Binary Swan

This is the 4th post in the adventures of Hid which involves me playing the game of Morrowind in a slightly different way, as a Pacifist Gamer. If you are unaware of the guidelines I have set myself for this playthrough they can be found here and please also feel free to check out parts one, two and three of the Adventures of Hid as well.

I am quite excited by this post as it is mainly concerned with the the real difficulties and threats I face in my Pacifist Gamer playthrough.

Having successfully completed the botanist arc of missions at the Mages guild, I spoke to the ranking member in Balmora who advanced me two more ranks in the guild. Feeling confident with the said advancement I took up some new missions offered by the ranking member. They involved coercing one wizard into membership and collected money from another. The problem being that they both had taken up residence in the Molag Mar region. I began to prepare but not before setting up my next Blades mission. This involved fetching a skull for some necromantic purpose from an ancestral tomb near the town of Pelagiad. I felt I was up to the task, how wrong I was.

Hid’s Trip to Molag Mar

With calm creature in hand alongside shield, healing and magic regeneration spells I felt like I could make it through to the locations in Molag Mar, I was mistaken. This marked the first point in my playthrough where I died and was forced to reload. My troubles were a combination of not being able to consistently cast the spells I wanted and being unable to outrun the animals once they were calmed. My situation was grim but I stubbornly thought I could make it given my previous experience with the game. I died another time. On my third run into Molag Mar I was going alright before I picked up a tail of 3 Cliff Racers I could not shake. I threw in the towl and decided to flee using a Divine Intervention scroll which took me to Moonmoth Fort.

After this experience I decided that I would need much more experience before heading into that area again. I would need to be faster, need spells that worked on a regular basis as well as better tools to deal with groups of attackers. These spells would have to be along the lines of invisibility, chameleon or paralyze spells. I need an ability to prevent any attacks upon my person rather than trying to outrun them all. These all fall under the Illusion school whose growing utility in my Pacifist playthrough has made me regret selecting it as a Minor specialization when creating my class. As a result my advancement in the Illusion skill will be slower despite my heavy reliance on its spells.

Hid’s trip to an ancestral tomb

A bit concerned that I might have hit a large speed bump in my playthrough I headed to see if I could complete my mission for the blades. This took me to an ancestral tomb near the castle town of Pelagiad on the western edge of the Ascadian Isles. I entered the tomb and immediately heard the telltale signs of ghosts in the tomb. I cast my shield spell and began to run forward. I ran through the corridors of the tomb desperately trying to the find the skull.

I entered a dead end room, suddenly surrounded my 4 undead attackers. I managed to move back past them without taking much damaged before closing the door behind me. I then blindly ran down the only other corridor I had not explored only to be confronted by more skeletons who were guarding a couple of chests. I looted the chests whilst under attack from the skeletons and thought I was ok. I then became trapped moving too close to a sword wielding skeleton and was struck down. My second attempt avoided my previous dead end paths and headed straight down deep into the tomb. The second time I came to the skeleton and chest room I moved on by, going deeper down still. I came to one final room where the skull lay behind a lumbering zombie. I ran past taking almost fatal damage before, with skull now in hand, I cast Almsivi intervention, teleporting to the temple in Vivec. This was the end of my playthrough, for now.

Some conclusions

The experience in the tomb made me think of whether I would not have been justified in attacking the ghosts, zombies and animated skeletons. As they are already dead and therefore would not necessarily experience sensations of pain. This brings up a point of reflection regarding being The Pacifist Gamer. By inhabiting a fantasy world I have encountered a new problem for the practice of pacifism that I did not forsee because it has provided a new context in which this belief is to be tested. I find this doubly interested since my next two Pacifist Gamer explorations will be in Plants Vs Zombies and Left 4 Dead, where your enemies are zombies and nothing but.

At the end of this play session I was battered and bruised but alive and still maintaining a kill count of zero. The quests in the game are often centered around fetching a certain object for the quest giver. Initially this is easily achieved with no direct barriers offered by the game. However, in order to keep Morrowind interesting and increase the difficulty Bethesda start to place direct barriers both on the path to, and within the area that the item is located. The limitation of the game lies in that these barriers are often aggressive creatures. As a result players will typically fight these enemies and gain advances to skills in weapons and armour. The levelling system in Morrowind is such that the increase in 10 skills leads to an increase in level and improved stats. The greater opportunities for combat thus lead to greater chances for improvement in power and being more capable of overcoming the next challenge. Because my approach to overcoming the barriers was different I suffered when the difficulty increased. I had not been sufficiently levelled by my approach to previous quests and therefore my skills were not up to the challenge of more enemies as barriers.

