A Skyrim Total Conversion Viking Mod. Thread

Hello there!

Well after playing Skyrim and being completely awe
stricken by its beauty and new features, i had the idea that perhaps we
could make a total conversion mod now that the creation kit release is
imminent.

This mod would be set during the viking invasion of
Britain (865-1066 A.D) and can feature locations such as Scandinavia
and various parts of Britain. The storyline would be partly true
historical events and partly fiction.
Of course since the mod would
be partly historical, that means we would have to cut some things, like
non human races, monsters and magic (Maybe not entirely).

Personally
i am an amateur 2d artist and i have worked on a couple of medieval 2
total war modifications (so i have some basic knowledge on how a
modding team should function). But unfortunately i cannot take on my
shoulders the large weight of making a mod (like modeling and
scripting). But i would be very interested to help in creating a team
for a viking era mod. I can help in creating promotional material,
perhaps a forum or a website etc etc

In order to get a total conversion mod of the scale i have in mind we need a team.
More specifically we need:
1: Coders (persons with knowledge of the Skyrim creation kit)
2: Mappers (persons who will create the world map and environments)
3: Modellers (persons who will create custom models like buildings, armors, weapons etc)
4: Researchers (persons who have knowledge and access to history books related with our mods time-frame)
5: 2D Artists (persons who can create, logos and promotional material), i got this one covered myself.
6: Concept Artists (persons who can draw locations and art related with our mod)
7: Scriptwriters (persons who will write the main story, quests, dialogs etc)

I have create a logo based on my early ideas about the mod:

But its too early for anything like that, since its not even a project yet, its only an idea..

If
you are interested in joining such a project, let me know how you can
be of assistance. If you have any ideas, feel free to share them with
me. Generally, let me know how you feel about such an idea.

Cheers

Good idea, but I dont think it will catch on, although i would love to help and see it develop. One of the problems with the idea are the areas you want to build. Scandinavia is FAR too big for a project that is just being started up from nothing. Maybe if you look up an island small enough near northern europe and work off of that. Remember that countries are HUNDREDS of square miles, and skyrim is barely 14 sq miles. You will need a good mapper!
Make sure you have some races figured out (aka:HUMANS!!!)
Next, try making a motive for...
1: the vikings being on the island
2: an opposing faction being on the island (lets think something like romans here)

Im thinking gold mines... Then just create a fiction from all that. I could help with story when I have some free time from all my BF2 and Skyrim modding endevours.
I also have a bit of 3d modeling and texturing experience, but as I said, I dont have a whole lot of time...

I got an idea, based on Insanitys. Here it is:

A village, or "clan" of vikings live on the island of Gotland. They are the farming type, but aint afraid to pick up their weapons when needed. Their clan leader is a greedy, middle-aged man named Ulf Björntand(Beartooth). One day, a group of men dressed in shiny armor and red clothing arrives to Gotland. They "threaten" the vikings to sell their land to them, but they won't.

Now comes the 2 choices:

1. Ulf Björntand betrays his people and sells the land, and the people to the Romans. The Romans raid their village and captures the vikings. But the vikings starts a "rebellion" and a little war breaks out.

OR

2. The vikings refuse to sell their land, and the romans attack them. It becomes like a siege on the village, and the vikings are forced to fight.

And, if you want, I can help you with this mod. I'm not skilled in coding or such things, but I can paint fairly good. And maybe I can get into the modeling thing.

Hey guys thanks for your interest and replies

InsanityPays: I understand how portraying such large areas would be a
problem, but i believe i have figured out a workaround. The answer to this problem is a form of fast traveling, similar to the carriage option in vanilla skyrim. In this mod the option could be like a boat or a ship for example. So by fast travelling, you will be transferred to a totally different location of the world map. Now, the mod map will not be as large and extensive as vanilla Skyrim's obviously because it will take years of development and a large team of experienced individuals with loads of free time. Something we cannot afford.. My idea is to create a few real historical cities and the immediate surrounding areas of these cities, this way we will portray significantly more different locations, adding a sense of immersion. These cities will be significantly larger than those of vanilla Skyrim, in other words most of the mod's quests and story will take place in medieval urban areas and their surrounding ‘wild areas' like forests etc.
Races would be done according to various ethnicities that were present in Britain at that particular historic period. Romans do not fit the medieval setting I had in mind, since they were long gone at that period of time (at least from Britain). But there are many different cultures that were present at that time in the area that is why I think the particular time and area would provide an interesting storyline for a mod. To be more exact, there could be 6 playable races of humans according to the cultures and more than 13 different kingdoms to provide a great background...
1: Anglo-Saxon Culture:
Kingdom of Wessex
Kingdom of Mercia
Kingdom of East Anglia
Kingdom of Northumbria
2: Celtic Culture:
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Kingdom of Alba
3: Viking Culture:
Kingdom of Denmark
Jarldom of Hordaland
Jarldom of Vestfold
4: Caroling Culture:
East Frankish Empire

