General:Michael Kirkbride

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Michael Kirkbride
GEN-developer-Michael Kirkbride 02.png
Role(s) Designer, writer, artist[1]
Softworks tenure 1996–2000[1]
2001-2006 (contract)[1]
Alias(es) MK[2]
Merry Eyesore the Elk[2]
Game credits The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard[3]
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind[4]
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion[5]

Michael Kirkbride is a video game designer, writer, and artist who worked on Redguard,[3] Morrowind,[4] and Oblivion,[5] as well as providing additional uncredited contributions to Daggerfall,[6][7] Knights of the Nine,[8] Skyrim,[9][10] and The Elder Scrolls Online.[11]

The Elder Scrolls[edit]

"For some reason, you can't make a pirate game without deciding how the universe got created."
—Michael Kirkbride[12]

1996–2000: Design, Art Direction at Bethesda Softworks[edit]

Kirkbride joined Bethesda Softworks in April 1996[1] after he responded to a job advertisement in Next Generation magazine and was hired by then-Lead Artist Mark Jones.[12] His earliest work on The Elder Scrolls was a minor role working on textures for Daggerfall.[6][7] He quickly bonded with designer Kurt Kuhlmann, who was hired on the same day that he was, over a shared interest in "weird-fantasy" such as the works of Gene Wolfe.[12] While pre-production for The Elder Scrolls III began after Daggerfall's release, the scope of the game was determined to be too large for the team to handle at the time, so was put on hold[13] and development efforts were divided into two smaller Elder Scrolls projects in the interim.[14] According to Kirkbride, he and Kuhlmann pitched a "pirates-on-mars" game to Todd Howard which ultimately became Redguard,[12] with the trio as writers,[3] while a separate team developed Battlespire.[14] Aside from overseeing all aspects of the game's writing, Kirkbride also produced levels and graphics for the game.[15] During this time, Kirkbride and Kuhlmann wrote A Pocket Guide to the Empire[16] to be shipped as a physical pamphlet with Redguard,[12] and in doing so largely redesigned the basis of The Elder Scrolls lore.[17] Kirkbride later quipped that he took interest in The Elder Scrolls lore when he "decided its gods made no sense at all."[18]

"[The look of Morrowind] came from Michael Kirkbride, and I would say that it's not just the visual aesthetic; all of the narrative aesthetic of Morrowind also comes from Michael. I might've been the narrative lead, but Michael was the luminary — the man with spectacularly exotic and bad judgment that excited us so much [...] He was absolutely essential. And also crazy as a rat in a drainpipe, which is necessary. Somebody had to be really, really, really crazy, and it's better that your lead designer isn't."
Ken Rolston, Lead Designer of Morrowind[12]

Ken Rolston, Lead Designer of The Elder Scrolls III, stated that he "inherited" Morrowind's design from Kirkbride and Kuhlmann, who had devised the story and setting.[19] While Daggerfall's team had an initial design for The Elder Scrolls III prior to its postponement that set the game in Summerset Isle, the new team felt it was "boring", and Kirkbride pitched a new design set in Morrowind to Project Lead Todd Howard, who was "immediately hooked".[12] According to Kirkbride, Morrowind writers had a saying that "anything that was boring was automatically wrong."[20] With planning for Morrowind occurring alongside production for Redguard,[21] Kirkbride was often distracted from his work on Redguard drawing concepts for Morrowind, and during production of that game the walls of Bethesda's offices were covered in his illustrations.[12] As the Art Director during Morrowind's design stage,[22] Kirkbride was the dominant influence on Morrowind's aesthetic.[12]

2000–Present: Contracting, unofficial projects[edit]