I did recognise that all my troubles as a Pacficist Gamer could eventually be overcome with time and patience using the mechanics in place. I know that at higher levels in the game spells will always be successful, magicka can be regenerated quickly and that a characters collection of spells increases. This will just take longer than normal to achieve because I did not participate in a “productive” manner when playing quests. However, even with this spike in difficulty and reduced means to combat it, I find playing as a Pacifist gamer a fun challenge and very akin to the practise of “roleplaying” heavily in a game like Morrowind. This difference in my case is that I set down my restrictions and rules directly where as a player who roleplays might veil them in narrative and characterisation.

I will be leaving the adventures of Hid where they are at the moment so I can pursue the Pacifist Gamer idea in other games. I plan to continue my playthrough and I will provide broader update posts that lie further apart in my experience as The Pacfist Gamer should some new thoughts arise. I do hope to one day show a powerful Hid who rose without hurting a single soul and who is capable of exploring any part of the world without fear or execessive amounts of running. Until then however he will be stuck running away from assassin’s in Balmora.

I received my third quest from the Mages Guild in Balmora which involved collecting some flower samples found in the Ascadian Isles region. I decided that in addition to this quest I would do a little sight seeing first to re-introduce myself to some of the nearby locales. I headed north out of Balmora, casting calm creature on a rat during my journey which leveled up my Illusion skill. I then arrived at Caldera, a fort town near the local Ebony mines. I visited the local shops to see if there were any enchanted items for sale that would either give me another source of spells or some form of magicka regeneration. Finding nothing, I left on my mission to the south. I passed Moonmoth legion fort on my way to the Isles to upset the local ecological balance.

Caldera

Moonmoth Legion Fort

During this mission I found the calm creature spell to be exceedingly useful in avoiding conflict with local fauna. I knew that I would soon need a more powerful version of this spell if it was going to be useful in the long run. I managed to find all four flower samples in short order so I decided that I would go south to visit the capital Vivec before teleporting back to Balmora to complete the quest. Heading south through the Ascadian Isles waterways using water walking and came across the cave of Punammu. I had yet to randomly explore a cave as a Pacifist so I jumped at the opportunity.

As I open the door I was caught by a Nix hound on the other side who quickly attacked me and I turned and fled. Not being deterrred I rested and healed before preparing my Calm creature spell and moving once more into the breach. I settled the large green animal and another of its kind before I noticed two bandits, deeper into the cave, standing around a fire with a chest nearby. Taking my chances I cast my shield spell, ran forward and emptied the chest of its low level armor pieces. The bandits attacked me but I was sufficiently protected  by my shield to get away and past the docile Nix hounds out of the cave. I then travelled south to Vivec where I did some window shopping, sold my loot and agreed to help out an armorer by stealing an supply order from his direct competitor. More notes on that soon.

A nice stroll through the Ascadian Isles

Vivec, the capital of Morrowind

What I learnt from this short session was that Morrowind has a good means of protecting Pacifists via the limits of the engine’s techonology. NPCs and creatures cannot travel betweeen interior and exterior locations and therefore any point between the two will provide me with a safe escape from any pursuit. I also noted how difficult it was to gain any type of loot with the armor from Punammu scoring me less than 100 gold pieces. Whilst I am supremely confident that I can be committed to Pacifism in Morrowind, it is a path that is alot harder than the path commonly taken. This speaks to the assumption of the game design that players would take violent acts as a matter of course and therefore set up part of its reward system in line with this.

For this second and future posts I’ve decided to describe my actions in the first person rather than trying to take up the mindset of Hid. I got caught up in the excitement of being this type of character and I wanted to “role-play” more closely. Upon reflection this runs slightly against what I want to achieve with this series of posts which is looking at what mechanics are in place in Morrowind that allowed for a pacifist approach to playing the game.

