Here’s an overall, very rough first draft of some ideas I’m tossing around until I can sort out the unknown in the CK. Not all of it will be combat, but there will be some of that too hopefully. Unfortunately, I can’t get but so far along with the writing of everything until the CK comes out and I get a look at how game intro is scripted, and then how the assets of the destroyed town are enabled and the other stuff gets disabled etc. Hopefully it will be pretty straightforward enable/disable stuff that I’m used to. In that case it’s wide open to revamp the whole place.

Main character – Possible former Jarl or prominent citizen of Helgen. He will contact player either by courier or directly to solicit help in rebuilding the settlement. May also be candidate for Jarl after settlement is rebuilt. Will be the main contact for most of the assignments the player will have to complete during the rebuild process.

Bandit Leader – Bandits have taken over the settlement so the first order of business is to clear them out and make it safe for workers to start rebuilding. I’m thinking about 2 ways to complete this (peaceful and not peaceful), both having consequences.

1- Peaceful negotiations with the Bandit Leader. Maybe buy him off (or something) so his clan will just leave and not bother you again. (I might also include this leader as one of the candidates for Jarl later on.)
2- Kill ‘em all, lol. This route will result in Bandits constantly returning to reclaim their turf, and will require player to recruit, equip and pay a healthy amount of guards during the reconstruction and until the settlement is on its feet. (when permanent guards will be established.)

Minor characters – merchants & shop keepers, citizens, guards (see civil war section below) etc.

Civil war implications: Stormcloak Alliance, Imperial Alliance or completely Independent by telling theme BOTH to take a hike and set up your own protection, lol) Depending on who the player has sided with in the civil war they will have the option of getting help from that faction. That faction will establish a permanent presence in the fort and supply guards for the town. If no choice has been made they will likely have the option of remaining neutral or Independent for now or as long as they wish. I will add new characters for each faction they will have to do quests for to gain their trust or whatever. Quests could be both before, during and after their alliance is established.

Again, these are the basics and overall summary. As we move forward I’ll be putting more together in terms of story and writing but would love some more ideas and input. If you have ideas for quest plots, background stories and anything else please post them. I’m not the best creative writer so it helps to hear a lot of ideas bounced around for inspiration.

Sounds good

- On the issue of the civil war, it was originally held by imperials before the dragon attack but because of the dwindling imperial numbers I doubt they could re claim it, however I don't think the storm cloaks would be that far west.
- Maybe you could ask the faction of your choice to help guard your city and it become under their banner i.e. give them money,persuade them or maybe do some quests to strengthen your chosen side in that region.
- Maybe you could add a small arena ( I mean pretty small) seen as though it's close to cyrodiil maybe some outsiders have brought some influence

Helgen wasn't a hold so it doesn't have its own Jarl. Make it an owner or mayer from a wealthy family. Still sounds nice and I hope you get it going.

sounds cool, not too crazy about the way we would handle with the Bandits. Make it have more even consequences and effects i suppose. a lot of Money and speech would be necessary for the peaceful option

I do believe Helgen falls under Falkreath Hold. So it seems odd that a Jarl of Helgen would contact you.
There's two ways to go about that, though. Either a former wealthy citizen contacts you or you get the chance to rebuild it after becoming Thane of Falkreath (I like the second one because it adds something to becoming a Thane).

In regards to Civil War. I think it best to keep it neutral until you join the Legion or Stormcloaks, that way you don't get any weirdness in regards to those quests.
Once you've joined a side perhaps a representative of the Legion ask you to garrison some men at Helgen, while the Stormcloaks initially ask you to allow them to trade inside the city and ask to station a garrison after you've liberated Falkreath.

I think to be able to ask a faction for help It makes the most sense that you'd have to join that faction first. I don't think it would make sense to be able to have someone who sided with the Empire be able to ask the Stormcloaks for help or vice-versa. I have to also keep in mind that most people will be playing the mod deep into the game and many of the vanilla quests will likely be finished. So most everything will need to be new content. An arena would be great! (Just gotta find a spot for it, probably underground would be best.


Makes sense, thanks! Perhaps someone originally from Helgen that made their fortune in Cyrodiil and returned after they heard of it's unfortunate demise?


Lots of money yes, high speech? Not necessarily. I was thinking in terms of the player telling the bandit leader they could either stay and all die, or they could take a sizable sum of gold and leave but get to live. Facing imminent death can be a strong and persuasive motivator, lol. But this Leader will be a tough, boss level dude so he won't be a pushover. There will probably be a lot of other bandit thugs and chief's to kill at the same time. I want this to be a very tough fight. Then, if the violent path was taken you'd have the consequences of constant threats from the rest of the bandits who heard you murdered their leader and want to take their fort back.


Agreed, see above and thanks for the idea! But what if someone butchered everyone in Falkreath already in their game? Maybe if they just became a Thane anywhere in the province? If they're that much of a murderous butcher they probably won't have the motivation to play this mod anyway maybe? I just hate to have restrictions right off the bat, but I'll keep tossing around ideas.

Yes, I agree on the Civil War and factions totally neutral at first, but again, this will probably be played after some of that has already been done. So if they already joined the Stormcloaks they wouldn't be able to then ask the Legion for help, but there will be a Stormcloak or Independent path still available for them.

Thanks everybody! Great ideas, keep them coming!

Helgen Rebuilt should feature;

-A mandatory hunt for creatures all over Skyrim
-A quest where you have to take the mayor out on a date
-A brewer whose cousin was turned into a ghost that only appears on halloween
-Getting svckered into an elaborate, unnecessary fetchquest with no indication that it was optional

What I meant to say is, please don't make the quests (if it's quest-based) like Kvatch Rebuilt! That mod, spiffy though it was, made me wish I knew the quest IDs so I could advance them through the console.

Never mind, I'm just blabbering. I had to think about Kvatch Rebuilt the moment I saw that title.

Lol, I actually never played that mod because I always seemed to see stuff popping up about a lot of problems with it. Were those some of the quests you had to do in it or something?

The quests, as far as I remember...


What have I learned from all of this? Fetching plants or tying up loose ends with deceased relatives is not fun, introducing one's axe to bandits and/or mobsters is very much fun. I think you'll know what to do, especially since the land of Skyrim makes Cyrodiil look like Valenwood.

Falkreaths Jarl is a dip and really doesn't support his people would you consider having it be an independent Village? see Bandits take it over, and nothing is done about it. it stops burning on its own though so you don't have to worry about Kvatchitis. Also remember some people survived Helgen, Agni, Hammil (the little boy that was talking during the intro) and I'm sure some others.

they could be people we go find and bring back.

in relation to aboves points, the primary questline would be to fight off the Bandits and then fend off them more since they REALLY like having Helgen as a base, and then coming to find there is actually a Draugr crypt under Helgen, and a sleeping Dragon is making them attack the town (if you didnt do the MQ) if you did do the MQ then that Dragon actually attacks again, but with advancements in the Town and proper defense the Dragon is defeated and is hallowed as the first Town to fend of a Dragon attack on its own


So some order to my madness

Find sympathyzers to restore Helgen, I'd not go into details of some rich noble or some guy barrowing money from the Theives guild or a Loan shark

Remove Bandits

Start reconstruction, elicit help from Riverwood(kinda easy) and Falkreath (much Harder)

Recover survivors.

Miscellenous Quests for the various new comers to Helgen that help restore the town
Continue reconstruction

weather Bandit attack from revenge of a Cheif attempting to Ransack the Town you can fail if they "attack" the supply sections and have to redo the construction and resource gathering of which he comes again stronger each time.

Construction progresses

Restore Lumber and mining

Get a leader or be the leader.

Potential Darkbrohood or Thieves guild interference or both!

Problems with Falkreath, is greater if they didn't give help

Having to ally with the Stormcloaks or Imps for protection, or just followers you gather.

if not Stormcloaks/Imps muscle in on you for control of the city

Hadvar and Rolof come back, massive conflict Stormcloack vs Imps if you haven't done the peace summit. or if you've finished either questline the alignment is automatic with the opposiing side giving some light problems.

Dragon awakens nearby to attack or Dragur Hoard attacks at night because reconstruction has disturbed something related to them.

Thalmor take interest in the towns reconstruction and its strenght doubling/tripling prior to it. Thalmor causing problems for town


lol thats so much and I'm not done, I'll stop there.

A mod like this should have some interesting things in it....

Lets see....

I think the guy you go with right at the start of the game should be involved some how.

Thats all I have. lol

hummm awesome....

one guildhouse would be cool... and you can choose who will control it (the WH College, Companions or Thieves)

making also the Blades and guard option would be nice (If you helped them with that kill thing) or even an Thalmor army XD

Anyway...

The idea itself of rebuilding Helgen is awesome
I'm watching this project closely from now on

An idea: how about a quest about a ghost of someone killed during the dragon attack. Or maybe as a rare "random encounter" you can look up at the walls at night and see a ghostly guard wandering the paraqets, and if you talk to him he says he's watching for dragons - they won't get another chance to burn down his home

This is kinda funny because earlier today I went to Helgen just to re-run my escape route from Helgen Keep through the cave before I was free and could whatever I want in Skyrim. While I was playing I come to think about a rebuild Helgen mod similar to the Kvatch Rebuilt mod.

You could have that option if the player choose side and either join the legion or the Stormcloak rebellion. You could also have an option if the player doesn't want to join either side and just want to be neutral for the time being.

The way I see it you actually have 2-3 more choices and that's to have Helgen captured by one of the Orc clans from a destroyed stronghold nearby or have Helgen as safe haven for Argonians, Khajiit and even the Orc's living side by side in peace in Helgen.

Helgen could also be a Forsworn village since they already have a lot of strongholds scattered throughout Skyrim and some of them got tired to defend them selfs all the time. Let us assume that the Forsworn has a clan hierarchy like the Orc has, but a few clans just want to live in peace somewhere else than in a stronghold their whole life. They just want to be civil and live a normal life like the Nords.

IIRC The jarl in Falkreth is a female not a male jarl and she doesn't care about Helgen anymore, since she has concerns about the citizens safety in Falkreth as her main priority not to rebuild Helgen. In fact once the player is name Thane in Falkreth she is gonna give the player a choice; If you want to have somewhere to live around Falkreth she cannot help you out, but if you really want then take Helgen as your own property and form your own independent hold of Skyrim as a jarl.

How about making it a hunting community? Initially it's just a bunch of weaklings ("I've been hunting and fishing in these parts for years!") but as you invest in the town (money sink!) the hunter's become more skilled to the point that anybody or thing foolish enough to attack gets an arrow through both eyes. I only say that because it'd be cool to run into groups of actual skilled (and hopefully named) hunters around Falkreath Hold. The game desperately needs more population whatever the decision.

For one you'd be very wanted man in the Hold and there's no doubt several characters there that suffer from immortalitis and re-spawning guards. Would anyone seriously continue after massacring an entire town and would such a psychopath play-through really rebuild a town. I'm thinking the number of people who have done that and not reverted to a previous save afterwards are small.
But I get where you are coming from, you want people to start this quest no matter how the handled the rest of the game. I just thought it would be nice to have being a Thane mean something more than getting a sword and be excused of your crimes if your caught.

I don't think Falkreath falls under the Reach territory. So it would be quite a bit out of the ways for them.

No he's a lazy dude who coasting on his steward to do the real work, while he does nothing.
He is unlikely to aid you much in rebuilding, though.

This mod should begin with the player coming upon a small camp of survivors. They ask for help in clearing out the bandits that take residence there. Then the player has to clear out the bandits and the rest of the related quests.

Guys who kill Falkreath shouldn't get an option to rebuild simple as that. Choices need to have consequences after all.

What has the Reach got to do with Falkreth since you already pointed out that Helgen falls under the hold of Falkreth. I really don't understand what you mean.

Sorry I mixed up with the Jarl of Morthal.

I have a Hunters Guild mod I will do for that!

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1274158-wip-hunters-guild/page__hl__hunters+guild

Forsworn consider the Reach their territory. So Helgen is a bit out of the way for them, not really a place I'd see them settling down.

This is an interesting idea.

I have thought of a third alternative for the Bandits that have taken possession of the place. Recruit them to help out with rebuilding in exchange for becoming citizens of Helgen and losing their bandit status.

