SexLab Stories (January 2022)

[Sun Shang Xiang]

You said that if I get enslaved by the Falmer, it would help a lot with freeing E.L.L.E. In what way would it help? Also, does she even tell you how to recharge her? Or do you somehow get a hint on how to do it?

[karlpaws]

I think its just that if the falmer capture you, then you don't have to fight your way down to her.

 

Not sure that's right though, because depending on what other mods you have, falmer capture might just drop you in Blackreach instead.

 

 

Question on the Whiterun relationships... how do you see or trigger them? Did I need to upgrade in a particular way, or are they just random comments I am not hearing? Do I need to talk to the certain NPCs after I've started the main quest,or some other point?

[DeepBlueFrog]

I think its just that if the falmer capture you, then you don't have to fight your way down to her.

 

Not sure that's right though, because depending on what other mods you have, falmer capture might just drop you in Blackreach instead.

 

 

Question on the Whiterun relationships... how do you see or trigger them? Did I need to upgrade in a particular way, or are they just random comments I am not hearing? Do I need to talk to the certain NPCs after I've started the main quest,or some other point?

 

Just follow NPCs in their daily routine.

 

For example, Adrienna will walk up to the castle at night and sleep there ... because she 'helps her father in more ways than people realize'.

 

Meanwhile, her husband will stay home because someone else will visit him there

[karlpaws]

 

I think its just that if the falmer capture you, then you don't have to fight your way down to her.

 

Not sure that's right though, because depending on what other mods you have, falmer capture might just drop you in Blackreach instead.

 

 

Question on the Whiterun relationships... how do you see or trigger them? Did I need to upgrade in a particular way, or are they just random comments I am not hearing? Do I need to talk to the certain NPCs after I've started the main quest,or some other point?

 

Just follow NPCs in their daily routine.

 

For example, Adrienna will walk up to the castle at night and sleep there ... because she 'helps her father in more ways than people realize'.

 

Meanwhile, her husband will stay home because someone else will visit him there

 

 

OK, I'll have to follow them around.   Now all we need is a blackmail option... or some way to get ourselves invited in to sexy times  

 

 

 

[Sun Shang Xiang]

Just to ask: E.L.L.E's quest isn't currently finished, is it? There's no way to either acquire that oil(if there even is one) or find other pieces of imbued human flesh?

[Villiana]

Does 'The Children' have any content? I've expended all of the dialogue options I could find with the two sisters and the guy, and nothing seems to be happening outside of that. Was I supposed to totally murder the hagraven outside?

[DeepBlueFrog]

Does 'The Children' have any content? I've expended all of the dialogue options I could find with the two sisters and the guy, and nothing seems to be happening outside of that. Was I supposed to totally murder the hagraven outside?

 

The Children is just a story... there isn't anything else to do than talk to them and get a sense of what they really are doing.

 

I wanted some stories to be there for flavor only, with the idea that the player doesn't have to be involved in every little thing that is happening around him/her.

Just to ask: E.L.L.E's quest isn't currently finished, is it? There's no way to either acquire that oil(if there even is one) or find other pieces of imbued human flesh?

 

The oil is plain dwemer oil. You can find it as loot on dwemer bots and around dwemer ruins.

 

There is one piece of imbued flesh on the rock table next to where you find ELLE. 

 

If you ask her how she feels before you give her the piece of flesh, she will say she feels incomplete and she will recognize what she needs when she sees it.

 

If you ask her how she feels after you give her the piece of flesh, she will analyze it and tell you to use some ingredients on a tanning rack.

 

Use tanning racks with human flesh, dwemer oil and centurion dynamo core to make more pieces of flesh.

 

I added dwemer oil and human flesh as loot to falmers to help increase their frequency.

 

if they do not appear in your game, load stories last in your load order or use a Bashed Patch to merge form lists with other mods altering falmer's loot.

[Sun Shang Xiang]

 

Does 'The Children' have any content? I've expended all of the dialogue options I could find with the two sisters and the guy, and nothing seems to be happening outside of that. Was I supposed to totally murder the hagraven outside?

 

The Children is just a story... there isn't anything else to do than talk to them and get a sense of what they really are doing.

 

I wanted some stories to be there for flavor only, with the idea that the player doesn't have to be involved in every little thing that is happening around him/her.

Just to ask: E.L.L.E's quest isn't currently finished, is it? There's no way to either acquire that oil(if there even is one) or find other pieces of imbued human flesh?

 

The oil is plain dwemer oil. You can find it as loot on dwemer bots and around dwemer ruins.

