The central quests concern the demigod Dagoth Ur, housed within the volcanic Red Mountain, who seeks to gain power and break Morrowind free from Imperial reign.

"[22] The sheer number of quest possibilities, combined with what developer Ken Rolston identified as a lack of "narrative urgency", left many critics dissatisfied with the main plot.

Ken Rolston later stated that the main quest might have been presented with greater force, in the style of the game's successor, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, without losing the free-form design of the series, but such concerns were not addressed before Morrowind's release.

[4][29] After a storm and a strange dream vision, the player character begins in a town called Seyda Neen, fresh off a boat from a mainland prison, freed by the string-pulling of the current ruler of the Tamrielic Empire, Emperor Uriel Septim VII.

Fulfilling these, the player seeks to complete the third prophecy, a test to find the Moon-and-Star (also called One-Clan-Under-Moon-And-Star), the symbolic ring originally worn by Nerevar, which has the power to instantly kill anyone, apart from himself (and by extension, the Nerevarine), who tries to wear it.

The Nerevarine is invited to the palace of the poet god-king Vivec, one of the three deities that form the basis of Morrowind's religion, known as the Tribunal, to discuss the assault on Dagoth Ur's stronghold in the heart of Red Mountain.

These ancient weapons were created by the Dwemer to tap into the power of the fabled Heart of Lorkhan, which they found beneath Red Mountain - and these same tools have been used by the Tribunal and Dagoth Ur to reach their god-like status.

Akulakhan's Chamber, where Lorkhan's heart resided, is destroyed in the process as the cavern collapses, and in turn, Red Mountain is cleared of blight and The Sixth House falls.

[34] The development team also gave particular credit to the Ridley Scott film Gladiator, high fantasy, The Dark Crystal, and Conan the Barbarian as influences.

The central volcano of Red Mountain is constantly covered with ash storms prior to the completion of the main quest, and can be reached through dried lava channels called Foyadas.

Finding that the gaps between their technical capacities and those of rival companies had grown in the interim, Bethesda sought to revitalize itself and return to the forefront of the industry,[39] an effort spearheaded by project leader Todd Howard.

[25] During their promotional campaign, Bethesda deliberately paralleled their screenshot releases with the announcement of NVIDIA's GeForce 4, as "being indicative of the outstanding water effects the technology is capable of".

[39] According to project leader Todd Howard, the Construction Set came as the result of a collective yearning to develop a "role-playing operating system", capable of extension and modification, rather than a particular type of game.

Bethesda hired Peter Olafson, a noted game journalist and friend of the company, and they began work on the guide in January 2002, four months before release.

[12][60] In the words of GameSpot's Greg Kasavin: "The very first time you boot up Morrowind, you'll be treated to a memorable, stirring theme filled with soaring strings and booming percussion.

[61] In a feature for Gamasutra, Scott B. Morton, although praising the music itself, declared that Morrowind's soundtrack did not work effectively with the game's gameplay, accomplishing little as an emotional device.

[60] In a retrospective by 1Up, the breadth and open-endedness of Morrowind are suggested to have contributed to the decline of single-player RPGs on home computers by leading customers to MMORPGs, where they could have a similar experience.

[12] The game environment of Morrowind was applauded as large and richly detailed, particularly for its real-time weather effects, day/night cycle,[81] and its great variety of plant and animal life.

[100] The choice to produce the expansion was primarily inspired by the success of Morrowind's release, as well as a general feeling that Elder Scrolls series games are ongoing experiences that merit new things for their players to do.

[110] Most critics commented on the higher linearity of the experience, combined with a reduction in the total size of the play area, giving the changes mixed reviews.

"[108] IGN stated that although "you'll rarely lose sight of what you're doing or why," a fact that may make the game more "comprehensible" for some players, "the lack of interaction with the rest of the world is pretty depressing.

"[107] RPGamer, by contrast, was unequivocally positive about the change: "Bethesda ... neatly sidesteps two of the most difficult atmospheric flaws of Morrowind—the constant sense of emptiness, and the bland outdoor landscapes—by having the story take place entirely within the city of Mournhold ...

Bloodmoon is a larger expansion than Tribunal, in terms of area covered and content created;[115] it expands the game's main map to include the untamed island of Solstheim located to the northwest of Vvardenfell, a frigid northern tundra sprinkled with forests, and many new varieties of creatures, such as the short but tough rieklings.

The Construction Set, and a variety of third-party mod-making tools, allow the modder to create and edit different objects, places, characters, dialogues, races, birthsigns, abilities, and skills.

[130] Plugins can add or modify existing mechanics, creatures, weapons, armor, quests, people, playable species, Easter eggs, stores, player-owned houses, cities, plotlines, and entire landmasses with some or all of the above.

Many major player modifications for Morrowind introduce new areas or quests, and several organized projects have attempted to recreate the provinces of Tamriel consistent with their presentation in earlier or later Elder Scrolls titles.

The Tamriel Rebuilt project, founded in 2001 and still active, is a fan-made expansion to the game with the aim of recreating the entire mainland province of Morrowind, with the first release in 2006, and new areas added continually since that time.

[135] Others attempt to optimise demanding meshes (e.g. by reducing draw calls or texture atlasing)[136][137] or fix unpatched bugs left in the game with unofficial patches.

OpenMW is an open-source, free-software replacement game engine that supports playing the original and add-on Morrowind content natively (without emulation or a virtual machine) on Linux, macOS, Windows, and certain Android devices.

Since 2016, all of the quests, classes, races, and other character choices of Morrowind and its official expansions and add-ons are fully playable in OpenMW, though it remains in extended beta testing as of 2020.