The Pumpkin Protocol
Starfield

IN DEVELOPMENT

Quest Summary

Role: Quest Designer, Assistive Narrative Designer

Team Size: 2

Engine: CreationKit

Mod Published On: Still in Development

Story: The Pumpkin Protocol introduces Pumpkin, an albino Terrormorph with telepathic abilities, as a follower. The quest begins in New Atlantis, where the player unknowingly forms a psychic bond with Pumpkin, who is held in a high-security facility. Guided by her telepathy, the player helps orchestrate her escape.

Gameplay: Combat, dialogue, and puzzles

Power Fantasy: Help break a very powerful creature out of captivity.

Quest Rewards: New follower, unique weapon, unique armor, credits, and XP.

Quest Structure

Quest Stages:

Quest Objectives:

Properties for Script Fragments:

Pumpkin’s Telepathic Communication

Pumpkin speaking to the Player in their head:

A key feature of the Pumpkin Protocol is the psychic link between Pumpkin and the player.
Through message pop-ups paired with Terrormorph roar audio cues, Pumpkin communicates telepathically, reflecting both her thoughts and the emotional influence of their connection.

The background:

Due to her containment, Pumpkin’s telepathy is much weaker. Throughout the quest, she serves as both the mastermind behind her breakout as well as a guide and ally to the player.
These messages are initiated through various quest stages and quest script fragments. The quest itself starts utilizing a change location script where the player will first be introduced to Pumpkin upon their first fresh visit to New Atlantis.

Stage 10:

When the player lands in New Atlantis, they hear Pumpkin's thoughts in their head and the quest begins.
(defaultquestchangelocationscript initialized here)
DM5_PumpkinRoar.Play(Game.GetPlayer())
Utility.Wait(3.5)
DM5_PumpkinQuestStartMessage.Show()
Debug.Notification("You feel fear and desperation")
SetObjectiveDisplayed(10)

Stage 15:

The player becomes trapped in the facility where Pumpkin is being held captive and she speaks to the player.
SetObjectiveCompleted(10)
SetObjectiveDisplayed(15)
DM5_PumpkinRoar.Play(Game.GetPlayer())
Utility.Wait(3.5)
DM5_PumpkinMessage1.Show()
Debug.Notification("You feel hopeful")

The Pumpkin Patch and the Enemy Wave

Weapon Mod Structure in CreationKit:

The Pumpkin Patch shotgun was designed as a key narrative and gameplay element. This shotgun is gifted to the player by Pumpkin the Terrormorph to aid in her escape from her containment facility.

I created a custom projectile and adjusted the weapon's materials to match Pumpkin’s albino Terrormorph skin and powers.
The shotgun fires a Terromorph Mind Control blast and roars when used for gun bashing.
While slightly stronger than the base game pump shotgun, it features a tighter spread, increasing range and damage.

Enemy Encounters:

I designed all combat encounters in the Pumpkin Protocol. After considering that the player could access the quest early in the game, I made the enemies greater in number, weaker, and easily overpowered (due to the enemies’ lower level).

Much of the Pumpkin Protocol is handled through Papyrus Quest Fragments except for the defaultgroupspawnquestscript, defaultquestchangelocationscript, and defaultcollectionaliasondeath script.
The player receives a new unique weapon and must defeat all waves of enemies before the boss can be killed.

Stage 80:

At this stage, the defaultspawnquestscript will occur which spawns the second wave of enemies.
Utilizing the defaultcollectionaliasondeath script, upon the death of these enemies the next stage will be set.
SetObjectiveCompleted(70)
SetObjectiveDisplayed(85)
(defaultgroupspawnquestscript initializes outside of the fragment)
(defaultcollectionaliasondeath initializes outside of the fragment)

Stage 65:

The player is given a unique weapon by Pumpkin.
Game.GetPlayer().EquipItem(DM5_PumpkinPatch)
Game.GetPlayer().AddItem(DM5_AmmoShotgun, 50)
DM5_PumpkinMessage3.Show()
SetStage(70)

Stage 85:

At this stage, the player can finally kill the Containment Security Boss.
DM5_PumpkinSecurityLeader.GetActorRef().SetEssential(false)

Stage 70:

At this stage, the defaultspawnquestscript will occur which spawns the first wave of enemies.
Utilizing the defaultcollectionaliasondeath script, upon the death of these enemies the next wave will occur, and the next stage will be set.
SetObjectiveCompleted(50)
SetObjectiveDisplayed(70)
(defaultgroupspawnquestscript initializes outside of the fragment)
(defaultcollectionaliasondeath initializes outside of the fragment)

Pumpkin the Terrormorph

Pumpkin the Terrormorph was designed as a unique, highly intelligent Terrormorph with advanced communication skills and powers beyond typical Terrormorphs.

Inspired by Fallout 4’s Dogmeat, Pumpkin replaces fetching abilities with superior combat prowess, utilizing all Terrormorph abilities across all types of Terrormorphs.
As a follower, I made Pumpkin’s dialogue mirror that of other Elite Crew members, with three Crew Skills and no defined morality, remaining loyal solely to the player upon completing the Pumpkin Protocol.

Overview of Pumpkin’s features as a follower.

Highlights of Pumpkin’s combat style.