- Joined
- Feb 27, 2020
- Messages
- 24
Hey Everyone! Welcome to... I'm not very good at names, but this project for now is called the Portal War. It tells the story of an alternative timeline where Medivh opened the Dark Portal at the Altar of Zul in the Hinterlands. This map is designed to be a massive 12 player RPG/RTS that blends elements of Azeroth Wars and the Rexxar Campaign. I'm looking for anyone inspired to bring whatever skills to the project they are inspired to. I'm not looking for people to do the work for me, but more like partnership in telling a story. So, let's start off with an overview of that story, then I will explain the mechanics. (I know this seems like a lot of Fanfic but I think it's important to understand how this Warcraft story is different, while using familiar lore.)
:BEGIN LORE:
This is one of many timelines in which the caverns of time are no longer functioning because events here are so perilous, they threaten the other timelines. When the guardian of the Demon Soul Orastraz fell upon the trespassing Gnolls to ward them away from his secret perch his choice created a new timeline, but he had no idea that this was the entire united Gnoll army fleeing from decisive defeat at the hands of the Kingdom of Stormwind. Even as he put whole tribes to the flame, there were more who slipped past him into his own cave to find shelter. These Gnolls realized they had taken shelter in the Dragon roost and that he would soon return, and so they fled, but not before taking Demon soul. Within hours, black dragonflight spies had informed Deathwing that they had confirmed the Demon Soul was indeed missing, who responded by ordering his most powerful broodlings to infiltrate the Gnoll migrants and find the Demon Soul, while he looked for allies in the North to do the fighting and dying when it came time to steal it.
Meanwhile, the guardian Medivh could see the silhouettes of red Dragonflight over the ridges of the valley of Karazhan, and the wind bore the smell of burnt hair. A few days later he visited the destruction and found Orastraz hostile even to him, given in to panic and suspicion for unknown and unstated reasons. He returned to Karazhan but the avatar of Sargeras within him took note of the wildcard the Dragons played, and searched Medivh's mind for a better location. This was the reason Medivh opens the portal at the Alter of Zul, far away from the aerial policing of the red dragonflight, hunting down their thieves. {During the gameplay, Medivh will be killed by Lothar and Khadgar as usual (off screen The game is in Tanaan and Lordaeron only) but this sparks the Scarlet Crusade to purge foul magic from Azeroth with a special target on Dalaran and Kel'Thuzad. The Gul'dan player will be affected by this event.}
When it's finally time for possessed Medivh to open the portal, he arrives at the altar of Zul to find it the center of an active Loa ceremony. Medivh summons Infernals to scatter the Trolls from the site, and the portal is opened and the Orcs charge through to massacre the stunned and horrified Trolls. Zul'jin leads the survivors back to Jintha'alor, but the prophet Zul falls which rallies the other troll tribes to the aid of the Amani when they hear. The Amani turn to their Loa, who empower the Amani as best they can, but the Loa themselves turn to Cenarius.
Cenarius, being the waking protector of the Emerald Dream and the only living being outside the green dragonflight capable of entering the emerald dream awake, Cenarius warned Malfurion and exited Seradine, only to find it filled with Trolls. Though he at first raised his gnarled hands to murder the trespassers, he saw the wilds themselves coming alive to fight alongside these trolls against an enemy he had never seen before and of the magic of the Legion. Cenarius forged a pact with the Trolls but gave no promise as to a treaty with the forces of Malfurion, who were sure to be already preparing to set sail.
In Lordaeron, Alonsus Faol is creating the Church of the Light, but its emphasis is on Paladins and knightly orders and large endowments to build monastery fortresses. To many peasants, it appears the nobility has found thier own source of magic like the wizards of Dalaran, and want to make insulate themselves against the troubles of the peasants the same way. This discontent means the new religion leaves the poor and vulnerable peasant militia susceptible to the call of Kel'Thuzad, who arms all able peasants with magic forbidden by the Kirin Tor. Kel'Thuzad's equalizing movement is particularly popular in already poorer countries like Gilneas and Alterac.
As for the Orcs, Gul'dan's hold is strong but fragile. When the Frostwolves came through the portal, Durotan refused to fight alongside Infernals and called it proof that Gul'dan and Ner'zhul had abandoned the old ways. Having been called out on the field of battle and unable to risk fracturing the Horde upon arrival Gul'dan exiled the Frostwolves on pain of death. Meanwhile the Horde on Draenor is slowly starving to death, so Blackhand and Gul'dan have to find ways to give each tribe new lands to conquer without upsetting the other tribes' jealousy. The exile of the Frostwolves showed the Horde over the next few nights that no challenge to Gul'dan was to follow, and the old ways died to make way for the Fel Horde. Gul'dan now plots to find a way to abandon the Horde and free Sargeras.
