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Fire and Blood

neckface presents:
FIRE AND BLOOD
(Chapter One)

a single-player campaign spanning four individual maps


What is It?

Fire and Blood is a classically themed single-player RPG in which you control a party of four heroes. Loosely inspired by Warcraft and WOW themes and lore but original in scope and mythology, your group of four young adventurers explores a mystical and lavishly designed world fraught with adventure, danger, and loot.


Why Play It?

I designed Fire and Blood as a 'back-to-basics' solo RPG. Initially you choose four heroes from a pool of 20 different character classes, of course making sure to balance your party between might, muscle, and healing. After the opening cinematic you are free to explore. Freely travel back and forth between overwold maps, and explore dungeons as often as you like to collect the best loot and acquire powerful abilities.

In this initial release, the gameworld spans four separate maps--three overworld and one dungeon (my plan over time is to include 3 more dungeons and 6 more overworld zones, but at the pace I work, I feel it prudent to release just the first chapter).


Features

20 Unique Character Classes
120 Custom Abilities
Open-World Travel
Agility-Based Evasion System
Damage Display System
Challenging Strategic Gameplay
Lush, Extravagantly Detailed Terrain
Fearsome Dungeon and Overworld Bosses


The Character Classes

Of course, to attain real ultimate power you need some serious heroes! Draw your heroes from a pool of awesome and unique warriors. Each hero has 1 innate ability, which is mana free (or passive), four basic, levelable abilities, and one ultimate ability (achieved at level 7 in the alpha). The strategies you use and the gameplay experience you have is largely determined by the group heroes that you pick!

Fighter Archetypes
Primary Attribute: Strength
The Fighters are the shields of your party, with their innate ability to taunt and their high armor and hit points.

Warrior, Brawler, Berserker, Paladin

Thief Archetypes
Primary Attribute: Agility
Useful for speedy attacks and mana-independent DPS, this group has quite a few tricky abilities that serve many different purposes...from pickpocketing for gold to subduing foes and controlling combat.

Thief, Assassin, Blade Dancer, Bounty Hunter

Wizard Archetypes
Primary Attribute: Intelligence
These are your nukers, your big guns, and your crowd-controllers. However, once their mana runs out they are dead in the water.

Mage, Frost Mage, Stormcaller, Pyromancer

Healer Archetypes
Primary Attribute: Intelligence
A member of the Healer class is absolutely essential to the success of the party. While defensive by design, some of these casters also have surprising offensive abilities, especially the Shadow Priest.

Priestess, Ecomancer, Crusader, Shadow Priest

Summoner Archetypes
Primary Attribute: Various
This group is the maverick, hybrid class. Each hero summons a type of pet (or totems) to enhance their basic abilities.

Beastmaster, Huntsman, Warlock, Shaman


The Storyline

The story of Fire and Blood starts very simply. Your four young heroes have lived their lives training in the martial and mystical arts with the Warmasters, an ancient and monastic military sect. The Warmasters, though very small in numbers, have a long history of aiding kingdoms in need, battling for good when their need is called for. Before any padawan can attain the title of Master, they must complete what is called the Gojun A'am--simply translated as 'The Quest' However, Gojun A'am is not defined. A padawan must discover his or her purpose over the course of a yearlong journey out into the world. Our story begins on the Gojun A'am day of our four heroes, as they leave their monastery and begin their pilgrimage in search of their quest...


Screenshots!



























Model and Skin Credits

I downloaded a butt-ton of models and skins from WC3 Campaigns and the Hive for this project. I take no credit for the beautiful custom skins and models in this project. Credits:

KC -Grendel alfredx_sotn Ampharos_222 Aquis ArchonClock/Archonian /Grey Archon
Black_Stan buster Callahan Cavman Celestea CloudWolf CombatTheWombat
D.O.G. Dan van Ohllus Dentothor Deolrin Dionesiist diosilva16 erwtenpeller
eubz Fan Frankster General Frank happytauren HappyTauren
Hawkwing hellblazer-14 hortaxman jigrael Kehel Kimberly Kwaliti
Leopard Mc ! Mephestrial Mr Meesh pins PROXY Pyramidhe@d Radagast Sellenisko
shamanyouranus shiiK Skipper soulreaver6 Tarrasque THE_END Tiki wij



Changelog

1.01 added campaign preview image


Thank you for reading! I welcome your feedback and bug reports.
Cheers!

