The Ancient Profession 2023-11-14

[ruddycray]

11 hours ago, eggman1967 said:

Just wanted to say that this mod is outstanding, and thank you for all your work.

 

Thanks!

[ruddycray]

5 hours ago, arshesney said:

I've noticed a couple errors in TAPQAncientProfessionScript, some ESL addresses slipped in FormIDs for, as example, the glass robe. Since I compact outfit mods I've also added a simple check to support ESLified plugins.

TAPQAncientProfessionScript.psc 10.37 kB · 1 download

 

Thanks for the report. You are correct. I don't think I was aware of ESLs at the time I added those, and they don't match the IDs in the files. I will correct those for the next release.

[eggman1967]

Just thought of a suggestion. Some form of dedicated storage at the Brothels. My character has a lot of different outfits that she switches between and it would be a convenient place to keep them.

[ruddycray]

21 minutes ago, eggman1967 said:

Just thought of a suggestion. Some form of dedicated storage at the Brothels. My character has a lot of different outfits that she switches between and it would be a convenient place to keep them.

 

That's probably doable. No definite on when, but if it's easy enough then it might make it into the next release.

[Highborn]

Out of curiosity, how much the current mod content is close to the imagined/planned finished version?

 

The 0.6 is an indication that 1.0 should be the final and finished release?

 

 

 

 

[ruddycray]

3 hours ago, Highborn said:

Out of curiosity, how much the current mod content is close to the imagined/planned finished version?

 

The 0.6 is an indication that 1.0 should be the final and finished release?

 

 

 

 

 

It's a ways off, since I have very little of the full quest lines that I have in mind implemented, and some of those are still in a design phase. I have a rough idea of how I want them to play out, but I still need to get some specifics decided. On top of that, I've expanded a little beyond what I originally had in mind, such as the decision to try to do something with the Temple of Dibella. It is very likely that after 0.9 will be 0.10, 0.11, and so on. But yes I will go to 1.0 once I think it's essentially done, and any updates from there would either be bug fixes or maybe adding new special job quests.

 

The overall plan is something like this:

Spoiler

• Brothels near at least all the major cities and possibly near the smaller ones, too (with what Riften will look like a little undecided at this point)
• Enough special jobs for being a prostitute to have some interesting variety
• Dibella's Garden quest line centering around Riften
• Benjen quest line centering around expanding beyond Riften - you will not be able to do this and the Dibella's Garden quest line in the same play through
• Mini quest line centering around the business in Dawnstar
• Temple of Dibella quest line - I still need to decide how this fits alongside Dibella's Garden and Benjen
• Mini quest line centering around Vanikseth
• "Main" quest line branching out from the prostitute in Riverwood that you can do no matter who you join up with

 

Probably the thing that holds back my progress the most on this is that I don't want every single quest to just be the sexual equivalent of a fetch quest. Even if you are ultimately going to retrieve an item, I want there to be some variety to how you get there, at least some of the time.

[Highborn]

22 minutes ago, ruddycray said:

 

It's a ways off, since I have very little of the full quest lines that I have in mind implemented, and some of those are still in a design phase. I have a rough idea of how I want them to play out, but I still need to get some specifics decided. On top of that, I've expanded a little beyond what I originally had in mind, such as the decision to try to do something with the Temple of Dibella. It is very likely that after 0.9 will be 0.10, 0.11, and so on. But yes I will go to 1.0 once I think it's essentially done, and any updates from there would either be bug fixes or maybe adding new special job quests.

