A Campaign Proposal

For writers working on documentation, story prose, announcements, and all kinds of Wesnoth text.

Moderator: Forum Moderators

IntuitionJo
Posts: 12
Joined: March 14th, 2010, 4:47 am

A Campaign Proposal

Post by IntuitionJo »

Hello, people who are much more experienced at Wesnoth than me.

I've been sitting on an idea for a campaign storyline for some time now, (Actually, since I played Under the Burning Suns) and figured that if I was going to put up a plot for a campaign, this would be the place.

Keep in mind, I have absolutely NO knowledge whatsoever of the editing programs for Wesnoth, not even the level editor, and thus have no clue what I'm doing from a technical level, so I decided I needed to make up for that by putting in more effort into writing.

Without further ado, here's my idea.
I'll put up the spoiler tag for people who are touchy about it, but I don't see the necessity of it.
Spoiler:
It's not too bad, huh? I figure it will be better in execution, one figured out. But I just wanted to get the campaign idea out there in case someone wanted to pick it up.

Thanks in advance. Criticism welcome.
TheGreatRings
Posts: 742
Joined: January 26th, 2008, 10:39 pm
Location: On the front line of battle, defying hopeless odds

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by TheGreatRings »

Somewhat interesting. However, the odds of someone else making it probably aren't great. If you really want it made, you'll probably have to learn how to make it yourself.
"One man alone cannot fight the future"-
The X-files

"Send these foul beasts into the abyss"-Gandalf
IntuitionJo
Posts: 12
Joined: March 14th, 2010, 4:47 am

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by IntuitionJo »

That's fine. I just figured leaving it here would be better than not doing anything with the idea.
User avatar
artisticdude
Moderator Emeritus
Posts: 2424
Joined: December 15th, 2009, 12:37 pm
Location: Somewhere in the middle of everything

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by artisticdude »

IntuitionJo wrote:I have absolutely NO knowledge whatsoever of the editing programs for Wesnoth, not even the level editor, and thus have no clue what I'm doing from a technical level
Would you like to learn? :wink:
"I'm never wrong. One time I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken."
IntuitionJo
Posts: 12
Joined: March 14th, 2010, 4:47 am

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by IntuitionJo »

Yes. Yes I would.
User avatar
Captain_Wrathbow
Posts: 1664
Joined: June 30th, 2009, 2:03 pm
Location: Guardia

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by Captain_Wrathbow »

:o
Very good storyline!

Good luck learning WML. :) It could take days, weeks, or months, but however long you spend on it, it will be well worth it in the end. :wink:

I'll certainly be looking forward to playing this campaign. Best of luck! :D
IntuitionJo
Posts: 12
Joined: March 14th, 2010, 4:47 am

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by IntuitionJo »

Well, this is good, because I've already started storyboarding the first scenario of the campaign. I'll throw it into WML as I go, but it's better if I have everything planned out first, I suppose.

Two things before I start to ignore this thread.

1. Should I post a topic regarding this campaign's development somewhere else on the forum. If so, where?

2. Thank you for the compliment Wrathbow. Much appreciated.
User avatar
jaimeastorga2000
Posts: 29
Joined: July 25th, 2009, 12:28 pm

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by jaimeastorga2000 »

I believe campaign development goes here. You can also make a thread over here if you want feedback once the campaign becomes a playable add-on. If you are in need of criticism or help regarding your campaing's dialogue or plot, though, you can continue posting that in the Writer's Forum.
User avatar
ParadiseCity
Posts: 119
Joined: May 24th, 2009, 3:51 pm
Location: I'm not sure yet...

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by ParadiseCity »

I would be quite interested in working with you on a campaign, because I have actually been developing a similar one myself. It has the same idea of undead sentience, but with a different story line :P . I already have the first scenario coded, with the third one on the way (I came up with the idea for the second one afterwards).

