Simple Challenges for Morrowind

[legitkhajiit]

I was recently playing Morrowind, having a good time and all that good stuff, when I made myself a small chalenge.

I picked a house in Balmora (Hlaalo Manor), made myself comfortable, when I realised I needed to visit good old Caius. So I went to the second floor and exited from there. Then I realized I was near an easy to reach rooftop! So I made a challenge - get to Caius's house WITHOUT touching the floor. It was actually quite fun. So I ask you to post any fun and simple challenges for a charcter level 5 or so. I want to see all the uniqe ideas you guys (and girls) have.

Please stay on the topic. Thank you.

Edit: Come on! Someone reply to this topic!

[Denina]

I once made a little quest for myself to collect 100 pearls. To make this a true challenge, I made up some rules for it. See the first post in this thread for more details since I don't feel like typing it all out again.

[Ediramadi]

I do permadeath challenges on occasion where I roll up a new character and see how long I can play with that character until they die. Once they die I delete all the saves related to that character and start all over again. It's a challenge born from my love of roguelikes.

Outside of that I give my characters codes of conduct, morals, phobias, addictions, obsessions and other quirks just to make the game a little more interesting. These can range from something simple like a sweet tooth or vigilantism to something more complex like nyctophobia, kleptomania or split personalities. It makes for an interesting experience.

[eyelessoverseer]

I've recently repurchased Morrowind at Steam.

The character I've been playing observes several rules: no trainers for money, no teleporting/transporters, at least 8 hours of sleep and 1 meal a day (must be a "normal" meal, no alchemy ingredients such as minerals or junk). If I don't sleep and/or don't have a meal, I don't do anything that would require any amount of strain from the character.

I don't buy alchemy ingredients, I collect them in the outdoors instead (I never steal them from other NPCs fields/farms)

I'm still trying to make up some challenges that would get my game as close to the roguelike genre as possible, including permadeath of course!

[Lord Cluttermonkey]

Try using a NPC class.
I run a Breton Guild Guide at the moment, it's quite fun.

[Demiverse]

Try using a NPC class.
I run a Breton Guild Guide at the moment, it's quite fun.

NPC Classes are a blast. Better than a lot of the presets, in fact.

Also, Gondolier Helm > everything

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

You can use the console to spawn enemies to fight. For example, you could use this code:

Code: Select all

placeatpc "atronach_storm" 1,1,1

to summon a Storm Atronach right next to you. You can spam it for an army of them, save, and load whenever you are finished. Use different creature IDs to get different creatures. If you really wanted a challenge, you could click on some creature and edit their stats, like:

Code: Select all

->sethealth"1000"

Be sure to click on the creature itself before doing this, however.

[Demiverse]

I used to do that to "host" gladiatorial games in the Vivec Arena. Spawn a bunch of NPCs into the pit and use startcombat. Good times.

[NerevarRising]

Walk from the high fane to the hitkvald peak... or the top of Sheogarad without any transport spells it NPC interaction.
(There's a temple quest a bit similar but I thought it was interesting... finding new places and admiring the soundtrack)

[OblivionDuruza]

I had been meaning to post this for quite some time now, but it got held up in my drafts folder. If anyone's still interested, I believe I do have another interesting twist that you might consider:

Roleplaying is the easiest way to add difficulty to any Elder Scrolls game. Not taking items lying around because they aren't yours will definitely slow down your income, and so force you to forego certain luxuries, like training and equipment, which make the game less difficult.

On top of that, you can add roleplay elements like charity or pacifism for added challenge.

As a side note, adding realistic sleep does a lot to slow the pace of the game down, although I find that Morrowind is paced enough as it is that it doesn't benefit from doing so in the same way that Oblivion and Skyrim do.

[Demiverse]

Roleplaying is the easiest way to add difficulty to any Elder Scrolls game.

Precisely. And there are endless possibilities. Just adding a simple personality trait or idiosyncrasy like you suggested is a great place to start.

And playing a pacifist character is completely counter-intuitive to all our gaming instincts - yet it can be blast simply because it's so whacky. Though I probably wouldn't classify it as a "simple" challenge.

[OblivionDuruza]

Perhaps not I guess it depends on how far you go with it. If you only go as far as not initiating any combat then you lose the opportunity to strike the first blow, making some fights considerably more difficult. If you go as far as not killing any other sentient, or even any other living thing, then Illusion Magic is probably your only way to avoid combat reliably (fleeing using Alteration Magic or Athletics/Acrobatics can be viable, but is a lot more difficult). In either case, Speechcraft can be a big help when it comes to quests.

[Secret Magic User]

It's not as immersive as some of the previous posts(which are all very fun, especially the role play), but, a fun thing I've always liked to do is cover up as many lava pools as possible in the Molag Amur region with books as a kind of Morrowind Civil Service project.

[Demiverse]

Perhaps not I guess it depends on how far you go with it. If you only go as far as not initiating any combat then you lose the opportunity to strike the first blow, making some fights considerably more difficult. If you go as far as not killing any other sentient, or even any other living thing, then Illusion Magic is probably your only way to avoid combat reliably (fleeing using Alteration Magic or Athletics/Acrobatics can be viable, but is a lot more difficult). In either case, Speechcraft can be a big help when it comes to quests.

I usually play a pure pacifist. And yes, Illusion is typically the only thing saving my hide. I've found Cliff Racers to be the biggest problem by their sheer numbers.

Playing a pacifist thief has been the most enjoyable. Not a pacifist for moral reasons, just a coward. A cowardly hero is something you don't see every day, and it's refreshing to roleplay that type. This was the gist of my most recent Oblivion character, and it allowed me to actually enjoy the game again. The first challenge there was to make it out of the sewers with a kill count of 0. After that it was fairly easy, since I could outrun anything in the wild.

a fun thing I've always liked to do is cover up as many lava pools as possible in the Molag Amur region with books as a kind of Morrowind Civil Service project.

