start tribunal at level 1

No, because it makes no sense plot wise and unless you're cheating you're just going to get killed by all the enemies there because they're too hard for level 1 characters.

You could try "setstage fbmwTRDBAttack 10". Everything that Brainslasher says still applies though.

"you're just going to get killed by all the enemies there because they're too hard for level 1 characters.

So .. let the player find out for himself. When you make all the decisions the game becomes just one more 'do this before you can do that' first person shooter.

as I recall  the original game was much more open-ended ..

I agree with you on this. 

The Tribunal quests only start after you've been attacked by the Dark Brotherhood. However, in Morroblivion, the Dark Brotherhood will not attack you until after you have finished the main quest, whereas in the original Morrowind they would attack you at any time. 

Morroblivion is good in that it prevents low-level players from attempting quests far too difficult for them. Although, just my personal opinion, I think it would be better if the Dark Brotherhood attacked you regardless of your progress in the main quest, so long as you were level 10 or higher. *Shrug* 

The main quest of Tribunal makes no sense unless the main quest of the vanilla game has been completed.

I know people hate when you bring Skyrim examples into the fold but the DLC's in that game have trigger points. (aka Dragonborn does not start until you speak to the graybeards and discover you are dragonborn therefore word spreads of this news to which some believe and some deny, but enough to gather the attention of miraak who sends his cultists) Same can apply to Skywind where the whole story of tribunal literally focuses on you being the Nerevarine that beat Dagoth Ur and now "threaten" Almalexia, therefore story-wise comes after the main game. Also some could reference the fallout DLC's stating at level one, BUT, Fallout 3's broken steel cannot start until the main story completion, hint-hint Tribunal to me is very similar to that DLC in it is also sort of post game material. 

The way it sounds Morroblivion handled Tribunal is perfectly fine. Waiting until after the main quest of Vanilla Morrowind before the Dark Brotherhood is sent your way makes sense.

Exactly, personally if people feel so strongly about playing a expansion early (hence breaking their lore), then they should either wait till a possible post optional anti-restriction for quests plugin or use console commands. The expectation I feel is if one wants to break immersion then why not go all the way out and use the console command to start the brotherhood attack early, which I'm sure the main quest devs would have little to no trouble releasing the quest ID's. 

Yes, but the problem also arises with player characters who do not become the Nerevarine: they simply cannot go to Mournhold because of this, ever. My current Morroblivion character has never even reported to Caius, and has no intention of doing so - thus Mournhold remains locked behind an invisible wall. 

It's a delicate balance between what makes sense lore-wise, and what's accessible for the player. Personally, I'm not too fussed with the way it is (lore is good) but I do think it would be nice if all my characters could at least visit Mournhold without having to become Nerevarine. 

EDIT: Actually, perhaps there could be a plugin that allows us to visit Mournhold at any time, but the actual Tribunal quests cannot be started until you're Nerevarine and the Dark Brotherhood has attacked you. I dunno, just some random thoughts I'm throwing out. I know I'll probably get a response like, "if you want that, then make it yourself", but yeah, as I said, I'm not too fussed with how it is right now. 

EDIT 2: Fixed typos. 

Simple  Report to Caius  1  Time Then Join House Telvanni, Complete House Telvanni , Once this is Done the Darkbrotherhood Will Attack, Then you can go to Mournhold. 

Billyro that particular plugin idea isn't bad, actually if modified it could work, but how would you get to Mournhold pre-Brotherhood attack? Could the plugin simply add a rumor about transport to Mournhold being available and edit Asciene Rane dialog to compensate this and like you stated disable any interaction with Almalexia to reduce run-ins with people referring to you as the nerevarine. Like I stated earlier Vanilla Skywind should restrict access to Mournhold as that area really is the sugar-coating reward for beating the main storyline, and if people do want to visit Mournhold pre-ending then they could install said plugin or enable the quest early via commands.

I don't even understand why there's such a big discussion about this right now. It's not even a big deal. Apparently none of you even played Morroblivion far enough or you'd realize that the Dark Brotherhood attacks start after becoming master of any house (except for Hlaalu in this version, though it's changed in the next one), or finishing the main quest, and reaching level 15. The dependency on completing the main quest is simply not true. In fact the dialogue given by Azura at the end of Tribunal differs if you finished the main quest or not. I wish people discussed things that they actually knew something about or at least checked the way they actually are.

Remedying this is as simple as changing the DB attack quest to Start Game enabled and removing the level check in the script. This literally takes less than a minute. Of course you will be slaughtered by all the enemies and being regarded as important enough to be killed by the king of Morrowind to be assassinated makes absolutely no sense.