In short:
The story starts with background narrated by some unknown figure. Afterwards you are put into the first scenario. You are a sergeant on his first "real" fight, againsta necromancer who threatens the city you and your people inhabit. However, he kills you and your general's forces, and sends you to go destroy your city yourself. Scenario 2 is going there. Scenario 3 is when you go under the city to assassinate the leader and thus allow the city to fall. However, when you kill the mage of light that leads the city you are freed, and go on a quest for revenge against the necromancer. I have other specifics down if you want to hear them (unfortunately I do not have time to put them in a spoiler).

I feel that if we are making campaigns off of a similar concept, that it would make sense simply to merge our efforts (as they are both in the development phase). What do you think?
"The harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." -Thomas Jefferson
User avatar
Icarusvogel
Posts: 177
Joined: March 16th, 2010, 1:55 pm

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by Icarusvogel »

Just one small point about the storyline:
DO undead really have a free will like that?
You are a Necromancer - Intelligent and powerful, yet reclusive and misunderstood, you dabble in dark arts that everyone else can only dream of.
User avatar
ParadiseCity
Posts: 119
Joined: May 24th, 2009, 3:51 pm
Location: I'm not sure yet...

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by ParadiseCity »

Icarusvogel wrote:Just one small point about the storyline:
DO undead really have a free will like that?
Yes and no. It really comes down to how you define undead.

The general assumption of undead is that they are being controlled by an evil necromancer, another form of evil, or are compelled because of centuries of a tortured existance. At least in wesnoth. However, both campaigns proposed here hinge on the idea that if you are raised from the dead, without being controlled by an outside force (or if that control is broken), then you are still yourself. I believe the campaign from mainline "Decent into Darkness" has this element as well. As an upcoming necromancer, you are warned that your spirits may rebel against you if you do not control them tightly enough (suggesting that the spirit you are controlling is still mentally there).

However, since undead are generally characterized by this pervading sense of evil, one could say that the campaigns do not fit into the undead "theme" or "character." However, there is really no constraint in mainline wesnoth to what the undead are. Plus this is magic, so you can really say "Well something about light....darkness gone....but still bound to this world....yada yada" and you are done :P . It is, from my point of view, that undead having sentience is totally plausible.

Is there any reason why they couldn't have free will?
"The harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." -Thomas Jefferson
TheGreatRings
Posts: 742
Joined: January 26th, 2008, 10:39 pm
Location: On the front line of battle, defying hopeless odds

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by TheGreatRings »

ParadiseCity wrote:
Icarusvogel wrote:Just one small point about the storyline:
DO undead really have a free will like that?
Yes and no. It really comes down to how you define undead.

The general assumption of undead is that they are being controlled by an evil necromancer, another form of evil, or are compelled because of centuries of a tortured existance. At least in wesnoth. However, both campaigns proposed here hinge on the idea that if you are raised from the dead, without being controlled by an outside force (or if that control is broken), then you are still yourself. I believe the campaign from mainline "Decent into Darkness" has this element as well. As an upcoming necromancer, you are warned that your spirits may rebel against you if you do not control them tightly enough (suggesting that the spirit you are controlling is still mentally there).

However, since undead are generally characterized by this pervading sense of evil, one could say that the campaigns do not fit into the undead "theme" or "character." However, there is really no constraint in mainline wesnoth to what the undead are. Plus this is magic, so you can really say "Well something about light....darkness gone....but still bound to this world....yada yada" and you are done :P . It is, from my point of view, that undead having sentience is totally plausible.

Is there any reason why they couldn't have free will?
My impression from the game and forum discussions was that certain Undead are just mindless automatons (ie Walking Corpses), while other types tended to have more personality and free will.

For example, we have the General-turned-Death Knight in Heir to the Throne, who clearly has memories of who was and does not seem to be acting on the orders of any higher necromancer. Then there's a sprit in the campaign Northern Rebirth, who successfully broke free of the Ancient Lich Malifor's control and becomes a valuable ally.

