[iDEA] Curse of the Prey - A mod about being the hunted animal

[Muse3]

Right now i'm fidgeting with with the Creation Kit, but maybe i'll even go as far as research everything i need to know to make this idea into an actual mod (most likely not)...
Although if any of you wanna go make it yourself, go ahead, i'll be even happier!

 

So...

Hircine is fed up with the Dragonborn. They keep slaying dangerous beasts left and right: no match for them is the the cunning fox, the resilient moose, the savage bear or the underestimated mudcrab... the hunts last a couple of seconds, and soon the creatures' hide will become a dagger's grip, and their soul a cheap enchantment...
and all of this because of their bloody undeserved Dragonborn powers!

It's time for Hiricine to teach them a lesson, and let them feel the danger of the hunt, and the terror of the prey! It's time for a curse!

Or something like that.

 

The main idea is that the player gets a curse, and its seen as a wild animal (so a prey, in some cases) by everyone else.

It doesn't matter their shape or looks, the illusion is strong and affects everyone's perception: to them you look and sound like a deer, a horker or skeewer, and you will be treated as such. Or maybe they see you just as you are, but are deceived by Hiricine and so they are sure that you are just a animal, nothing more.

 

Possible Gameplay implications:

-Visual changes: very much needed to better sell the illusion, they could work like a maybe less drastic version of the visual changes found in mods like Being A Cow, so basically the usage of new SlaveTatoos tho change the body's texture, and the addition of things like hooves, horns ecc... maybe having some customization available, or make it depend on some actions you take...

-Different reactions for different situations: guards and citizens from the holds might try to shoo you away or shoot you down depending on the time of day or location you are in, as well as other possible factors.

-New Dialogue: you'll hear read the surprise of a farmer that sees a large mammal in his house, or the anger of a guard that defends citizens from a dangerous moose that wandered into Solitude, and possiby much more.

-Random encounters: ranging from your run of the mill indipendent hunters, to mages in need of a full soulgem, to natural predators or territorial herbivores... the creatures of said encounters should be buffed to always be a real danger to the player!

-A "Dangerous Beast" Bounty Sistem: a bounty indipendent from the vanilla one, that the Holds might keep updating if that one pesky creature keeps scaring the townsfolk and going where it shouldn't. This feature has effects the other ones based on how much your bounty is worth: more hunting parties sent looking for you, new dialogues ecc...

-Questing: possible original quests and events related to you and the curse. There is no limit to imagination!

-Loosing Outcomes: basically "game over sequences", more than "defeated but not dead" like in Death Alternative or Defeat , to cause less incompabilities. Or both, idk.

-Surerly other stuff i can't think about right now

 

 

Things needed to not make the game terribly annoying / broken:

-Consumables to temporarily break the illusion: these items are mandatory to not screw up the normal Skyrim gameplay loop - go shopping, crafting, talking, ecc. - but of course they should be quite rare and expensive, having a decent impact on your resources / gold income, or you can hoard them and then the whole point of the curse is lost.

-Those truly close to you see trough the illusion: this will be needed to make possible the normal interactions with followers, spouses ecc... , but this does not exclude the addition of new special interactions with those that care about you, caused by your odd nature.

-Expert warriors, great mages, and those who are guided by the gods' hands will not be fooled by the illusion: basically it's an excuse to make some npcs ignore the illusion, because it's important that the Vanilla quests keep working as they should

-An option to temporarily disable the mod's features: there to be sure not to lock you out of any type of content, modded or not, in case something would break.

 

 

Any feedback and ideas are appriciated. Just don't expect anything from me pls!

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by smusini