 

There is one piece of imbued flesh on the rock table next to where you find ELLE. 

 

If you ask her how she feels before you give her the piece of flesh, she will say she feels incomplete and she will recognize what she needs when she sees it.

 

If you ask her how she feels after you give her the piece of flesh, she will analyze it and tell you to use some ingredients on a tanning rack.

 

Use tanning racks with human flesh, dwemer oil and centurion dynamo core to make more pieces of flesh.

 

I added dwemer oil and human flesh as loot to falmers to help increase their frequency.

 

if they do not appear in your game, load stories last in your load order or use a Bashed Patch to merge form lists with other mods altering falmer's loot.

 

Well, I hope that you are right, because in my game she doesn't tell me about tanning rack or anything else. Going to try moving to lowest place in my load order to see if it fixes anything. However, does Stories have to be above Devious Stories or not?

[DeepBlueFrog]

My apologies... I just checked and this issue with ELLE is something I fixed recently and is not available yet.

 

https://github.com/SkyrimLL/SkLLmods/issues/191

 

[Zinker]

Sorry if this was already reported, but wanted to put in a heads-up note:

 

There seem to be complete CTD incompatibility with Milk Mod (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/36908-milk-mod-economy-2015-06-17/)

The issue in particular is with the Cow Farm. There seem to be conflicting milking animations, if you have both mods on.

I've filed similar item on the MilkMod thread (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/36908-milk-mod-economy-2015-06-17/?p=1226832) to have this item logged as a conflict.

If necessary, I can dig up a crash log or make a git-issue with details.

 

Update:

There seem to be some weirdness with Hosmores, MilkMod and Stories.

[Villiana]

 

Does 'The Children' have any content? I've expended all of the dialogue options I could find with the two sisters and the guy, and nothing seems to be happening outside of that. Was I supposed to totally murder the hagraven outside?

 

The Children is just a story... there isn't anything else to do than talk to them and get a sense of what they really are doing.

 

I wanted some stories to be there for flavor only, with the idea that the player doesn't have to be involved in every little thing that is happening around him/her.

 

Ah! Yes, okay. That makes sense.

 

Sorry!

[DeepBlueFrog]

Sorry if this was already reported, but wanted to put in a heads-up note:

 

There seem to be complete CTD incompatibility with Milk Mod (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/36908-milk-mod-economy-2015-06-17/)

The issue in particular is with the Cow Farm. There seem to be conflicting milking animations, if you have both mods on.

I've filed similar item on the MilkMod thread (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/36908-milk-mod-economy-2015-06-17/?p=1226832) to have this item logged as a conflict.

If necessary, I can dig up a crash log or make a git-issue with details.

 

Update:

There seem to be some weirdness with Hosmores, MilkMod and Stories.

A git issue and a log here would be helpful, thanks.

[moonshadow101]

This was mentioned a couple of pages back, but the "Living Wonder" seems to be missing a flag or something. I pick up the flyer and talk to the innkeep: he says to look upstairs. I talk to the woman upstairs, she says I have to ask the innkeep so she doesn't get the trouble. Neither one seems to trigger any new dialogue in the other.

 

Also, a few questions about the random "Heard any story lately?" dialogues. I get that most of them are references to either this mod or others, but there are a few that baffle me:

 

Women disappearing south of Dragon Bridge? 

 

Numerous references to horny clergymen, in virtually every temple?

 

Female mages visiting the temple of Dibella? (I know about the Sisterhood mod, of course, but that's really not mage-specific.)

 

There are probably others, but these jumped to mind. I'd love a clue as to what they're meant to refer to.

[RDKateran]

Well... they're rumors.  Not every rumor is true.

[Old Book]

Yup. Many rumors relate to mods you may or may not have installed. Some refer to future plans not yet implemented. Some refer to lore that doesn't appear on camera but is mentioned elsewhere. And some are just false.

[Content Consumer]

This was mentioned a couple of pages back, but the "Living Wonder" seems to be missing a flag or something. I pick up the flyer and talk to the innkeep: he says to look upstairs. I talk to the woman upstairs, she says I have to ask the innkeep so she doesn't get the trouble. Neither one seems to trigger any new dialogue in the other.

 

Also, a few questions about the random "Heard any story lately?" dialogues. I get that most of them are references to either this mod or others, but there are a few that baffle me:

 

Women disappearing south of Dragon Bridge? 

 

Numerous references to horny clergymen, in virtually every temple?

 

Female mages visiting the temple of Dibella? (I know about the Sisterhood mod, of course, but that's really not mage-specific.)

 

There are probably others, but these jumped to mind. I'd love a clue as to what they're meant to refer to.

