Indeed, I may be slow, but I will get it done, my focus just flops around a lot these days, and having faced my computer dying, I am just getting back into the swing again.

Don't forget those of us who play as selfless heroes. They were obviously falsely imprisoned or framed...

Indeed, and thus the open phrasing of the questions - you were convicted of something, and getting the skill bumps for that is reasonable as to be framed you may well have had the skills needed for such a crime, guilty or not. I leave that up to the player to decide for themselves, however, and will be sure that (pending my ability to ensure you get it) the book you get reflects this being open to possible debate. I may go so far, if people like, to add in the ability to state if you are guilty or not during the process, but I kind of like the idea of it never really being clear - personally.

Ah! and idea that brings back memories of Ultima & Daggerfall is a keeper for me, and it actually makes more sense that you actually had some sort of life before tha start of the game, but doesnt go as far as the alternate beginnings mod. Looking foward to the release
PD Id say that you could even go as far as having some low level starting equipment too, since I always found kind of unrelastic that the Nerevar Reborn could be killed a couple of rats because he wasnt armed even with a buttering knife after beign brought all the way to Morrowind.....

If you actually peek at the spoiler on the main page, you can see a number of the potential awards for the different choices you make. I don't see many characters coming out without at least a little slag to sell for extra cash if nothing more. I am thinking how I will probably do it is find a decent bag model to place somewhere in the C&E Office that will be deemed your personal belongings to be returned upon release from prison. After the normal character generation process, you will be advised to active the bag to get your belongings. Doing this will begin the small process of asking the appropriate questions to the player, and after the answers are provided the character will be given the assorted benefits from their answers (which will net some equipment in the end). I also hope to be able to have the player granted a small journal during this time that dictates out the answers given in a more in game appropriate manner so you have something to hold on to that reminds you of your life before coming to Morrowind (or returning, depending on your perspective of your character).

Hope that, with the info in the OP, gives at least a good idea of how I hope to accomplish this. I know a couple of mods that will no doubt need to be given patches to have this work alongside it (the Immersive Char Gen mod being the one I am thinking of), but I don't see that being a problem. Further, due to the way most the leveling mods work (to my knowledge), this will take place early enough in character generation to not cause any kind of conflicts with such mods.

EDIT: Quick question, I want to see what folks think - the process of activating the bag to begin the process, should it be in the same room as Ergalla or with the Captain (at the very end of the character generation, but before exiting the C&E Offices)? I figure that either one should work in avoiding conflict with leveling mods, but what would feel most immersive given the situation?

Also, how many options can I present to the player in a single pop-up box without needing to resort to a more option?

Definitely with Sellus Gravius (the captain). He's the one who gives you your starting gold, makes sense that he would return your belongings as well. Perhaps edit his dialogue to the extent of "I also have a letter for you, and a disbursal to your name. Furthermore, when you were arrested, your personal effects were confiscated. You will find them now in the bag on the table to your right."

I'm really excited for this mod, even though it seems that it's been around for a while (since I've been on this account, anyway ) and I'm confused about how I'm only now noticing it!

Indeed, I was kind of thinking along the same lines, it does seem a bit more fitting for Gravius to provide your belongings as well. Fiddling with the dialogue does make me a little bit nervous in regards to making possible conflicts, but we'll see what pans out the best. I might just give a quick pop-up that advises the player to gather their things before heading into the world beyond - while slightly intrusive, unless using a mod to remove the chargen tutorial boxes, it is something that won't be so out of place at that stage in the game.

And no worries on not being aware of the mod, I think most tend to overlook it, which is fine by me since my impending problems of late have made work on the project (and my other one, too) painfully slow at best. I think of the two, this one will be more simplistic in scope, so I will probably polish this one off first after I get my install done (which should be coming soon, trying to hold out for NoM 3.0, but the itch is getting worse, if you catch my meaning).

I would also be open to any further suggestions in regards to the questions/rewards portion of things, as I do want to try and strive for some decent balance in the end.

If you dont want to mess with Selious, make a chest right where he is with the stuff or perhaps a npc only for that. One question

Again, I must refer you to the OP. Essentially, though, the simple answer is no, there will not be set equipment you can get. Every single choice you make during the character background selection process will result in something different - so the only way it is set is that certain answers will net certain equipment.

Yes I understand that but what I meant is that regardless of the staring equipment due to skills is there going to be a base starting equipment too, where you might be a barabraina or a wizard but everybody still gets a few health potions a torch and a cure disease?

