Behind the Curtain: Over the Shoulder
by Charles Watkins

Part 1: Getting Started

For this series of articles, I’d like to do something a little different. Instead of talking about mapmaking in general terms, this time I’d like to let readers look over my shoulder as I create a map and get a sense of the thought process that a mapmaker goes through in the course of a project. I’ll be writing the column in-between mapmaking sessions and discussing whatever I’ve done up till then. As I write this I am in the process of checking out the main scripts, which I’ll be reporting on in Part 2. But this time, I’ll take you along as I agonize over things like names and babes.

Motivation

For me, the hardest thing about making a map is getting started. Having been down this path many times before, I know how much time and gumption that it will take. It is not an endeavor to undertake lightly. Even though Heroes IV has been out for a long time, I have not yet published a map and have begun to feel a little guilty about it. But I’ve been distracted by changing jobs and moving, and most of my Heroes time has gone into simply playing the game. I’ve managed to keep up with other fans through the Quill and the Heroes IV forum here at Celestial Heavens, where Anglespit has been so kind as to run this column. But even so, I’m overdue for a Heroes IV map.

I made four maps for Heroes III, so I should have had a couple of Heroes IV maps out by now, but actually managed only a few false starts. With Heroes III, I started with a ‘training’ map just to get some practice with the editor and the result was “Bug Hunt” – a quirky M-size map with a Science Fiction theme. Then along came the AstralWizard ‘guilds’ contest, so I made “Grandmaster,” which turned out to be a winner in its category. Next came “Kid Heretic” for the next AstralWizard contest, which had an ‘urban’ theme. I’m still proud of “Kid Heretic” and would promise anyone who hasn’t played it that if you give it try you will have a good time. Sometimes think I should go back and convert it to WoG.

My fourth map was for the final AstralWizard contest, but it did not turn out as well as the others. After getting a late start, the events of 911 jerked me back into the ‘real’ world and sucked out the energy needed to get the map finished on time. I was still reworking “Sacrifice” when the deadline came, so it went out about two weeks before it should have. Needless to say, this one did not win, but I wanted to support the contest and at least I was able to have an entry.

So now I ask myself, what is it that spurs me to make a map? History says that a contest helps, especially if there’s an interesting theme. Lucky for me MapHaven is having the ‘Gloria’ contest and there is still time to get an entry in. However, the theme calls for a female protagonist, so I’ll have to find a suitable storyline.

Storyline

I’ve done maps with female heroes (Heroines of Might and Magic?) before, but did not dwell on their feminine nature. The best of these was the collaborative Heroes II campaign “Agent of Heaven” where I worked with Corribus, Doriando, and Eric Hutchinson. The main hero there was mainly the creation of Corribus and I spent most of my time working on the supporting cast. This time I’d like to try a female lead whose gender actually matters.

The harder part is how to align such a storyline to the course of a Heroes IV game. I’d like the player to identify with the main character, but not to feel restricted to a linear progression of events. Like any Heroes IV map, there’s got to be a lot of battles as well as quests, treasures, towns, etc. In previous versions of Heroes, this was difficult to reconcile with a story centering on a single hero—even though Heroes III provided hero-specific quests—but with Heroes IV the ability to attach events to specific heroes opens up all sorts of new possibilities. Cast members can have stories of their own and I may be able to script some interactions when they are part of the same army. So I need a storyline where the main characters are established but can be developed as players wish. It also needs to allow heroes to split up and get back together.

Fortunately, I already have just such a storyline in mind. And that’s another part of the motivation—having something to say that can be articulated within the context of the game. Here it is my regret that the alienation of the peoples of Abraham, going back to the time of the Crusades, continues to shape the world today. I’ll get to tell some of the history and rumor about what went on.

This also suggests a protagonist, because one of the outstanding personalities of those times was Eleanor of Aquitaine. At this point, I should give some notes on the Crusades and the real Eleanor’s part in them.

Short history of the crusades

After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Jewish inhabitants scattered and left the city abandoned for some 60 years. In 132, Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem, and decided to construct a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount—leading to yet another Jewish revolt, which also failed. The Jews were banished and the city was renamed Aelia Capitolina. After the collapse of Rome, it fell under Byzantine rule until 638. This time the city was conquered by the Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab, who constructed the El-Aqsa Mosque on the site of the old Temple and the Dome of the Rock on Mount Moriah. Omar welcomed both Christians and Jews to come and worship.

The order was maintained until 1077, when the Seljuk Turks invaded Jerusalem. And though their Sultan, Malik Shah was a follower of Islam, he challenged the authority of the Caliphs, who were the successors of Mohammed. The Christian powers, under Pope Urban II, decided to take Jerusalem under their protection and marshalled the First Crusade under Godfroi de Bouillon, Duke of Lorainne. After a bloody campaign, Godfroi captured Jerusalem, but was unable to control his troops, who proceeded to slaughter much of the Moslem population.