The first quest for Hid from Caius Cosades of the Blades is meeting a contact in the Fighters Guild in order to gather information about two topics, The Sixth House and the Nerevarine. The contact wanted Hid to search the local Dwemer (Dwarven) ruins for a puzzle box, first before divulging any information. I accept and grab some supplies before heading to the ruins that lie to the east of Balmora. The two main purchases include an intervention spell that will teleport me back to the local temple once the puzzle box is found (no need to hang around longer than necessary) and some scrolls of Celerity, which boost your run speed for a short time.

As I approached the ruins I knew that the bridge would be guarded by a spell casting bandit. I elected to cast a shield spell, an inherent abilities of the Breton race, and simply run past up to the entrance to the ruins. Upon entering the ruins I noticed that I still had some time left on my shield so I used that opportunity to quickly run to the upper level of the area where I knew the box would be kept (I have played this first main quest mission many many times). The bandits on the lower areas were not alerted so I was free to loot some nearby shelves which scored me a dwarven spear, a nice piece of loot. I then prepared my intervention scroll and entered the next room on the left. Faced with a hammer wielding Nord bandit I quickly ran to the shelf where the box was sitting. I took some damage from physical hits as I prepared the spell and then instantly escaped to the temple in Balmora. Mission accomplished with no one hurt or killed.

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I went to the local shops to offload my loot and collect the information in return for the puzzle box. I decided to give Caius the information and set up the next Blades quest before going to work on my Mage’s Guild duties. After speaking to Caius I noticed to rest and heal but I was interrupted by the attack of a black clad assassin (I have Tribunal installed). Caius offered no helping hand so I fled the building to escape my attacker. This would happen three more times during the course of the session on odd occassions when I decided to sleep and heal. I went to the Mage’s Guild where I accepted my first duty gladly. I was to collect samples of four types of fungus found in the Bitter Coast area, a mission perfectly suited to my play style, no killing necessary. I used some cash to purchase a calm animal spell which would help me safely fend off attacks from kwama foragers and other creatures in the area. It was dark when I was ready to leave so I decided to nap in the city square until the morning. I was woken by the attacks of a forager who had entered the city. I ran away and found that the local guards quickly killed the attacking animal on sight. I had tried to calm the creature with my new spell but my poor Illusion skills meant that I couldn’t successfully do so before running out of magicka. I decided to nap again to restore my magicka before embarking on my noble mission. I was again woken by the attack of an assassin which the guards decided wasn’t worth their time to save me from. I was forced to outrun the attacker and leave town on my quest in an urgent fashion.

I left Balmora to the south and then headed West over the hills to the Bitter Coast where I searched for the fungus samples. I safely used the calm creature spell a couple of times to thwart attacks by some rats. Upon finding the samples I returned to Balmora by the route I had just taken. I decided from my previous experiences that I would need to work on my spellcasting skills in order to prevent any fatal failures. As I walked I kept casting the spells in order to help level up the skills which ran down my magicka. I slept to regenerate my magicka and was again attacked by an assassin. I fled along the river using my water walking spell to gain valuable distance from the attacker who was forced to swim. I got out of harms way but the soundtrack of the game let me know that he was still in close proximity. This could prove to be a continuous problem in Balmora whose guardsmen had a weird set of defence priorities. I got some health potions for my fungus troubles and quickly completed a simple mission that involved planting a fake gem in a rival mages desk. This coupled with my first completed duty allowed me to advance in rank in the guild gaining the appropriate benefits.

I retired to the bed at Caius’ apartment and was glad to see I wasn’t attacked as I rested and healed. I was glad to be able to complete these two early missions and maintain my pacifist stance. I also learnt that I would either need to improve my spellcasting skill, as my illusion and alteration spells thus far had been key to playing Morrowind this way. Therefore I will need to find a means to regenerate my magicka quickly so I can improve my skills through practise or find a source of income to purchase training for those skills. These present some interesting challenges for a Pacifist in Morrowind as loot has traditionally been gained by clearing out an area of both its treasures and those who are guarding it.