 

I gotta say, whoever a lot of those rumors needs their head examined.

 

EDIT:

 

Women disappearing south of Dragon Bridge? 

IIRC, this one is based on SL Stories... if you don't have EC+ installed and you follow the dialogue tree with the Chaurus Queen, you get sent to Chillwind Depths.

Also there's a broken down wagon south of Dragon Bridge, and evidence seems to point to the falmer from Chillwind Depths being responsible for the attack.

 

Numerous references to horny clergymen, in virtually every temple?

No direct reference, I think. Just a rumor.

 

Female mages visiting the temple of Dibella? (I know about the Sisterhood mod, of course, but that's really not mage-specific.)

IIRC, it was Angrim's Apprentice.

 

 

EDIT 2:

Some rumors are based only on area, like this or this or this or this.

Some rumors are based on towns or cities, like this and this.

Some rumors are based on mods, like this or this or this or this or this or this or this or this.

And some are just generic rumors, like this or this or this or this.

(not a complete list)

[DeepBlueFrog]

One thing I dislike more and more about games (and Skyrim in particular) is that everything you hear and see is somehow linked to the player, or has value later on.

 

One reason I created Stories was to add stories that may or may not be related to the player, may or may not have anything playable and may or may not be even true at all.

[Content Consumer]

One thing I dislike more and more about games (and Skyrim in particular) is that everything you hear and see is somehow linked to the player, or has value later on.

 

One reason I created Stories was to add stories that may or may not be related to the player, may or may not have anything playable and may or may not be even true at all.

 

One of the things I prefer about Morrowind to Oblivion is that in Morrowind, you always feel like you're a bit player. That is, you've been thrust into an already-existing world in medias res. Things have been going on before you got there and there's the sense that things will continue on even if you disappear.

 

In Oblivion (and to an even greater extent in Skyrim), you are the center of the world... it just seems like everything waits for you to arrive, and will freeze and wait for your return should you leave.

 

Yes, they're quite similar mechanically - I mean, NPCs in Morrowind don't move around, no quests advance without your input, etc. but it just seems better written somehow.

 

Consider the difference between Caius Cosades and Jauffre:

 

 

When you first meet Caius, he tells you essentially that you are unprepared for the main quest, and that you need to establish a cover identity. He suggests joining one of the major guilds/factions around, getting a little experience under your belt and preparing to move forward.

Whenever you do a job for him, when you return he's got something new for you to do (as standard), but his dialogue indicates that he hasn't been idle while you've been away. He's talked to people and gotten information about something, or he's been thinking about things and has some new ideas for you to try out, and here's a half dozen jobs for you to do in no particular order, and he's not even sure if any of them will lead anywhere, but this is the best he's got to go on...

 

Jauffre, on the other hand, sends you out immediately on another job, fully confident in your ability to perform the task perfectly and return on time and on target. When you return, he's been sitting idle, waiting for your return and for whatever you're bringing back. He has no new information for you, and all his actions and decisions are based on your own actions. The first time in Oblivion I ever felt like the world was going on without me was when Jauffre and Martin first arrive at Cloud Ruler Temple, and Jauffre sends you back to Baurus the Blade (not this one).

 

 

Essentially:

While you've been working on advancing the plot in Morrowind, so has Caius.

While you've been working on advancing the plot in Skyrim, Jauffre has been sitting on his thumbs waiting for your return.

 

In Morrowind, there's a sense of the world progressing whether or not you're involved, while in Oblivion, the world grinds to a halt if you go do some sidequests for a while.

 

Mechanically they're identical in that respect... the story doesn't advance unless you advance it yourself in both of these games... but Morrowind is written in such a way as to make you feel immersed in it, and not like you're the linchpin. Skyrim takes it even one step further... in Oblivion, you aren't the savior of the world, you're just the person best suited to putting the savior in a spot from where he can save the world, but in Skyrim, you really are the savior.

 

Some players might like the power-fantasy of Oblivion/Skyrim more. There's nothing wrong with that, I can definitely see the draw. It's just not me. 

[afa]

I actually like Oblivion's aspect the most in terms of being a non-savior. In both Morrowind and Skyrim the PC is kind the savior of the world. Oblivion you are technically the assistant to the person who will save the world, and other than the "I saw you in a dream" there's nothing truly spectacular about the PC...until the end of Shivering Isle. Morrowind PC is a reincarnate hero of legend, Skyrim is dragonborn.

 

As for the world stops until PC is around I think it is a hard to tackle problem. PC can only see and hear what is there when he/she is around. Technically everyone might be having an adventure while PC isn't around, but then does everyone have to come out and tell the PC that whenever he/she is around to make it seems like they did something?