I can do professional voice acting and recorded in a proper studio for free if needed.

Excellent! I'll need it. What accents can you do?

OK, I’ve been working on some structure a little, and here is a general outline so far. Thoughts? (Would especially like thoughts on overthrowing the jarl of Falkreath)

FIRST OBJECTIVE
I think I’m going to stick with the Bandits taking over the settlement as that fits best with the vanilla setup already in place. I think I’ll park my main character in Falkreath to begin with so the player can go there and talk to him to begin the quest at their leisure. What makes the most sense to me is to obviously clear out the Bandits inhabiting the fort as the first stage of the quest after talking to the main character. I haven’t decided if he’s going to be a Nord, Breton or what yet though. But if he’s originally from Helgen a Nord might make the most sense. And since he will have a ton of dialog that I’ll have to record, I’ll probably go with a Nord as I think that’s an easier accent for me to pull off and not sound like caca.

I was looking around the fort last night, and I think I’ll make the player have to enter the fort from the cave entrance they escaped from in the intro. I’m going to lock & block the entrances and probably require a key so they’ll have to fight their way back into the fort from that cave. It just makes sense that the leader will be in the fort, not down in the caves, but I want a good bit of combat to get to him, so I’m going the reverse way in, I think. So, fight your way in, kill or negotiate with the Leader, and clear out the last few bandits outside the fort first.

SECOND OBJECTIVE
I think the next order of importance would have to be setting up some protection in the place. As I mentioned earlier, depending on your alliances, you could go to the Stormcloaks or Imperials, or simply recruit your own guards from around the province. I’m also leaning towards making recruiting your own guards a definite requirement. I think another NPC who will serve as Captain of the Guard who could be an old friend of the main NPC. (I need to start coming up with some names, lol.) You’ll have to seek him out and negotiate payment and equip his men with gear such as 3 or 4 setups of Heavy weapons and armor for the boots on the ground, and 3 or 4 setups of light weapons and archery gear for the guards higher up and on the towers.

Then, the Imperials or Stormcloaks could provide a smaller amount of extras if you choose to ask them, and they’ll also provide an officer in the fort. Their colors will also be flying and draqed around the fort as well. If you go with the purely Independent path, I'll probably use the vanilla resources and retexture them for some new banners and guard armor based on the vanilla guard armor just for Helgen so those colors will eventually be flying in this path.

POSSIBLE ALTERNATE QUEST?
I would actually love a questline that would make Helgen truly an Independent hold from Falkreath, or possibly boot Jarl Siddgeir out of the hold and appoint a new Jarl that would actually do something for his people. But as buggy as the quests in this game already are, I’m not sure I should go messing around with vanilla NPC’s - especially questgivers. Thoughts?

THIRD OBJECTIVE
OK, so now the fort has been liberated from the Bandits, and guards are in place. My main guy will then move into the fort and start working on the overall clean-up of the town. I really love the idea’s posted to free a family who were taken captive by Bandits! Maybe the father was a skilled builder and his wife a designer, and of course the children are simply annoying little brats, lol. So this could be a third objective and critical to get the construction underway. Anyone want to build me a large cave or mine for this mission? I’m more than willing to let others help if you want to pitch in!

FOURTH OBJECTIVE(S)
After rescuing the kidnapped family the rescued builder can assess what materials & tools are needed to begin the construction and begin designing everything. So while the player begins working on securing contracts for the materials, tools and supplies needed he can make sure the town is totally cleaned up and ready to begin construction. Here are some options I would like feedback on:

• Seek out merchants for hand tools such as hand saws and hammers?
  
• Secure contracts for lumber at local mills?
  
• Mine or purchase enough iron to make all the hinges, spikes and whatnot for all the doors etc? (Return the materials to the smitty below)
  
• Seek out and hire workers who can assist in the construction? (The town needs a smitty/armorer to make all the hardware and maintain the guards gear)

FIFTH OBJECTIVE
I think about now would be a good time to hit a snag, such as a supply shipment being overrun by Bandits, or maybe something like some of the suggestions by MK-{OmegaX}.

To be continued, lol.

EDIT: I also wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has been offering suggestions and feedback. I really will try to take everything into consideration that I possibly can.