The Twelfth Annual Morrowind May Modathon Month Modding Competition

Celebrating Morrowind's 24th Anniversary All Month Long - May 1st - June 2nd!

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Looking to participate? Use the Modathon Logo in your mod description!
Got questions? Stop by the Modathon Discord Channel!

Description:

"The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say." - J.R.R. Tolkien

In 2002, nearly 25 years ago, on May 1st, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was first released, a game that comprised not only an alien world, a open landscape filled with new adventures, new discoveries, and new strange sights to see, but also a toolkit, a means for which we, all those of us who found a home upon Morrowind's rich shores, could build upon it, expand it, and add so many new adventures and stories to share with others.

For the last 24 years, the Morrowind Modding Community has been providing an unending torrent of new content, of new graphics, of new modernized gameplay experiences to this amazing game, and far from slowing down with the passing of time, the community has only grown with the years.

In 2025, for the first time in recorded history, the Morrowind Modding Community published over 1900 new mods for Morrowind. With some 600+ new mods released so far this year, that exhilarating pace is set to continue and who knows what new heights we could achieve in 2026!

And what better way is there to celebrate this amazing community, this amazing game, than to announce the 2026 Morrowind May Modathon Month Modding Competition, celebrating Morrowind's 24th birthday in style and ringing in the Modathons for a 12th consecutive year!

We have hosted the Morrowind Modathons here every year since 2015, and just like always, the Modathon remains a free-for-all competition, any and all mods and modders are welcome to participate! Throughout the entire month of May, modders can join in by releasing mods on the Nexus to get a chance to win weekly random drawing prizes, unlock achievements, and compete to win special mastery achievement badges for each modding category!

In the last 12 years, nearly 1800 mods have been submitted for the Morrowind Modathons, from big factions and quest mods, to eye-popping visual candy, to simple gameplay tweaks, and much more besides. This event has and always will be special because it is a community-driven event, one hosted each year as a celebration of the craft and skill of the many talented modders in our community, and I sincerely hope you'll all join in for this 2026 Modathon season!

As I always say, the best games never die, so let's make Morrowind better than ever before with tons of new mods!

Achievements:

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Returning for a ninth year, yes, it's those tantalizing, oh-so shiny achievement badges, for you to unlock by releasing mods, with some 95 achievements that you could potentially earn and place on your mod pages or your profiles. These achievements are divided into five main categories; Category, Metric, Challenge, Hidden, and Medalist. Each have different requirements, but every mod submitted will unlock at least a few!

Compete in weekly themed challenges for unique achievements, try and find hidden achievements based on only a name, and go for gold by releasing the very best mod in a category! How many can you unlock? Try and collect as many as you can and become a Modding Master of Madness!

Full Achievement List:

Gold Achievements (awarded one month after the end of the competition):

Champion of Legends - Release the most popular Quest or Guilds & Factions Mod
Champion of the World - Release the most popular Landscape or Landmass Mod
Champion of Life - Release the most popular Companion, Creature, or NPC Mod
Champion of Artistry - Release the most popular Graphics, Animations, or Audio Mod
Champion of Comfort - Release the most popular Player Home Mod
Champion of Clutter - Release the most popular Items Mod
Champion of Enhancement - Release the most popular Gameplay, Bug Fix, Patch, or UI Mod
Champion of Culture - Release the most popular Towns and Cities Mod
Champion of Dungeoneering - Release the most popular Dungeon Mod
Champion of Immersion - Release the most popular Immersion Mod
Champion of the Community - Release the most popular Modder's Resource or Utility
The People's Choice - Most Endorsed Mod
Numbers Matter - Most Downloaded Mod
Emperor, King, and Justice, Citizen - Achieve the highest cumulative number of endorsements for all mods released for the Modathon
A Warrior's Legacy - Unlock all Silver and Bronze Achievements
Master of Madness - Earn the highest number of unique achievements
Challenge Accepted - Release a mod for each weekly themed challenge.