So yes, it clearly is known to happen. There's really nothing to argue about here. The only thing that's unusual is that it happens on such a large scale (an entire army breaking free). But we have a good explanation I think- basically this necromancer is overexerting himself trying to raise an entire army, and can't control them. Would work even better I think if he's inexperienced at necromancy (as the player character in DiD is when his ghost breaks free).
"One man alone cannot fight the future"-
The X-files

"Send these foul beasts into the abyss"-Gandalf
User avatar
Icarusvogel
Posts: 177
Joined: March 16th, 2010, 1:55 pm

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by Icarusvogel »

There seems to be different tyes of undead: the named mindless automatons, and people like death knights who come back to take revenge on those who kill them, or lichs. The 2nd and 3rd types seem to have a free will.
You are a Necromancer - Intelligent and powerful, yet reclusive and misunderstood, you dabble in dark arts that everyone else can only dream of.
Meeky
Posts: 9
Joined: April 10th, 2010, 12:33 am

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by Meeky »

There's something I thought about that you might consider since this is an undead-based campaign:

Someone mentioned that it seems odd to have an undead-based campaign without the typical "EVIL EVIL" stuff flying about in it (Was it you, opening poster?). This isn't a bad observation, but I wouldn't dwell on it. HOWEVER, IntuitionJo, if you're worried about it, there's a way to sort of involve the evil feeling without actually making the protagonists evil.

To put it simply, how would YOU feel about waking up one day and being dead? Think about it: You can't feel your beating heart, you're an abomination of what you once were; you don't feel the warmth of your blood, but instead a long, empty coldness where your flesh was. You are in a living hell, and so are all of those around you. What's worse is you might not even be able to access emotions you once were able to. Can a soul without hormones be able to physically love someone, whether or not they're flesh or bones? And the lack of taste, of smell, of feeling -- or perhaps just a dulled form of it -- would be more disconcerting than ANYTHING you or I can ever dream of.

How would that make you feel? Personally, I think I'd be angry. I'd have hatred. I'd want to destroy things or break down and cry -- and then, find I'm not ABLE to cry. As if all if this isn't enough, those that are living, even old friends, will hate me because I am dead; and in a world where the undead are common, any attempts to communicate with the living will likely be seen as "undead tricks". To summarize these two paragraphs: I can never be happy.

So, what you can do is add a severe emotional twist to this (mixed with a literal lack thereof). Think about what keeps the General and Emika moving and trying to help the living, despite their state: Is it undying loyalty? Is it a lack, and thus a need, of purpose? And you may consider how hard it is for ANY of the undead legion to show mercy to the living in such a state as that, especially since there are so many of them. I'm not saying for you to write this thing as a soap opera in dialogue, but you can consider this when you're defining character to make them seem like they really are the dead walking, with only the barest threads of memory holding them to their humanity. You can accomplish this and not have evil minions of destruction.

Aaaand that's about all I can say because I'm not very good at explaining things.
AI
Developer
Posts: 2396
Joined: January 31st, 2008, 8:38 pm

Re: A Campaign Proposal

Post by AI »

Meeky wrote:To put it simply, how would YOU feel about waking up one day and being dead? Think about it: You can't feel your beating heart, you're an abomination of what you once were; you don't feel the warmth of your blood, but instead a long, empty coldness where your flesh was. You are in a living hell, and so are all of those around you. What's worse is you might not even be able to access emotions you once were able to. Can a soul without hormones be able to physically love someone, whether or not they're flesh or bones? And the lack of taste, of smell, of feeling -- or perhaps just a dulled form of it -- would be more disconcerting than ANYTHING you or I can ever dream of.

How would that make you feel? Personally, I think I'd be angry. I'd have hatred. I'd want to destroy things or break down and cry -- and then, find I'm not ABLE to cry. As if all if this isn't enough, those that are living, even old friends, will hate me because I am dead; and in a world where the undead are common, any attempts to communicate with the living will likely be seen as "undead tricks". To summarize these two paragraphs: I can never be happy.
I think even rage would be inaccessible, leaving, as the most likely state of mind for freshly risen, conscious undead, cold hatred.

This is interesting stuff. Please, keep going. :)
Last edited by AI on April 10th, 2010, 1:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Typos
Post Reply