 

The overall plan is something like this:

  Hide contents

• Brothels near at least all the major cities and possibly near the smaller ones, too (with what Riften will look like a little undecided at this point)
• Enough special jobs for being a prostitute to have some interesting variety
• Dibella's Garden quest line centering around Riften
• Benjen quest line centering around expanding beyond Riften - you will not be able to do this and the Dibella's Garden quest line in the same play through
• Mini quest line centering around the business in Dawnstar
• Temple of Dibella quest line - I still need to decide how this fits alongside Dibella's Garden and Benjen
• Mini quest line centering around Vanikseth
• "Main" quest line branching out from the prostitute in Riverwood that you can do no matter who you join up with

 

Probably the thing that holds back my progress the most on this is that I don't want every single quest to just be the sexual equivalent of a fetch quest. Even if you are ultimately going to retrieve an item, I want there to be some variety to how you get there, at least some of the time.

The future of the mod looks very exciting.

 

I was wondering because I really want to use this mod in one 'final' walktrough, but since Skyrim always requires a clean save game when updating the mod, I've been delaying it. lol

[ruddycray]

8 minutes ago, Highborn said:

The future of the mod looks very exciting.

 

I was wondering because I really want to use this mod in one 'final' walktrough, but since Skyrim always requires a clean save game when updating the mod, I've been delaying it. lol

 

That's mostly my fault, to be honest. Unfortunately, the next version is going to require this again because of some things I'm doing with it, but I do want to see if I can start supporting mid-game upgrades before I do too many more releases. I have a much better idea of what makes that necessary and what doesn't than when I first started, and I have a better idea of how to organize things. I still don't think I'll be able to promise it for every release, but I'm aiming to get to where I'm a little more careful about whether I really need to break it.

[Highborn]

23 minutes ago, ruddycray said:

 

That's mostly my fault, to be honest. Unfortunately, the next version is going to require this again because of some things I'm doing with it, but I do want to see if I can start supporting mid-game upgrades before I do too many more releases. I have a much better idea of what makes that necessary and what doesn't than when I first started, and I have a better idea of how to organize things. I still don't think I'll be able to promise it for every release, but I'm aiming to get to where I'm a little more careful about whether I really need to break it.

well, I've seen this limitation in almost all quest mods, so you shouldn't blame yourself. lol

[iWickedness]

Great job on the mod. One thing I will complain about...Benjen or whatever the Riften jerks name is. Could you consider lowering the cost? I don't use add item since it makes my play through feel less. I like to find or make everything I have. So having to pay the guy a butt load of gold just to further the quest is well...expensive. Ive run 2 play through and I do all the other holds quests but skip the Riften just because it IS so expensive. I like having my license and using them when my character needs some extra gold. Having to pay 1200 gold a week is just...well a lot. Specially if I'm actually playing the game. I have to spend way to much time in Riften on my back just so I don't get a bounty. There needs/should be an option that allows us to either stay with the khakis etc. Once you start Benjens quest you are technically screwed...literally. In all the other holds I can stop prostituting and there's no repercussions, not with Riften. Give us a way to turn in our license or something please.

[ruddycray]

31 minutes ago, iWickedness said:

Great job on the mod. One thing I will complain about...Benjen or whatever the Riften jerks name is. Could you consider lowering the cost? I don't use add item since it makes my play through feel less. I like to find or make everything I have. So having to pay the guy a butt load of gold just to further the quest is well...expensive. Ive run 2 play through and I do all the other holds quests but skip the Riften just because it IS so expensive. I like having my license and using them when my character needs some extra gold. Having to pay 1200 gold a week is just...well a lot. Specially if I'm actually playing the game. I have to spend way to much time in Riften on my back just so I don't get a bounty. There needs/should be an option that allows us to either stay with the khakis etc. Once you start Benjens quest you are technically screwed...literally. In all the other holds I can stop prostituting and there's no repercussions, not with Riften. Give us a way to turn in our license or something please.

 

I have some plans to provide ways to do some things with that. There will eventually be a few options there, along these lines:

 

Spoiler

1. Benjen will offer some work that pays a lot more money than inn prostitution (at least one job like this that pays between 700 and 1000 gold will be in the next release)
2. I may reduce the quota as Benjen trusts you more
3. The Dibella's Garden quest line will release Benjen's hold on Riften, and there will either be no quota with them, or the penalty for not meeting it will just be getting fired after a while instead of a bounty
4. I may provide a way to buy your way out of the contract with Benjen - though this probably won't be easy. It is kind of intentional that you shouldn't get involved with Benjen if you don't want to deal with the way he is.

