Tamriel Rebuilt
{{short description|Fan-led video game modification}}
{{use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox video game
|title = Tamriel Rebuilt
|image = Tamriel Rebuilt Andaram Splash.jpg
|caption = Splash screen of version 23.10 (Andaram)
|developer = Tamriel Rebuilt Project
|released = {{Video game release|WW|13 September 2006}}
|genre = Role-playing
|modes = Single-player
|platforms = Windows
}}
Tamriel Rebuilt is a third-party modification for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, a 2002 role-playing video game published by Bethesda Softworks. Founded in 2001, the Tamriel Rebuilt project is a long-term collaborative effort by volunteer modders to expand the content of Morrowind to include wider settings consistent with the setting of the Elder Scrolls{{'}} universe of Tamriel. Since foundation, the project has published ten releases for Morrowind, described as expansions, that allow the player to travel to and explore the mainland of the province of Morrowind, featuring new factions and quests.
In 2006, Tamriel Rebuilt briefly launched a secondary project to recreate the province of Hammerfell in the succeeding Elder Scrolls game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, although the project was cancelled in 2009. Tamriel Rebuilt has formally released ten expansions for Morrowind for download and one for Oblivion. Tamriel Rebuilt has been praised for the scope and detail of the project, the faithfulness of its additions to the source material of the original game, and observed that their content has since eclipsed the size and features of the original game.
Setting and gameplay
{{main|Gameplay of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind}}
Tamriel Rebuilt expands the world of Morrowind to the mainland of the province of Morrowind in Tamriel, enveloping the original game's setting, the island of Vvardenfell. Tamriel Rebuilt have since released content that covers the northeastern to southern part of the province, controlled by a wide set of factions seen in the original game. The northeast of Morrowind's mainland spans the land owned by the Great House Telvanni, including the faction's capital, Port Telvannis. The southeast includes the holdings of the Tribunal Temple and the Great House Indoril, including the cities of Akamora and Necrom. In the south are lands controlled by the Great House Hlaalu, with cities including Bal Foyen and Hlan Oek that border the western end of the Thirr River south to Narsis and Black Marsh. Scattered across the mainland are the forts and outposts of the Cyrodiilic Empire, who control large inner coastal cities including Firewatch and Old Ebonheart. Content in Tamriel Rebuilt is not a total conversion or overhaul of the game but introduces an additional landmass, the mainland of Morrowind, which the player can freely travel to directly or by ship.
Gameplay in Tamriel Rebuilt is identical to the gameplay in Morrowind, with the content serving the same function as an expansion to the game. In contrast to Morrowind, Tamriel Rebuilt does not feature a main quest but provides factional quests that sit alongside the questlines in the original game, including for the Great Houses Hlaalu and Telvanni, guilds, vampire clans, and miscellaneous quests. As of the Grasping Fortune update, Tamriel Rebuilt features over 900 quests, in contrast to the 506 quests in Morrowind and its expansions.{{cite web|date=2020|website=Tamriel Rebuilt|title=FAQ: Quests|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/about/frequently-asked-questions/quests}}
Development
= Development for ''Morrowind'' =
The Tamriel Rebuilt project was conceived in 2001 prior to the release of Morrowind. Previous Elder Scrolls titles, including Arena and Daggerfall, were set across several large, procedurally generated open-world provinces in the continent of Tamriel. In contrast to initial assumptions that Morrowind would provide a similarly large scope, early previews of the game by developer Bethesda Softworks revealed the setting would be limited to Vvardenfell, an island within the province of Morrowind, to provide greater detail.{{cite web|website=RPGPlanet|publisher=GameSpot|title=First Looks: The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind|date=20 October 2000|access-date=21 December 2023|url=http://www.rpgplanet.com/features/firstlooks/morrowind/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001110091800/http://www.rpgplanet.com/features/firstlooks/morrowind/|archive-date=10 November 2000|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|website=PC Gamer|title=The 15 year quest to mod the mainland into The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind|last=Winkie|first=Luke|date=3 May 2017|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/the-15-year-quest-to-mod-the-mainland-into-the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind/|archive-date=23 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723163213/https://www.pcgamer.com/the-15-year-quest-to-mod-the-mainland-into-the-elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind/|url-status=live}} Disappointment about the scope of the game prompted several fan proposals to create the remainder of Tamriel with the game's announced Construction Set. In 2001, Ender, a member of the Elder Scrolls Forums, posted an idea for users to create a modification that would expand the game to all of Tamriel,{{cite web|website=PC Gamer|title='Coups, schisms, near-death experiences': The scarcely believable 22-year development of a Morrowind mod older than the game itself|last=Wolens|first=Joshua|date=28 September 2023|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/tamriel-rebuilt-morrowind-mod-history/}} with the post leading to several forum users collaborating to create a website and forum to organize the project.{{cite web|website=Tamriel Rebuilt|title=Interview with Ender|date=4 June 2004|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=16978}} Upon release of Morrowind, the Tamriel Rebuilt project assembled as a "consortium of largely autonomous modders" of different levels of commitment and experience, with the project co-ordinating claims to create different areas using the game's grid-based exterior cells. Later years have seen development become more comprehensively planned to ensure a higher level of quality and consistency across the project.{{cite web|website=Tamriel Rebuilt|title=Project History|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/about/project-history|archive-date=21 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221082026/https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/about/project-history|url-status=live}}
= Development for ''Oblivion'' =