But the forces of Draenor are not entirely united behind Gul'dan now. Rexxar witnessed the altercation with Durotan and left the Horde in disgust to find guidance in the Wilds, which has more need of him than he knows. Orgrim Doomhammer finds his political stock swelling, as what few Orcs who value honor above power come to him in council, some urging him to lead them to join Durotan, some urging him to call out Blackhand and lead the Horde back to honor. Teron'gor and Dentarg have their own plans and their ambitions certainly do not hold to the cause of Gul'dan. Akama attempts to evade the agents of the Horde in Tanaan and find a way to escape to the lands beyond where his people may find safety and food.
Even the Steamwheedle Cartel have their own agenda, having recently synthesized a potion to allow Quillboar to travel far from the blood of Aggamar. Able to finally explore the world, the Quillboar signed themselves unknowingly into contracts with all their pay at the back end, which the daily cost of potion is deducted from. Finding themselves sick and far from home, these quillboar have become desperate and ruthless in service of the Goblins, because every day brings more shiploads of Quillboar, and the Mogul makes sure there isn't enough potion to keep everyone from getting sick. The Goblins are in a great position to sell their great strength to the highest bidder and pursue their "business interests."
:END LORE:
So, you made it this far thanks for sticking through. Let's get to proposed mechanics.
With 12 players, there are 4 players to each faction, choosing between 6 available characters to start. Some of these characters have wildly different allegiance paths and may upset the balance of the game, that is intentional to make things unpredictable. With this one hero, players can make choices that unlock other heroes and classes of units along with those choices, as well as pursue choices to change the appearance, abilities and allegiance of the player character.
So, each faction (Trolls, Alliance, Horde) will have major capitals (Zul'Aman,Hellfire Citadel,Silvermoon, etc) that act as an initial player hub and conflict agent. These capitals spawn units according to the class of building spawn triggering the unit spawn. These buildings in this area start pre-built, but the map will contain various circles of power that allow players to build new spawn buildings and add to the momentum of the army. The NPC controlled units that start in the capitals begin a series of attack moves along a route that can be in some cases changed by player decision but mostly goes in one direction, in that the Horde waypoints aways terminate at Silvermoon and the Alliance waypoints always terminate at Hellfire Citadel. As more buildings are built by players, the momentum of the game picks up, but leaves the operation of the war in the hands of the NPC, so the player can choose to grow an army or specialize in a powerful hero and still be able to do their part to win the game.
These buildings will allow the player to purchase units or hero enhancements like merchants or shops, but only if they have chosen a player path that allows them access to that class of building. Eg, Dentarg cannot hire Warsong units unless he has unlocked Grom Hellscream as a secondary hero. The units unlocked by each of these buildings are specific to the class of building that spawns them, so certain quests can change the direction of the spawns (eg Dragonmaw attack Seradine, otherwise enter Hillsbrad.) This will allow players to have a measure of control and change as to how the armies behave, while ensuring players cannot become superpowers for a controlled period of time.
The overall objective is to destroy the capitals of your enemies, but also there are 10 endgame crises possible, separate from faction victory.
1: The Alliance can join the Lightsworn by accepting the Scarlet Crusade, and attempt to Curling 13 Lordaeron and Outland.
2: The Alliance rebels can summon Dimensius, dooming the world to void saturation.
3: If a player picked Cenarius and survived until Malfurion arrives, Trolls can join the Emerald Purifiers and cleanse the wilds. But mostly cities.
4: If no player picked Cenarius or he is in ghost form, the Night Elves will blame obvious troll treachery and add Trolls to the things to cleanse from the wilds.
5: Gul'dan frees Sargeras and summons the Legion.
6: Detheroc places the Crown of Domination on the head of Sargeras as he is freed, dominating Sargeras and creating the Shadow Legion
7: Xavius is summoned from the Emerald Dream, corrupting all the wildwoods in Lordaeron
8: If a player picked Sapphiron, can begin the Nexus War invasion
9:If a troll player became undead, can summonthe mawsworn not quite sure whether to include shadowlands lore, let me know what you all think.
10: Deathwing or any naga aligned player can free N'zoth.
There are also midgame events, such as the Stormwind (Scarlet) Crusade that enters the war via the thandol pass. Not sure if they are all worth mentioning as there are a lot.
Here are some screencaps of the project currently. Please be aware that the models don't altogether reflect what I intend to use, but my worldeditor crashes on loadup when it tries to apply all the dds load paths, so many units are stand-ins and most of the towns and capitals are without buildings. I also intend to credit all the custom model authors but I'm not sure which ones will end up being used, I thought for a long time I could not use any customs with textures because of the load errors. Anyway, each building is represented by the 4 unit types in front of it: Infantry, Ranged, Spellcaster, Elite. Some barracks also have a flying unit. If you are inspired to make models for this project please by all means let me know, though I'm looking for help from anyone who wants to contribute. I'm not looking for any specific kind of help really as I'm pretty confident about being able to finish it, I would just like to work with someone as excited as I am to bring back a darker and more desperate tone in warcraft lore without going full waaagh. I've been hanging around Hive for years silently and hope this will be a good way to join the community. Hope to hear from someone soon! Also I checked the rules and I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place with this but I'm sorry if it's not.
