Devious Dialog Mod Ideas

[Lostdreamer]

Just like everyone else, I have ideas for a 'wouldn't it be cool' mod, and absolutely no skill to make it myself - yet.

 

So I thought I would ask how interesting & feasible the idea(s) actually are to try and get a feel for if it is worth doing.

 

I'd like to significantly expand on the 'device dialog' concept from Cursed Loot. Let's face it, part of the fun of the Devious Devices is actually using them, but using them mostly seems to consist of 'stumbling around looking for keys'.

 

I was thinking that increasing the ways NPC's interacted with them/you might be fun.

 

So if you talk to someone whilst tied up, you might get normal dialog.
Or you might get sex.
Or you might get tied up more.
Or you might get thrown in stocks.
Or you might get drugged.
Or they might refuse service.
Or they might demand money not to do any of these things.
Or...etc, etc, etc. You get the idea. Lot's of possibilities, lots of random excitement, events and tension.

 

...But you get to respond to this.
You can beg them not to.
Or you can offer them money.
Or you can offer sex.
Or threaten to chop their heads off.
Or...etc, etc, etc.

 

Naturally, different responses affect the outcomes of events differently.
Ie agreeing to sex when someone threatens to rape you will probably work, but may result in more sex than protesting.
Or threatening to kill someone has a good chance of making them back down, but if it doesn't you get abused by both them and a couple of nearby guards
Or paying someone has a chance of increasing the chance they will demand more money every time in the future.

 

...And you get different dialog from different people, and things you do change the chances of certain things happening.
Maybe guards might just assault you in the street, because they can.
Maybe alchemists are more likely to drug you, but blacksmiths are more likely to rape you.
Maybe speaking to females is safer than speaking to makes.
Maybe it helps to be a thane.
Maybe being naked as well as tied up is a bad idea.
Maybe talking to people who like you because you have done their subquests is safer.
Maybe being tied up in subtle ways (chastity belts, arm/leg cuffs) is better than wearing a slave collar and boots.
Maybe people are more likely to do evil things if you are a criminal or drug addict.
Maybe some things are more likely to happen at night.
Maybe...etc, etc, etc. Again, you the idea. There are things you can do, ingame, to change if/how NPCs react to Devices etc.

In order for there to be any point to all this, there has to be reasons for you to speak to the NPCs / walk around town / etc in the first place.
The obvious one is to make keys available through this dialog tree. You talk to someone, things might happen, and then you might get a key. Huzzah. It's a bit more involved than rummaging through sacks and cupboards, but hopefully it's a bit more interesting as well.
Being able to buy things/actions other than keys this way is an option as well. Perhaps you can convince a Jarl/steward to lift your bounty, a priest to heal your Wear & Tear, a fence to sell you a unique magical item, etc. Some of these things could involve having to do quests first.
The other one is to try and engineer situations whereby you have to speak to people. Prevent PC crafting so they have to buy weapons/items for example. How easy would it be to prevent PC's using grindstones etc so they have to talk to a blacksmith? Or stop them making potions so they have to buy them? Maybe limit healing somehow to encourage potion use - and therefore purchase? Limit fast travel into towns so you have to talk to the gate guards?

So you end up with this little mini game of 'what do I do now?'. You have just finished a dungeon, and are covered in Devious Devices from Cursed Loot.
Do you go straight to the Jarl to hand in the quest, despite the fact he will probably rape you, seize all your stuff and have you thrown in jail?
Do you go to the blacksmith and try to get him to help you get out of some of the devices first, despite the fact that each time you ask him for help with one of them it could go horribly wrong?
Do you buy some more healing and stealth potions, or do you chance it with what you have?
Do you ask the Jarl to lift your bounty for public indecency, despite the fact that will probably involve a radiant quest and getting covered in Device Devices all over again?
None of these should be deal breakers - the idea is not to derail gameplay, but to enhance it by adding choices, variety and tension where there wasn't any before.

 

I would also like the idea of using these dialog trees to springboard into other mods/quests/etc.
It strikes me that there are a lot of resources that are underused, and this could be a handy way of doing things like using interesting items of furniture or animations as some of the outcomes, signposting other quests that are easily overlooked ("Yes, I'll help you. But only if you promise to go and help my friend X") etc. I'm not sure if this is an entirely good idea tho, as it opens up a lot of potential for using other people's work in ways they didn't intend/approve of.

This isn't a project I'm likely to start right now, but I'm curious about people's reactions to the idea.

 

Is it something people would like in their game?

 

What other ideas do people have that should be integrated into the mod?

 

How difficult it likely to be to do?

 

What is there in the way of interesting animations etc that it might be worth trying to use?

 

 

So yeah, feedback and ideas please.

[deeemind]

This. I have been thinking about how the current dialogue related to devious devices can be improved. I agree that based on the job/faction of npcs the available outcome can be made much more diverse & fun. 

One particular thing that I really want is to let more factors(like the relationship between npc and player, gender, faction, etc) affect the outcome of dialogue, e.g friends of player have higher chances to help while strangers/unfriendly tend to take advantage of helpless players. Currently(as in bondage dialogue of DCL) it is almost completely random. Consider how little sense it makes that Hulda is able to tie up/rape player when the player is a high level warrior covered with ebony armor but happened to wear some cuff/collar

[Rob_J]

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51024 this mod at least gets you the part of npcs crafting/enchanting/improving items for you