Mainline Dunefolk Campaign Proposal

[Ender24]

I've never done any substantial coding and have plan on implementing this myself. That said, I obviously don't expect someone else to just make it for me. This is meant primarily as a jumping-off point for discussing what a mainline Dunefolk campaign should entail, and can serve as reference for people actually making one.

The main plot would involve the Dunefolk sending an envoy to Wesnoth in hopes of gaining their help in fighting off a Drake invasion. The Drakes are almost as underutilized as the Dunefoll in mainline despite having been mainline for over a decade longer. Using them as villains would give them time to shine.

The first scenario has the player sent to vanquish some Drakes invading a frontier town. This they accomplish rather easily.

The second scenario has the player returning to the Dunefolk capital only to find it under siege by a whole boatload of Drakes. The Dunefolk desperately discuss their options. Knowing they can't hold off the Drakes forever, they need an ally. There's been a conspicuous lack of diplomatic relations from Wesnoth for the past several months, but with no better options, they decide to send you as an envoy to them in hopes of bringing home an army. The scenario consists of escaping the capital while pursued by several Drake teams (very similar to HttT S1).

A few scenarios in the desert follow. The specifics can be worked out later. A consistent element is that the Drakes are chasing the player through the desert (think Azog in the Hobbit Trilogy).

Eventually, the Dunefolk envoy makes it to the southeastern frontier of Wesnoth. There they run into Li'sar. The town they reach is in ruins, and Li'sar is currently fighting off some Orcs. Apparently there's been a civil war in Wesnoth and Queen Asheviere is dead, now succeeded by Konrad. These orcs are some of her remaining commaders. Li'sar agrees to send them what little forces she can spare if they help liberate this town from the Orcs.

After defeating the Orcs, the Dunefolk start the long journey home, now able to recruit a handful of Loyalist units.

The last scenario sees the player returning to the Dunefolk capital and liberating it with their newfound forces.

It's a rough sketch, but I think it's solid start.

[redbeard2]

Has potential, saurians and naga might get involved as they do well in desert (descriptions of some naga units explicitly describe them as interacting with dune folk)

To my knowledge there’s next to nothing that’s actually canon with dunefolk, so you can do almost whatever you want.

[Spannerbag]

Sounds good; drakes are fire resistant so the burner line might need some alternative opposition otherwise they'll be useless in your campaign?

Drakes also have some blade and impact resistance but are vulnerable to pierce so there are several decent dunefolk options.

You might have to give some thought to narrative: why the wesnothians?
Both drakes and wesnothians are lawful alignment so both fight well or poorly at the same times of day.
Wesnothians move and defend poorly on sandy terrain.

The dunefolk's top end pierce units are a match for what the wesnothians have (e.g. the Halberdier is, IMHO, a tad weaker than the dunefolk's spearmaster, tho' the former's 3 strikes are better than the latter's 2 in terms of chances to hit at least once).

Further, mages (except healers) are not much use as they have fire attacks.
(Dark adepts and advancements have arcane and cold ranged attacks but aren't found in the wesnothian army.)

To my mind there's not a lot the wesnothian army can offer, best choices (to my mind anyway) that complement the existing dunefolk roster are:

• Javelineers (if recruitable - not entirely unreasonable at L2 with no advancements - would make a moderately cheap general purpose foot unit).
  Especially effective if combined with dunefolk striders who can slow enemies.
• L4 leadership.
• Paladins could be useful despite lacking ranged attacks, but expect losses on desert terrain.
  However IMHO paladins are outclassed on sand by cataphracts who have ranged retaliation.
• Though not found in the wesnothian army, huntsmen backed up by healers might do well against drakes at night?

There are various ways to setup a balanced, interesting and challenging campaign, just wanted to point out what came to my mind when I read your post.

Hope my random witterings help.

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[Ender24]

That's a lot of technical aspects I hadn't considered. I was just thinking about it narratively; Drakes, like Dunefolk, are underrepresented in mainline, and I thought it'd be neat to see Wesnoth's resistance to Asheviere from an outside perspective that has no stakes in the matter. That could still easily be achieved while having Wesnoth say "Sorry, too busy finishing the war. Ask someone else."

Who would you propose as a more sound alternative? You talk about alignment so would orcs be a good pick? That would put them directly at odds with Wesnoth. Undead would feel...odd, thematically. Thieves would be a good pick, as they're both chaotic and Wesnothian. Maybe when the state turns their noses up at the Dunefolk, some convicts step in in exchange for something.

As for rendering the burner line useless, I don't think it'd be too big an issue as long as there are enough non-Drake opponents, which I'd imagine there would be more of the further you get from the Dunefolk capital.

[Spannerbag]

Heh, I do everything wrong when creating campaigns; I don't storyboard and only have a vague idea of narrative arc.
I simply start coding and see where my characters take me.
It's inefficient but kinda works for me as I doubt I'd stick to my own storyboard anyway, I'm always having, uh, "good ideas"...

