MERP

[jnor]

From what point of view should the main quest be?
Hello everyone,

We already had this poll quite a while ago so NAU thought we ought to have it again.
Obviously, we cannot have a questline for every race under production at the same time. That means we have to choose, so we would like everyone input. Please vote for which role you'd like best.

There might be a few things to clarify first.

Playing as a Fellowship member?
Yes, we can make a quest that retraces the storyline of the Lord of the Rings. You'll play as whichever member is chosen and will get to relive their experience in the WotR. The downside is that it won't be very open-ended...

Why can't we vote for Gandalf, Boromir or Sam?
Gandalf (and the Istari) is too powerful and as such won't be playable.
Boromir dies. What's the point of playing a character that dies? And yes, he WILL die and there's nothing you can do about it.
Sam is not playable, because he essentially just follows Frodo everywhere. Not much fun.

A 10th member?
I, personally, don't think it's a viable choice as the player cannot really have fun if he is constantly overshadowed by the other members. However, if some people think it's a good idea...

"Glorfindel"?
This was used way back at the first BETA to designate an alternate questline that would not follow the fellowship but rather fight in the War of the Ring in other places (like Erebor, Lorien, Mirkwood where we know fighting happened during the WotR). The player might be able to participate in the siege of the Hornburg and of Minas Tirith too (though that would likely depend on race and such).

It think this is quite clear, so go ahead and vote. Please post along with your vote (devs' votes will be counted separately from those of fans). In your post, do write your choice in red so it can be seen clearly. Feel free to ask questions too.
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[AliTheLord]

I think that the main quest should be from Frodo's point of view.

Any other bits could be included using [url=Wrye Morph]http://wrye.ufrealms.net/Wrye%20Morph.html[/url].

Frodo could have dreams when we wish certain events to take place, and we could script it in such a way that you are only the character for the duration of the "dream."

For example you could play Aragorn in the battle of Helms Deep, and could have quest objectives such as killing a certain number of Uruk Hai. Obviously the Uruk Haiwould have to come in waves and there would be a low-poly object representing the rest of the army?

This way you could play the whole main quest as Frodo, and then we can select and possibly add events as "dreams" as we wish.

Wrye Morph is an external tool and thus cannot be used IG (so by the modders). Also, I think your idea of "dreams" would spoil the game for any roleplayer out there. - Jnor

[AliTheLord]

In that case I would probably rather play as Aragorn

[Ced]

im all for a 10th fellowship member. this is a roleplaying game, playing one of the fellowship characters with a already known fate is not what i adore and not why i play oblivion for. imagine the freedom after the fellowship breaks. you could follow who ever u want. and part with them whenever you want, DO whatever you like. you wouldnt have to take parts in any battles. or fight them all if u wish. Hum, that's more of a "Glorfindel". :p - Jnor

i know its incredibly lore breaking. my two cents: Screw the Lore.
Even though I'm ok with a 10th member (as long as I don't do the MQ^^), the lore has always been very important to this project. The "Roleplaying" part in our name means just that. If you just mean "screw the lore" about this particular issue, then... sure. - Jnor

Fun > Lore

[Guest]

Wouldnt playing as glorifindal be overpowering since even the nazgul fear him

It's "Glorfindel" (in quotes) meaning it doesn't have to be Glorfindel. - Jnor

[_Arya_]

My vote would be Aragorn. But Frodo is the main person and the main quest. Maybe work on having 1 or 2 or 3 different quests. Yes I'm sure it's alot of work. But then it might be different than the other games out there.

We plan to have multiple quest-lines but as the first post said, we need to do one at a time unless we want to be overworked. - Jnor

Or have options along the way.

Like first option be, start by being Bilbo's nephew/niece. Or start at the Prancing Pony. Or start at Elronds council.

Then you can have options along the way.

-another idea-

*What I would like is if I could either A: have the Ring, or B: Protect the Ringbearer and Eventually prat ways.

If you did A, then you would fullfill Frodo's end of it.

But if you did B, you would beable to choose your path. Be at all the major battles and cool adventures. And be sort of Aragorns way, with a mix of Gimli and Legolas's parts. Just so you would be able to assist.


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PS: What's the progress on this? I wish I could help! =]

Obviously, we haven't started the MQ yet or we wouldn't ask that question. Any help is welcome, feel free to post an application... - Jnor

[noirdesir]

My vote goes for a version (!) of the 10th member of the fellowship ... for the explanation see below:

[Ced]

totally agree on this noirdesir, i couldnt have put it any better. 10th fellowship member for the win!!

[jnor]

Funny.
Apart from the 10th member than wasn't in the earlier poll, Aragorn seems to have more success than Frodo and the other characters have no votes like before
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[large jack]

Bill the pony, best 10th character ... lol

Jokes aside, I'd say Frodo as he's the main character, and he's the one that everyone is chasing after, which would make roleplaying him quite a scary experience.

There is also the option of switching characters at different stages, and how would we implement the breaking up of the fellowship? Is it possible to split the Oblivion game engine into separate ongoing storylines and characters like the book ?

[AliTheLord]

LJ, I suggested Wrye Morph but aparently we could not use this, and also that changing characters would ruin role-playing-ness.

Could be quite interesting if it did work though

[noirdesir]

[DanwiseG]

I know back when I was making my own ME mod, I had planned all along for the quest to be as an outside or 10th character. As many have already stated its the only true way to maintain a feeling of freedom to build your character how you see fit.

The player should have a choice to be a human, hobbit, elven, uruk, whatever, and our mod should adjust accordingly:

Hobbits = start in shire, another hobbit would come in search of frodo or ask you to find him to give him something important, thus bumping into frodo in the old forest and helping to fight off some beast, or darkriders, giving him the item and both parties being on their way. Same goes for other races.

Elves = search for legolas or elrond and you would meet up with them at rivendell.

Humans = could start just about anywhere. we could narrow that down later. Meet up at bree with aragorn. start at minas tirith and search for boromir.

so many more...but you get the idea.



The players quest would be more to find and assist the fellowship. once found and assisted, there would be a conversation where one member would thank the player for their help and tell them its too dangerous for them to follow, fearing they may be more easily spotted by evil forces.
This gives us the chance to provide the player with a feeling of freedom and a feeling that they are doing their part in the WOTR.

Now this springs alot of chances for the player to run into baddies along the way. Uruk-hai destroying towns and villages searching for the hobbits, or even hearing from townsfolk of how uruks destroyed their "now burned down" village and ran off into a nearby cave, or forest in search of food/chasing more villagers in hiding/ or trying to enslave them. Fun stuff being a hero...


Just my original thoughts. But really I think its the only way to appeal to a wider audience. Oblivion users would be used to the way the world would work already and adjust fast making gameplay fun.
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[DanwiseG]

Eventually the player could be hired into a guild or faction that would be sworn to the protection of the fellowship or to the ring itself. maybe run by Elrond? or some other all-powerful character? help me with the lore here guys...

Also, I know some things are going outside of the Lore, but its just not much of an RPG in my eyes if I'm playing a concrete character with an already decided fate from the get go.
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[Ced]

i particularly like the beginning of your text danwise, it would be good that have it begin like the Main Quest in Oblivion, youve got the main quest from the beginning but you dont have to do it.