In a move to California, Kirkbride departed Bethesda Softworks circa June 2000 and shifted to ZeniMax's e-Nexus Studios[1][23] (also known as Bethesda West).[24] Responding to fan concern over his absence, Gary Noonan confirmed that Bethesda Softworks remained in "close touch" with Kirkbride and continued to consult him remotely.[25] Sometime in 2001, Kirkbride was contracted to write in-game books for Morrowind after having left the studio[26] (as were Ted Peterson and Kurt Kuhlmann, both of whom had left years prior).[27][28] He produced at least 53 books which appear in the game, including the seminal lore texts The Monomyth, Varieties of Faith, and The 36 Lessons of Vivec,[29] which established the deities and mythology of The Elder Scrolls. Having been asked to write 50 skill books, Kirkbride had originally allocated for six of them to cover "Vivec's Bible", but resulted in 36 because he found he could not stop writing them.[30]

When production began for Oblivion, Kirkbride was again contracted to provide in-game books and supporting writing for the game and its expansion Knights of the Nine.[1] He wrote at least nine texts[29] as well as dialogue for the Main Quest antagonist Mankar Camoran.[2] Ted Peterson recollected that Kirkbride was offered to write A Pocket Guide to the Empire, 3rd Edition—a physical booklet to be shipped with the Collector's Edition—and declined,[31] but Kirkbride corrected that he initially accepted the offer before "begging" Peterson to take it on due to his other commitments at the time.[32] Kirkbride reflected that writing for Oblivion without the same creative control he had on previous titles was difficult and he did not play the game for many years after its release[33]—though once hoping it would be "written off",[17] he would later call it "rad".[12] Kirkbride was involved in early plot and design concepts for Skyrim as a consultant[9][34] and wrote for the announcement trailer.[9] Concern among fans that lore written by Kirkbride would be missing from the game prompted Kurt Kuhlmann, Co-Lead Designer of Skyrim, to reassure fans of Kirkbride's influence on the title.[35] Kirkbride bemoaned some aspects of the writing following its release[36][37] but held the game in high regard.[38]

Kirkbride (right) with Michael Mack (center) during production for Captain Tobias' Sword-Meeting with Cyrus the Restless

In celebration of Redguard's 15th anniversary in 2013, Kirkbride collaborated with the game's original cast and crew on a project titled Captain Tobias' Sword-Meeting with Cyrus the Restless with Michael Mack reprising his role as hero Cyrus,[39] but while voiceover work was recorded, the project was not finished.[40] In 2014, Kirkbride released the script to C0DA, a metafictional Elder Scrolls graphic novel set on Masser in the Fifth Era.[41] The story of C0DA was written as a conclusion to the overarching story of Morrowind and presented as a potential future of The Elder Scrolls universe. Described as "a story that doesn't want to be told in the main TES franchise",[42] the work also served as a vehicle for Kirkbride's view that labels such as "canon" or "official" are not applicable to The Elder Scrolls lore[43] and stimulated conversations within the community around how those concepts should be regarded in connection with The Elder Scrolls.[20] In 2017, Kirkbride contributed 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 37 to The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind.[11]

Kirkbride is noted for his high level of fan interaction, and has posted in online Elder Scrolls communities consistently since Redguard's development,[2] frequently answering questions about development and the lore, sharing lore texts that have not yet been seen in-game[44][45] and ideas that had not made it into a game's final version.[46][47] Out of all The Elder Scrolls writers, Kirkbride has provided the most out-of-game lore texts to the community.[48]

Drug use hoax[edit]

In 2018, a faked snapshot of a UESP page was shared online which falsely stated that, during production of Morrowind, Kirkbride was found under the influence of psychoactive drugs by Todd Howard after being absent from work, paired with a photograph it claimed was taken by Howard of the incident.[49] In truth, no such UESP page ever existed; the story is a fabrication.[49] The image was taken from a music video, fat, that Kirkbride had filmed and uploaded to YouTube in 2013, many years after his time working on Morrowind (the video depicts Kirkbride lethargically overeating as Wesley Willis' I'm Sorry That I Got Fat plays).[50] Lady Nerevar said of the video's misuse, "If you told me that a dumb video we made for fun was going to generate a wholeass conspiracy theory that real life people would ask me about [...] None of that happened in any way, shape, or form".[51]