Rare (Silver) Achievements:

A Show Of Power - Achieve at least 25 endorsements and 250 downloads with a Modathon Mod
You Are A Credit To Your House - Achieve at least 25 endorsements on a Modathon Mod
Cliff Racer Fly So High - Release at least 5 mods for the Modathon
Lesh Make A Deal - Achieve over 250 downloads on a Modathon Mod
Destined for Great Things - Achieve 500 combined downloads for all mods released for the Modathon
Cult of Personality - Achieve 50 combined endorsements for all mods released for the Modathon
Available for Hire - Cooperate with at least two different modders on two different mods
Marathoner - Unlock 10 achievements on a single mod across the entire Modathon

Copper (Uncommon) Achievements:

Let Me Tell You A Story - Achieve at least 10 endorsements on a Modathon Mod
Triple Threat - Release at least 3 mods for the Modathon
I'm Creeping! - Achieve over 100 downloads on a Modathon Mod
Jack-Of-All-Trades - Release a separate mod in at least 4 categories
Improve My Effectiveness - Release a mod which qualifies for at least 5 achievements upon initial release
You and I Are About to Become Very Close - Cooperate with at least one other modder to release a Modathon Mod

Challenge Achievements:

Commerce & Travel - Release a mod featuring both themes in the first week
Border & Warp - Release a mod featuring both themes in the second week
Endless & Change - Release a mod featuring both themes in the third week
Ancestry & Forgotten - Release a mod featuring both themes in the fourth week
Twisting Paths - Release a themed challenge mod two weeks in a row
Tag Teaming - Release two themed challenge mods in cooperation with other modders
Mastermind - Release a themed challenge mod which simultaneously unlocks three metric achievements
Breaking Barriers - Release themed challenge mods in two different weeks which cover at least four different categories between them
Lighting the Way - Release a themed challenge mod that also unlocks a hidden achievement.
Punctually Perfect - Release three themed challenge mods that also unlock a date achievement
Medalist - Release a mod which earns a bronze, silver, and gold achievement by the end of Modathon
Finders Keepers - Be the first to unlock three separate hidden achievements.
Speed Runner - Unlock 7 different Metal (Copper, Silver or Gold) achievements before the 3rd week of Modathon starts.

Common Category Achievements:

Adventures Await - Release a Quest or Guild/Faction Mod for the Modathon
The Cartographer - Release a Landscape or Landmass Mod for the Modathon
It's Dangerous to Go Alone - Release a Companion, Creature or NPC Mod for the Modathon
Fashion Sense - Release a Character Customization Mod for the Modathon
Heart and Hearth - Release a House Mod for the Modathon
Cluttermonkey - Release an Items Mod for the Modathon
It Just Works - Release a Gameplay, Bug Fix, Patch or UI Mod for the Modathon
City Planner - Release a Town Mod for the Modathon
Delving the Depths - Release a Dungeon Mod for the Modathon
Diegetic Designer - Release an Immersion Mod for the Modathon
Stimulate the Senses - Release a Graphics, Animations, or Audio Mod for the Modathon.
The Lusty Argonian Maid - Release a Resource for the Community

Common Metric Achievements:

Double Trouble - Release at least 2 mods for the Modathon
Back for Another Round - Release Two Mods in the Same Category
Backup Plan - Release two or more mods within 48 hours of each other.
Tamriel Imports - Release a mod that requires either AATL Data, OAAB Data or Tamriel Data
Read All About It! - Release a mod with a PROPER Read Me file.
Novice of Madness - Release a mod in your first Modathon
Veteran of Madness - Release a mod in two or more Modathons
CHIMming It - Release a mod in three or more Modathons
Ahh Yes, We've Been Expecting You - Release a Mod on May 1st
May The Fourth Be With You - Release a Mod on May 4th
May The Ides Be Ever In Your Favor - Release a Mod on May 15th
Cutting It Close - Release a Mod between June 1st and June 2nd.

Hidden Achievements (requirements will be revealed whenever a mod unlocks a hidden achievement):

A Destination Vacation
A Toothy Treasure
Anchors Away
Best of the Bunch
Clean Sheet
Deep in the Web
Far, Far Away...
Get Down With the Sickness
Got Milk?
Heartbreaker
In the Eyes of the Divine
In the Navy
In Twilight's Shadow
It's a Trap!
Line Goes Up
Mad Scientist
Master of Disguise
Nothing Left
Pathfinder
Reaching for Aetherius
Release the Kraken
Slumlord
Stocked
Stopped Cold
The Clan Ascendant
The Duality of Mer
The Hunter's Moon
The Riddler
Think it'll Rain?
Throwback
Vvardenfell Valley
What Glitters in the Deep
You Wouldn't Download A Guar

Challenges:

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Need inspiration for a mod? Or maybe a little something to challenge yourself with? Themed modding challenges are returning for the 2026 Morrowind Modathon, with four new weekly themed challenges for you to compete in, should you so desire. These challenges are OPTIONAL, but they do come with new achievements to unlock! Can you make a mod to fit each theme? See the themed challenges below and try to build a mod for each one!

