Modder's Interview: Glittergear

How long have you been modding and what was your first complete mod?

Oh gosh, I've been modding for a while. I was very bad at it when I first started, but then again, I suppose everyone is. I think my first attempt was when I was about 14ish back in 2009. I started with Oblivion and tried making house mods. It didn't work out, and I didn't mod again for a while.

A few years later, I discovered the Morrowind modding scene. I really liked MikeandIke's Epic Cities, but I also liked Morrowind Rebirth, and wanted to try putting them together. Both MikeandIke and Trancemaster gave me permission to do that, but MikeandIke also suggested that I try making my own mod, with elements that I liked from both Epic Cities and Rebirth. This was really the first time that anyone said that I could be a modder, and it was a lightbulb moment for me. I didn't really think I could do it before MikeandIke's comment.

I don't remember what my first finished mod was (probably a house mod), but my first published mod was Less Triggering Morrowind, which is now obsolete from Sexual Harassment Remover.

I got serious about modding after graduating college in 2019–it took me a while to find a job, and then when COVID happened, I lost said job and had a lot of free time on my hands.

Many people know you for your Little Landscape mods and your Daedric Shrine Overhaul mods. Did you tackle both series in the same way?

Nope! I had a pretty strong vision for my Daedric Shrines, but I never have any particular idea for my landscapes.

After getting so burnt out from Nchagalelft and DSO, I decided to start making micro-mods instead that take under 2 hours to complete. Hence why the landscape mods are so little–there's only so much I can do in 2 hours!

A good chunk of your mods deal with magic and the Daedra. Is it one of your favourite aspects of the game?

Yes, though I do have some headcanons that were disproved by later games–for example, I always thought that Namira, Peryite, or Clavicus Vile should have been responsible for the creation of vampires. It's a headcanon that I keep though, despite evidence to the contrary. I have a bunch of other daedra headcanons too, but I want to keep the answer to this question on the shorter side.

I think one of my favorite things about the daedra is their blue-and-orange morality and just how culturally alien they are. I am also fascinated by the idea of the Princes actually being their made Realms manifest, and vice-versa.

Clavicus Vile is my favorite Prince, but I think everyone knows that by now. Namira is my second favorite, and Mehrunes Dagon is my third.

How do you approach modding?

I play the game for all of 5 minutes, then get an idea for a mod, then deem the game literally unplayable without said mod. Then I make the mod, play the game for another five minutes, and the cycle continues.

Sometimes I play for more than 5 minutes, but you get the idea.

My biggest inspirations are AlandroSul (for writing, quests, and companions) and Seelof (for dungeons). It's funny though, since we have such dramatically different workflows–Seelof has told me that he just wings things, but I'm a meticulous planner to the point where I've drawn out scenes on paper before actually opening the Construction Set to make them.

For quests, I actually start by writing the Readme and a quest walkthrough. It keeps me from getting lost in the weeds and from forgetting what I was doing/where I was going in the first place.

I have a "Glitter's Guide to Quest Design" here, which shows you how I approach things.

I'm also an incredibly organized modder–here's an example of how I do quests (though this is for a Baldur's Gate 1 mod). I tend to mod in bursts, and this level of organization helps me remember what I was doing in case I get burned-out mid-project and let the mod collect dust for a few months.

I am also super inspired by Swordflight, a module for Neverwinter Nights 1. The characterization, level design, and quest design is all top-notch, and I absolutely love it. I try to bring some of the design elements from there into my own mods–especially my quest mods.

What's your favourite thing about modding?

I just think it's neat.

I guess it's like playing with Legos, and I enjoy the community aspect.

What's your favourite mod that you've made so far?

Whichever mod I've most recently finished or am currently working on. I always tend to think that my latest mod is the best one I've made thus far.

Are you working on a mod these days?

My first big project is Caswyn - A Telvanni Companion. He's a Telvanni retainer who's in way over his head, and you Dreamwalk through the nightmares of others during his questline. It's a big collaboration–I've done all the writing, but Superduple's helping with the scripting, Lucevar and Kildozery and Tel Shadow are helping with the interiors, AlandroSul helped with Caswyn's companion scripting.

