MOD: (Morrowind) Dread Knights

My second and largest mod for Morrowind was Dread Knights. The impetus for this mod was twofold. First, moderate level characters in this game become godlike- there's nothing in the natural game world that's a challenge. For a freeform game as this, there is no excuse for that- there should be areas that a weak character could have no hope to survive in, populated by the meanest critters. (In fact, Oblivion suffers from this far worse. They tried to fix the problem by having everything level with you, when all that achieved was ruining exploration. Let me find that hidden away chest guarded by something terrible, dammit!)

The second reason was for exactly that, exploration. This mod makes use of the entire continent. Whether you decide to side with the Imperial Legion and hunt down the Dread Knights, or if you decide to join the evil faction (the more interesting path), you will have to seek them out in all corners of the continent. The idea wasn't that you would actively pursue this mod, but you would run across them in your travels assuming you took the paths less travelled. (Most of the orcs are in hiding, and are scouting out the towns for capture. They won't be on the open road!) There were clues you can get to learn of their locations, but they are somewhat vague. If you want to find them, you'll have to work for it.

The plot: a new faction of orcs have rolled into town. They are not docile like their civilized brothers, and prefer strength over politics. They practice dark arts and do not fear death. Their goal- to enslave the weaker races of Morrowind. You have a choice- help the Imperial Legion to hunt them down, or join the Dread Knights by finding their leader and gaining his favor.

Pictured are new sets of armor that you can receive. You can either receive pieces of Dread Armor as you rise in rank, or you can receive gold knight armor from the Imperial Legion for turning in the Dread pieces. As you can see, both have new textures. (Funny note- I had someone ask me how I got bump mapping to show in the Dread Armor. There isn't! It's just a part of the texture.)

I must admit part of the inspiration for this mod was the quest for bloodforge armor in Everquest, red armor for shadowknights. It took forever to complete since you had to hunt these critters that were rare... but so satisfying just to complete it. I wanted to replicate that experience!

Reviews!

I wish I could find some online reviews for this, it had some good ones. I didn't save any and the mod is a bit old to find now. To sum up, you can look at the link I have for the mod and check the ratings:

Excellent : 67 votes

Very Good : 3 votes

Good : 6 votes

Average : 0 votes

Fair : 0 votes

Poor : 1 votes

Total Votes : 77

Doesn't get much better than that! I wonder what the one poor vote was all about...