To have "incidental" events it pretty much means an extensive scripting of the NPCs' routine and AI. Which I guess is what the radiant events are sometimes suppose to be?

Merchant fighting off bandits, hunters hunting, companion out and about, fights between imperial/stormcloak and vigilant/vampires, soldiers marching prisoner, etc. There are events that the PC is suppose to feel like he/she just happen to come across...of course the truth is that the game spawn them base on parameters and chances whenever area loads.

[karlpaws]

 

Women disappearing south of Dragon Bridge? 

IIRC, this one is based on SL Stories... if you don't have EC+ installed and you follow the dialogue tree with the Chaurus Queen, you get sent to Chillwind Depths.

Also there's a broken down wagon south of Dragon Bridge, and evidence seems to point to the falmer from Chillwind Depths being responsible for the attack.

 

There are also vanilla rumors from the Dragon Bridge guards mentioning travellers, not women specifically, disappearing in that direction. It will even add the map location for the cave.

[Content Consumer]

I actually like Oblivion's aspect the most in terms of being a non-savior. In both Morrowind and Skyrim the PC is kind the savior of the world. Oblivion you are technically the assistant to the person who will save the world, and other than the "I saw you in a dream" there's nothing truly spectacular about the PC...until the end of Shivering Isle. Morrowind PC is a reincarnate hero of legend, Skyrim is dragonborn.

 

As for the world stops until PC is around I think it is a hard to tackle problem. PC can only see and hear what is there when he/she is around. Indeed... these are games, played by a player, and it is the player who affects how the game progresses, so by necessity the player drives the plot. Technically everyone might be having an adventure while PC isn't around, but then does everyone have to come out and tell the PC that whenever he/she is around to make it seems like they did something? Indeed... these are games, played by a player, and it is the player who affects how the game progresses, so by necessity the player drives the plot.

And no, nobody has to come out and tell the player what was going on when they were not around, but there are ways to write around that. That was actually one of the things that Oblivion changed too... NPCs coming right out and talking to the player. In Morrowind, the NPCs were much more closed-mouth about their histories and jobs, you actually had to question them about it before they'd talk about it. In Oblivion, though, most NPCs come right out when you first meet them and tell you exactly who they are. It's certainly more expedient, but I dunno, it just feels like everyone's aggressively putting exposition and dialogue right up front seems less immersive.

Like I said, though, there are ways to write around it. Oblivion (and Skyrim) did a wonderful thing by making NPCs talk to each other about local shops, mudcrabs, and arrows in their knees... these little things (though overly repetitious and cumulatively annoying) did add some background flavor to the game. Here is a person who doesn't stand around all day, but actually goes down to the water from time to time, maybe to fish, maybe to relax, and she saw a mudcrab! Horrible things.

To have "incidental" events it pretty much means an extensive scripting of the NPCs' routine and AI. It shouldn't be that extensive, actually (I think)... if you're already checking NPC schedules once per game hour, just add to their schedule. If the PC has been away for X amount of time, just add in a single line of dialogue which says "Boy you've been gone a while! I had the craziest day yesterday... but anyway, what did you want to purchase today?" Something like that (better written, of course). Which I guess is what the radiant events are sometimes suppose to be?

Merchant fighting off bandits, hunters hunting, companion out and about, fights between imperial/stormcloak and vigilant/vampires, soldiers marching prisoner, etc. There are events that the PC is suppose to feel like he/she just happen to come across...of course the truth is that the game spawn them base on parameters and chances whenever area loads. Yep. That's what I'm talking about. Even something as simple as a change of outfit every 24 hours would make the world seem more engaging. It can be heavily scripted, the game can be completely on rails... but a good game developer/writer will make the player not notice the scripting or the rails.

If the game checks once per hour every NPC's current job, then:

Making an NPC stand in one place 24 hours a day is lazy (or constrained by the hardware?).

Making an NPC walk back and forth between two patrol points for 12 hours and then sleep for 12 hours is less lazy and more immersive.

Making an NPC walk around to a dozen points, taking time out to eat and sleep, and time off to just wander around sandboxing and talking to other NPCs, is pretty good.

Morrowind went the first route, which may have been down to the technology of the time, I dunno. But at that point, we know it's just a game, and we accept (I should be saying I, not we) the logic inherent to the game... NPCs just stand in one spot, that's what they do.

By Skyrim, the sandboxing and radiant AI got so good that we (I) start noticing the flaws, though. I guess it's sort of an uncanny-valley situation, where something gets better and better to the point where a little flaw stands out much more.