I feel that there are some open world style games that allow me to have alot of fun whilst being a Pacifist Gamer. The Elder Scrolls series is definitely one of them where there exists a multitude of quests and activities that do not require any violent action to accomplish. In addition to this the player can also advance through the games levelling system by practising skills that will have no negative effects upon the denizens of Morrowind. I chose Morrowind because I had previously spent many many hours in this world and therefore know that what I propose will be possible but also fun to boot.

So begins the story of Hid, a Breton who has undertaken a lifelong profession as a Pacifist. This is a custom class which I generated for my playthrough which involved specialisation in the following skills.

Major Specializations:

Athletics – because when Hid realized that not everyone was like him, he learned a valuable lesson that running was the key

Acrobatics – like Athletics, this for avoiding attacks which sometimes requires getting to places your foe cannot

Restoration – Hid doesen’t like to fight but he has found that sometimes his efforts to escape are not good enough. Restoration magic allows him to live until he can escape

Security – Hid noticed that alot of his friends were making a quick buck looting the corpes of the bandits that would unsuccessfully attack them. Hid was tempted by the material gains he saw his friends accruing, but not enough to kill for them. As a result he found out other ways to gain the items he wanted.

Unarmored – Hid doesen’t like to fight and therefore does not wish to appear like he might be able to. Armor gives off the wrong message and weighs Hid down as well

Minor Specializations:

Alteration – This school of magic has enabled Hid to bolster his ability to move around Morrowind and avoid his enemies. It also lets Hid erect magical barriers that defend him from physical attacks

Illusion – Hid found that when running away is not good enough he needs to simply disappear or make those around look for other things. Illusions provide Hid with a varied toolset with which to do so

Mysticism – Harnessing this variety of magical energies allows Hid to teleport around the world which cuts down travel time as well as providing a quick escape from danger.

Speechcraft – Hid is a firm believer in talking things over, not fighting to solve his problems

Sneak – Hid needs to have a backup ability to stay hidden should his magic fail him.

The Pacifist class is a combination of magic and stealth. The magic choices provide alot of answers to the problems that will be faced by Hid that would usually need a sword. Therefore being a Breton, with a natural affinity for magic, helps Hid alot. Combined with his birth under the Steed starsign, Hid is able to be a pleasant citizen of Morrowind and explore the world around him with little danger to himself or others.

A journey begins…

Fresh from his release from prision (most certainly not for a violent crime) Hid finds himself in Seyda Neen, a small seaside town in Morrowind. He is told that there is work for him in Balmora, a part of his duty to the Emperor that pardoned him. Seeing no reason to be difficult about the request Hid decides to head to Balmora on foot, his preferred mode of travel. After a quick stop to purchase more suitable travelling clothes it is time to leave. He heads off North, the coastal route to Balmora and is soon attacked by a vicious Mudcrab. Hid, feeling quite uncomfortable at the sight of the charging crustacean, runs away. He easily outpaces the lower order animal and quickly forgives the beast, for it is only acting on instinct. He also notices that the shoes he has chosen for his journey are woefully inadequate when used at higher speeds as his feet hurt quite a bit.

Hid then moves to the safety of the path through the Bitter Coast, enjoying the sights and sounds of the region. What happens next is quite distressing for Hid as a Bosmer literally falls from the sky to his death. Hid is upset at such a loss of life but also notices that the elf has a more robust pair of shoes. Overcoming his deep respect for the dead elf Hid takes the shoes, rationalizing that it will help him survive and therefore would not bother the elf were he alive. Hid also steals some magic scrolls which seem to give a reader the ability to jump great distances, the obvious cause of the elf’s recent demise.

Hid then moves inland and uses his water walking spell to escape the pursuit of two very angry Kwama foragers. Hid arrives in Balmora and makes contact with Caius Cosades who sets him up as a member of the Blades. Whilst the name of the group is quick aggressive Hid’s fears are allayed when he is informed that they are an information gathering arm of the Empire and thus would not require him to kill anyone. With the recent pursuits still clear in his mind, Hid also ventures to the local Mages Guild to join up, hoping to make some friends and learn more magic that would let him travel unharmed in Morrowind.

Hid the Pacifist has arrived in Morrowind and learned that whilst it might not ideally suit his lifestyle it does allow for it. Soon he will approach his contacts in both the Blades and the Guild for some work. The jobs he will be given will surely provide a challenge and possibly some obstacles that Hid will be unwilling to overcome.