Campaign Story Planning/Lore help

[Osnil]

I am not new to Wesnoth, but I am new to creating campaigns.

The premise will start with control of a city under attack by Drakes and Dragons, which you will lose. Basically, you and your new renegade Drake friend escape captivity and vow to rescue the city. I don't know how long to drag the story on for.

My reason for using Drakes is because they are rarely used in Wesnoth. Now, I haven't decided to use mainline Wesnoth, or my own world for my campaign.

I'm going to need help knowing several things from you Level 5 Wesnoth Geeks:
1. Which area of Wesnoth would be best for a Full Scale Drake Invasion?
2. What underused races/units would be amazing to use?
3. How many Isle of the Damned side missions should be employed? And which factions should be employed in those?
4. How many major heroes should I have?
5. How do I make it a fun, interesting campaign without copycatting other campaign plot elements?

[zookeeper]

I am not new to Wesnoth, but I am new to creating campaigns.

The premise will start with control of a city under attack by Drakes and Dragons, which you will lose. Basically, you and your new renegade Drake friend escape captivity and vow to rescue the city. I don't know how long to drag the story on for.

If you've settled on that then certainly it can work, but have you considered other kinds of plots? I mean, the beginning is very close to the archetypical "we must escape our homes" thing of HttT, UtBS, TRoW, DW, LoW and SotBE. Not to say it can't be good, but it is the perhaps most overused premise as far as campaign plots go... although a lot depends on how exactly it's presented. Putting emphasis on the escaping from captivity part could serve to give it a bit of a fresh twist.

1. Which area of Wesnoth would be best for a Full Scale Drake Invasion?

Well, where are the drakes coming from? If from somewhere in the far east or south, then I suppose you could have a huge invasion. However, if they're just the Morogor drakes (TRoW) or drakes living somewhere in the known lands around Wesnoth, then there's just not that many drakes around. Certainly there can be colonies of drakes that could cause huge local problems and possibly manage to take any of the smaller cities, but nowhere near enough to rival the kind of armies that Wesnoth, elves or orcs have.

So, some miscellaneous ideas:

Elvish, human or dwarvish cities or outposts in the areas south/southwest of Wesnoth, featured in TSG. Drakes would invade from the southeast.

Orcish or dwarvish cities in the far north (could be human cities too, if it's a bit later in the timeline). Drakes would invade from the east, north of Lintanir.

Orcish (or undead?) cities on the Green Isle, sometime after TRoW; drakes invade from Morogor.

[Osnil]

Thanks for the help. The beginning is the fall of the city, where your goal is to get out of the city, but only to find out that they lay in wait at the signpost, and you are enslaved. I intend to have a few different paths for the story to go, now that I've given more thought. The second scenario is vital to the story. You pick your race and the story proceeds from there. Once captured, you can:
1. Attempt to escape with the help of a rogue Drake (Limited recruitment, but more free units) Race of hero=Dwarf
2. Win your freedom as a gladiator in an arena, and then exact revenge on all Drakes (but a few high level units and items) Race of Hero=Orc or Troll (weighing my options)
3. Escape on your own and join the other refugees/escapees/bandits and play Robin Hood (More varied recruitment) Race of Hero=Elf
4. Come to the service of a Necromancer helping the Drakes, then betray your master and retake the city (Undead recruitment) Race of Hero=Human
5. Join the Drake invasion of the coastal lands, and then rally the Merfolk to fight back. (Naval Campaign) Race=Naga

No matter what line you choose, you have to kill the Dragon King eventually.

So, what do you think of that? I think it diversifies the story enough.

As for location, I'm going to have a world separate from Wesnoth, or an unknown area of Wesnoth.