With regard to the hoax and exaggerated accounts of his writing The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Kirkbride said "You know that comes from a Photoshopped image, right? [...] that’s all a lie. I’ve already given an account of how the 36 [Lessons] were written: a week of bourbon, smokes, and solitude."[52] Kirkbride has repeatedly refuted internet myths that he used recreational drugs[52][53][54][55] and has said that the myths annoy him "more than a little bit".[56] Related rumors that he was dismissed from the company are likewise unfounded; Kirkbride left Bethesda for Zenimax's studio in California,[1] remained involved in the production of Morrowind after leaving the studio,[25] and continued to contribute to subsequent titles.[1][5][9][11]

Outside of The Elder Scrolls[edit]

Kirkbride attended the University of Alabama in Huntsville[1] where he studied creative writing, painting, and comparative religion[57] before doing video game work with friends from college[12], stating that he "lucked into games".[57] He joined United Software Artists and worked on their planned MMORPG Roamad, which was later retooled and released as the mainly singleplayer Amulets & Armor.[15] As a freelance illustrator, Kirkbride worked with RPG publishers such as Chaosium and Atlas Games providing his illustrations to several sourcebooks, and contributed artwork to the Tékumel website,[15] even being given a name in the Tsolyáni language by Tékumel's creator M. A. R. Barker.[58] Kirkbride's first credit with Bethesda was SkyNET.[59][60]

Following his time with Bethesda Softworks, Kirkbride joined fellow Elder Scrolls writer Ted Peterson at Savage Entertainment[27][61] and worked for a number of video game studios after, mainly in design roles.[1] Outside of his work on The Elder Scrolls, he is best known for his time with Telltale Games for which he was the Lead Designer on four titles.[62][63][64][65] Following Telltale's closure, Kirkbride remained the Lead Designer for The Walking Dead: The Final Season to complete the series under Skybound Entertainment.[66][1] before joining Ascendant Studios as their Lead Writer.[1][67]

Influences and style[edit]

Kirkbride emphasises that how a video game looks and feels is more important to its lore than its accompanying prose.[33] A method inherited by mentor Ken Rolston, he aims to tell the "dog story" and the "god story",[12] stating "what's it like for the peasant? How does magic seep down into the lives of everyday people? War, famine, things like that. To me, that's equally interesting to warfare between the gods, sometimes even moreso."[33]

Favoring texts which read like artifacts of the world they inhabit, his writing is often dense and makes heavy use of invented terminology which is intended to have allusive rather than definitive purpose. Gene Wolfe, who is known for such a prosaic style, is regarded by Kirkbride as an influence.[12] He pointed to a passing reference to a beverage called "peppered chocolate" in The Book of the New Sun, stating, "That's a perfect example of what I try to do [...] Your eye can just slide right over that, but if you're paying attention, you say, 'wait, what?' That gives you that sense that it's a fantastical world, that it's something unfamiliar to us. Little things like that really add up."[33] Also like Wolfe, Kirkbride makes heavy use of unreliable narrators in his work—on the writing for Morrowind, he stated that writers were purposely contradictory about in-universe information, recalling "we just built this way of working where the only info that would come out of Bethesda about the world had built-in plausible deniability".[12] Ted Peterson, comparing it to his own "grounded" approach, described Kirkbride's writing as "almost prose poetry, very cool but almost incomprehensible".[27]

Kirkbride cited the works of Jorge Luis Borges as a "huge influence".[68] As Borges does in his works, Kirkbride often toys with the idea of truth and reality in fiction, denying the reader a definite understanding of events. The Republic of Hahd in particular is a nod to Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,[68] and Kirkbride has also paid homage to Borges by posting online a Morrowind-themed version of Argumentum Ornithologicum.[2] On Morrowind's narrative, Kirkbride stated "a 40 hour narrative whose main character is only ever referenced is almost Nabokovian in aspiration, and prophecies whose truth is determined only by the player is akin to Borges if he only had been born with a USB port in the back of his beloved neck."[2]

