New Mainline Campaign by Developer team?

[zookeeper]

Actually KotOR II lets you choose weather or not the last hero was good/evil and male/female through some dialogue choices, which leads to a few ever so slight differences in the gameplay and some dialogue/characters, although not the actual story.

Hmm, I guess it was like that indeed. I probably got that mixed up with the "official canon" from somewhere outside the actual games. But yes, it doesn't matter.

I'm not sure if we need a lot of branching. Wesnoth is by nature a pretty linear game in SP and I don't think we need to try to make it otherwise. Linear campaigns are fine, as long as the player gets to affect something - this something can just be how things evolve inside individual scenarios, what extra characters or allies you get, and so on. I might rather have optional extra scenarios, instead of a choice between two scenarios.

EDIT: The linearity of campaigns probably comes mostly from the fact that we've never had a world map view, from which one could choose the next scenario or route - we just have one scenario after another.

[Dave]

I second the motion that developers and contributors should get together to create a new grand campaign. A campaign with a strong story, but that also shows off what Wesnoth can do. To provide direction, i propose that individual who have proven themselves be given final say over various aspects of the game.

I think that more than anything, what would be needed is a strong leader to lead the overall effort. Simply putting people in charge of various areas wouldn't work, since areas overlap and clash, and people who are good at what they do always have very strong opinions about it.

The best way to select a leader is for the leader to actually start the project. What needs to happen is someone who feels they can lead a campaign effort needs to start writing a new campaign, and then when they get it to a stage where it is finished enough to give a rough idea of the finished product, they need to start recruiting people to help. This way people have a very good idea of what the final product will be like when they 'sign up' for it.

If you try to assemble a team when there is no product at all, it'll never get off the ground, because the people working on it won't be able to agree on a direction.

David

[Jetrel]

I second the motion that developers and contributors should get together to create a new grand campaign. A campaign with a strong story, but that also shows off what Wesnoth can do. To provide direction, i propose that individual who have proven themselves be given final say over various aspects of the game.

I think that more than anything, what would be needed is a strong leader to lead the overall effort. Simply putting people in charge of various areas wouldn't work, since areas overlap and clash, and people who are good at what they do always have very strong opinions about it.

The best way to select a leader is for the leader to actually start the project. What needs to happen is someone who feels they can lead a campaign effort needs to start writing a new campaign, and then when they get it to a stage where it is finished enough to give a rough idea of the finished product, they need to start recruiting people to help. This way people have a very good idea of what the final product will be like when they 'sign up' for it.

Yep.

If you try to assemble a team when there is no product at all, it'll never get off the ground, because the people working on it won't be able to agree on a direction.

I mostly agree. I suspect that it would actually "get off the ground" here, since a lot of people would chip in, based on good will. However, you're right that it's a recipe for disaster; people would likely have huge and heated disagreements not too far down the road, and it would generate a lot of ill will. It's a really bad idea, as you said.

[Oreb]

It would be needed that everyone would get th basic story at first. And then they are told by what they should work on. At which they do, so nothing clashes.

Otherwise, as said, if everyone goes and does what they want, it will be chaos, everyone having their own idea.

So before, you get working, the foundations of the campaign should be set.

[Ranger M]

Yes, this is the first campaign proposal that I know of to make it to page 2 without any proposed story, hopefully this wont reach page 3 in similar condition.

Any suggestions? (I think somebody suggested taming of the wild in the other thread, although I haven't read much of it).

[Neoriceisgood]

I want it to be awesome.

[Eternal]

Epic perhaps? Starting out from small, plenty of side quests along the way, saving the world in the end... And something that was totally missed by Wesnoth sages... (or not, but there's awfully few gaps in Wesnoth history. Basically only prehistory and post-apocalypse are completely free zones)
But then saving the world is as cliché as it can get.

Can I scribe something for you anyways? Cliché it might be, but you never know. Haven't written bigger stories for some time.
Exams are closing in so I cann't do much this instant I'm afraid.
EDIT: Screw this! Read what JW posted below!

[JW]

***LONG POST DESCRIBING A POSSIBLE STORYLINE***

I was thinking a campaign that would focus on utilizing the Undead faction as the played faction. The story of a mage who is about to lose his father to old age. Having such a strong link with his father, the mage learns all he can from clerics near and far and finds that their knowledge cannot save his father from the deathgrip of time. He begins to study the art of dark magic, thinking it may help turn back the aging process. Desperate and broken down from a year or years of travel and study, the mage returns home to tend to his father in his final days - that being the will of the father to have his beloved son with him as he departed to the other world.

The mage, under the emotional and mental durress of the past year(s) culminating in the death of his father, wishes he had spent more time with him instead of combing the land for knowledge. Determined to right what he felt he had done wrong, the mage clings to the only slim beacon of hope he had found in all his studies: the black arts. He abandons society to work tirelessly, with little food or water, to find a way to revive his fallen father, basing his efforts in a secluded, uninhabited cave.

Finally the night comes where he plans to bring his father back from death, and he digs the corpse out from its grave. He performs the ritual, succesfully, but the results are not what he intended... The corpse is animated in that it can stand and hold its balance. It does only that however the mage finds out as he hugs it. It cannot walk, speak, or any other simple action. It simply stands there in a state of barely unlife. The mage is crushed beneath the gravity of his failure and retreats back to his cave, bringing the corpse with him, and he begins once again to try to unravel the secrets of aterlife.