From 2006 to 2009, Tamriel Rebuilt diverged to develop expanded content for Oblivion with a project to implement the province of Hammerfell into the game. Initial concept and design work was undertaken by the project, including the publication of a forty-page concept art book.{{cite book|title=The Art of Hammerfell|date=December 2009|publisher=Tamriel Rebuilt|author=Myzel|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/files/TR_Artbook.pdf|archive-date=21 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221082026/https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/files/TR_Artbook.pdf|url-status=live}} On 14 February 2009, the project made its first and only formal release, Stirk, which implemented a small island in Hammerfell of the same name off of the western coast of Cyrodil. In December 2009, the Tamriel Rebuilt project announced an end to its work on Hammerfell, citing a lack of manpower to create assets, which were of a higher level of quality compared to those in Morrowind.{{cite web|website=Tamriel Rebuilt|title=On Hammerfell|date=5 December 2009|access-date=21 December 2023|archive-date=6 January 2010|url=http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=281121|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106154322/http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=281121|url-status=dead}}
Releases
Reception
The Tamriel Rebuilt project has been praised for its ambition and large scope, with some remarking that the project provided ample reason for players to revisit Morrowind,{{cite web|website=Polygon|title=Fan-made Morrowind mod 17 years in the making is a great excuse to reinstall the original|last=Hall|first=Charlie|date=1 August 2018|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/1/17640110/morrowind-mod-tamriel-rebuilt-how-to-install-map|archive-date=31 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331071503/https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/1/17640110/morrowind-mod-tamriel-rebuilt-how-to-install-map|url-status=live}} and many observing the additions met or exceeded the amount of content found in the original game in terms of the size and number of locations and quests.{{cite web|website=USA Today|title=Morrowind mod Tamriel Rebuilt adds two more massive expansions|last=Broadwell|first=Josh|date=25 November 2022|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/11/morrowind-mod-tamriel-rebuilt|quote=Tamriel Rebuilt was already an impressive undertaking, adding new regions, quests, and more to the classic Bethesda game, but its latest update is practically a new game in itself.}}{{cite web|website=VG247|title=Massive Morrowind mod Tamriel Rebuilt just got a fresh expansion featuring over 100 quests|last=Warren|first=Mark|date=1 November 2023|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.vg247.com/morrowind-mod-tamriel-rebuilt-new-expansion-andaram|quote=In an incredibly impressive twist, this means...the entirety of Tamriel Rebuilt now includes over 600 quests, surpassing the amount included in the original game and its expansions.|archive-date=21 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221082025/https://www.vg247.com/morrowind-mod-tamriel-rebuilt-new-expansion-andaram|url-status=live}}{{cite web|website=Rock Paper Shotgun|title=Morrowind's Tamriel Rebuilt mod now has as many quests as the base game and expansions|last=Wheeler|first=CJ|date=24 November 2022|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/morrowinds-tamriel-rebuilt-mod-now-has-as-many-quests-as-the-base-game-and-expansions}} Describing it as a "must-play", Will Nelson of PC Games Network praised the mod as "next-level stuff" due to the "sheer amount of content" added to the game, and highlighted the project's close adherence to the "official lore" of the Elder Scrolls universe.{{cite web|website=PC Games Network|title=The Elder Scrolls Morrowind's biggest mod is about to get even bigger|last=Nelson|first=Will|date=22 July 2023|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://www.pcgamesn.com/morrowind/tamriel-rebuilt}} PC Gamer awarded the Tamriel Rebuilt project as one of the best single-player mods in 2009.{{cite magazine|magazine=PC Gamer UK|title=Top 50 Single-Player Mods|date=November 2009|quote=Early Elder Scrolls games could include the entire continent of Tamriel because so much of the world was randomly generated. As later games included more handcrafted content, their scope narrowed. The Tamriel Rebuilt team are recreating those missing areas, beginning with huge areas of mainland Morrowind missing from Elder Scrols III: Morrowind. They've completed two areas so far, with new quests and new characters, all lovingly detailed. A small island for Oblivion is also complete.}} Also writing for PC Gamer, Luke Winkie highlighted its faithfulness to the "canon, themes and tone" of Morrowind in contrast to other recent representations of the Morrowind mainland as in The Elder Scrolls Online, stating the project "intends to fill in the blanks of Morrowind as honorably and dutifully as they can", citing the inclusion of fan-created literature in in-game books. Game Rant, who cited the mod as one of the best for Morrowind,{{cite web|website=Game Rant|title=Best 8 Best Mods for The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind|last=Kluz|first=Arron|date=29 July 2021|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://gamerant.com/elder-scrolls-3-morrowind-best-mods/}} observed that whilst the game was an "enormously ambitious project" compatible with the "general look and feel" of Morrowind, the additions looked a "little dated" given the age of the original game.{{cite web|website=Game Rant|last=Heaton|first=Andrew|title=Huge Morrowind Mod 'Tamriel Rebuilt' Now Halfway Complete After Nearly Two Decades|date=4 December 2021|access-date=21 December 2023|url=https://gamerant.com/morrowind-mod-tamriel-rebuilt-halfway-complete-two-decades/}} Matthew S. S. Johnson of Southern Illinois University wrote on how Tamriel Rebuilt is a unique example of community-based authorship of game-inspired texts, where the "serious dedication and participation" of the community blurs the line between the authors and audiences of video games.{{cite book|title=TechKnowledgies: New Imaginaries in the Humanities, Arts and TechnoSciences|chapter=The Texts of Tamriel: Online Gaming Projects, from Playing to Writing|author=Johnson, Matthew S.S.|pages=317–19|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|editor=Mary Valentis |editor2=Tara P Monastero |editor3=Paula Yablonsky|date=2007|isbn=1-84718-136-8|url=https://archive.org/details/techknowledgies0000unse}}
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- [https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/ Tamriel Rebuilt official website]
{{The Elder Scrolls}}
Category:The Elder Scrolls mods