Kirkbride recalls that he began worldbuilding at age five in a Montessori classroom using his principal's original Dungeons & Dragons manuals.[69] He credits the work of Aaron Allston, particularly on the Gazetteer series, with inspiring his "need and drive to create A Pocket Guide to the Empire for The Elder Scrolls."[70]

He saw David Lynch's Dune in theaters on its opening day and claims that it influenced all of his writing thereafter,[71] including Morrowind,[12] jesting that "any discussion of anything in TES should include some reference to Dune".[72] Kirkbride has pointed to Dune's concept of kanly as an inspiration for the Morag Tong,[17] the Guild of Navigators as an inspiration for Lyg being folded space,[73][74] and that Thu'um was born from imagining vikings "doing the David Lynch Dune thing" (referring to the "Weirding Module" featured in the 1984 film).[75]

Kirkbride regards Glorantha as "the second biggest influence in the structure of TES' mythos".[76] Ken Rolston, a prominent writer for RuneQuest, stated that Glorantha was a "shared language" between himself, Kirkbride, and Kurt Kuhlmann during writing for Morrowind.[12] Kirkbride noted that Glorantha's Gbaji and Arkat were inspirations on his characterisation of Tiber Septim.[77] The world of Tékumel has also been cited as an inspiration, with Kirkbride stating that M. A. R. Barker's "concentration on non-white cultures puts most post-Dunsany fantasists to shame with their airport-safe Anglo-tropes".[58]

Kirkbride is a fan of Star Wars, and his first pitch to Todd Howard for Morrowind was "Mad Max meets Star Wars meets The Dark Crystal".[17] He takes pride in having written for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed,[78][79] has a Star Wars tattoo,[80] and together with Kurt Kuhlmann and Ken Rolston wrote a fanmade 12-episode television series titled Star Wars: Rebellion in 1999[81][82] (the origin of the name "Titus Mede", later reused for a character in The Elder Scrolls).[83]

Kirkbride stated that the best fictional book he has read is Moby-Dick,[84] and he has compared his characterization of the Dwemer with the titular character of another of Herman Melville's works, Bartleby, the Scrivener.[85][86] He has cited Stormbringer's Pan Tangians, as portrayed in the sourcebook Sorcerers of Pan Tang, as providing his "personal inspirations of the Ayleid Hegemony",[87] and the Data Gods of the Numenera supplement Celestial Wisdom as an inspiration on the Hist.[88] Other influences cited by Kirkbride are the works of Michael Moorcock,[89] R. Scott Bakker,[90] Khalil Gibran,[91] David Bowie,[91] Carl Jung,[92] and elements of Hinduism.[93] He studied comparative religion in university[57] and described himself as a "Gnostic heretic", stating this to reflect in his writing.[76] Kirkbride has also stated that his synesthesia has an effect on his writing.[94]

Video games which influenced Kirkbride's work on Morrowind include Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Out of This World.[12]

Texts authored[edit]

This list is non-exhaustive and includes only texts of which Kirkbride is known to be a primary author.

Redguard

Morrowind

Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls: Online

Out-of-game


  1. ^ Though Kirkbride wrote Varieties of Faith, he states that did not make up the name given to its in-universe author, "Mikhael Karkuxor" (a pun on his own name), and that it was likely Ken Rolston.