5: Norman Culture:
Duchy of Normandy
6: Gaelic culture:
Kingdom of Connacht
Kingdom of Munster

But I would prefer that we were to figure out these things once we had first established a storyline and a particular setting for the mod. My idea is that this mod would not focus so much on exploring but more on storytelling. And that the storyline would be quite mature, dark and detailed (thing the witcher games as an example).
More specifically, my rough idea of the mod story is that the player starts as a survivor of a shipwreck in the coasts of Britain. He suffers from amnesia (yes I know, this is not an original idea but it would allow the players to shape their own background for the character according to their decisions in quests etc) and attempts to figure out his place in the world. Obviously there are constant conflicts going on between local and foreign warlords, the player will be able to join one of these warlords and factions (similar to the conflict between the legion and the stormcloaks in vanilla skyrim) or totally ignore them and start a career as a thief, murderer, mercenary, pirate, bard, merchant or anything else in a real world setting.
Let me remind you that this is my ROUGH IDEA it is by no way final so feel free to contribute in any way you like!

If more people are to show interest in joining the project, I will create a website/forum particularly for the mod, but I need at least a small team first before going for the creation of a website/forum.
InsanityPays and Juggalag you are more than free to join the project!

Medieval cities would be a challenge, and would end up as a depressing setting. Im still sticking to the island idea, also, I like the amnesia idea. I dont think ethnicities would be a good idea. There arent any real "races" within humanity, just different features. so one race would work just fine, maybe instead have it so you can change your age or origin country...

Themis711 wrote: To be more exact, there could be 6 playable races of humans according to the cultures and more than 13 different kingdoms to provide a great background...

Hmmm... I agree with InsanityPays, that it shouldn't be any races. If the main character suffers from amnesia, he shouldn't remember what country he is from. So the player can shape his own destiny.

I believe you may have misunderstood the races idea... What I meant was that different ethnic nationalities would portray different physical characteristics and traits. The idea for the ‘races' came from the elder scrolls representation of different ethnic groups. For instance in the elder scrolls series Bretons are pretty much a representation of British people, Nords the representation of Norse people, Redguards the representation of African people and finally Imperials the representation of Roman (or Mediterranean) people. I am not saying that Humans are separated in different races, I only used this term because that is the term the game uses to represent different ethnic groups.
Taking the above in mind, starting with a character of a Viking/Norse background the player could have a proficiency in double handed weapons like axes. While having a physically more tall and strong build body type. Starting with an Anglo-Saxon character you may have a boost in traits related to charisma and commerce while having a more slender body type. Starting with a Celtic character you may have traits related to archery or sword skills etc etc.
The above are only examples of how I intended to use the different human ‘races' option in game. I completely agree that there aren't any real races within humanity. It doesn't really have to do anything with actual races but more with a representation of different ethnic people and traits they portrayed during the specific time period (like what combat style they favored and perhaps some physical features like body type and hair/eye color etc).

More specifically, concerning the historical background of the mod, it can take place during the Danelaw (En.wikipedia.org). You can see a map of the area and historical kingdoms present there during that period, here:
And also what the mod map could look like:

Themis711 wrote: I believe you may have misunderstood the races idea... What I meant was that different ethnic nationalities would portray different physical characteristics and traits. The idea for the ‘races' came from the elder scrolls representation of different ethnic groups. For instance in the elder scrolls series Bretons are pretty much a representation of British people, Nords the representation of Norse people, Redguards the representation of African people and finally Imperials the representation of Roman (or Mediterranean) people. I am not saying that Humans are separated in different races, I only used this term because that is the term the game uses to represent different ethnic groups.

Ah, now I see!
I have an idea: the mod could be kinda linear, not so free like Skyrim. This could "ease" the development, and open new ways of story telling i the mod.

Find a good coder then, this is some hard stuff. I just think one of the best parts of skyrim is the fact that no matter what yo can always go explore. exploration is very important and Im still liking that small island idea...