 

Since most of that is future plans, I might provide something in the meantime to ease that burden, but the longer term idea is that getting involved with an employer is a trade off of costs and benefits.

 

Edit: Also, I don't know if this was just a minor misstatement or if there is a misunderstanding, but it's 1200 every two weeks, not every week. It should be 24 clients in an inn every 14 game days, assuming you don't do any special jobs that pay you more money.

Edited June 1, 2021 by ruddycray

[SkyFireXxx]

Quote

4. I may provide a way to buy your way out of the contract with Benjen - though this probably won't be easy. It is kind of intentional that you shouldn't get involved with Benjen if you don't want to deal with the way he is.

 

There should be a few ways, specially after MC completes certain questlines, like Companion, or Dark Brotherhood, or becomes thane of Riften.  Even Maven wouldn't want to be at odds with Harbinger of the Companions or leader+Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. There should be a conditional high Persuade/Intimidate Option and an option to buy your way out for a large sum like 5,000 gold or 10,000 gold or even 25,000 Gold. Something like that...

[iWickedness]

On 6/1/2021 at 4:00 PM, ruddycray said:

 

I have some plans to provide ways to do some things with that. There will eventually be a few options there, along these lines:

 

  Hide contents

1. Benjen will offer some work that pays a lot more money than inn prostitution (at least one job like this that pays between 700 and 1000 gold will be in the next release)
2. I may reduce the quota as Benjen trusts you more
3. The Dibella's Garden quest line will release Benjen's hold on Riften, and there will either be no quota with them, or the penalty for not meeting it will just be getting fired after a while instead of a bounty
4. I may provide a way to buy your way out of the contract with Benjen - though this probably won't be easy. It is kind of intentional that you shouldn't get involved with Benjen if you don't want to deal with the way he is.

 

Since most of that is future plans, I might provide something in the meantime to ease that burden, but the longer term idea is that getting involved with an employer is a trade off of costs and benefits.

 

Edit: Also, I don't know if this was just a minor misstatement or if there is a misunderstanding, but it's 1200 every two weeks, not every week. It should be 24 clients in an inn every 14 game days, assuming you don't do any special jobs that pay you more money.

That was a mistake on my part. Even so, it's still a little steep. As a poster said after my comment and of course I fully understand the mod is far from finished, I think as the pc becomes stronger ie titles/thaneships he should be less pushed around by "employers". Honestly, if you was to add someway to allow me to buy the prostitution business from the jarl of Riften I'd be ecstatic lol. Also....give us a chance to make Benjen work for us! Evil smile...I hate that arse.

[ruddycray]

2 hours ago, iWickedness said:

That was a mistake on my part. Even so, it's still a little steep. As a poster said after my comment and of course I fully understand the mod is far from finished, I think as the pc becomes stronger ie titles/thaneships he should be less pushed around by "employers". Honestly, if you was to add someway to allow me to buy the prostitution business from the jarl of Riften I'd be ecstatic lol. Also....give us a chance to make Benjen work for us! Evil smile...I hate that arse.

 

I've definitely got some work to do on game balance, but as you acknowledged the mod isn't finished, so I'm holding off on some of it to avoid lots of redoing stuff. All the same, I do recognize that plenty of people may try to do a full play through with this mod active, and having the situation in Riften as it may make that very difficult. I'll see what I can do for now to make that more playable.

 

There will definitely be a way to wrest control of Riften away from Benjen, though. That will be the main focus of the Dibella's Garden quest line. It will be a little more involved than just buying the business, though, because Maven might be the Jarl, and if not she has the Jarl in her pocket.