~neckface

Keywords:
Campaign,
Single Player, neckface, BaronVonFancy
Contents

Fire and Blood (Campaign)

Reviews
Approved - a single player rpg map with 4 heroes to play, what a bonus!Fire and Blood (Version 1.0) RateScorePercentLetter 5/591-100A RateScorePercentLetter 4/581-90%B RateScorePercentLetter 3/575-80%C RateScorePercentLetter...
Level 1
Joined
Aug 23, 2013
Messages
7
well... as long as it becomes the king of all RPGs, take all the time you require...
and add a few more champs if possible... at least 1 or 2 per altar....
 
Level 2
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
2
From what I've seen so far, it's very nice, though my one concern is creep respawn. The mutant wolf boss is hard enough without his wolves respawning right on top of you, I would suggest having respawns happen only after heroes have left the area.

It seems that you were using a weak team here is a good team to play with : Paladin , Shadow priest , bounty hunter and any mage class ( I prefer the stormcaller )
 
Level 4
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
17
It seems that a lot of you are playing through the game multiple times with different parties. That makes me happy! Any feedback on which parties work best? Any abilities that you think need buffing or nerfing? So far one of my personal favorite parties is Paladin/Beastmaster/Pyromancer/Crusader. I also really enjoy using the Berserker, Huntsman, and Mage too. :) Let me know your favorites!
 
Level 2
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
6
It seems that a lot of you are playing through the game multiple times with different parties. That makes me happy! Any feedback on which parties work best? Any abilities that you think need buffing or nerfing? So far one of my personal favorite parties is Paladin/Beastmaster/Pyromancer/Crusader. I also really enjoy using the Berserker, Huntsman, and Mage too. :) Let me know your favorites!

my strongest team is this
MT is berserker,though he is not good at absorb much damage but this guy can stun boss for a long time plus good damage.this makes he is the best MT.
lv3 blackhand with any one control ability can keep boss stun for ever!yeh forever if you have enough MP

magic fire power:mage,her magic attack may not be the best,but AOE is good and especially blink and time stop ablility can be a lot use.Lev2 time stop can have you kick boss's ass for free:xxd: for 1 min
you can to what you want to our poor helpless boss

physic fire power:beastmaster or huntman are both good,you can choose any one.2~3 huge bear can make good MT and fire power,even stun boss for a while,though other skills are not so useful.
huntman's wolf is not awesome as bears but himself can make good firepower--with good weapon,and poison spear harms a lot too.
in late game huntman will be better while in early beastmaster serves better

healer:cusader no argu.chain skill can have you beat boss for free.that's much much much better than other 3 healer in real boss fight


and........when will our neckface update?
 
Level 2
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
10
Hi! I'm new here.
I just downloaded your campaign..
It was a lot of fun, really. I am excited about the final version. When will it be finished?
All in all, the campaign is great.

I have some issues with some of the quests though:
1. Beastmaster Fiss is NOT dropping the ring.
2. I can't avail of the services of the advanced merchants in Amrynn even if the notifications say that I can.
3. The quests won't progress with the dark mage and the old guy in Amrynn. All they have on their heads are yellow exclamation marks... but the storyline is not progressing.
 
Level 1
Joined
Nov 13, 2015
Messages
1
I must say, this may well be the best custom RPG campaign I have seen for Warcraft!
Hats of to you sir!
I can't wait for a longer version!
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 69
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,798
chap1:
-master Zeh'yr's scene needs camera applied on her location; the cinematic mode starts wherever the player has the screen on; actually it seems to be for every/any scene
-a quest should be marked completed after the reward is given to avoid confusion
-everybody's a padawan, eh?
-the Stone of Power in the north does not activate; it regenerates though

chap2:

-weird, now numbers appear on units (damage/HP loss, I guess); that didn't show in the previous level and it was quite fine
-Dar's Summon Bear ability could mention that more than one bears at a time can be present; one bear is stronger than any of my heroes :D; not to mention Bash en masse
-Stag Carcass is a unit that can be selected with the heroes
-well, this could have been a story of its own with tolkienien and warcraftien creatures
-returning to Flemmingway while the quest is marked as completed is odd
-Radiant Healing mentions that the Inquisitor does the healing while the hero is a Crusader
-is that only one specific hero can activate the stones?
-the thing is that the Enraged Treant is allied with other creatures like the naga and can come to help them and follows the heroes only to remain still (not going back on its previous patrol zone) after casting the shockwaves spell; the treant remained somewhere on the beach to the west but in manner that it cannot be circumvented without it engaging the heroes; it returned to its proper place after killing/waiting for a bear (to expire)
-if they knocked Kassandra out, why didn't they also take her?
-what are two humans and a horse doing in naga territory?
-killed the Enraged Treant after coming back from the sunken ruins; nothing dropped...