The mage runs countless experiments, raising the buried, murdering and then reviving stray wanderers, "killing" the corpses and then reviving them once more.... He learns how to control and command the undead, but he cannot resurrect a being into once again being who they were in life.

As you can imagine, this line of experiments begins to raise questions among the closest townships as to where people are disappearing to, and investigations are begun.

This is where larger scale true battles could be implemented, and a final showdown could either be placed in the mage's cave, or in the nearest town with an assaulting force of undead minions, in an attempt to wipe out the distractions from his work.

I see a campaign based on this story having action (fighting) scenarios where
1) the mage travels across the land searching for knowledge:
random encounters with bandits or wildlife
training sessions to learn the arts of magic
2) the mage runs experiments:
experiments could go wrong and he loses control of his minions and is forced to fight them
scenario where he ambushes wanderers to use them in his trials
3) perhaps the caves he utilizes aren't so uninhabited
dwarves
cave trolls
other underground creatures
4) conflict with townsfolk
eitther the fight is brought to him or he brings the fight to them

-I envision this campaign ending poorly for the mage, where a campaign victory would not mean good things for the main character. Of course, it could be written where things end up with a better twist for the good.

I'd really like some feedback on the general theme and scope of this idea before I try to develop it further though. Questions I have for you the reading audience:

Does this seem like a realistic plot in the Wesnoth World?
Is this a plot that would be acceptable to go into mainline if the campaign is done well?
Do there appear to be enough places for battle conflict?
If not, where could some be added?
Is it alright for a campaign to end poorly for the main character?
Would you like me to flesh this out into more step-by-step detail?

Actually, if necessary, there could be many, many side plots in the earlier stages of his travels as he goes from town to town, city to city, trying to learn ways to help his father live. Battles could be written in there as well if necessary, say he spends a month at one city where he or the city get entangled in political or diplomatic struggles that are impossible for the mage to avoid.

Anyway, I'll think about those possibilities later. Please write me your thoughts.

[Pic]

I like the idea of a campaign that allows you to play a faction that other campaigns tend to ...not let you play, like the undead as JW suggested.

Not boring humans and boring elves again though, I’ve played so many campaigns of them.

[Neoriceisgood]

I want a new faction for it >:(

[Eternal]

JW's story is great, but rather plain and earthly.
IMO opinion one could lengthen it to make it more epic, since it's a mainline campaign. (HttT is rather epic, you conquer a kingdom and all the stuff between)
Places where the hero would also search for magic and knowledge could include something extra planar stuff (many new factions?) ect ect.
And if he wouldn't travel alone all the time, there can be characters of all kinds; fighters from all around, elven druid that's strictly against hero's goals yet remaining on his side, all sorts! A good storyline is one thing, good and interesting characters are another.

All just ideas and opinions.

[JW]

JW's story is great, but rather plain and earthly.

Thank you for the compliment, but I hardly see raising the dead as being "plain."

I agree that the travelling part could definitely expanded upon, and doing so I think would really pay off in the end when the issues with the father come into play more. The build up from playing a long trek could really pack more punch into the dramatic moments.

[Pic]

If the mage got nearer later on in this idea to his goals then that would provide some scope for new units/new faction.

Perhaps other necromancers, hearing of this man and his aims/new creations come and pay him a little 'visit. Perhaps there is already someone who knows these secrets and dosn't wants to hold a monopoly on them, or perhaps the mage, whilst aiming for his goals, creates a new kind of necromancy which other necromancers are highly interested in.

[Pic]

Maybe he works around to the idea that raising the dead to what they once were is impossible...

...but killing the living in a way that they retain themselves but gain the benifits of the undead is not?

[zookeeper]

I'd really like some feedback on the general theme and scope of this idea before I try to develop it further though. Questions I have for you the reading audience:

Does this seem like a realistic plot in the Wesnoth World?
Is this a plot that would be acceptable to go into mainline if the campaign is done well?
Do there appear to be enough places for battle conflict?
If not, where could some be added?
Is it alright for a campaign to end poorly for the main character?
Would you like me to flesh this out into more step-by-step detail?

Well, first of all, I think this would be a bit unusual as a Wesnoth plot. It's highly "personal", driven only by a personal goal of one single character, so it isn't exactly simple to translate to a campaign. As it is, this sounds like it could be a mini-campaign of sorts, somewhat comparable to Ilayin the Illusionist or Two Brothers (both short mini-campaigns not involving many characters or epic or history-influential plot). Campaign length is irrelevant, as long as it's at least 3-4 scenarios long.

So, I'd say if something like this is done, then it should be made to be a sort of a mini-campaign, and just be made to be a good one. However, I don't think the plot is very suitable for Wesnoth still - this is still basically a war game, and while I think some "RPG elements" are great to have (like an unraveling plot, some choices, pickable items, etc), I don't think it's feasible to try to make a real "RPG campaign", which this one sounds like (it's about a dude trying to resurrect his dad - it doesn't sound like much of a war, except between some village peasants and this crazy necromancer in question living at the hills next door).