Introduction

Autumn is quickly waning, and cold, dark winter is quickly descending onto the land. Before the mountain trails are snowed in, you decide to travel with a trade caravan to a distant village far to the north, in the wild and remote Cold Song Valley. You are drawn by tales of mystery and adventure, of tragedies long forgotten and stories told only in the darkest days of winter when the winds howl and the promise of spring seems to be an age away. Entering the distant valley you feel a shiver of unease as the caravan pulls away. You are alone as the snow begins to fall. Far in the distance you can barely see the warm lights of the distant village, but before you begin walking in that direction you hear a faint song carried on the northern winds- a haunting melody of forlorn tragedies and a past best left forgotten.

Description

Yes, I'm in a winter sort of mood. Anyways, this mod is going to be a quest-driven mod in a new landscape- Cold Song Valley. The landscaping is mostly done and comes in at about 25 playable cells, so it's a good-sized area to explore. Quest-wise, this mod is going to be somewhat non-traditional. Most of the events will have already taken place years ago, and it is up to you as the player to learn the truth about these events and put an end to conflicts still plaguing the valley. I plan to incorporate multiple questlines and endings for the mod in a way that encourages the player to explore the valley and keep digging for the truth about the past. I plan to incorporate as little NPC interaction as possible, mostly because I do not like the way it is handled in Oblivion. Instead, most of the story is going to be told through documents and the memories of other characters, so expect a lot of reading. For now, that's as far as I'll get into the actual plot because (a) I don't want to give anything away and (B) I'm still working out some of the details.

Progress

Landscape- 95%. The landscape is basically made, with textures, trees, rocks, terrain, etc. All I have left to do is clean up some rougher areas, and a bit more detail, and add in quest locations as I need to.
UPDATE: Now 99% done. After looking around a bit I decided to add quite a few more statics as well as clean most of the landscape up. All that's left is some restructuring for quest locations as I need to and a little bit more cleaning.

Village-70%. Not even started yet. Mostly it'll serve as a convenient home-base for the PC and as a source for information and occasional companionship.
UPDATE: Village is now 70% complete, with a village hall, inn, 2 houses, and a smithy fully created. 5 NPCs and a wolf are also created and each has their own schedule. Still left to do are 3 houses and 3-4 NPCs.
UPDATE: Village is 100% done.

Dungeons- 0%. Again, not started yet. I plan to have quite a few dungeons (caves, ruins, etc.), and I plan on incorporating a pretty cool "master dungeon" that connects areas of the valley and gives the PC a place to slowly unlock and explore.

Story/Quests- 20%. I have most of the ideas for the story/backstory down, but need to iron out a few details. Once that's all done I can get started on the actual quests.

Dialogue- 0%

Screenshots

Updated: 1/6/2011

Cold Song Valley

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0411-13-15-59.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0411-10-21-76.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0411-11-23-95.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0411-11-53-73.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0411-12-18-78.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0411-10-48-34.jpg

Grey Pine Village

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-41-16-73.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-47-13-87.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-41-54-08.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-42-48-31.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-43-49-12.jpg - Still can't decide if I want Rumors for the NPCs or not

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-44-49-12.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-45-02-42.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-46-21-09.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/HonorableKoala/Oblivion/Oblivion2011-01-0616-45-18-75.jpg

That's all I have for now. If you have any comments/suggestions for what I have, please feel free to share them. Also, if you want to check out what else I've done go download "Northern Winds" or "Season of the Harvest" for Morrowind from Planet Elder Scrolls and play those

Bump.

Alright just a little update. I worked a bit more on the landscape today and got it up to about 99% completion. I decided it was a little too sparse and added a few more statics in, and I also cleaned things up quite a bit. All that's left is adding in quest locations as I need to. Next up on the agenda is working on the village. I'll post again when that is further along. Hope to see some interest in this soon, but I'll keep plugging away regardless.

Oh, I also updated the screenshots with photos taken with the game at a higher resolution and graphics settings with the added content, so check those out

This is a little intangible right now. Your screenshots just look like regular screenshots. I think the interest will pick up once we see some buildings and you start posting some hints on the story. Keep at it - we'll be watching

Good luck...I can see a decent mod coming out in the future!

Alright, another update to this. The village (Grey Pine Village, it has a name now!) is 70% complete. Check out the 1st post for screenshots

Small update- the village is now 100% complete. I settled on having 7 NPCs and a wolf. Not too many, but I'd rather have quality > quantity. Plus it keeps the small/isolated feel.

Will finally start working on dialogue, quests, and dungeons now. I pretty much will be working on those simultaneously, so overall progress will be pretty slow.

Keep up the good work. Looking forward to this, now that we've some good news coming for TES V: Skyrim, I too am in a winter mood