Warcraft III: The Black Storm

[Jughead]

Jughead proudly presents

Warcraft III: The Black Storm

I've always wanted to create a map, and due to my limited skills in terraining, triggering, and so much more, I thought that creating a alternative melee was the least demanding task I can accomplish, and if I'm gonna do it, I'm planning to do it right. It will be 3 vs 3 altered melee map.

The map takes place in Azeroth, I was very dissapointed when blizzard decided to leave Azeroth and it's inhabitant entirely out of their lore, so I've decided to create my own lore.

Lore

"The rivers of Azeroth will carry the stench of red once again."

Four seasons had past since the Thrall and his exodus, the remaining orcs found themselves under the refounded banner of the Blackrock clan. Swelling in numbers in the dark lands, the twin brothers, Rend and Mend Blackhand reorganized their father's legacy by reconstructing the orcs into savage war machines they once had been.

But against such a foe, orcs would need more than sheer brute strength. Great warlocks of the clan sensed a demonic rage crying across the Great seas (Grom gone bad), the power leaked in great amounts, traveling thin, unnoticed by many. Few headwarlocks of the Blackrock clan managed to manipulate this power, and managed to create the "Fountain of Chaos" storing all the great demonic powers into a physical form. Warriors were given the corrupted waters of the fountain, and were transformed into "Fel Orcs," stronger, faster, and more complete beings.

Using this power into their advantages, the twin warlords of the clan began to mount their plans into action, starting by crushing the remnants of Dwarves in the Spire, and creating a sudden outbreaks all over the land.

Caught in suprise, the kingdoms of Azeroth quickly mustered it's forces and marched into the outskirts of Grand Hamlet, a region suspected of Orcish activities. You are one of the commanders leading the forces of the two sides, you will either break your enemy, or die in attempt. It is the battle to determine to future of your people.

Gameplay

The gameplay is inspired by Warhammer 40k. There are two kind of buildings spread all over the map, a Outpost and Tavern.

Outpost it provides "Command Points" which is a new replacement to the old "food system" Conquering these outposts allows you to have bigger and larger army.

Tavern delivers extra gold to it's controlled commander. It also can provide you with special units, for Horde, you can train Raiders from the Tavern, a highly mobile unit that have many different uses. In it's "Hunting Party" stand, Raider does normal demage, useful against light enemy troops, in it's "Raiding Party" stand, Raider can does siege demage, useful against targetting enemy buildings.

For the Alliance forces, Tavern delivers the Dwarven Runemaster, powerful support mage that can be used to support your army, essential if you are planning to use any Dwarven units in your army.

You win the game by destorying all enemy units.

Combatants of War

There will be two factions playable in the game. The Blackrock Clan of the Orcish Horde, and the Kingdoms of Azeroth from the Human Alliance. The Blackrock Clan is a faction that is constructed from purely Orcs (Fel-Orcs) and it's dark minions such as demons and undead. They focus on individual's brute strength, rather than numbers and witty spells. They will be the aggressor throughout the game, since their units consume so much command points. The orc players are encouraged to move out and capture the Outposts around the map, while the human players try to maintain them.

Humans relys on numbers and powerful spells to hold the line and overwhelm their enemies. Their units, while being cheaper, are less effective than the Orcs, they will use numbers to overwhelm the orcs.

Techtree

HUMANS: Stormwind Alliance
Buildings
Town Hall (Keep, Castle) - Peasant/Militia
Barracks - Footman (Captain), Rifleman, Demolition Squad
Lumber Mill
Black Smith
Monastery - Cleric, Knight
Tavern - Dwarven Runemaster
Workshop - ??? , Battle Tank
Sanctum - Magi, Sorceress
Starting Heroes - Paladin [Strength], Marksman [Agility], Wizard [Intelligence]

ORCS: Blackrock Clan
Buildings
Outpost (Fortress, Citadel) - Peon
Garrison - Grunt (Brute, Champion), Tracker, ???, Catapult
Foul Fountain
War Mill
Tavern - Raider
Forge
Slaughter House - Fiend
Sanctuary - Diabolist, Warlock, Fallen
Starting Heroes - Warboss [Strength], Blademaster [Agility], Pyremaster [Intelligence]

That's it for now, the thread will be updated constantly for changes. Please enlighten me with your knowledge or lore and ideas. This is only a idea for now, and not put in work yet.