If you want a campaign primarily concerning Dunefolk and Drakes (D&D? ) bear in mind they don't have to be enemies; the player could command both?
There are many options, e.g. maybe have D&D forced into an alliance against the Wesnothian army.

Alternatively if you want Drakes to be the enemy that's fine too.

The rationale for the "initial state" of your campaign need not be complicated and could, for example, be as simple as some luckless Dunefolk wandering into Drake hunting grounds or some thirsty Drakes disoriented by a sandstorm depleting a Dunefolk Oasis... or whatever.

That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with your original idea; player controls Dunefolk (and maybe some allied units) vs Drakes.
In my previous post I didn't mean that your campaign idea itself was non-viable, merely the rationale as to why Dunefolk would ally with Wesnothians seemed (to me) a tad unconvincing.

One possible narrative outline "off the top of my head":

• For some reason Dunefolk and Drakes end up fighting each other.
• After initial success against the vanguard the Dunefolk are forced to retreat when the full might of the Drakes reaches them.
• Either:
  1. All Dunefolk retreat.
  2. A small contingent are despatched whilst the remainder continue to fend off the Drakes.
• As the Dunefolk move towards Wesnoth the terrain will gradually favour them less but Wesnothians more which is a reason to introduce them.
• Wesnothians may be friendly or hostile:
  1. Hostile: Dunefolk ally with some outlying settlements fending off the Wesnothian Army's scouts and vanguard.
     In this case the player could control the defending forces (probably Wesnothian in nature; Peasants, Spearmen, Bowmen, maybe mounted units etc. although you could also consider Woodsmen or Outlaws as well as or instead of Wesnothian units).
     Whether the Drakes and Wesnothians ally with each other is up to you - whichever you think makes for a more enjoyable player experience.
     Personally I'd be inclined to arrange matters so that the combined Drake and Wesnothian forces are way too powerful for the player to defeat but the map allows the player to somehow allow the Drakes and Wesnothians to wear each other down (like opening scenario of Northern Rebirth).
  2. Allied: The Drakes are obviously a serious threat.
• Later scenarios will depend on plot;
  • Were any Dunefolk left behind to defend against the Drakes?
  • Are the Wesnothians ally or enemy?

Pick whatever storyline you decide would make the most enjoyable gameplay.
Time setting: bear in mind Drakes appear in 3YW.
The geography of the lands south of Wesnoth are not well known although some campaigns are set in the southern reaches of Wesnoth (e.g. The South Guard - begins 466 YW) so you could steal use their maps for ideas and inspiration.

As always, hope my random witterings help.

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[DuncanDill]

Thats given me the idea of a multiplayer campaign between dunefolk and nagas

[Ender24]

It just occurred to me that it could be interesting if upon reaching Wesnoth, the player can choose which of two factions to defeat (Li'sar's forces or Asheviere's orcs) as a way of allying with the other, giving the opportunity to choose which they want to fight with. Of course with your aforementioned alignment issue, the orcs risk feeling like too obviously correct from a mechanical standpoint while the Wesnothians would be too obviously correct from a narrative standpoint (the orcs are obviously the bad guys). It also risks messing up continuity if campaigns set afterward have to reconcile both potential alliances as canon.

As for Dunefolk and Nagas, I don't think that would really work because one is terrestrial while the other is aquatic. Any terrain would be incredibly biased towards one side or the other, so it'd feel either too easy or too hard.

[Spannerbag]

It just occurred to me that it could be interesting if upon reaching Wesnoth, the player can choose which of two factions to defeat...

You could just have a straighforward choice within a single scenario and configure the other sides to be allies or enemies accordingly.

Instead you could design a branching path so that the player gets to play different scenario(s) due to choices they make during gameplay.
This allows for greater flexibility, gives your campaign some replayability (if that's important to you) and allows conditional changes to the narrative (if that is of interest to you).

Many campaigns do this one way or another, for example in "classic" Heir to the Throne (not had chance to play the new version much) the scenario A Choice Must Be Made has three next scenarios; Snow Plains, Swamp Of Dread, or Cliffs of Thoria.

Just a thought, depends how much effort you want to invest.

As to the actual opponents, even within the constraints of canon you could set this up by having a dispute between the two enemies.
For example the wesnothian army could be engaging a group of orcs because e.g. they deserted because they weren't been paid (enough) or have looted something they shouldn't have.
Alternatively some wesnothian troops sent to recruit more orcs foolishly took the gold intended as payment with them.
The orcs realised this and are now more interested in looting the gold than earning it...

Hope this helps.

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[odisseus_]

Eventually, the Dunefolk envoy makes it to the southeastern frontier of Wesnoth. There they run into Li'sar. The town they reach is in ruins, and Li'sar is currently fighting off some Orcs. Apparently there's been a civil war in Wesnoth and Queen Asheviere is dead, now succeeded by Konrad. These orcs are some of her remaining commaders. Li'sar agrees to send them what little forces she can spare if they help liberate this town from the Orcs.

A small correction: according to the official lore,

Spoiler:

Li'sar is the successor of the Wesnoth royal line, and Konrad is a king consort (wiki).

This becomes known by the end of Heir to the Throne.