The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ‘Story Manager’ Tracks Your Every Move

Bethesda has promised us a much more ‘alive’ game world in Skyrim. We were told that every one of your actions in Skyrim will have consequences, and people in the world of Skyrim will react accordingly to what you do. We were promised that your reputation will follow you as you traverse the massive world, and what you do will actually make a difference in the story.

Sounds great and all, but how the heck are they planning on doing that? According to Bethesda, it’s a system referred to as ‘Story Manager’.

“The story manager is looking at everything you do and then making things happen. So if you set a chicken on fire, or you drop an item, or pickpocket somebody or if you kill a dragon in town and absorb its soul, how people react all goes through the story manager.” explained Bethesda’s Todd Howard in an interview with ‘The Edge’ magazine.

Basically, ‘Story Manager’ is the equivalent to Big Brother in Skyrim.

“We track how ever person and faction feels about you, and their own limit for how many illegal things they will do. You can get followers and command them, and they may like you enough that no matter who’s attacking you they will join in, even if it’s the guards.” continued Howard in the same interview.

Heed this warning next time you think of setting a chicken on fire or pickpocket someone. Because according to Bethesda, it will follow you. They are always watching, apparently.

According to a post in SkyrimBlog, a few more details about Skyrim have been leaked by various Eurogamer observers and web site play testers.

• NPCs now have the ability to grab weapons that are next to them – on floors, tables, weapon racks – and attack you
• Some NPCs will crawl away and cry or beg for their life if you attack them – and other NPCs might come to their aid and attack you.
• If you attack a group of enemies, and defeat – for example – 3 out of 5, then the remaining 2 will try to run away knowing they cant defeat you.
• You can use tanning and smithing for ‘mixed’ items, example a dagger made from gold, with a wolf skin handle.
• You can Bash someone using a bow – and there are different kinds of Bows( Elven bows, hunting bows, etc) as well as both short bows and long bows
• Enchanted items now have appropriate visuals, rather than the generic ‘shimmering’. For example, a fire enchented axe will actually have some flames showing on it.

The 2nd bullet on that list really catches my attention. Gone are the Oblivion and Morrowind days where NPCs were completely oblivious to the things that you did in the game world.

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