So the last couple of BGS games have featured drug usage in one way or another. And I don't just mean that they showed us goofy NPCs chugging Skooma and talking nonsense, but they've actually gone into some real depth with this subject. The Shivering Isles was like an interactive drug trip and during part of it's MQ you have the option of consuming Greenmote and even overdosing on it. Then Fallout 3 came out and had an entire gameplay mechanic built around consuming certain drugs for performance boosts and having to deal with the withdrawal symptoms from said drugs. This was actually such a controversial addition to the game that it ended up with Fallout 3 being banned in certain countries. In the Fallout 3 DLC "Point Lookout" you are drugged by a Punga plant and, while unconscious, experience a series of psychedelic hallucinations. Clearly drug usage is something the Bethesda team is interested in exploring with their games, as they've been doing it pretty frequently.

The purpose of this thread/poll is to discuss the idea of drug usage in Skryim and what you hope to see or not see in the game. Would you like to see BGS explore this territory more, or do you feel it's inappropriate for a video game and doesn't add anything of value? Share your thoughts and ideas! :icecream: If you have a request for an additional poll option just let me know (this is my first poll thread so please be nice! :celebrate:)

EDIT: Nothing to see here.

Sorry, just fixed it

Edit: If any lore buffs have any knowledge to share about Moon Sugar or Skooma, this might be a good thread to share it

I voted yes, but I don't personally use them.

I would love to see visual effects. If anyone's ever done shrooms here, you know that the forests of the Elder Scrolls universe would be a prime place to trip.

And I'd love to see some kind of drug running side quest.

Yes ,Visual Effects it's illegal to use and a Drugsdealer Faction & Losing Disposition with NPC's that don't use drugs

I voted no but wouldn't have a problem if you can do it in Skyrim. I don't know why you would want to use Skooma or any other drug in Skyrim when you could sell it and make gold.

i dont mind if there is but ill save try it and load the previous game just to see the effect (skooma effect is nice)

but i wont really take it

Well I guess you could join a drug dealing faction and just be in it for the profit. I think most people would want this simply for the laughs, same reason you can get drunk in other games, but I would also be particularly interested in them exploring the idea of Skooma having the sort of "spiritually enlightening" effects that some users of psychedelics describe. It would be cool if you could learn something new about the lore based on a mysterious Skooma hallucination

Role playing value, some people would want to play as a drug addict.

That too, I didn't even think of that :blush2:

Yes, because watching people on drugs in the game is hilarious, but it's disappointing if you can't experience what they do. Not saying that you'll ever REALLY be able to experience it, but drug use should go a little more in-depth. Probably the fanciest thing I would want for that system would be throwing up after a bit too many drinks or other drugs, and even that would be a pretty high expectation.

I voted Yes, I want to be able to be a skooma dealer/addict then eventually overcome my demons after years of abuse.

After all, it is the main reason why I am being sent to my execution. (I was the most notorious Skooma dealer in Cyrodiil, then tried to cross the boarder into Skyrim to escape the Bruma Guards, but was caught once I made it into Skyrim)

I think there should be, I personally will not use it but I'd like to see some NPCs getting high.

Yeah, it would be awesome to see some NPCs smoking a Skooma pipe or something. It was poorly handled in Oblivion, all the Skooma addicts do is keep http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxRV2jd_mQ0 on their bottles in a way that looks very unrealistic

Love the idea of a drug dealing faction you could be a part of.

Also I think quests involving drugging NPC's would be cool. Maybe like using a truth serum on uncooperative NPC's instead of getting them to like you, would be pretty fun. Good thread.

I am not a "buff" by any means, but I was thinking about making a drug-related quest/faction mod for Oblivion, so I looked up some stuff. Moon sugar comes from Elseweyr, where it's been used for quite some time as a means of contacting the Khajiit god of the moon. Skooma is refined from moon sugar, obviously, but I don't think it holds any religious significance. Interestingly, its primary distributors are the Renrijra Krin (spelling?), a group of rather irritable Khajiit gangsters with a ruthless reputation. It would be really awesome to get involved with that story arc, whether with the Renrijra Krin, a rival gang, or with the authorities taking them down, or, potentially, a storyline involving all three. I also seem to remember some dialogue between NPCs in Oblivion saying something about the Empire refusing to actively hunt the Renrijra Krin down for some reason, and a Black Horse Courier issue that mentions a guy nearly ODing on skooma from another gang. It would also be neat to be able to manufacture skooma yourself without the assistance of a mod.

I think drugs should be solely negative, there aren't any positive effects from taking them. If there is going to be a boost, like +10 Strength and +10 Endurance, there should also be -20 Intelligence, -20 Personality, and -10 Agility. And over time, the positive effect becomes weaker and weaker as your body becomes more and more destroyed by it.

Yes and all of the above.

"SKOOOOOOMMAAA!!! SKOOOOOOOMAAAAAAHAHAH!!!!"

That would be a great idea for a mod, maybe you could develop it for Skyrim when it comes out :thumbsup: Also, reading this reminded me of the quest at the end of the Fighter's Guild arc where you discover that the Blackwood Company has been selling bad Hist sap from a dying Hist tree, which causes people to have wild hallucinations and even leads to the player-character slaughtering a bunch of civilians because you hallucinated that they were all monsters while you were on the sap. That sure was a dark quest, and is also a reminder that there is another drug in ES lore that people can abuse (Hist sap)



Ah yes, building up tolerance to drugs. That would be a great feature for realism, good idea!

It would be interesting to see (and would make one more reason to exist) if the drug trade supports in a economic way the war of the rebels against the empire... Or vice versa... This I like to see...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijg3sIXshaU

I believe that this is the only place where one can say "yes" to both racism and drug use and either be supported for it or be viewed as socially acceptable. But, I am in favor of the drug use. It's classic Elder Scrolls :foodndrink:.

You do realize that not all drugs are designed to be detrimental to the health of your mind and body...don't you? Some drugs do have their positive as well as their negative effects. Drug use and addiction in Skyrim (if implemented) should reflect both the good and bad.

Drug use in Skyrim could possibly be implemented in a way that makes the consequences of using drugs very real...meaning that excessive use of skooma will gradually decrease your ability to function at your top form...unless you take more of it in order to feel normal again. Then you would have to take even more of it in order to gain that initial boost that you got from your first experience with it, thus costing you more money, and spending an ever increasing amount of time just trying to find your next fix to keep from getting sick (Anyone remember the skooma junkie from SI?). Not a very pleasant prospect is it, but then drug abuse never is.

Hist trees are generally beneficial, though, and there's something in the lore about them being part of the creation of the world, so I doubt they go bad very often. They're also pretty much restricted to Argonia, so I've no idea what they'd be doing in Skyrim. The skooma trade happens all over the continent, though, and it can have many of the same hallucinogenic effects, particularly if it's highly concentrated or if it's a bad batch. I looked up the Black Horse Courier, and there was an incident in which some guy almost overdosed on skooma and came up with all kinds of delusions involving him being a were-shark and the Grey Fox. That means that the same general idea as that FG quest would be perfectly possible.

I think the drug tolerance is a great idea. Also, having various levels of addiction--the more you take, the more you need. The idea of drugs is that you get a temporary benefit in exchange for a permanent cost, so let's say a Fortify Whatever for such-and-such time, in exchange for damaging an attribute permanently by one point per dose. Skooma also affects your ability to form coherent speech. I don't know if that could be implemented on the player, as you never actually speak in Elder Scrolls games, but it's certainly interesting from a storytelling point of view.