Mod proposal: alternatives to death

Talk about the mods you'd like to see in Daggerfall Unity. Give mod creators some ideas!
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andromacus
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat May 23, 2020 9:07 am

Mod proposal: alternatives to death

Post by andromacus »

Currently losing a combat with any enemy means only one thing: death. Which also means that you either decide to quit the game or you load from your last save, usually with no major consequences (if you save regularly :) ).

I think could be fun and could add some variety to the game if losing a combat could also lead to other consequences other than death.

These ideas below, in my mind, would apply only in the following conditions:

1. Only if you succumb to a human/humanoid enemy (animals and undead will always kill you) AND
2. Only if you succumb to an enemy in the wilderness/city (in a dungeon a defeat will always mean death, whoever the enemy is)

In this case you would have a random chance to get also one of the following consequences (considering that death will always remain as a possible option):

Robbed: you wake up one or two hours later, finding that all your gold/letters of credit and a random part of your equipment have gone

Captured: you wake up in a random dungeon (ideal would be in a room with a locked door). A message informs you that you heard your captors talking about the grim fate which they are planning for you (e.g. torture you to death, sacrifice you, eat you, use you for a mad experiment, sell you as slave etc... - just to give some "flavor" to the situation :D ). Good part or all of your equipment has been removed and brought to another part of the dungeon. You will have to escape from the dungeon, either retrieving your equipment or leaving it behind you

Rescued: (this could be applied also if you succumb to animals or undead). While you are unconscious you are luckily saved by a wandering adventurer passing by. You wake up few days later in a random inn in the nearest town. Occasionally you may find a letter in which your rescuer tells you where you can find him if you want to repay the debt. If you go and visit him he will assign you a quest (likely with no reward as you already received it - your life! :) )

What do you think about this? Any other different alternatives you may think of in case?

hannafamilycomputer
Posts: 71
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:19 am

Re: Mod proposal: alternatives to death

Post by hannafamilycomputer »

I really like this idea. As long as the change of this occuring is rare, this would be a nice addition. (So the player isn't like 'thats the 20th time ive had my stuff stolen' and reloads instead of playing it out)

Other add-on ideas to this:
- very rare chance that a corrupt guard does one of the above things.
- a quest started when you get your stuff sloten to track down the thief and get revenge. (Maybe you have to ask for rumors to track down the dungeon the thief operates out of, or set a trap)
- for the rescue, the adveturer may have different personalities, ie: A more noble one might not leave their name, meaning you can't pay off your debt, and a rouge one may deduct a small fee from you for their troubles. (A very small amount so it isn't like being robbed) With the one you described in the middle of the spectrum.

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Ralzar
Posts: 2211
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Location: Norway

Re: Mod proposal: alternatives to death

Post by Ralzar »

Thgis kind of system would work very well with some kind of savepoint/permadeath system. So you're just stuck with whatever happened but you can go "Well, at least I didn't die."

andromacus
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat May 23, 2020 9:07 am

Re: Mod proposal: alternatives to death

Post by andromacus »

Totally agree with the fact that these alternatives should be rare to keep them meaningful and not annoying.

My initial though was that the chances should be something like 70% of being killed, 20% of getting robbed/captured, 10% of being rescued. Considering that those would applies only for human/humanoids who defeat you while in the wilderness, this should make things pretty rare and interesting.

Great idea the one of a quest following the robbery! Actually the same concept could be used also for the capture, depending on the "reason" of your capture. For example, if you are going to be involved in some mad experiment, track down and kill the mad wizard who is capturing the travelers. Or if you are going to be sacrificed, find and destroy the evil cultists...I think there could be plenty of opportunities for more side quests

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Magicono43
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Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:06 am

Re: Mod proposal: alternatives to death

Post by Magicono43 »

I personally think the possibility of either dying or being captures, etc, should be determined by what type of enemy got the last hit on you possibly. Like I don't think a skeleton or most undead creatures would be interested in robbing you, but human NPCs would obviously be much more interested in your belongings than just killing you, that sort of thing.

andromacus
Posts: 113
Joined: Sat May 23, 2020 9:07 am

Re: Mod proposal: alternatives to death

Post by andromacus »

Exaclty. Actually my idea is that this should work only with humans/humanoids and only outside of dungeons. Animals or undead would always kill the player

l3lessed
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Re: Mod proposal: alternatives to death

Post by l3lessed »

Actually, undead may want to keep you alive at the command of their liche lord or conjurer, so their master can run experiments on you.

I love this idea, and I have always loved these mods. It's a good way to make death a game mechanics and not just a boring black screen.

One idea is to provide an option where the player could get rescued/revived at the nearest town by a temple healer who found you, but at a small cost to some attribute. This way, death works like an aging mechanic too. The more you die, the less time you rebuild from your injury, the more frail and older you are. Something like that.
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