Further Development of a Campaign Idea

So the Hive campaign contest is running and I wanna participate. But I don't want to make something that has been done before, but I want to do something creative, something original and quite unique. My immediate ideas I got were awful, nothing even near worth posting here for you to criticize. However, one idea I like and I am going to do is the one I am posting below, the one that is simply called...

The campaign will consist of three missions, each including seduction and assassination. The main character, Vera the Succubus will use a custom model and use abilities such as Backstab, Seduce etc. Trying to kill all in this campaign will be nearly impossible, and my goal is to make it like you need to seduce your way past guards to reach and assassinate kings or whatever your quest will be. Even though much effort will be put into gameplay, I shall also work on writing awesome dialogs, as I think adds a lot to good cinematics. Also, I shall try to get some awesome terrain into this campaign, as I think the combination of originality, interesting gameplay, awesome dialogs and good terrain will make one hell of a campaign.

As final and last words. I would like to get as much feedback as possible to get this idea finalized as quick as possible so I can begin real work. Do not hesitate to spit harsh critique at me, cause sometimes that is what people truly need.

It sounds cool, but really it sounds kinda like the Succubus is overpowered (from the description). I mean, there's one of it and there would be tons of guards, fortress walls, kings etc. Perhaps if you put some other gameplay mechanic in it, like calling backup or if it desperately should be ONE unit then like puzzles to activate XX and so forth.

This sound like a Strategy Tactic game to me. Like Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive - and the Succubus wouldn't really be overpowered - just smart, picking off men 1 - 2 at a time, drawing them to her and killing them, etc. Perhaps you should at other characters? I'd reccomend at most 5 other characters.

@Anopob, the Succbus will be powerful combared to let's say a Castle Guard. But she could prorbably not defeat four guards herself, and then you would need do use some strategies to sneak past them or similar.

@RenegadeMushroom, I played Desperados and I liked it alot and would be awesome to make something similar, though five characters at once sounds boring. I still want to keep it at one character, and that then, is the succubus.

Sounds cool, especially if you had a lot of 'puzzles'. Stuff like:
-> Using a magical orb item to observe the position of patrolling guards, then having to actually move through them.
-> Or having got to a powerful mage (who is immune to normal death) you then have to apply a semi-arcane poison which takes some time to activate. As you apply the poison the mage wakes, summoning his guards to kill you, you then have to surivive for 10 minutes as the poison kills the mage, however because the poison is arcane the mage gains more magical power as the time progresses.
-> Honing your suduction powers so you can walk into a castle's vaults unquestioned, however you then discover that there were aditional guards watching through some sort of lens system! once discovered you have to skirmish fight your way out in narrow corridors and watnot.

I was thinking, the Succubus would have to have some sort of non-combat skill (or maybe 2) to make the game fun to play with a few characters. Think of the Warden, you have blink so you can have obstacles to avoid.
The Succubus could have an active aura "Seduce" which minimizes agro generation, a single target "Back stab" (as an additional bonus you could blink behind a target, and then you will completely disable the target until you issue another order (such as move attack etc), then you deal X damage to the unit, this will make it a great skill for single player), then you could have "Scrying Glass", Which works kinda like a short ranged controllable farsight, but whille using it your character will do nothing else, and then another non-combat skill would be cool i think, or an AOE nuker style spell, for times that you just have to kill. Additionally the Succubus would have Attribute bonus (of course) and Hide. [/ramble]

Well, sounds pretty cool!

Good ideas, Gorman. I like especially your ideas for the spells, I will definately consider them.

Really interesting sounding campaign, I would definitely play it.

I like Gormans spell ideas too.

I can only think of one idea right now. Finding water items, (a well/pond would provide you with an unlimited supply) and using them to douse torches that reveal you to guards. Or arcane gems to absorb magical trap energies, etc.

If the Succubus is based off the mythological Succubus, a soul steal or a lifesteal is a must. I dunno, you could have the Succubus seduce someone, get close, lifesteal, which the unit won't notice until it is too late.

Well, i'd more say it's based of the Warcraft succubus, one with assassination skills and those who use their beauty to seduce enemies.

-- Edit --

So basically, to collect my ideas combined with yours, I should get something like this.

• Succubus hero with spells such as backstab, blink and "far sight".
• Seduce spell that makes an enemy become neutral to you and move against you.
• Torches that work as enemy "scouts" can be doused with water found in rivers, ponds etc.
• Gameplay similar to Desperados, where you need to sneak by enemies and kill them off one by one.
• Traps that you can place and lure your enemies into.

Something like that. Anyways, I need more ideas to make this even more awesome. I especially need some input on how fighting should be, simple hack n slash like warcraft, or something new and original? Any and all ideas are more than welcome.