 

[magIc_seeKer]

sounds good but you have a lot of grammar spelling problems

and in the techtree by pyremaster you meen pyromaster? :O

 

[George Goblin]

1. Re: magIc_seeKer's comments

I think he does mean "pyremaster." Though I don't play WoW or the Warcraft RPG, it is my understanding that are Orcish pyremasters therein-- "pyre" as in "funeral pyre."

2. My own commentary:

The idea is good: Warcraft needs more attention paid to evil orcs!
But a few points:

a. Maim, I think, is dead. Now only Rend is in charge of the Blackrock remenant. So unless you intend to revise the current lore (which, I think, is fine), you're really only talking about Rend.

b. Good choice of heroes for the orcs. I think that the three concepts fit together well; however, I wonder whether the term "chieftain" is too broad. I seem to recall that in early builds of Wc3 Blizzard was going to have a hero by that name, or something similar, on the orcish side (he was deleted/demoted and became the Slaver fellow, Mathog), so it's fine, but can't a blademaster or pyremaster theoretically be a chieftain also? Maybe you ought to consider a less broad term.

c. A grammar note, though a Latin grammar point rather than an English one: "magi" is plural (like "cacti"). "Magus" is the singular form (like "cactus"). So the Sanctum unit should probably be magus or mage, not a magi.

d. "Stench of red?" I'm not sure this tagline makes sense. How does a river run with a stench? Does red have a smell?
Maybe something more like:
"The rivers of Azeroth will run red once again, and the air will fill with the stench of blood." Not very poetic, but, I think, more logical.

e. Keep it up! Good idea. Hope my input helps.

 

[naitsirk]

Idea Is realy good... I am Abit dissapointed That the orcs have No SHAMAN witch is about what orcs belive in. Or atleast that's what they belive in in the Warcraft Lore/ Azerothian Lore

By the way with exodus Do you mean Execution??

 

[George Goblin]

Shamans and Exodus and other ideas

1. To naitsirk:

It makes sense that there are no shamans-- Rend is the leader of the Blackrock clan, which did not follow Thrall in his return to shamanism and instead continued to practice demon magic.

Also, "exodus" doesn't mean execution. "Exodus" as in the Book of Exodus, in the Bible-- a mass emigration.

2. To Jughead:

Have you considered adding a Dwarven elite melee unit (more interesting than the Rifleman, in my opinion) and having the crossbowman as the main human ranged unit, as in Warcraft I?

Also, is the omission of air units purposeful?

 

[Jughead]

Alright, sorry guys for being gone, had a internet connection problems and blah blah blah.

About the Maim and Rend, I really don't know about em, I've only played WC3 and heard about WC2. When I checked WOW wiki out, I've noticed that they were perfect for my story, and decided to ignore the WOW lore where they just killed him off. It's called warcraft 3 for a reason.

About the chieftain, I've changed it to Warboss for the matter.

Stench of red, Red represents blood obviously, saying blood just sounded dumb, I thought the quote was pretty cool, but if it really annoys you guys, I will change it.

About the Dwarven elite melee unit, we ain't gonna need that since we already have knights. I'm thinking of adding the ability to the Dwarven Runemaster (Tavern) that can revive any Dwarven units. That includes Rifleman, Demolition, and other Dwarven Runemasters.

Crossbows won't be included, I'm trying to use original wc models as possible to keep the map low size.

Air units were taken out of the blueprint since they are so overpowered. I think having a flying unit ruins the strategy. You guys probably noticed that too.

Spelling mistakes, I will fix that too. This thread is only temporary, when I start working on the project and get some screenies, I will move the thread into real action (Map Development) and present a better project presentation.

When I have the (these) beside the unit, that means that the unit can be upgraded into a another unit with some cash, like what they did with obesidian and destoryer. So for example, Orcish grunt can be upgraded into Brute, a bigger, redder, and with flame attachment on their weapons. Brute can be upgraded into Champion, a tank unit for the orcs, using the slaver guy model, champion acts as a knight to the orcs.

Thanks for everything guys, Keep on with the ideas, and wish the project some luck.

 

[George Goblin]

Ah ha! Metonymy!

I see your point regarding the blood/red-- I wasn't on the lookout for metonymy, but I now find it quite clever.

About Maim, I think it's fine, like I said, that you revise the lore. Plus, Rend and Maim together are better than just Rend anyway. It's got a catchy ring to it when you say "Rend and Maim."

Thumbs up to "Warboss."