[tch65721]

I'm enjoying this mod much more than I thought I would which is saying a lot for an ALPHA mod.  If I may suggest, drop the Alpha designation.  You're likely scaring people off who have no good reason to be afraid.  I've played betas much less stable than your rock solid mod.  Great work!  Give yourself more credit.  

 

Now a suggestion... I would really like it if I could ply my trade anywhere in the hold and not be confined to cities.  Personally, I'm thinking of a specific bath house that features in my playthroughs and gets lots of visitors, potential clients if you will.  I'm talking about the Bathing Beauties Luxury Suite.           

[iWickedness]

21 hours ago, ruddycray said:

 

I've definitely got some work to do on game balance, but as you acknowledged the mod isn't finished, so I'm holding off on some of it to avoid lots of redoing stuff. All the same, I do recognize that plenty of people may try to do a full play through with this mod active, and having the situation in Riften as it may make that very difficult. I'll see what I can do for now to make that more playable.

 

There will definitely be a way to wrest control of Riften away from Benjen, though. That will be the main focus of the Dibella's Garden quest line. It will be a little more involved than just buying the business, though, because Maven might be the Jarl, and if not she has the Jarl in her pocket.

Fully understandable! Please don't let my comments cause you to think I'm unhappy. Far from it! It is an excellent mod. Even at its current state its great. Very stable, very little bugs and even the ones I've encountered are not very noticeable. I'd recommend the mod to my friends, heck I've already told a couple of them about it and they've downloaded the mod also. As another poster said, your mod is hands down better than most of the "bug free" mods on LL. 

Thank you for the replies!

[ruddycray]

22 hours ago, tch65721 said:

I'm enjoying this mod much more than I thought I would which is saying a lot for an ALPHA mod.  If I may suggest, drop the Alpha designation.  You're likely scaring people off who have no good reason to be afraid.  I've played betas much less stable than your rock solid mod.  Great work!  Give yourself more credit.  

 

Now a suggestion... I would really like it if I could ply my trade anywhere in the hold and not be confined to cities.  Personally, I'm thinking of a specific bath house that features in my playthroughs and gets lots of visitors, potential clients if you will.  I'm talking about the Bathing Beauties Luxury Suite.           

 

Work without having to be in an inn or brothel is on my list, so I'll get around to it eventually. I'm not sure when that will be. I may take a look at that mod and see if there's anything in it that I can hook into before I work out how "anywhere" prostitution might work.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying the mod. I do think about the alpha label scaring people away, so I might change how I'm labeling it. While the mod is still what I would consider early access and unfinished, the alpha label started when I was much less confident in my modding abilities than I am now.

[ruddycray]

3 hours ago, iWickedness said:

Fully understandable! Please don't let my comments cause you to think I'm unhappy. Far from it! It is an excellent mod. Even at its current state its great. Very stable, very little bugs and even the ones I've encountered are not very noticeable. I'd recommend the mod to my friends, heck I've already told a couple of them about it and they've downloaded the mod also. As another poster said, your mod is hands down better than most of the "bug free" mods on LL. 

Thank you for the replies!

 

Not at all! My intent isn't to be defensive or make excuses. I'm only trying to let you know what to expect, while acknowledging that I agree with much of what you've said.

 

I very much appreciate the feedback and that you've given recommendations!

[Samson Nite]

Any update plan in the near future?

[ruddycray]

5 hours ago, ssamsbji said:

Any update plan in the near future?

 

I'm aiming for this month, but it depends if I get some things done I want in this release.

[Samson Nite]

Great !!! Fingers crossed!

[Conan_Chick]

just found this , i get no quest. just the license. i go to work in whiterun bar and no quest appear. i  been whoring for a week now. no quest.  im supposed to get quest ? do i have to whore a certing time frame ?
 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Conan_Chick

[Highborn]

2 hours ago, Conan_Chick said:

just found this , i get no quest. just the license. i go to work in whiterun bar and no quest appear. i  been whoring for a week now. no quest.  im supposed to get quest ? do i have to whore a certing time frame ?
 

