Sengreth's Secrets
Quest Designer - Skyrim Mod
Solo Project - 6 Weeks
Solo Project - 6 Weeks
The core challenge of building on an existing fictional universe is the balancing act of originality and consistency – to create something that doesn’t exist in this world but could, to not only find the hole in the puzzle but carve something to fit. Thus, when I was tasked with creating an original quest for Skyrim, my brainstorming centered on what I felt was missing from the game, on what unanswered questions, underused mechanics, or unheard voices could draw me in. Mechanically, I looked to explore a conflict that would favor investigation over combat, one won with education and empathy more than drawn swords and dragon shouts. Ultimately, it was an unheard voice from reality which I decided to pursue – with women’s bodily autonomy in both the contemporary news cycle and my historical interests, I centered my quest, “Sengreth’s Secrets”, on feminine health and autonomy in Tamriel. While I did have momentary doubts that the subject matter might be risky, my passion for the topic won out, and I maintain that a brief storyline about fantasy birth control is not out of place in the source material – if Skyrim can have a quest like “The Steward’s Potion,” it can have this.
In creating this quest, I worked on:
Confident though I was in my subject matter, knowing that it wouldn’t appeal to the “typical gamer”, I created a sort of “soft choice” around engaging with the subject matter by surrounding it in layers of coding – of the allusive language and cryptography varieties, not the computer kind – which had the added benefit of reflecting the subject’s (unfortunate and continuing) need for secrecy in reality. On a pure mechanical level, Sengreth’s Secrets is little more than a series of fetch quests – players can catch dogwhistles in NPC chatter and decode the notes they’re collecting to discover the deeper significance, or just collect their 400 gold and move on. That’s not to say implementing this quest was without its challenges – between my time limit and being a Creation Kit beginner, I had to sacrifice some intended player freedom for a linear quest design, and from the start I knew that “Moondrop Elixir” would be beyond the potion-crafting capabilities of myself and the game. Still, I believe I’ve told a compelling story, one that can enrich the world of Skyrim with a new perspective and get players thinking about personal choice – theirs and others’.
In creating this quest, I worked on:
- Researching both the world of Skyrim and historical & high fantasy depictions of birth control to develop the quest concept
- Learning the Skyrim Creation Kit and editing my concept to fit its capabilities
- Designing and implementing areas, items, and quest progression to drive mechanical engagement and convey environmental storytelling
- Writing and implementing dialogue, journal entries, and absence-cipher encoded notes to engage, guide, and challenge players
Confident though I was in my subject matter, knowing that it wouldn’t appeal to the “typical gamer”, I created a sort of “soft choice” around engaging with the subject matter by surrounding it in layers of coding – of the allusive language and cryptography varieties, not the computer kind – which had the added benefit of reflecting the subject’s (unfortunate and continuing) need for secrecy in reality. On a pure mechanical level, Sengreth’s Secrets is little more than a series of fetch quests – players can catch dogwhistles in NPC chatter and decode the notes they’re collecting to discover the deeper significance, or just collect their 400 gold and move on. That’s not to say implementing this quest was without its challenges – between my time limit and being a Creation Kit beginner, I had to sacrifice some intended player freedom for a linear quest design, and from the start I knew that “Moondrop Elixir” would be beyond the potion-crafting capabilities of myself and the game. Still, I believe I’ve told a compelling story, one that can enrich the world of Skyrim with a new perspective and get players thinking about personal choice – theirs and others’.
Content Warning: Mild sexual references, medical references, references to dangerous situations
Special thanks to David Fhima and Kris Takahashi of Bethesda Game Studios.
Special thanks to David Fhima and Kris Takahashi of Bethesda Game Studios.
Cover Images: © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons