This is a blog for the mod Interesting NPCs. The ultimate goal is to have this be a hub of information regarding the mod, with articles on characters, interviews with voice actors, and basically looking under the hood of this product of Dwarven engineering.

You may be curious why it’s in blog form. Curiosity is bad for you and is known to cause cat scratch fever.  However, if you must know, it’s in blog form because I am too cheap to pay for a website.

In all honesty, I do not know if I will have the time to even come up with articles, posts, or pictures to propagate this blog with. I do not know if the actors are willing to subject themselves to my terrible questions, or if that is considered torture by the standards outlined in the Geneva Conventions. We shall see.

In closing, I offer a picture of my current game, as I build dialogue for Zora and the other super friendies. I use Zora because I know everyone loves Zora, and everyone loves her voice actor, the talented Viridiane. If you don’t you probably are an unpleasant person to talk to.

Back in May of 2012, when the mod was but an infant, a helpful fellow by the name of throat cutter pointed me toward a forum where I could find voice actors.  I peered at that list like a motherfucking hawk, looking for actors with two X chromosomes.  I sent out about 10 emails.  I got 1 reply.  It was from a girl named Viridiane, and it changed everything.

Food tasted better.  The sky seemed bluer.  The world wasn’t perfect, but it was close enough, because she was living in it.

And she’s still here.  Seven months later, and Vi’s done three characters – Zora, Lleyara, Callen, and probably near a 1000 lines of dialogue and counting.  I asked her some stupid questions, and she was kind enough to reply.  If you have questions of your own, feel free to ask them in the comments.

You have a unique accent, where are you from exactly?
I like to keep people guessing. Sometimes they truly surprise me!

What is your favorite letter of the alphabet?
A, R, E, S. I have a few. I really don’t like P and B.

What got you into voice acting?
Google. Well I had an idea to see if there’s some way to try dubbing something and I found English website Voice Acting Alliance. Turned out there was plenty of amateur projects to audition for and that’s how it started for me.

Who would win a fight between a frost troll and a Nord on anabolic steroids?
Nord. Science > Nature when it comes to good old face mashing.

What sort of character do you like to play?
Pretty ones! And small ones. But not halfling-small. Just FR elf-small. I liked to play Ainmhi in Oblivion. Class? Jack of All Trades. In Skyrim I had to settle for a boring Nord due to most bearable faces. Still had so many wrinkles. Can’t wait to use some of the mods for faces! Played some kind of rogue-type. Not sure. I’m a hoarder, very much. I hoarded gems, coins, strawberries and Nirnroot planters. Then I searched for items and cloned them into my house while throwing away gold [imagine a shop :D] In Skyrim I settled for the 1-of-a-kind items like bee in a jar or some ship models :D

I want you to share the story you told me about how we both suck at video games.
Yeah, I panic in games, I was trying to play one at my friend’s and a monster jumped at me, so I panicked and I turned the camera around and shot a barrel with something that exploded and killed me instead. >D

Nirnroot: Noisy or Calming?
Awakens my pack-rat instincts. GOTTA CATCH THEM ALL.

Where does the name Viridiane come from?
It’s a name of a color. I like colors.

Do you have a favorite alchemy ingredient?
No, I love them all and hoard them all and put them in their respective chests/boxes/jars.

What are your favorite video games?
Baldur’s Gate <3 Forever. Right now I’m playing League of Legends though.

How hard was it to voice Callen?
Much harder than Zora, but much easier than carrying bricks on my head.

If you’ve played the mod, do you have a favorite character, and why? If you haven’t played the mod, why are you such a horrible person?
I’m a horrible person :( I haven’t had the chance to play Skyrim for months. I’ve played Vanilla right after release and I’ll play it again, modded, when I’m done with university. It will be my nerdy victory dance.

Talk about Zora‘s character and what you think about her. Why do you think Zora is so popular?
I didn’t know she was popular, I never get to see the comments Kris is mentioning sometimes. I can’t find them :( But if I were to guess, I’d say she’s simply sweet. With a twist. Not your regular cutie with a bandit fetish and a two-handed sword, is she? Besides, she is flawed. That makes her affable and humane.

What other projects are you working on? Mods, fiction, acting, etc. Where else can people hear your talents?
Voice acting wise? A few, you can see a list on my website, I try to keep it updated. Non-voice-acting wise? I’m working on a book. Almost alllmost done with the first part, but writer’s block knows no mercy.

Do you share any similar traits with any of the characters you voiced? How are you different?
Tough question! Not so much, I think. I actually try to avoid voicing characters that are similar to me, because it’s boring and presents no challenge at all.

Stormcloaks or Imperials? Paarthurnaax or Blades? Wine or Mead? Sweet rolls or Apple pies?
Chocolate! And baby pandas.

What kind of mic do you use and what difficulties did you run into making your recording environment?
I use Blue Snowball. I have a pop filter made of an old stocking and wire. The difficulty is that I have 2 settings on this mic, I can build a soundbooth from books and I can even put scarves on it, but every person has a different opinion on what sounds best, so I never know how to record :D A pro-studio mic would surely remedy this situation, but I’m broooke.

If you were an all powerful dragon, how would you go about eating and entertaining yourself? Would you terrorize towns, steal the occasional cow, or just eat wild beasts? Keep in mind people are probably delicious.
Food, food, food, does everything have to be about food? Psh! I would steal a princess and live out a fairytale!

Gorr the Wanderer
Upon recruiting Gorr as a follower, you have the option of asking him where to go next. This conversation will effectively enable his wandering quest. Progressing through this quest will result in unlocking Gorr‘s marriage dialogue, his personal quest, and setting him to wander.  It should also be noted that Gorr‘s marriage question, It’s funny how the fates keep bringing us together, while accessible only by wearing an Amulet of Mara, is deliberately ambiguous. This way, you can hear the story while still avoiding a romantic overture by responding with That’s right. We’re great friends.

Pit Dogs
After reaching stage 30 of his wander quest, Pit Dogs will be available by talking to Zora Fair-Child, or by bringing Zora to Gorr and speaking with him. The quest has two possible outcomes, as well variable rewards determined by the dialogue choices.

Notes: J’Sharr is the Khajiit mentioned in Gorr‘s marriage dialogue and his initial foray to Ivarstead. The Khajiit in the cave bears a striking resemblance to J’Sharr, but is unnamed for a reason. It is unlikely that J’Sharr would be careless enough to trust the player or divulge the information to the Fair Lady, and it is implied he escaped. Killing J’Sharr is possible if the PC is willing to sacrifice Zora.  Zora‘s death, however, will result in breaking a number of quests with which she is involved in.

For more information about Gorr, check out his character profile here.

I really love the mod Interesting NPCs. One character in particular, Zora Fair-Child, is the perfect adventuring companion for my grizzled old Dunmer warrior, Drelis Belvayn. He’s not exactly the handsome warrior she has been waiting for – his face is scarred and riddled with pock marks, and he has a large birthmark which stands out quite a bit. But one thing is for sure, they do make for a deadly pair.

Belvayn himself appreciates Zora’s upbeat, honest personality. Having spent a lot of his time around tough-talking warriors who are typically better at boasting than fighting, he travels with Zora first out of necessity, but sticks with her because he ends up enjoying her company.

Was doing the rounds on Tumblr today, decided on a whim to do a Zora search, and found this gem. Everything about it is brilliant, from the colors to the style to the pairing. On one side, you have a Dunmer who embraces his scars like an old friend. On the other, you have the girl who learned to love them. Amazing.

• Mel’s Tumblr

Here’s what I’m assuming is an old, old sketch from Mokibun I hadn’t seen until today. You might have seen some of Moki’s previous art here and here or possibly in some famous museum which is where it belongs.

If you need more adorable sketches and happiness and bunnies in your life, then Confucius says follow Moki on Tumblr.

For those who are interested in voice work, I put up some more Fallout roles, one for New Vegas as well – depending on whether it’s even possible to do background scenes like that with GECK. If you don’t like any of the current roles you can subscribe to the page and get notifications when changes are made.

You can also send me a demo reel to show off your range and previous work. Minimum requirement for any role is using a USB Condenser mic. Environment issues can be worked around, but a bad mic won’t cut it.

• A blogger on Nexus asked me to do an interview. I talk about the time I joined the Texas Rangers, swam the English Channel backwards and other lies designed to make you click this link.
• Noah Lange is creating an approval system called  Companion Influence Framework for Skyrim, you can check out the website here.
• Lastly, here’s some Zora fanfiction by pinkypiearmageddon.

Enjoy the weekend, er, what’s left of it anyway.

Welcome to the fifth edition of our weekly mailbag. Again, all the letters below come from real spammers delivered via courier in the game Skyrim. Of course. it’s also a painfully slow system of communication. I got this Thanksgiving letter about three months too late. Damn, that courier is one lollygagging motherfucker.

Either that, or the Dark Brotherhood of Turkeys are a little slow on the uptake. But yes, I murdered that bird and poured gravy on it. It was tasty.

On to the questions:

HVAC repair asks:

People say horseshoes are lucky. Does that mean horses are four times as lucky as any other animal?

If you’re asking about real horses, I haven’t a clue. If you’re asking about Skyrim horses, I’d say it’s more skill than luck. Horses in Skyrim are gravity-defying, spider-stomping, all terrain vehicles. If there’s a mountain between you and your objective, there’s no need to go around it when you can fly over it on your magic, vertically running carriage.

