No, there's no way to do it without the mods, but I have to say, the mods in question, Twallens, are non-core mods I believe, and are very easy to put in, and take out, unlike Awesomemod which I've always had trouble with.
Twallens mods you just drag and drop them into your mods folder, and when you're done with them, pull them out. Although, you may find you really like his story progression mod once you use it a bit.
If your issue with the mods is that you're apprehensive to use them, or aren't sure how to set them up, it's very easy. at the bottom of the first post, under CC is a link to walk you through setting up your mods folder. If you need any clarifications, just post back here.
