Query: I just bought the expansions Tribunal and Bloodmoon, but am still in the middle of the main campaign of the original. Should I install them straight away or wait until I'm done with the main quest and ready to move on?

Both Tribunal and Bloodmoon main quests can be approached at your leasure once installed. The Tribunal expansion will 'hit' you with a surprise early after installation but there's no need to rush into it if you don't want to. In fact, given the skill levels of some of the expansion baddies, it's probably best to hold off. Level 20 or so for Tribunal and 30-35 for Bloodmoon, but that differs from person to person.

There are still things to do and opportunities to be had in both Mournhold and Solstheim without tackling the main quests. Mournhold is where my characters go for a shopping holiday... ;)

Install it right away. The "surprise" Sever mentions can be overcome, and it will give you a nice financial boost. ;)

Heh.. I'm not really in need of any financial boost, (Mudcrab all the way) :D but you have made me kind of curious. Guess I'm off installing both of the expansions. Will I be getting any new skills, btw?

Nope, no new skills.

The two expansions integrate into the main campaign, and "hooks" are placed in it to get you to the new locations. It is, however, your decision as to when you want to go to either of the new areas. I didn't much care for the Bloodmoon one myself and only did that once. Tribunal was another matter. You can pick up some really very good stuff there. Mournhold (the city of Tribunal) is a tough place, though, and not for low-level characters. On the other hand, you definitely want to visit well before the end of Morrowind.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

Tribunal will improve your journal organisation hugely, so install it ASAP. Unfortunately when you install (at least Tribunal) after you've played any way through Morrowind it takes ages to install (like, I read a whole magazine while waiting) but oh well, it will just get worse the longer you play.

There are no new skills but new spells and items. For example, you get get fortify skill spells.

As Aelia Jusa said, the journal improvements are really nice: that, by itself, makes Tribunal and/or Bloodmoon worth installing immediately.

Check the fold-up instruction card with the expansions; I vaguely remember one or two other (minor) new features that were added with Tribunal (won't swear to it, since it's been a while since I've played). After installing the expansions and the latest patch, I'd also check the updated readme in your Morrowind directory for new features and bug fixes.

The expansions and the post-expansion patches also fix some bugs in the original game.

As others have said, you don't have to do anything with the Tribunal or Bloodmoon areas until you're ready from them. The surprises that show up after you install Tribunal are easy enough to bring to a halt: follow the instructions in your journal after the first surprise.

Notes:

1. Install the Tribunal expansion before installing Bloodmoon. If you install Bloodmoon first, you'll need to reinstall it after installing Tribunal.

2. After you install one (or both) expansions, get the patch from the download page on Bethesda's web site. Each patch includes all the preceding patches, but read the patch descriptions carefully, since the correct patch depends on which expansions and which game version you have installed.

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Also, if you use mods, you've probably already notice that a large number of them require Tribunal and/or Bloodmoon. The expansions add a lot of very useful script functions that weren't in the original game, and they make a lot of things possible for mods that can't be done without the expansions.

i'm just the opposite nightowl2. i don't like mournhold, but love bloodmoon. :D

and dreamer128, install them. now!!

V***V

Thanks guys. I've installed them yesterday, and I've really been enjoying Mournhold so far. It seems to be much more alive than any of the cities in the original. The quests seem more diverse as well. (such as participating in that play in the Bazaar) Also, there seems to be a bit more voiceacting. On another note, that 'surprise' gave me quite the hangover. Especially because I got another one, every time I woke up. ;)