You're lucky there are no laws of physics in Morrowind!

Anything that involves compulsive arranging/stacking of random objects appeals to me. Especially....PILLOW CASTLES!

[Secret Magic User]

@Demiverse
Very lucky indeed! Pillow castles are so much fun, however, I like to use both books and pillows, to get a two tone effect, purely for aesthetic reasons.

Another fun challenge is to play as a healer. The way I do this is to command humanoid, make them my follower and then heal OT. It's interesting to see just how long you keep a follower alive and tanking for you. The only drawback is crowds, really, when you end up having to spend magicka on commanding more humanoids.

[Demiverse]

I like the idea of making a shaman character and building a little hut made out of skulls in the middle of nowhere.

[Secret Magic User]

Can we use only skulls with the crossed leather strips? I also try to collect and light a house with only blue or only red candles/lanterns.

[Demiverse]

I like placing diamonds and gems in the eye sockets of the skulls. Not that it's a challenge, but it gives the game more of an Indiana Jones vibe. Which is never a bad thing.

[Secret Magic User]

I like placing diamonds and gems in the eye sockets of the skulls. Not that it's a challenge, but it gives the game more of an Indiana Jones vibe. Which is never a bad thing.

Yes. Just yes.

Another thing I like to do is carry around bonemeal. If I ever kill a Dunmer, I look up their Ancestral tomb and bring "their" bonemeal to their Ancestors. It makes for a lot of explored map.

[Demiverse]

That's a great idea that ties in nicely with the current theme of this thread.

Coming up with little rituals like that is one of the best ways to make simple challenges for yourself. For example, my current character leaves a torch burning at the entrance to vampire dens and sixth house bases he clears, to notify travelers that it's safe.

But you can go even further, and make it the entire focus of the character. I usually design my characters to be suited to a specialized playstyle with particular simple (or not so simple) challenges in mind - but they're almost always self-imposed. Here are some examples of challenges I've built characters around:

-Scout: Explore the entire overland map.
-Swimmer/Pearl Diver: Explore all underwater regions - search for pearls, shipwrecks, and sunken treasure.
-Dwemer Collector: Collect as many dwemer artifacts as possible - perhaps even becoming curator of an artifact museum of your own creation.
-Scholar: Collect and compile every book in the game. Be the proud owner of the only complete library in Vvardenfell.
-Ashlander/Ranger/Survivalist: Avoid all civilization and attempt to subsist entirely off the land. Spend your time hunting and gathering. Works even better with some basic mods, like the Fletching mod which allows you to make arrows out of cliff racer plumes.
-Vampire/Daedra Hunter: Kill all Vampires or Necromancers or Daedra in the game. Collect their remains as trophies. Be a BAMF.
-Skooma Addict: Do anything you can to attain as much skooma as possible, ignoring all laws and social conventions if necessary.
-Pirate: Hard to pull off in Morrowind but still a lot of fun. I once made a Reguard Pirate - he found his home in an abandoned shipwreck where he would hoard piles of gold and jewels. He fought with a sabre, and wore no armor and no shirt - classic pirate style.
-Bandit/Outlaw: Get a bounty and never pay it off. Live the life of a fugitive - set up camp in a cave or hideout, get some followers to create a bandit gang, and raid towns and settlements. When used in conjunction with mods that add travelers to the roads, you can go for more of a "highwayman" approach as well.

I know I have many more examples, maybe I'll post them in the future.

Most importantly, it's the details that really help with getting invested in your character for the long run. The key is to develop specific compulsions or idiosyncrasies that make the character unique. Therefore there can be infinite challenges waiting to be imagined. And it's highly personalized. Everyone seems to come up with their own way of doing things.

[legitkhajiit]

I haven't read this thread for a while, thank you all for your replies!
Now about roleplaying - I tried it many times, but it always ended in mindless playing (which is the opposite of roleplaying). Recently I had a character whos goal was to raid (spoilers?) Vivec Vaults and hoard all of the treasure from there. I succeeded, but my save corrupted *sigh*. I was so mad!
And by the way - no need for console instructions, I cheated in Morrowind a million times

[legitkhajiit]

Try using a NPC class.
I run a Breton Guild Guide at the moment, it's quite fun.

Could you please provide more information on how you play it? Seems fun. I tried it in Skyrim and Oblivion, but it's not the same.

[Demiverse]

I haven't read this thread for a while, thank you all for your replies!
Now about roleplaying - I tried it many times, but it always ended in mindless playing (which is the opposite of roleplaying). Recently I had a character whos goal was to raid (spoilers?) Vivec Vaults and hoard all of the treasure from there. I succeeded, but my save corrupted *sigh*. I was so mad!
And by the way - no need for console instructions, I cheated in Morrowind a million times

Ask yourself the age-old actor's question:

What is my motivation?

This is paramount to avoid defaulting to "mindless playing". Setting a goal that can be realistically fulfilled (like raiding the Vivec Vaults) is everything.

The true joy of RP comes from your character's unique interactions with situations. Since the game is generally too open-ended to thrust you into plot- and character-building scenarios, they may need to be self-manufactured to some extent.

[legitkhajiit]

By the way, am I the only one enjoying jumping between rooftops in Balmora? It just feels like I'm some sort of parkour master

[Demiverse]

By the way, am I the only one enjoying jumping between rooftops in Balmora? It just feels like I'm some sort of parkour master

If Balmora were somehow populated with every Morrowind player of all time in some grotesque hypothetical MMO scenario, there would be a swarm of roof-jumping khajiits blotting out the sun.