u/FamiliarSomeone

I am currently pondering learning Creation Kit and scripting to make a quest mod idea buzzing around in my head. This lead me to think what actually makes a good quest from the scripting point of view.

For me it is a sense of participating in something that is happening around me and having an effect through my choices, be that dialogue, action, solving puzzles, I prefer to feel that I have been caught up in events, rather than events are happening for me as the hero. There should also be the perception that many outcomes are possible, even if they may actually be limited.

I now put that question to you. Of course I am focused on Skyrim, but more general gaming quest design is also of interest.

If anyone knows any good sources for info and guidance on scripting quests, I would appreciate it.

Edit: To clarify, when I say scripting, I mean the scripting of the narrative rather than programming, which is a separate problem I have.

I have had an idea for a Skyrim mod and a faction of Vaermina followers returning to restore Nightcaller Temple after the completion of the quest. This led me to questions about the reasons for them to follow her, as I want them to be presented in a sympathetic light, or at least make it a moral dilemma for the player. I don't like the cartoon idea that they are just evil, since everybody has a rationalisation for why what they are doing is good.

One idea I have is that they are an analogy of Gnosticism and Jungian shadow work. They see Vaermina as a way of breaking the false self and revealing the lies that hold reality together. The followers would seek CHIM by embracing their deepest fears and transcending them. It would be a kind of lucid nightmare, as opposed to lucid dreaming. They would see a dream as a lie, because it doesn't encompass the pain and suffering of the whole. Only by voluntarily entering into the nightmare and remaining in control can you transcend and achieve CHIM. Vaermina would be seen as a guardian at the gates of truth.

Something like that anyway. I want to keep it in line with TES lore though and do some research to make the beliefs feel grounded in that world, not this. I also want it to seem plausible to those who have more knowledge of lore than I do.

I would appreciate any tips or pointers on what to read to flesh out a reasoned theology of Vaermina's followers.