From the first post:

 

• The Whiterun and Falkreath quests are placeholders.

[ruddycray]

On 6/20/2021 at 10:07 AM, Conan_Chick said:

just found this , i get no quest. just the license. i go to work in whiterun bar and no quest appear. i  been whoring for a week now. no quest.  im supposed to get quest ? do i have to whore a certing time frame ?
 

 

As Highborn said, if you're just in Whiterun there's no real quest there at this point. If you go to the Dibella's Garden brothel outside town near Battle-Born farm and join up with the brothel, you'll eventually get some extra jobs you can do with them. Also, most of the other holds, except Whiterun and Falkreath, have quests you have to do for the license.

[jg8ts]

@ruddycray lovely mod! Thank you for taking the time to make this for us. I haven't got all the way through but I've enjoyed what there is so far. It's been enough to drop the Dibellan Sisterhood mod that is usually one of my core mods in a load. I do hope you could keep the two mods compatible ?

 

Some spoilers in my comments...

 

Spoiler

• I like what appears to be repeatable radiant questions like servicing the stormcloak soldiers in various locations. Having a few of those will add legs to the mod even when the core quests have been done by the player. I don't know what else might be available so I'll wait to see what turns up.
• I really enjoyed resolving the Markath swamp ghosts quest. Nice to have a happy ending, so to speak, although permanently losing the two ghosts and their antics is sad. Other than the conjuration scroll maybe there would be a way to call them back from time to time?
• I second the view about Benjen. I get that he's evil but it's pretty expensive to support him. I'm sure there is an amount of money that you can set that involves some degree of us being on our backs while allowing us to travel and do other things with our lives
• I had one bug with a tasting session with Benjen. I went in just after midnight but as I was trying to talk to BJ to get things going for that night's session he warned me about being a trespasser. I went back to a save earlier that evening and repeated but things ran as normal - some transitory bug?
• The Khajit pimp that you sell out to Benjen was interesting. I'd like to see that evolve as a full alternative to Benjen, maybe in the context of a travelling "show" that sets up a brothel tent in various locations on a regular basis, or just add their den to a sewer? The Khajit are master merchants after all and wouldn't necessarily be nice pimps either. They have the Skooma to go alongside that as well, almost a parallel of Benjen's tasting and mead party.
• One of the other prostitution mods had a bit where you could so sexy dances instead of just spreading your legs. The CMNF parties in the Brothel basement is along the right lines, but it'd be nice to have that middle option, so we could go from serving to dancing to sex?
  All the prostitution is the same base price. It'd be nice to have some sort of progression by starting as an illegal street walker for only a 1-2 gold per time to a higher level through experience? Dodging the guard on the street at level 1 while you save up for 50 septims would be fun.
• There is a Skryim reality where the prostitution sits alongside some of the usual adventuring, but it'd be nice if we had some "professional" motivation provided by your mod as well to go through some of those vanilla quest chains
  • Having a side quest line to gather a set of specific items from the usual vanilla dungeons in order to construct an artifact could be interesting -Dibella would be the obvious choice but there could be others. i.e. you do the dungeons for the usual reason but there is a side item to be found as well, presumably in the end boss chest, and you can put them together.
  • Rescuing some of your kidnapped colleagues from some Molag Bal sacrificial cult, or maybe a prude-ish Mara cult trying to protect marriages. The latter option could offer some humorous quest and dialogue outcomes if our naked heroine turns up and they are forced to blindfold themselves or otherwise avert their eyes. Rather than a classical charge in to a lair with a sword, infiltration via being sold or allowing yourself to be kidnapped would be thematically aligned
  • etc
• Adding a Live Another Life option to hook into starting your mod would be nice, although it's not exactly hard to just start off somewhere via that same mod and get the license.

Too many possibilities!

 

I'll play out what you've done so far and eagerly look forward to your next expansion.