:BEGIN LORE:
This is one of many timelines in which the caverns of time are no longer functioning because events here are so perilous, they threaten the other timelines. When the guardian of the Demon Soul Orastraz fell upon the trespassing Gnolls to ward them away from his secret perch his choice created a new timeline, but he had no idea that this was the entire united Gnoll army fleeing from decisive defeat at the hands of the Kingdom of Stormwind. Even as he put whole tribes to the flame, there were more who slipped past him into his own cave to find shelter. These Gnolls realized they had taken shelter in the Dragon roost and that he would soon return, and so they fled, but not before taking Demon soul. Within hours, black dragonflight spies had informed Deathwing that they had confirmed the Demon Soul was indeed missing, who responded by ordering his most powerful broodlings to infiltrate the Gnoll migrants and find the Demon Soul, while he looked for allies in the North to do the fighting and dying when it came time to steal it.
Meanwhile, the guardian Medivh could see the silhouettes of red Dragonflight over the ridges of the valley of Karazhan, and the wind bore the smell of burnt hair. A few days later he visited the destruction and found Orastraz hostile even to him, given in to panic and suspicion for unknown and unstated reasons. He returned to Karazhan but the avatar of Sargeras within him took note of the wildcard the Dragons played, and searched Medivh's mind for a better location. This was the reason Medivh opens the portal at the Alter of Zul, far away from the aerial policing of the red dragonflight, hunting down their thieves. {During the gameplay, Medivh will be killed by Lothar and Khadgar as usual (off screen The game is in Tanaan and Lordaeron only) but this sparks the Scarlet Crusade to purge foul magic from Azeroth with a special target on Dalaran and Kel'Thuzad. The Gul'dan player will be affected by this event.}
When it's finally time for possessed Medivh to open the portal, he arrives at the altar of Zul to find it the center of an active Loa ceremony. Medivh summons Infernals to scatter the Trolls from the site, and the portal is opened and the Orcs charge through to massacre the stunned and horrified Trolls. Zul'jin leads the survivors back to Jintha'alor, but the prophet Zul falls which rallies the other troll tribes to the aid of the Amani when they hear. The Amani turn to their Loa, who empower the Amani as best they can, but the Loa themselves turn to Cenarius.
Cenarius, being the waking protector of the Emerald Dream and the only living being outside the green dragonflight capable of entering the emerald dream awake, Cenarius warned Malfurion and exited Seradine, only to find it filled with Trolls. Though he at first raised his gnarled hands to murder the trespassers, he saw the wilds themselves coming alive to fight alongside these trolls against an enemy he had never seen before and of the magic of the Legion. Cenarius forged a pact with the Trolls but gave no promise as to a treaty with the forces of Malfurion, who were sure to be already preparing to set sail.
In Lordaeron, Alonsus Faol is creating the Church of the Light, but its emphasis is on Paladins and knightly orders and large endowments to build monastery fortresses. To many peasants, it appears the nobility has found thier own source of magic like the wizards of Dalaran, and want to make insulate themselves against the troubles of the peasants the same way. This discontent means the new religion leaves the poor and vulnerable peasant militia susceptible to the call of Kel'Thuzad, who arms all able peasants with magic forbidden by the Kirin Tor. Kel'Thuzad's equalizing movement is particularly popular in already poorer countries like Gilneas and Alterac.
As for the Orcs, Gul'dan's hold is strong but fragile. When the Frostwolves came through the portal, Durotan refused to fight alongside Infernals and called it proof that Gul'dan and Ner'zhul had abandoned the old ways. Having been called out on the field of battle and unable to risk fracturing the Horde upon arrival Gul'dan exiled the Frostwolves on pain of death. Meanwhile the Horde on Draenor is slowly starving to death, so Blackhand and Gul'dan have to find ways to give each tribe new lands to conquer without upsetting the other tribes' jealousy. The exile of the Frostwolves showed the Horde over the next few nights that no challenge to Gul'dan was to follow, and the old ways died to make way for the Fel Horde. Gul'dan now plots to find a way to abandon the Horde and free Sargeras.
But the forces of Draenor are not entirely united behind Gul'dan now. Rexxar witnessed the altercation with Durotan and left the Horde in disgust to find guidance in the Wilds, which has more need of him than he knows. Orgrim Doomhammer finds his political stock swelling, as what few Orcs who value honor above power come to him in council, some urging him to lead them to join Durotan, some urging him to call out Blackhand and lead the Horde back to honor. Teron'gor and Dentarg have their own plans and their ambitions certainly do not hold to the cause of Gul'dan. Akama attempts to evade the agents of the Horde in Tanaan and find a way to escape to the lands beyond where his people may find safety and food.
