» Tue Dec 29, 2009 8:05 pm
In the lineup, I would have them oppose 2-3 other factions directly, and have stray quests that go against all the other factions to keep them a bit separate and you needing diplomacy to explain what you did.
Mages Guild - Necromancers, Witches Covens
Thieves Guild - Imperial Legion, Trade Factions
Fighters Guild - Knights Guilds, Bandit Factions
Dark Brotherhood (guild organization, faction status)- Imperial Legion, Knights Factions
Imperial Legion (Guild)- Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood
Imperial Navy - Pirates, certain Trade Factions, Knight Factions
Trade Factions - Thieves Guild, Marauders and Bandits
Marauders, Pirates, Bandits – Trade factions, Fighters Guild, Imperial Navy
Religious Factions - Necromancers, Witch Covens, Mages Guild if need be
Necromancers - Mages Guild, Religious Factions
Witch Covens - Mages Guild, Religious Factions, Fighters Guild
Knightly Orders - Dark Brotherhood, other Knights Factions
Each official guild should be organized into three divisions, regular factions would have just one division. These would each represent a different part of the organization, and would potentially have a different quest giver.
The Fighters guild shouldn't be a squeaky clean brigade; it should be a place to get an easy few bucks for an ex-con. Their job types would be: High Profile (sending more famous members for guild publicity to highly visible quests), Bounties (retrieve the suspect, by whatever means specified, will require the tracking skill), Walk-in orders (the everyday quests you start with in the other games).
Mages should be arcane and strange seeming to the outside. Their job types would be: Research (including the archaeology part mentioned before), Walk-in orders, and Internal Affairs (battlemages to self police the guild). Those were the major three types of quests I remember from the games in essence. The internal affairs would be everything from the "protect a mage from the guards till he can teleport away" to "kill the rebel mage" to "go collect the drunk mage who is tearing up the town" from Daggerfall. Those were fun.
Thieves Guild: Filcher jobs and requests (if someone asks you to steal something, or just items that get the guild fame), Scams, and Information Gathering. People pay well for information, being in a position to listen in on a strategy session and then choosing who you tell could have some consequences.
Dark Brotherhood: Orders acquired from the speaker, Overwatch (like internal affairs, but includes cleanup of new member mistakes), and a politics department. By that last one, I mean I want the DB to shape the politics of the land by selectively choosing who they want to kill to make changes happen. Similar to the Assassin's Creed game, except this was first discussed long before that game was announced.
Imperial Legion: Rangers (quick response rural based troops, to handle situations out in the countryside), Urban Cohort (dealing with potentially violent or problematic city situations), and a Criminal Investigations Command unit to do follow-ups on thieves guild, dark brotherhood, mages guild, or fighters guild crimes. This means that if you are in one of those other guilds you may have the legion tracking what you do if you are seen.
The Trade Company faction from Morrowind really hit some good points, from building a new trade outpost to just showing presence in the cities. Their job types could be: Transport Ships (naval operations of the trade company), Trade Caravans (the overland express), and Trade Speculation (determining where mining towns would go, setting the company policy in different towns based on demand).
The Imperial Navy would be separate from the Legion, but not be split into three divisions.
The religious guilds already were split into sections for Morrowind, we'll just return to those divisions.
Necromancers should have themselves several smaller groups, but one larger organized group. They should have a major questline, but not be organized like the Mage's guild much.
Witch covens should be present all over, perhaps joinable, but not enough to qualify as a complete faction. They can summon the daedra lords like they could before, and generally have all the spells the religious guilds don't carry. Some might just tell the future and nothing else, like the guy in Bloodmoon or the reflection in Redguard that shows you your future.
If Knights guilds make a return, they will not be versatile enough to need divisions as they will have few members. If nobles (or "families" for you who started with Morrowind) are allowed guilds (like the Order of the Hawk) then they will be at the direct command of a leader without the need for different sections. They can insert their influence into almost any other guildline quite easily.
There should also be an allowance for a few marauder factions, on land and sea. These folks would be available to hire for relatively cheap to attempt a kidnapping. Also note that while there is a basic credo for the different guilds, there is certainly no reason for everyone or even every faction of the guild to have the same opinions on what direction the guild should head. Do they wish to give their support to certain leaders more than others?
There are of course other guilds not mentioned which could be fleshed out, but some which probably should not be at all. The prosttute's guild could be mentioned in the next game but having the player join it is not necessary.
Guild Operation Suggestions:
- Make quest lines in guilds conflict, like in Daggerfall or Morrowind. You can't be in every guild and have everyone accept you. This adds a sense of political realism to the game.
- Return of the advancement requirements in guild ranks. You need certain skills and attributes to be a certain level before advancing.
- Different religions, that you choose to join, and feel the wrath of gods for offending them.
- Difficult quests to complete when you are guild leader, that require you to use guild favored skills.
- Add some realistic politics into the game world. Politics similar to Daggerfall.
- Be able to hire mercenaries from the fighters guild, etc.
- As guild leader, you can get companions from the guild, and give quests to members under you. Quests taken to the guild (generic ones) can be assigned to NPC's within the guild. If they are too new for the quest you might assign someone from the overwatch department to go with them.
- An npc ranking system for guild members. Work your way to the top, then the list will serve you to know who to assign to which missions.
- Have a list of all NPC's you have heard of, and be able to hire a guild to kill/kidnap them. This would be useful for the interrogations. Success will not be guaranteed.