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About this mod
Bloodchill Manor as a creation club home has almost everything a vampire could need. This mod, however, makes a few minor tweaks, including adding an expanded dungeon, a thrall, a room for followers adjacent to the dining hall, unique book displays in the library, and more!
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
Bloodchill Manor Improved
When playing as a vampire, I've thoroughly enjoyed using Bloodchill Manor as a main home base. I love the gothic aesthetic, the layout, the amenities, the remote location up in the snowy mountains...
But there are a few things I didn't love. For example, Bloodchill Manor comes equipped with a lovely little dungeon area with a prisoner cell. As soon as I saw that, I figured, "Cool! I bet I'll be able to buy a thrall from someone for that area!" And then... I wasn't. What gives, Bethesda??
This isn't a complete overhaul, but it does add two new (small) areas and makes some major changes to the library and children's bedroom. I've attempted to make changes that feel as natural as possible to the original creation, and arrange and decorate them with attention to detail without being overwhelming. Following, you can find a complete list of the changes, including:
- A proper dungeon! (With thrall)
The vanilla dungeon has been expanded with a new, fully NavMeshed lower area, containing a holding cell with a thrall waiting and eager to serve your vampiric needs! Go ahead! He's totally on board with it, I promise. The new area also has a torture chamber, because what self-respecting vampire doesn't have a fun little torture rack with all the accoutrements in the basement. Still not enough? The dungeon also contains a custom activator that allows you to take a potion of blood every twenty-four in-game hours. Useful for those long trips into Dwemer ruins, the Forgotten Vale, the Soul Cairn, and any other place where human blood is scarce.
- The children's bedroom is now your own private (configurable) bedroom!
That's right, no more sleeping in the library! Obviously, this means that you won't be able to have children at the manor, but seriously, if you were forcing your kids to live in some damp, freezing cave on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere, you probably weren't a very good parent anyway. The private bedroom includes a custom scripted display shelf that fills up with displays as you progress through the Dawnguard questline. Next to that is a display case for the four translated Falmer books from the Forgotten Vale. There's also a desk where you can display all your vampiric jewelry, including rings, amulets, bone hawk jewelry, and Saint Jiub's Locket. The sleeping configurations themselves can be swapped between four options: a single coffin for all you bachelors out there; two coffins, for you and one for your VSI (vampiric significant other); a double bed, in case your spouse or you just want to sleep on a regular mattress; and a double bed with a single coffin off to the side, offering the best of both worlds. Change the sleeping arrangements by activating the vase with the black Soul Cairn tree in the back left corner.
- An expanded library! (Emphasis on LIBRARY)
Sure, you can display dragon priest masks and bug jars and stuff in the big trophy room, but I like to think of myself as a vampire with a bit of class. What about the book from Saint Jiub that I spent five hours finding all the pages for? Heck, what about the three Elder Scrolls I collected during the Dawnguard quest? I mean, you can sell them at the College of Winterhold or give them to Dexion, but where's the fun in that? I want to DISPLAY my loot. I worked hard for it, dammit! So the upstairs portion of the library that originally was a player bedroom has been refitted into a rare book collection, including displays for the aforementioned Elder Scrolls, all seven Black Books from the Dragonborn DLC, the Oghma Infinium, the Dreamstride (the Vaermina quest book), the four volumes of the Mythic Dawn commentaries, and Saint Jiub's Opus. Many more displayable bookshelves have been added or swapped in for the bookshelf containers, now holding a grand total of... I dunno. A lot of books. Not enough to crash your game, but a healthy amount. I don't feel like counting them right now. I'm busy typing up this description. Besides the literary additions, the library also has a custom Altar of Molag Bal, where you can receive a blessing that boosts the one-handed skill and stamina. It doesn't cure diseases, though, for hopefully obvious reasons. Also, I took away the staff enchanter, because I never use it. If you'd like it back, let me know in the comments and I'll fit in back in there. I don't know how useful it actually is.
- A brand-new area for followers!
At first I was going to get rid of the dining room entirely. I'm a vampire. Why do I need a full kitchen? But I still liked the design, so I decided to tack on a new area where all your buddies can go to relax, complete with three beds and one vampire coffin. Hopefully now the kitchen and dining room can be more of a common area where followers can hang out. Everything has been properly NavMeshed as well, because that would kind of defeat the purpose of a followers' room otherwise. I tried to make it cozy and look like a place where actual people lived, not just a bare-bones chamber with some beds thrown in.
- Plus, I fixed some things Bethesda couldn't be bothered to!
So the big trophy room has a Dawnguard-themed display with stuff like Harkon's sword and the Bow of Auriel, but it also has displays for the Dawnguard rune weapons, which normally you'd only get when siding with those vampire-slaying numbskulls, or as a Volkihar vampire with console commands or other mods. I have added the runed weapons and shield to Isran's chambers in Fort Dawnguard, but they only spawn if you're a vampire completing the "Destroy the Dawnguard" quest. If you side with the Dawnguard you'll need to obtain them normally via the radiant missions.
Also, it's really bothered me that all the plates and goblets in Bloodchill Manor are silver. It's already bad enough that all the eating utensils over at Castle Volkihar are silver. Isn't that silver's whole thing? Being deadly to monsters and the undead? When I play as a vampire, I roleplay that I can't even pick up silver ingots or jewelry. So I just changed the name of all the cups and bowls and jugs to "pewter", since they already look kind of pewter-ey in my opinion. But, like, literally all I did was rename those things for "flavor".
As for acknowledgements, everything has been designed and scripted by yours truly, but I still owe a huge deal of thanks to all the mod authors out there who've been improving and fixing this amazing game for over a decade now, and have inspired idiots like me to get out there and make stuff too. That's all. Hope you enjoy!
Update 1.1 - Fixed the name of one of the paragon displays in the trophy room, so it matches up with the correct color. Also replaced some flowers and bowls with static versions so you don't get tundra cotton flying all over the place when you open a cupboard.
Update 1.2 - Added the option to toggle between coffins and beds in the follower room. Activate the candle on the nightstand by each bed to make the switch. Also, now the Dawnguard runic weapons and shield will only enable in Isran's room if you're completing the "Destroy the Dawnguard" quest, so if you side with the Dawnguard you have to obtain them the regular way.