naga dungeon:
-Bear's Frenzy changed its place with Taunt
-Mortuu devours heroes...
-Aimed Shot is basically Power Shot
-well, keys could be like runes and not occupy inventory space...
-other stones can't be activated, only the one at the entrance of the dungeon?
-units can be summoned behind doors :D
-I think Chains of Penance needs a bigger cooldown
-where the heck is that ring the optional quest mentions?

chap3:
-the Bear's abilities need proper positions as they switch from a level to the other
-every animal is a magi here?
-quest itmes are already visible on the map even if the specific quest is not yet given to the player; this could cause problems with items that are taken like runes (eg: Grave Ivy); the map might need to be restarted/reentered
-strange, still fighting level 3 creatures
-where to find the key for the grave chest?
-there's a lesser earth elemental in the southwest that cannot get out of its zone (pathing problems/blockers or actually it has a big selection circle as heroes can get to it)
-kind of boring in the plains killing units on the map; there's too little story development to compensate with the monotonous gameplay

3.5/5. Not finished.
 
Level 4
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
17
It's a dead campaign or what?

Hello all! Yes, please consider the Fire and Blood campaign in a deep, deep death-like coma. Not quite "clinically dead," but obviously not going anywhere anytime soon. I've opened it up a few times to add content, but it will remain unfinished for a looooong time... like, years :(.

A very warm thanks to the hive and to all who played and gave feedback, I really do appreciate it! I hope you enjoyed my little creation, despite its incompleteness!

Cheers,
neckface
 
Level 1
Joined
Feb 1, 2016
Messages
1
Hello all! Yes, please consider the Fire and Blood campaign in a deep, deep death-like coma. Not quite "clinically dead," but obviously not going anywhere anytime soon. I've opened it up a few times to add content, but it will remain unfinished for a looooong time... like, years :(.

A very warm thanks to the hive and to all who played and gave feedback, I really do appreciate it! I hope you enjoyed my little creation, despite its incompleteness!

Cheers,
neckface

Oh noesss!

That is too bad... ;/
I myself consider this as one of the best RPG maps out there and that it has tremendous potential it could grow into.

Epic units, scenery, well balanced (though it could be tweaked a bit more)
Well-rounded 4-hero RPG Campaign, sad to see it postponed like this..

I really hope you'll be able to get back to the project any time soon and continue the Maps and the story ( It's really astonishing ).

Really fell in love with the map and can't wait!

Have fun!
-Darky
 
Level 1
Joined
Dec 27, 2016
Messages
7
Hello all! Yes, please consider the Fire and Blood campaign in a deep, deep death-like coma. Not quite "clinically dead," but obviously not going anywhere anytime soon. I've opened it up a few times to add content, but it will remain unfinished for a looooong time... like, years :(.

A very warm thanks to the hive and to all who played and gave feedback, I really do appreciate it! I hope you enjoyed my little creation, despite its incompleteness!

Cheers,
neckface

No problem, I understand that you've got some problems, so don't worry we will look forward for your return :)

P.S. I know I replied "a bit" late XD.
 
Level 9
Joined
Aug 26, 2017
Messages
166
Despite being an unfinished campaign and will probably stay "comatose", 'Fire and Blood' already holds an impressive amount of lore, map design, environment detail, logical character equipment, replay ability and offers players a good challenge wherever they decide to step.

I've always had a deep appreciation for stories where people have to discover their own destiny or seek out their life's goal without them knowing exactly what they have to do or who they have to face in order for them to become "complete".
The characters are well built with well rounded abilities, unique armor types accompanied by unique damage types. You have a plethora of character combinations available to try out as you venture out into the world and try to overcome Elite ranked enemies that can easily overpower your party if you aren't careful enough or build your party correctly.

Even though 'Fire and Blood' probably won't be finished without Herculean efforts involved, it offers people a good experience and a sample of its ambitious and deeply thought out design. It easily earns a 4/5 grade simply because it is already rich in design and offers so much even in its demo state.
 
Level 2
Joined
Jul 7, 2016
Messages
10
You should change the Thief heroes from Light Armor to Unarmored to mitigate some of the squishiness -- assuming you didn't change the armor type-damage type effectiveness. There's a reason only flying units untargetable by a whole class of units have light armor.
 
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