Even the Steamwheedle Cartel have their own agenda, having recently synthesized a potion to allow Quillboar to travel far from the blood of Aggamar. Able to finally explore the world, the Quillboar signed themselves unknowingly into contracts with all their pay at the back end, which the daily cost of potion is deducted from. Finding themselves sick and far from home, these quillboar have become desperate and ruthless in service of the Goblins, because every day brings more shiploads of Quillboar, and the Mogul makes sure there isn't enough potion to keep everyone from getting sick. The Goblins are in a great position to sell their great strength to the highest bidder and pursue their "business interests."
:END LORE:
So, you made it this far thanks for sticking through. Let's get to proposed mechanics.
With 12 players, there are 4 players to each faction, choosing between 6 available characters to start. Some of these characters have wildly different allegiance paths and may upset the balance of the game, that is intentional to make things unpredictable. With this one hero, players can make choices that unlock other heroes and classes of units along with those choices, as well as pursue choices to change the appearance, abilities and allegiance of the player character.
So, each faction (Trolls, Alliance, Horde) will have major capitals (Zul'Aman,Hellfire Citadel,Silvermoon, etc) that act as an initial player hub and conflict agent. These capitals spawn units according to the class of building spawn triggering the unit spawn. These buildings in this area start pre-built, but the map will contain various circles of power that allow players to build new spawn buildings and add to the momentum of the army. The NPC controlled units that start in the capitals begin a series of attack moves along a route that can be in some cases changed by player decision but mostly goes in one direction, in that the Horde waypoints aways terminate at Silvermoon and the Alliance waypoints always terminate at Hellfire Citadel. As more buildings are built by players, the momentum of the game picks up, but leaves the operation of the war in the hands of the NPC, so the player can choose to grow an army or specialize in a powerful hero and still be able to do their part to win the game.
These buildings will allow the player to purchase units or hero enhancements like merchants or shops, but only if they have chosen a player path that allows them access to that class of building. Eg, Dentarg cannot hire Warsong units unless he has unlocked Grom Hellscream as a secondary hero. The units unlocked by each of these buildings are specific to the class of building that spawns them, so certain quests can change the direction of the spawns (eg Dragonmaw attack Seradine, otherwise enter Hillsbrad.) This will allow players to have a measure of control and change as to how the armies behave, while ensuring players cannot become superpowers for a controlled period of time.
The overall objective is to destroy the capitals of your enemies, but also there are 10 endgame crises possible, separate from faction victory.
1: The Alliance can join the Lightsworn by accepting the Scarlet Crusade, and attempt to Curling 13 Lordaeron and Outland.
2: The Alliance rebels can summon Dimensius, dooming the world to void saturation.
3: If a player picked Cenarius and survived until Malfurion arrives, Trolls can join the Emerald Purifiers and cleanse the wilds. But mostly cities.
4: If no player picked Cenarius or he is in ghost form, the Night Elves will blame obvious troll treachery and add Trolls to the things to cleanse from the wilds.
5: Gul'dan frees Sargeras and summons the Legion.
6: Detheroc places the Crown of Domination on the head of Sargeras as he is freed, dominating Sargeras and creating the Shadow Legion
7: Xavius is summoned from the Emerald Dream, corrupting all the wildwoods in Lordaeron
8: If a player picked Sapphiron, can begin the Nexus War invasion
9:If a troll player became undead, can summon
10: Deathwing or any naga aligned player can free N'zoth.
There are also midgame events, such as the Stormwind (Scarlet) Crusade that enters the war via the thandol pass. Not sure if they are all worth mentioning as there are a lot.
Here are some screencaps of the project currently. Please be aware that the models don't altogether reflect what I intend to use, but my worldeditor crashes on loadup when it tries to apply all the dds load paths, so many units are stand-ins and most of the towns and capitals are without buildings. I also intend to credit all the custom model authors but I'm not sure which ones will end up being used, I thought for a long time I could not use any customs with textures because of the load errors. Anyway, each building is represented by the 4 unit types in front of it: Infantry, Ranged, Spellcaster, Elite. Some barracks also have a flying unit. If you are inspired to make models for this project please by all means let me know, though I'm looking for help from anyone who wants to contribute. I'm not looking for any specific kind of help really as I'm pretty confident about being able to finish it, I would just like to work with someone as excited as I am to bring back a darker and more desperate tone in warcraft lore without going full waaagh. I've been hanging around Hive for years silently and hope this will be a good way to join the community. Hope to hear from someone soon! Also I checked the rules and I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place with this but I'm sorry if it's not.
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