MD flooring wants to know:

If Canada is America’s hat, what does that make South America?

The beard, of course.

dancing baby asks:

I am trying to write this character who loves old music, but the writing feels cheesier than a pizza and cornier than poop. How do I fix this?

Well, it may not need fixing. There are times I think a line is fantastic and yet when you say it comes out so clunky it’s raining pots and pans. Other times the reverse is true, where you can be unsure of a line and now people are quoting it on their blogs.

But for argument’s sake let’s assume it’s broken.

If you deconstruct it, a great line is a combination of words, delivery, and the one thing you can’t control, the listener’s personal taste. A cheesy romantic overture is going to be the greatest writing ever to a teenager in love, and the cringiest piece of purple prose to an elderly cynic.

What you can control is the actor’s delivery and the writing. For example, saying “I play a little gypsy folk” is a lot cooler than saying “I want to be a world-class accordion player.” If saying “Ragnar the Red is my favorite!” feels out of character, take them to a tavern and have them say “Hey, this music isn’t bad. What’s it called?”

motovlogger wonders:

Deathclaws are more powerful than Cazadors, but for some reason they’re less scary. Why is that?

I imagine part of it is cazadors’ proximity to Goodsprings. You have a chance of running into them at obscenely low levels. There’s also the fact that they can fly, but if Deathclaws had wings they’d look like fairies, so that can’t be it.

I think the real reason cazadors are so terrifying is because they will swarm you. It’s the difference between having a scorpion crawl up your arm or dipping your hand into a bucket full of flesh-eating ants. No thank you.

make money online asks:

Bethesda is hosting an E3 Showcase in Hollywood on June 14th. What do you think they will show?

Fallout 4, maybe. A new IP, possibly. And if you’re a truly cynical person, TESO related expansions. But your username would imply you aren’t totally against that.

Billig tannlege oslo asks:

I don’t understand why Zora tries to deliberately get captured. Is she just crazy or does she really enjoy being a victim?

The whole princess act is tongue in cheek. She’s poking fun at the damsel in distress trope, which in essence is poking fun at her former self.

As for why she keeps getting captured, first of all, it’s not on purpose. When you meet she tells you she was on her way to plant cotton for Zora‘s field. She implies she does this often (and gets captured as a result) and it’s mostly a self-serving and superficial quest for fame. On the road, she might open up a little and mention she doesn’t go through Whiterun because she isn’t comfortable being looked at given her scars.

However, it isnt until you do her personal quest that she finally reveals the real reason she travels through Brittleshin Pass and risks getting captured. I think it has to do with horkers, but I’m not entirely sure.

Here is a screenshot of Zora courtesy of Corpsehatch. Which, by the way, would be a really scary way for the zombie apocalypse to happen. Corpses hatching out of eggs would be 1000x more terrifying than crawling out of coffins. Especially with all the egg white goo.

Anyways, this screenshot is the opposite of that. It’s calm, relaxing, and stoic. So it’s best not to judge a photographer by the username.

scaredycatlitter:

“so a kajiit, an orc and an argonian walk into an inn”

I started playing skyrim again and im absolutly in love with the interesting npc mod, so here is my dovahkiin (the orc) and her favorite followers.

Here’s a wonderful sketch from 一听水罐头 I found on Pixiv. It’s full of so much warmth, it fills me with the very butterflies that are dancing around her open palms. Or are those fireflies? Bumblebees? Killer wasps? Run for your life Zora, run before it’s too late.

Here’s a sketch of Young Zora by 1ndajone5, which like her previous submission, is amazing. You can find most of her work on her deviantart page, with all sorts of sketches and artwork of varying styles.

Viridiane:

I got a message from a nice fella on YT linking me two of his fanarts he did for Zora and singing praises for the mod. So I gotta send them to you as usual :9

GunPowDeer’s Deviant Art Page
Zora Picture 1 – http://gunpowdeer.deviantart.com/art/Zora-Fair-Child-624861257
Zora Picture 2 – http://gunpowdeer.deviantart.com/art/Zora-Fair-Child-624861998

For those who are interested in voice work, I put up some more Fallout roles, one for New Vegas as well – depending on whether it’s even possible to do background scenes like that with GECK. If you don’t like any of the current roles you can subscribe to the page and get notifications when changes are made.

You can also send me a demo reel to show off your range and previous work. Minimum requirement for any role is using a USB Condenser mic. Environment issues can be worked around, but a bad mic won’t cut it.

• A blogger on Nexus asked me to do an interview. I talk about the time I joined the Texas Rangers, swam the English Channel backwards and other lies designed to make you click this link.
• Noah Lange is creating an approval system called  Companion Influence Framework for Skyrim, you can check out the website here.
• Lastly, here’s some Zora fanfiction by pinkypiearmageddon.

Enjoy the weekend, er, what’s left of it anyway.