Gallery

Redguard concepts[edit]

See also: Redguard:Concept Art

A Pocket Guide to the Empire, First Edition illustrations[edit]

Morrowind concepts[edit]

See also: Morrowind:Concept Art, The Art of Morrowind

Other artwork[edit]

Credits[edit]

Indicates The Elder Scrolls titles

Video games[edit]

Year Title Credit(s) Studio
1996 SkyNET Graphics / Artwork
Documentation[59]
Bethesda Softworks
1997 Amulets & Armor Additional Art[157] United Software Artists[† 1]
1998 The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard World Art, Design & Writing
Manual Writing & Art[3]
Bethesda Softworks
2002 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Concept Art
Additional Writing & Quest Design[4]
2002 Defender Designer
Story & Dialogue Sound Designer & Direction[158]
Seven Studios
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Designer[159] EA Redwood Shores
2004 The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age Designer[160]
2005 James Bond 007: From Russia with Love Additional Designer[161]
2006 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Additional Writing[5] Bethesda Game Studios
2007 Shrek the Third Additional Designer[162] Amaze Entertainment
2008 Iron Man Mission Designer[163] Secret Level
Golden Axe: Beast Rider Level Designer[164]
2009 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition Special Thanks[165] LucasArts
World of Zoo Thanks[166] Blue Fang Games
2010 Iron Man 2 Lead Mission Designer[167] Sega Studios San Francisco
2015 Game of Thrones Designer[168] Telltale Games[† 2]
Minecraft: Story Mode Lead Designer[62]
2016 Batman: The Telltale Series Lead Designer[63]
2017 Batman: The Enemy Within Season Lead Designer[64]
2018 The Walking Dead: The Final Season Season Lead Designer[65]
2023 Immortals of Aveum Lead Writer[169][170] Ascendant Studios
  1. ^ While Amulets & Armor was released between SkyNET and Redguard, Kirkbride worked on it prior to his tenure at Bethesda Softworks, which was continuous from 1996 to 2000.
  2. ^ Episodes 3—4 of The Walking Dead: The Final Season were completed and published under Skybound Games.

Tabletop games[edit]

Year Title Game Credit(s) Publisher
1993 Melniboné: Dragon Isle and Dreaming City Elric! Interior Illustrations[171] Chaosium Inc.
1994 Herald of Doom (fanzine) Elric! Contributing Art[172][173] Pale Prince Publishing
1995 Surviving on the Edge On the Edge Illustrations[174] Atlas Games
The Unknown East: Forgotten Foes of the Bright Empire Elric! Illustrations[175] Chaosium Inc.
1996 Sailing on the Seas of Fate Elric! Interior Illustrations[176]
1997 Players Companion Fading Suns Art[177] Holistic Design
2003 d20 Character Codex Fading Suns Interior Art[178]

See Also[edit]