2 questions:

What's the point of reviving standard dwarven units? Since they don't level, won't you either be giving the Stormwinders a big bonus (cheap resurrection vs. having to rebuild units more expensively) or a pointless ability (revive price equal to or over the initial price)?

Also, are named heroes (e.g., Rend and Maim) going to be in the map, or just part of the story?

Keep it up with the map. I like the idea a lot, despite your disdain for dwarven melee. Dwarven warriors > than blunderbuss-wielding "riflemen." But that's just me.

 

[Jughead]

About reviving the Dwarves, it's like revive ability that Sprit Walker have, the "Ancestral Sprit" it's just there to add extra flavor to the dwarves. I dunno I just thought it'd add bit more strategy.

About the stormwinders, they build weaker units in cheap price, like the Zergs in starcraft. Orcs are more of the fewer units for expansive type. You know, because Orcs lost lotta guys from their ranks, while humans prospered.

Rend and Maim is catchy isn't it?

and I like that you are sharin ideas. Come up with more.

 

[naitsirk]

ok Then It probelly make's sense So well I'm sorry then

 

[Miss_Foxy]

I love the lore! And most importantly I love this idea... And I don't think they need Shamans since the Blackrock Clan hardly uses them, or at least only use Warlocks and Necromancers... But you might want to consider having some Shamans like, as an Event to restore the Shamanistic Culture of the Orcs...

 

[Jughead]

Really glad that the people like the idea, the lore is inspired by one of the scene I watched from one of the Lord of the Rings movie. You know, the bad white wizard in the black tower creating more "Perfected Orcs." I really hoped it didn't sound too cheesy.

the "Fallen" units are pretty much Shaman gone wrong. They use their shamanistic strength to aid the clan. Other than the shamans, orcs will also have undead influence, I will talk more about that later.

I was also thinking of having a costom creeps with boss, like they did in dota (you know, the huge golem thing) we can have like a "heretic group" with farseer as their boss. How do you like that idea?

 

[naitsirk]

Well I like That the Fallen unit will be Fallen Shamans Cuse that Fits abit better then no shamans so

 

[Joss]

Hmmm...I really like the fact that you came up with this. It does soudn extremely innovative, and while I am usually against ignoring any Warcraft lore, I'll support on this venture . However, the unit and building choice very closely mirrors Warcraft 3's. Now, while this is based within Warcraft, so it will (obviously) contain many Warcraft elements, I suggest shying away from so many elements already present in the original melee game. I also noticed a lack of any upgrades within your techtree. So, I have proposed some changes to your list of units and buildings, and add upgrades and techtree items:

Human
Settlement (Fortified Town, Castle) - Peasant/Militia, The Human Spirit (upgrade that increases the health regeneration of all human organic units)
Barracks - Soldier (Captain), Rifleman, Demolition Squad, Defend, Long Rifles, Extended Training Program (an upgrade that increases all the attack damage and speed of all units trained by the Barracks), Defensive Positions (a Barracks is, after all, a place where soldiers train, eat, sleep, and where a garrison is sent to help in the defense of their land. This upgrade allows units to garrison within the Barracks. Once inside, they regenerate health and mana, and if units are within the Barracks, the Barracks gains an arrow attack to use against the enemy. In this way, multiple baracks can be built in the field, without the need to build towers and train units to defend them)
Lumber Yard - Standard WC3 lumber gathering and masonry upgrades, along with the ability to train Lumberjacks (a unit rather like the peasent in that it can harvest wood, but it cannot, unlike the peasent, build structures, harvest gold, nor can it even become a militia. However, if you're strapped for lumber, their less expensive than peasents, and train extremely fast)

I'll finish with the Human techtree later. Since I'm a little short on time, I'll just jump to the Orcs and start on them.

Orcs
Along with the Peon, the Orcish Town Hall building can, once it becomes a citadel, train Berserkers, a fast attacking melee unit with average health and above average damage. Less powerful and not as suited for a tanking role as the grunt and its improved versions are, but with a faster attack speed, and more damage per hit.
The Sanctuary should be changed to a Demonic Haven, as Sanctuary sounds much too preferred by the Light persuasion.

Will have more later, but for now, I really need to go.

And I'm not really sure by what you mean when you say that Blizzard left Azeroth entriely out of their lore. While it does not make an appearance in Warcraft 3, that by no means makes it no longer part of the Warcraft lore. Stormwind has a rather large portion of lore in World of Warcraft, and has a very large and expansive story.