Well, i think that you are at a very important fork in the road. You can have hack and slash style combat and keep the warcraft feel, so it seemlessly blends with everything that blizzard has already made, or you could style your own combat, which will give it a unique feel but will destroy a lot of its unification with warcraft.
Personally i would replay the first missions of each race. These are generally the ones where you control a few guys only, and have to work to acheive various objectives. They have a unique style, in which you have to be really picky about what items, skills and units you bring with you.
I wouldn't aim for something too far away from warcraft, but that's just because i like to keep the same feel.

Now, on to story line. Obviously you should have one, so what should it be? Generic warcraft convention tells us that the main hero is a budding person of power, but who also is the pawn of someone more powerful, who will accumulate standing and a powerful base, then latter defeat someone extremely strong (generally in a cinematic). So, who would control a Succubus? An agent of the Burning Crusade? A vision from a fevered dream? Some kind of agent from the deep dungeon?

What have you got so far?

Well, I haven't really worked that much on the storyline as of yet, as I have focused more on gameplay. But I could always write down what I have got so far.

"As the fires of the third war burned down, the Burning Legion stood defeated against their mortal enemies. With Archimonde's death, the majority of the other demons retreated south, west, east or anywhere but remaining near Mt. Hyjal. It was in this time that the succubus Vera was summoned to the Eastern Kingdoms by a warlock of great power. The warlock who introduced himself as Linazo told her that with a simple hand gesture, he could have her killed. Fearing for her life and sensing the Warlocks power, Vera struck a deal with the Warlock, a deal that involved complete loyalty. He told her that she was merely a minion to him, who in his turn was a minion to something greater, and they had great expectations on him, somethings he could not fulfill, and thats were Vera came in. She should work as his right hand, and he had three great tasks for her, should she succeed, he would return to her, her freedom. She should use her succubus racials and her deadly assassination skills to assassinate three powerful humans throughout the Eastern Kingdoms."

Feel free to comment and criticize the storyline so that it can be improved, also report any grammatical or spelling errors you detect, please.

Fixed. Other than that, It's great. I like it!

Hm, nice story line, but its too 'clean'. A few changes i would make are;
- The current state of the world doesn't need to be described much, just tell people its intended to be played directly after the last campaign of TFT, and it will make sense =)
- The Warlock would not 'strike a deal' with Vera, he simply would have demanded it on threat of death.
- Perhaps not all the 3 main targets should be humans, maybe one could be a remaining Orc warlord, or another race.
- I wouldn't have the Warlock demand Vera kill all 3 targets at once, i would have him say "I will set you free once you kill *person A* and his *brother/father/son etc* *Person B*. Vera then kills them in the missions, however the Warlock says "During your missions you alerted the guards, now my plans for ... will not come into frutation until *Person C* has been killed. Fix your mistake or you will perish". Vera could also have to fetch a magical item for the Warlock (that would be a good idea imo).
- During the missions Vera should also be working to ensure her escape and the eventual killing of her Warlock master. (collecting herbs to make poison, magical items, blood from a dragon spawn etc.)
- Vera could be aided by some of the Warlock's forces, as imo you should always have some sort of base building in any campaign.

Its a good start, but of course it needs some twists and turns, and unexpected events to keep the player on their toes, and the edge of their seat. Revealing the story line in chunks in game is a good idea aswell, rather then just a starting cinematic. Also, i wouldn't go with an omniscient narrator (unless you want it to be the Warlock).

Good work man!

As has been said before, your ideas are most welcome and I agree with some points more than others etc.
You are right, but what I meant with a 'deal' is something like, do as I say or die, betrayal of any kind will result in instant death. Perhaps you are right though.
Well, I thought that first too, but I figured probably humans only have defenses good enough to be fun for this kind of map, orcs usually only have a barracks, great hall and a few burrows, which is very little to hide behind etc.
This idea I like actually, probably going to implement it into the story.
Herbs etc. could be a good point, but the campaign will be to small to have space for lots of minor quests etc. However I could add some mission where you need to brew some poisonous shit to kill one of the three targets. About killing her 'master', it could be hard as he is much more powerful than her.
I dont wanna implement the element of base buildings and such in my campaign.

Well as I previously posted, thanks for the response.

As for the storyline, I agree mainly with Gorman, like other races could be Night elf if you wanted more things to hide behind (trees, obviously). Also, why can't the Warlock just kill the humans if he is so strong? Perhaps make a twist in the story and like the succubus learns why the Warlock needs her to kill him while he can't (magical protection, a deadly curse casted by a human mage, etc.). Oh and to add even more deadliness to the game, perhaps let the enemies have traps too, and only spottable with a certain special item in the inventory (traps as in you enter X and an arrow shoots out or whatever). Good luck!