My second big project is The Tyrant and Usurper, an expansion to my Wishmaster mod, which I'm working on as part of the Annual Morrowind Writing Competition. It takes place in a small Oblivion realm–you get to decide its fate, and there are 3 possible endings. It'll be out when this interview is published.

How much do you play Morrowind, not counting play testing?

Not as often as I'd like to be honest. Looking forward to playing PT's Anvil release though!

How did you discover Morrowind?

I started with Oblivion–my sister got the game, and I watched her play it. A few years later, I got my own copy. An Oblivion fanartist that I really like started doing beautiful landscape paintings of Vvardenfell, so I figured I'd check it out.

It actually took me three attempts to get into Morrowind; I didn't particularly enjoy it during my first two attempts.

What makes Morrowind special for you?

Ease of use, community, and audience. Pretty much every story I come up with, I can fit within Morrowind's world. I've gotten pretty decent with the Construction Set, so I can pull off most of my ideas, and I know people I can go to for help if something's not working.

I like the community events (I think ModJam is my favorite), and I've made a few friends here as well. It's also nice that there's an established audience for the things that I make–I mod for myself first and foremost, of course, but it's nice to know that I'm not just yeeting my hard work into the void of the Internet.

What are the mods you simply cannot play without?

90% of my mods, The Strider's Nest, Kirbonated Character Progression, Doors of Oblivion, Creatures and Critters.

Are there any underrated mods that you really enjoy?

The companions from AlandroSul's The Strider's Nest live rent-free in my head.

Do you play other games?

Yes! I love Swordflight for Neverwinter Nights 1 and the original Baldur's Gate games. But those and Morrowind are pretty much the only things I play these days.

Swordflight has amazing characters, level design, and quest design. It's a huge inspiration to me.

Do you mod other games?

I do. I both install and make mods for the original Baldur's Gate games. Morrowind is WAY easier. Don't ask me about doors in Baldur's Gate.

Is modding your only creative outlet?

Not at all. I'm a semi-professional painter and photographer in real life–while that's not my day job, I do make some money from it. I am also taking a drawing class this Spring 2025 semester which I am very excited about.

I wrote a 75,000 word-long Baldur's Gate 1 fanfic, and the sequel that I'm working on has surpassed 100,000 words.

I'm taking a temporary break from modding Morrowind to play it, since I was starting to get burnt out again. I decided to make an Argonian whose goal in life is to sight-see as much as possible, and then I got the idea to make travel magazines "written" by him. I have to make magazines at my actual job, so I figured I might as well do something fun with all the knowledge I gained from that arduous task (though at least I got paid for it!). I'm starting off with the Strident Coast since that's what I'm currently playing, and it'll be either 12 pages or 16 pages (zines need to be printed in multiples of 4; just how it works). Might also cover Skyrim, Vvardenfell, and the Morrowind Mainland, but we'll see.

You took part in Morrowind Modding events, but you also created and organised one of your own. Can you tell us about it?

Ah, yes, the Gift Exchange. So, every year, BlueInkedFrost hosts the Baldur's Gate Fanfic/Fanart Gift Exchange, and it's a lot of fun. So I decided to take that idea and bring it to the Morrowind Community.

It was an interesting experience since not everyone knew what a fandom gift exchange was, so I had to explain that a few times. But I got a good number of signups. Matching was hard, but I used a directional matrix to mathematically optimize it as much as possible, and I think, overall, I did a good job matching people.

The main problem that I ran into was, of course, people flaking on me. I knew that some people wouldn't be able to finish their gifts, but I was hoping that they would've given me enough notice that I could've tried to match their gift recipient with someone else.

I'm honestly not sure if I'll do it again. The people who participated in it fully absolutely loved it, but there was a lot of stress on my end regarding matches and people ghosting me. Mad props to anyone who hosts events; it's a lot of effort.

And by the way, what's the story behind your user name?

World of Warcraft gnome name generator. I used to be Glitchgear as a teenager (the name it gave me was like, Glitzgear Glitchglitter or something). Once I grew up some and became less edgy, I changed it to Glittergear.

Anything else you'd like to share that we haven't talked about?

I have a free Patreon where I post fanart, webcomics, and other stuff! It's entirely free. It's all either Morrowind, og Baldur's Gate, or Swordflight.