioned it back in post number... 2. :smallbiggrin:

But I agree that it's a major factor. A large number of fantasy settings is perfectly happy with having murder and theft everywhere, but everything else that is now considered socially unacceptable gets completely ignored. No discrimination anywhere! The Elder Scrolls is different, and in particular the Dunmer, who either hate foreigners in their land or are hated as foreigners in other lands. (Though Dragon Age is another example.)
The average city with 70% humans, 15% elves, 10% dwarves, 3% halflings, and 2% half-orcs is something that don't normally works in these settings. More commonly you have maybe two or three outsiders and the rest of the settlement is ethnically homogenous. The exception being big trade centers.
And the countries are not constitutional monarchies. It's more like good old feudalism or straight up independent local dynasties. Which also includes effective or official slavery.