Ahhh, sorry about that, I see what you mean now.

Nope, the only things that will be granted by this mod are the items (or other things) denoted for the answers you give to the questions, and if I can manage to get it to come out the way I want in the end, you should also get a book as well that details the responses you gave in a more RP appropriate manner to add more to the immersion of your character having had a life before the game started.

On the flip side, the character should have enough money or slag by the end of the process that they can better supply themselves at Arrille's Tradehouse when the game starts (or other vendors depending on the mod set the player is using, they may have more options in Seyda Neen then). In truth, it will make the start of the game a little easier overall, but there are enough difficulty enhancing mods out there that a little nod to realism I think is best here.

I suppose in some ways you can consider your class to be defining a certain potential set of starting equipment since, as I detailed, the questions you get asked during the process (and possibly the answers you have available to you when asked the question as well) will vary depending on the choice of class you have made (as well as providing a fall back default set of questions to ask if someone is using a custom class or class pack I have not accounted for - though the mod itself will function as a small class pack as well).

Just one more comment Redeye: most of the gamers I know never use pre made classes and pick their own custom class. Now if this is only going to affect premade classes I guess many of us might miss out, but perhaps if the system is set up as a sort of compliment to the class then it would not only be welcome for the starting equipment but as a way to have a more balanced charcater to begin with. For example I pick my own custom class, say a Conan the Barbarian type that can melee but has some sneaking and thieveing skills too, after that I might get some questions that might go like this "A local bully aproaches you and demands you hand out all your gold, do you A Try to make a run for it, based on his girth and your superior speed (+5 athletics) B Try to talk him out of it, perhaps threatening to get even for something more meaningful than gold (+5 Speechcraft) C Fight him right there with your bare hands (+5 hand to hand) D Trick him with a magic spell and make a run for it (+5 illusion). I already might have made my mind up on what that particular character might do, but my answer might reflect more closely on the particular barbarian type I want to play and that might be different than a guy picking the exact same custom race and skills but a different idea on how he plans to develop him. This way background skills might really differenciate each character and might lead to a journal entry that might reflect that you are a sneaky type barbarain, melee focused but with superior streetwise skills. This sounds like quite an undertaking and I hope Im not meddling too much but it seems like such I good idea I want to try to give a few pointers that might help

No worries, comment away, the whole reason I posted the WIP thread was to get ideas and input from the community - my projects are certainly things I want to do myself, but since I do intend to release, I want to also make sure the receiving audience will have what they like as well (as best as I can accommodate).

In this particular case, I am not exactly sure I follow what you are saying here, but I will try to provide the best answer I can (please inquire further, or correct me if I am misunderstanding).

You are correct that this mod will be aimed more at the original classes than it will be at anything else, and as I myself can find the original class pack lacking at times after having run through the game so many times - sometimes classes don't match to intended play style. This is a prime reason that I intend this mod to internally expand the class selection listing as well, providing some more options to further accommodate the player while remaining within the terms of lore appropriateness. Further, I will also be adding in a default selection of questions that will be asked to any class that is not recognized by this mod, so that those who still can not find a reasonable class in the list (a fair situation to be sure) will still be able to get the same function out of the mod.

Also, if I do manage to accomplish adding in the book for the player to receive documenting this, I do intend to have a fair amount of flavor included. I do not anticipate the book being included in the initial release, as I will need to write a separate book for essentially every set of possible outcomes a player could choose in the process, and I want to further refine them by class as well to add even more flavor to the mod.

I hope that answers your questions, but again, if not please feel free to ask.

Ah I ok I understand now, thanks for your response, sounds great then looking foward to release

Was going to be jumping into some work on this again soon, so still no real news to update, but figured I would get any last minute suggestions in from folks before I move forward here.

It appears you've completely forgotten about boosts to the Spear skill. While there are a couple questions about saving/buying a weapon (including spears), there is no mention of any bonus to the Spear skill. An oversight?

Indeed, and exactly the reason for having this WIP thread. I will look into correcting this oversight. I also need to go back and ensure all selections that provide you a book net either a well priced vanilla book (and non-quested as well), or one that provides a skill bump (preferably useful to the class in question being asked).

Anyhow, thanks for catching that - I should have an update on the information later this week, but more comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Weird, the forums didn't seem to register my last post at all - that is kind of weird...