Monthly Modder: SkaerKrow

An avid console modder, SkaerKrow’s mini-expansions include new mechanics, equipment, locations and tons of creative followers in an effort to support various play styles.

Despite working with tighter restrictions than most authors, variety is a signature element of SkaerKrow’s mods. The largest have a rich range of options, often introducing new groups with their own skills, items and members.

This month we sat down with SkaerKrow to discuss his design process. We’re also featuring his Skyrim Special Edition mod Vampire Knights for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as part of this month’s Halloween Featured Mods!

Do your projects tend to start with the larger theme or the individual components?

When I start a mod project I tend to think of it like a full expansion to the game. I’ll usually settle on a theme or mechanical concept and begin layering on new ideas that work well with that seed. Vampire Knights started with the modest goal of adding some thematic heavy armor to the game and turned into an exploration of two vampiric orders from my interpretation of Tamriel’s ancient past.

Sylvan Spirits was a simple exercise in adding giant spriggans to the world, and ended up including lots of new animal types, mini-bosses, crafting objects and a collection of elemental-themed followers. On the other hand, Path Stalkers and Wolf Blooded were broad in scope from the very beginning, and both include mechanics that are intended to let players approach the game in new ways (as a ranger fighting alongside an animal companion in Path Stalkers, and as a bandit raider in Wolf Blooded).

What is your favorite part of modding?

My favorite part of modding is giving players the tools to craft new stories for their Dovahkiin, either through original pieces of lore that inspire their imagination or new mechanics that literally give them the chance to play their character in a different way. I also enjoy having the chance to keep the game fresh, both for veteran players and people who have only recently picked up Skyrim. There’s an excitement in discovering something new, or when a familiar world still manages to surprise you after hundreds of hours of play. That’s why I try to create mods that match the visual and narrative tone of the game, so that players will discover and experience them seamlessly with the rest of the content in Skyrim.

You have quite a variety of followers with rich backstories in your mods. How do you go about designing them?

I’ve been creating characters my whole life. Even as a kid my friends and I would spend our lunch periods dreaming up kingdoms and countries then populating them with all manner of bold heroes and wicked villains. When I got a bit older, I got heavily into tabletop roleplaying games and put a lot of creative energy into those worlds as well. Even now, when I begin a new RPG video game I inevitably find myself trying to define who my character is above and beyond the confines of the existing plot.

Followers in my mods come from a lot of places. Some are inspired by characters I created a long time ago, some emerge as I develop the mod’s backstory, and others are additions to help reinforce its theme. I also use some of my wife’s RPG characters as the inspiration for followers, since she gets a kick out of seeing her ideas present in the game.

When making a new follower, narrative and mechanical distinctiveness are important to me. I look at followers as being one of the most immediate ways that I can help a player to customize their playthrough of Skyrim. I know that a lot of people tend to come up with a backstory for their individual Dragonborn, and who they choose to fight alongside can help them to reinforce that identity.

Do you have any new projects or big updates on the horizon?

I’ve been working on something of a sequel mod to Vampire Knights for a while now – one that adds vampire-themed alchemy to the game. It picks up on some of the lore and concepts from my previous mods and progresses those stories as well. It includes a new class of crafting bench, an alchemist’s shop, new scrolls and potions, new NPCs, and a couple of other things that I’m still getting together. It’s called Grim Apothecary, and it should be released by the end of the year. Otherwise, I have some pretty hefty updates in mind for a few of my existing mods, it’s just a matter of finding the time to complete them all.

Any mods you’d like to recommend?

These days I spend more time modding Skyrim than playing it, so I don’t often have the chance to take deep dives into other creator’s work. That said, I’m consistently impressed with the ingenuity of the mod community (particularly on PS4), and I’ve enjoyed several releases by Cyan49, Julihah, Untitled_0110, UniSL and EasierRider.