In the original game Tribunal was designed to be played by comparatively high level characters and was released 5 months after the main game. One of the first mods I install when playing the original game is one that delays the Dark Brotherhood attacks at the beginning of the game because they're so annoying. On the Xbox the level was set to 6. The attacks start way too soon and the equipment dropped by the Assassins is far too good.

It's simply the way the story was written by Bethesda: Player gets attacked by the Dark Brotherhood, sent by the King of Morrowind himself. That's how you reach Mournhold, by starting off the Main quest of the Tribunal expansion, for which you should have a certain level, UESP even recommends level 25+ for the main quest. Even most side quests are too hard for a new character. Of course there's good arguments for simply having a level cap that starts off the Tribunal quest line whenever you're strong enough but this being a role playing game the plot is more important than wanting to see all content whenever you please. If you want something different, make a mod, that's the main rule in Elder Scrolls games.

Just play the main game, there's so much content in it alone and once you reach level 15 you probably already started a house quest line if you haven't already finished it. Tribunal is an expansion to the main game in every sense of the word and should be treated as such, it's not meant to be played by new players. If you really just want to see Mournhold without doing any of the quests just use a console command.

Tl;dr: The Main quest dependency isn't true and keeping players from reaching Mournhold too early makes sense plot and gameplay wise. Sorry for this huge paragraph but I recreated nearly all Tribunal quests by myself and this is something pretty dear to me as it was a lot of work.

Well Explaned

At first let me say how thankful I am to you for your work, effort and time invested in this magnificent project. But still, I have to disagree in some points.   

Brainslasher   Apparently none of you even played Morroblivion far enough or you'd realize that the Dark Brotherhood attacks start after becoming master of any houseor finishing the main quest, and reaching level 15  

  Well, I did it and because of this I can state that the questlines for the great houses are sometimes even longer that the mainquest itself, thus it doesn't make the Mournhold more accessible whatsoever.     

Brainslasher   The attacks start way too soon and the equipment dropped by the Assassins is far too good. UESP even recommends level 25+ for the main quest.  

  There isn't such thing as "too good" in TES series. If the player was intelligent enough to take it, than he simply deserves it.  UESP recommends to be lvl 35 to beat Miraak, i did it with a lvl 12 character, so ... ? Yes it was frustrating and quite a challenge, but I did it.   

Brainslasher   Just play the main game, there's so much content in it alone   

  I played the main game more than enough times. Now I want to play Tribunal FROM THE BEGINNING.   

Brainslasher   If you really just want to see Mournhold without doing any of the quests just use a console command.  

  Now, thats what I call cheating.   

Brainslasher   The Main quest dependency isn't true and keeping players from reaching Mournhold too early makes sense plot and gameplay wise. being regarded as important enough to be killed by the king of Morrowind to be assassinated makes absolutely no sense.  

  The problem is, that it doesn't matter if it makes sense lorewise, gameplay-wise or else. You have to ask yourself what Morroblivion should be : more like a modified version of Morrowind, or a direct port with the Oblivion engine. If you prefer the second answer, than you have to stick with the original game, which in fact allowed you to play the expansion from the start.    

It's ok to disagree, and I appreciate your input on the matter. What I don't understand is why you want everything done for you. This is the direction Morroblivion has taken, and yes, in general it is a simple port of Morrowind to Oblivion. But there are many deviations from the original where they are appropriate. This is one of those instances.

If you really want something different, become a contributor, make a mod that changes the way it is now and release it here. Maybe it's actually better than the way it's now and it gets incorporated into the main mod.

Saying "I want to play Tribunal FROM THE BEGINNING" makes you sound very entitled and the only person that can create a gaming experience exactly to your liking is yourself. But don't expect people to make changes for you just because you want all content accessible at the start.

The simple facts are: Tribunal is made for higher level characters and the plot requires the player to be someone of importance. Everyone can weigh the importance of the individual arguments themselves but the consensus that was reached at the time is that it's better to make Tribunal a quest line that starts later in the game. It doesn't mean your arguments are invalid but for us these things were just more important than having everything available at the start.

So, if I am reading all of this correctly, Tribunal will be triggered once a character reaches level 15 and either completes the main quest or one of the house quest lines?  I dont care when it triggers, I just like to know XD.  Morrowind was and is still my favorite TES game.  Ill be playing Morroblivion for probably just as long :P  Its been absolutely wonderful to relive it in all its glory.