Week 1: May 1st-9th, Make a mod that fits the theme of "Commerce & Travel" - Use the Challenge Header image here to participate. (Alt Discord Media Link for UK users)
Week 2: May 10th-16th, Make a mod that fits the theme of "Border & Warp" - Use the Challenge Header image here to participate. (Alt Discord Media Link for UK users)
Week 3: May 17th-23rd, Make a mod that fits the theme of "Endless & Change" - Use the Challenge Header image here to participate. (Alt Discord Media Link for UK users)
Week 4: May 24th-June 2nd, Make a mod that fits the theme of "Ancestry & Forgotten" - Use the Challenge Header image here to participate. (Alt Discord Media Link for UK users)

Can you make a mod to match each theme? Each of these challenges are deliberately designed to be fairly broad and open to interpretation, potentially fitting any of a wide variety of mods, allowing you to let your creativity go wild!

Participation and How it Works:

You can participate by leaving a short note in the mod description page of your mod at Morrowind Nexus that includes "Part of the May Modathon Month" somewhere near the top of the description, or use the Modathon header image embedded in your mod page, or use the "Modathon 2026" tag to mark your mod as a competition entry.

Every week, at least five different modders will be selected at random to win a single AAA or Indie game, and the way this works is that we'll compose a list of all participating mods released that week, plug them into a random number generator, and the first five results we get back will be the winners for that week.

If you win in one of these weekly drawings, I'll send you a message on the Nexus or Discord notifying you that you've won and providing a list of games you can choose from as your prize. We have over 500 games to give away, so hopefully you'll find something you want on there!

Once again this year, for the grand prize winners, we're letting the people decide! The mods with the most endorsements in each category (Gameplay, Immersion, Dungeons, Quests, Landscapes/Landmasses, Player Homes, Graphics and Audio, Towns and Cities, Items, etc....) by July 1st will be declared the masters of those categories, and win additional prizes as a result, including achievements and 2-3 game prizes for each grand winner in each category!

We'll be going by whichever categories you upload your mods on the Nexus to, and obviously, some categories (like Weapons and Armor) will be counted under broader categories like "Items". If you have any questions regarding how this will all work, exactly, feel free to post them below!

In total, there's 12 categories with Masteries (and other categories of mods will be included under one of the existing categories, if you're posting a mod to Miscellaneous for example, we'll include it under the category that makes sense, depending on the mod, or you can include what category you want it to be included under in the mod description):

Companions/Creatures/NPCs
Character Customization (heads and hairs, new races, clothing mods)
Dungeons
Gameplay Mods/Bug Fixes/Patches/UI (Depends on UI mod, some may be categorized as Graphics)
Graphics Mods/Animations/Audio/Shaders
Immersion Mods
Items/Weapons/Armor/Books/Etc...
Landscapes/Landmasses
Modder's Resources/Utilities
Player Homes
Quests/Guilds&Factions
Towns and Cities

Rules:

Overall this competition and giveaway is pretty easy to understand, and there aren't a whole lot of rules involved, but there are a few things we should clear up just in case.

First, all types of mods are perfectly acceptable. From texture replacers to gameplay tweaks to content mods like house mods, quest mods, or dungeon mods. All of those are fine and will be accepted for the competition! The only kind of mod that will NOT be accepted is cheat mods, i.e. placing a barrel full of loot in the middle of Seyda Neen or placing a Daedric longsword in the Census and Excise Office. Cheat mods like that will not be considered for the competition.

Also, we accept both tes3mp and OpenMW mods, as well as MWSE Lua mods! Regardless of which platform your mod is designed to work with, all will be accepted!

Second, all submitted mods must be, at least for the most part, safe for work. Questionable content is acceptable so long as it isn't the entire mod, remember we have to showcase these and we can't showcase adult-themed mods on the channel!

It should be pointed out that for larger mod projects, you can submit a demo or playable beta of your mod as part of the competition and it'll be perfectly acceptable. I do need to stress that it must absolutely be playable though. Any mod that crashes to desktop upon loading the game will not be considered.

In addition, we ask that all participating modders please only release a *maximum* of 5 mods per day, there were some issues in past years with mods immediately getting buried, and we want everyone to have a chance to have their mods get seen! Also, we won't be counting very quick CS edit mods as counting towards achievements, in order to encourage less spam.

Remember, this only applies to mods released in May, so let's all get to modding and make this the big 24th Anniversary that Morrowind truly deserves!

If you don't know how to mod, check out our Let's Mod Morrowind series for a visual guide to modding - including interiors, basic scripting, and quest design.

Want to check out our past Modathons? You can find playlists of the 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 Modathon competitions down below!