Play your backstory before the Main Quest
Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 7:57 am
I've recently been thinking quite a bit about the Main Quest and how it's pretty good but could do with a bit of restructuring and rebalancing. A few triggers and level reqs tweaked etc.
But, one major thing I started thinking about was altering the start of the game. To give you room to grow as a character before the events of the normal Main Quest starts. Imagine something like this:
1: The first intro movie starts with the book and the backstory. However, the movie with the Emperor giving you a mission does NOT play.
2: Your "History" gets the last part removed. There is no longer any story of how you became friends with the Emperor.
3: You start the game some time (a year? Half a year?) before the normal game start. King Lysandus has just started haunting the streets of Daggerfall, but the news has not yet reached the Emperor.
4: You start in a town in a region based on your race or based on a choice presented to you.
5: You get no Main Quest at start. You're free to do whatever you want.
6: All guilds have a high-rank quest wich is the entrance to the Main Quest. So, once you reach one of the highest ranks in a guild, you get a specific quest which ends up with you doing something that makes you popular with the Emperor (saving a family member for example). The quest ends with you being invited to meet the Emperor. When you agree to that, you get exposition text about how the Emperor decides to trust you.
7: THIS is when the Emperor movie plays. "Sleep well this night. For tomorrow, you sail for the kingdom of Daggerfall!"
8: Ship crash. Privateers Hold etc. Now the Main Quest starts as normal.
What this does, is have you start with a character capabable of just picking up the Main Quest right away. You don't have to put off the Main Quest because you need to level up first. You are a mid-to-high level character with at least one high rank guild membership. You are a person it makes sense to give this sort of mission to.
But, one major thing I started thinking about was altering the start of the game. To give you room to grow as a character before the events of the normal Main Quest starts. Imagine something like this:
1: The first intro movie starts with the book and the backstory. However, the movie with the Emperor giving you a mission does NOT play.
2: Your "History" gets the last part removed. There is no longer any story of how you became friends with the Emperor.
3: You start the game some time (a year? Half a year?) before the normal game start. King Lysandus has just started haunting the streets of Daggerfall, but the news has not yet reached the Emperor.
4: You start in a town in a region based on your race or based on a choice presented to you.
5: You get no Main Quest at start. You're free to do whatever you want.
6: All guilds have a high-rank quest wich is the entrance to the Main Quest. So, once you reach one of the highest ranks in a guild, you get a specific quest which ends up with you doing something that makes you popular with the Emperor (saving a family member for example). The quest ends with you being invited to meet the Emperor. When you agree to that, you get exposition text about how the Emperor decides to trust you.
7: THIS is when the Emperor movie plays. "Sleep well this night. For tomorrow, you sail for the kingdom of Daggerfall!"
8: Ship crash. Privateers Hold etc. Now the Main Quest starts as normal.
What this does, is have you start with a character capabable of just picking up the Main Quest right away. You don't have to put off the Main Quest because you need to level up first. You are a mid-to-high level character with at least one high rank guild membership. You are a person it makes sense to give this sort of mission to.