External Links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Michael Kirkbride. LinkedIn.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Michael Kirkbride's Posts, The Imperial Library
  3. ^ a b c d Redguard:Credits
  4. ^ a b c Morrowind:Credits
  5. ^ a b c d Oblivion:Credits
  6. ^ a b Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (20 June 2020). Comment on "Could the Ebony Warrior be the author of the “Herbane's Bestiary” volumes in Skyrim?". Reddit.
  7. ^ a b Edwards, M. (17 July 2014). A History of The Elder Scrolls. Retro Gamer, 131, 68.
  8. ^ Memospore. (2014, June 29). Selectives Lorecast 02: Lorkhan [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2I2hIgmRGE
  9. ^ a b c d [ladynerevar]. (10 May 2014). Comment on "Has Bethesda Reacted to non cannon material?". Reddit.
  10. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (5 June 2019). Comment on "From an interview with Todd Howard". Reddit.
  11. ^ a b c d Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (11 July 2019). Comment on "Do I understand Lorkhan/Shor/Shezarr correctly now ?". Reddit.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Kane, A. (27 March 2019). Morrowind: An oral history. Polygon.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n (2002). The Art of Morrowind. Bethesda Softworks.
  14. ^ a b The Elder Scrolls 10th Anniversary: Battlespire. elderscrolls.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007.
  15. ^ a b c Resume. Michael Kirkbride's home page. Archived from the original on 5 November 2011.
  16. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (7 January 2020). Comment on "(Prolly repost idk) Why is Morrowind lore so eccentric compared to every other entry?". Reddit.
  17. ^ a b c d e Edwards, M. (17 July, 2014). A History of The Elder Scrolls. Retro Gamer, 131.
  18. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (27 November 2013). Comment on "Official TESlore Survey". Reddit'. "When I decided its gods made no sense at all."
  19. ^ (July 2005). Games That Changed the World—The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. PC Zone, 156, 141.
  20. ^ a b Chan, K. H. (26 November 2016). "The battle to control what's fact and fiction in the elder scrolls' lore". PC Gamer.
  21. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (13 June 2020). Comment on "How much of the Dunmer lore was established before Morrowind?". Reddit.
  22. ^ [ladynerevar]. (14 December 2014). Comment on "anything in the way of behind the scenes lore development?" . Reddit.
  23. ^ Game.EXE 2000-06
  24. ^ [ladynevevar]. (29 December 2018). Comment on "Any idea what Michael Kirkbride will do next?". Reddit.
  25. ^ a b Noonan, G. [WormGod]. (4 December 2000). "TES Fan Concerns". Archived from the original on 16 February 2001. The Elder Scrolls Forums.
  26. ^ Douglas Goodall's Posts
  27. ^ a b c Ted Peterson Interview - Part II. Morrowind Summit. (9 July 2001). Archived from the original on 17 July 2001.
  28. ^ Kurt Kuhlmann. LinkedIn.
  29. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Who Did What?, The Imperial Library
  30. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (24 May 2019). Comment on "Eurogamer's 36 Lessons of Vivec article - May 23rd, 2019". Reddit.
  31. ^ Peterson, T. (2 October 2018). Ted Peterson Interview - Designer & Writer on Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind & Oblivion [Video]. YouTube. "Michael Kirkbride wrote the first Pocket Guide to the Empire, which I guess must have come out with Redguard, and then I wrote the one that came out with-- either Oblivion or Morrowind was based on that. So, I never went, like-- what Kirkbride wrote in the Pocket Guide to the Empire is great, but there were different directives of what we were gonna do with the second one, and I think he was offered it and wasn't interested or had a problem with the dictates, and it was fine with me."
  32. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (16 April 2023). Comment on "Oblivion glass armor". Reddit.
  33. ^ a b c d Wright, S. (15 February 2015). What makes good video game lore? the scribes of elder scrolls, divinity: Original sin, and more weigh in. USgamer.
  34. ^ Kirkbride, M. [michaelkirkbride]. (7 September 2015). "The Nords' Totemic Religion". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016.
  35. ^ Kuhlmann, K. [Maturin]. (10 August 2011). Comment on "Michael Kirkbride". Bethesda Softworks Forums. Archived from the original on 15 October 2016.
  36. ^ Kirkbride, M. [Merry Eyesore the Elk]. (21 December 2013). Comment on "The Only Route?". Bethesda Softworks Forums. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020.
  37. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (22 May 2020). Comment on "Vivec has a modified Indian name?". Reddit.
  38. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (3 November 2013). Comment on "I am Michael Kirkbride. Ask Me Anything.". Reddit.
  39. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (26 November 2013). "Captain Tobias' Sword-Meeting With Cyrus the Restless". Reddit.