In Oblivion/Skyrim, I focus on the little things that stand out where I didn't in Morrowind, because in Morrowind there were no little things. It's a seesaw - improving the hell out of NPC behaviors took time and effort away from making the world feel more whole.

 

But I've gotten off topic... what the heck was the topic again? Oh yeah, the world going on behind your back.

When I used to GM/DM games of GURPS and D&D, I would always try to make stuff go on in the background. There were scheduled events that would happen as the game went on, designed to immerse the players in the world. Thing is, most players really didn't like it. They'd see a big fire in the distance that apparently had nothing to do with them, and get disgruntled. Comments like "Why do you do horrible things like that to us?" or "How come we couldn't have stopped that fire?" (or, depending on player personality, "I wanted to set that town on fire!") would float my way. I'd say about 95% of players (or rather around 17 to 19 / 20) didn't like the concept. They were there to play a game in which they were the driving force in the world, not the world itself.

 

So... it's a niche audience, I guess. Too bad... for me, but not for most people.

[Vithiss]

"a niche audience"  .... yep that's me (too).

 

i don't have much video game experience, most I saw never appealed much to me, and Skyrim is my first game for pc (not counting solitaire), though I did play D&D table-top for a lot of years (with one group by and large).

The single thing that makes most games most unappealing to me is that the player has no choice in terms of "who will I be?" beyond rudimentary "will you be good or evil?" variants. And while that character's story may be more or less interesting, once, it's really not something I want to do again (and again and again).

What has gotten me hooked on Modded Skyrim is that I can pretty much be and do what I want. For example, I almost never play main questlines out to completion if I even start them, or, rather, I'll pick something for a particular character, and ignore the rest. As a friend of mine says, I don't so much play Skyrim as I play in Skyrim. But I'm also not much into heroes. Like the song says, "He's just a hero in a long line of heroes, waiting for someone or something to save." Side-kicks and minor characters have always been more interesting to me because, I guess, they are less constrained by genre conventions or something.

 

Anyway, that's one of the things I love about Stories - the "these are just things that happen to people in this world" enhancement. Skyrim has some of it in vanilla: the shack that a tree fell on, the abandoned beach tent, etc etc. ("It ain't all about YOU, you narcissistic so-and-so.") Oh, and books too, add to that imo, in vanilla. There is a World here, not just a jungle-gym for the ego.

 

But, yeh, niche audience I guess.

[DeepBlueFrog]

One of my dream mods would be a very extensive rewrite of the main quest to have an essential NPC be the Dragonborn, placing the player as a witness or help to that character.

 

I would like to explore Bleak Falls Barrow and find the Dragonborn fighting his/her way to find the tablet.

I would like to walk by the south west tower of Whiterun and see the dragon attack under way.

I would like to tag along as a squire and help the hero retrieve the Jagged Crown or stand behind in the Grey Beards chamber and watch the negotiations happen.

 

Most of all, I would like to hear about events I missed if I spent too much time spelunking in dwemer ruins... wouldn't you like to come back to Whiterun after the fall and find you missed the battle?

 

I know it would be a headache of timed scripts and creative shortcuts, but in short, it would be fun for once to play as Sam... not Frodo.

 

I know there was a little bit of that in Oblivion but I don't think they went as far as they could.

In the end, they relied on the player making most of the calls.

[Old Book]

In a few Alternate Start playthroughs using Colorful Magic, I've recruited Galahad (a level 50 NPC outside of Whiterun) and role played with the idea that he was the actual Dragonborn and that I was his sidekick / manager. My character couldn't figure out why people kept giving my character credit for Galahad's heroics.

[Zinker]

One of my dream mods would be a very extensive rewrite of the main quest to have an essential NPC be the Dragonborn, placing the player as a witness or help to that character.

 

I would like to explore Bleak Falls Barrow and find the Dragonborn fighting his/her way to find the tablet.

I would like to walk by the south west tower of Whiterun and see the dragon attack under way.

I would like to tag along as a squire and help the hero retrieve the Jagged Crown or stand behind in the Grey Beards chamber and watch the negotiations happen.

 

I wonder if it would "logically" make sense to bind this kind of play-though with being Bimbo (your Hormones mod), where becoming the Bimbo would make you either lose your shouting ability completely, or somehow be able to restricted from using it, unless a certain NPX is "helping" you with it.

It could be also that the ability is not inherited at all, as was once believed, but more of a "possessing spirit" kind - when you become the "weak" bimbo, the ability leaves you for someone more worthy.