  40. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (4 January 2021). Comment on "What happened to Captain Tobias' Sword-Meeting with Cyrus the Restless?". Reddit'
  41. ^ a b Kirkbride, M. (14 February 2014). C0DA. Archived from the original on 18 June 2016.
  42. ^ [ladynerevar]. (6 January 2015). "What is C0DA? An Answer". Reddit.
  43. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (15 February 2014). Comment on "C0DA". Reddit.
  44. ^ The Monomyth, The Imperial Library.
  45. ^ a b Shezarr and the Divines, The Imperial Library
  46. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (23 February 2014). Comment on "Is there a reason why the Imperial Dragon emblem is broken for the Skyrim logo ?". Reddit.
  47. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (18 March 2015). Comment on "Are there any details (or speculations) about the history of the Seyda Neen Lighthouse and its architecture?". Reddit.
  48. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Obscure Texts, The Imperial Library
  49. ^ a b Svn, Tiago. (31 July 2022). Mythbusted: Morrowind’s Creators Didn’t Make It On Shrooms. Cracked.com.
  50. ^ Memospore. (2013, August 8). fat [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfX-CMsftWI
  51. ^ [Lady Nerevar]. (18 January 2024). Comment on The Imperial Library Discord.
  52. ^ a b Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (18 July 2020). Comment on "What is the most interesting wildlife in the Elder Scrolls world?". Reddit.
  53. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride] (16 July 2020). Comment on "What is the most interesting wildlife in the Elder Scrolls world?". Reddit.
  54. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (16 July 2020). Comment on "How would you feel about a "Sci-fi" Elder Scrolls in e.g. the 8th Era and how would magic and the Gods work in such a setting?". Reddit.
  55. ^ Kirkbride, M. (MKirkbride). (9 September 2020). Comment on [https:/old.reddit.com/r/ElderScrolls/comments/ip7cbv/cocaine/g4iwa0y/ "Cocaine?"] Reddit.
  56. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (12 August 2020). Comment on [https:/old.reddit.com/r/ElderScrolls/comments/ip7cbv/cocaine/g4vwtm4/?context=1 "Cocaine?"]. Reddit.
  57. ^ a b c Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (3 November 2013). Comment on "I am Michael Kirkbride. Ask Me Anything.". Reddit.
  58. ^ a b Kirkbride, M. [MK]. (21 December 2009). Comment on "What are these?". Bethesda Softworks Forums. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020.
  59. ^ a b SkyNET (1996) DOS credits. MobyGames.
  60. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (8 November 2020). Comment on "Pelinal is just a big terminator reference?". Reddit.
  61. ^ Peterson, T. (2 October 2018). Ted Peterson Interview - Designer & Writer on Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind & Oblivion [Video]. YouTube.
  62. ^ a b Minecraft: Story Mode (2015) Windows credits. MobyGames.
  63. ^ a b Batman: The Telltale Series (2016) Windows credits. MobyGames.
  64. ^ a b Batman: The Telltale Series - The Enemy Within (2017) Windows credits. MobyGames.
  65. ^ a b The Walking Dead: The Final Season (2018) PlayStation 4 credits. MobyGames.
  66. ^ Good, O. S. (6 October 2018). "Deal reached to finish The Walking Dead: The Final Season, company says". Polygon.
  67. ^ "Life at ascendant". Ascendant Studios. (6 October 2020). Archived from the original on 22 May 2022.
  68. ^ a b Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (21 July 2014). Comment on "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius - influence?". Reddit.
  69. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (24 February 2014). Comment on "If you were a player in a TES-set D&D/Pathfinder campaign, what aspects of the lore would you want to see explored?". Reddit.
  70. ^ Kirkbride, M. (28 February 2014). "Hold Up. Had to Change Some Stuff.". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017.
  71. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (14 March 2014). Comment on "Bluefang and Sky-Smile: On the Secret Purpose of Welkynd Stones". Reddit.
  72. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (14 March 2014). "Bluefang and Sky-Smile: On the Secret Purpose of Welkynd Stones". Reddit.
  73. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (4 February 2014). Comment on "For those of you wondering how large Nirn is, this is about as close as you'll ever get to knowing.". Reddit.
  74. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (8 March 2014). Comment on "Time - As I understand it". Reddit.
  75. ^ a b Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (7 April 2020). Comment on "The Elder Scrolls 25th Anniversary Picture Is A Picture Of All The Different Towers That Hold Mundus Together.". Reddit.
  76. ^ a b Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (4 November 2013). Comment on "I am Michael Kirkbride. Ask Me Anything.". Reddit.
  77. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (9 July 2019). Comment on "How is it that we dont know Tiber Septims race?". Reddit.
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