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of history’s most influential women--she was Queen of both France (Louis VI) and England (Henry II). Her grandfather was Guilliam IX the Troubadour and she was a devout follower of St. Bernard.

Eleanor led an army of courtly women in the Second Crusade and had a notorious relationship with her uncle Raymond, magistrate of Antioch. She would have remained there, but Louis insisted she accompany him on to Jerusalem. They returned on separate ships, and Eleanor had the marriage annulled—by then she was all of 19 years old.

Soon after, she married Henry Plantagenet, who became King Henry II of England. Eleanor’s children included Richard ‘Lionheart’ and 4 other sons (Guilliam, Henry, Geoffrey, and John ‘Lackland’) and 3 daughters (Mathilde, Joan, and Eleanor).

In 1187, Jerusalem fell again to Saladin of Egypt, prompting the Third Crusade under the famous Richard ‘Lionheart.’ The Third Crusade failed and Richard was held for ransom. There followed several minor crusades, and Jerusalem was briefly retaken, but in the end, the Moslems prevailed and hatreds had been born that have carried down the ages. For Christendom, defeat meant a new social order rising out of the economic system laid down by the Knights Templar, followers of St. Bernard, who are rumored to have taken fabulous treasures hidden below Temple Mount by the fleeing Jews. Eleanor became fabulously wealthy and was the most influential woman in Europe until she died in 1204.

Premise

How might the world be different if Godfroi had maintained the tolerant rule established by the Caliphs? Could Saladin’s attack have been averted? Could the peoples of Abraham found a way to cohabit the city that is holy to them all? Is it possible that a child could lead them?

In this adventure, we see how things might go differently. After all, who’s to say what might have happened if there were another place that exists beyond our own? A place where things such as a Sword of the Gods could be forged? If charged by St. Bernard to carry such a sword to the holy land to aid in the defense of Jerusalem, might Eleanor not have diverted from the Second Crusade and found another destiny?

Some other open questions to be considered: Who were the Knights Templar and what was their role in this? What treasure might they have found? Why did Malik Shah move against the Caliphs? Why couldn’t Godfroi control his men? The history books don’t say, so we … speculate.

Map design

For some time, I’ve wanted to make a map where the two levels represent two different worlds and armies move between them. I greatly enjoyed Steven Donaldson’s “Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever” series, Raymond Feist’s “Riftworld” series, and Harry Turtledove’s “Videssos” series. So with these for inspiration, I’ve taken a similar theme for this Heroes IV map that I’ve named “Lost Crusade”. It’s about a party of crusaders who start off carrying a relic sword to the holy land to help rally the forces of Christendom against the Turks. But along the way they are diverted to another land, a world with fantastic inhabitants and locations that are not known on Earth, except in legend. And as they try to regain the sword, the Crusaders are changed by their adventures so that their crusade may not end as expected.

The lower level (Earth) will be rendered using natural geography and flora. Monsters will be limited to those actually found on Earth – Pikemen, Wolves, Nomads, etc. The upper level will be more richly depicted and fantastic creatures will appear. By creating this contrast, I can have the main character react to the strangeness of some things we take for granted as players. At the same time, I want the main character to bring something new to the other world, allowing her to become a pivotal character there before returning to Earth.

I’ll call the other world Arcadia for now, but might come up with something more original later on. On Arcadia, the natural balance is between Order and Chaos, so each will have its own region on opposite sides of the map. In between, I’ll have Nature in a neutral role. Life and Death will be mainly unknown here—as are Chaos and Order on Earth. The main character Eleanor starts as a Priest(ess) and introduces Life magic to Arcadia. When she returns to Earth, she may well be an Archmage with Life, Nature, Order, and Chaos. That leaves room for a Might skill, probably Combat, but I’ll have to get her started in Order and Chaos before the slots fill up. To compensate, I’ll give her supporting characters with Scouting, Nobility, and Tactics. These skills mainly affect the party as a whole so Eleanor will not miss them.

Arcadia also needs a center of evil that I can tie back to Eleanor, who embodies the good, so I’ll have a dark forest with an Evil Druid and a spooky Crypt. This brings in Death, but I’ll make sure to see that the true evil is shown to be the corruption of Death, not Death per se.

Since I want to look at heroism in war and peace, I’ll use the sword as a motif for the map. (In addition to being a weapon, the sword is symbolic of the Cross and of the Crusader’s grave.) There are several interesting swords among the artifacts, so I’ll make the main quest object the Sword of the Gods. I’ll also bring in Soul Stealer, Flaming Sword, and Sword of Swiftness.

Gameplan

When the game starts out, Eleanor carries the sword. She is the youngest girl in a family that will eventually inherit the throne (yes, a princess), and as a daughter of royal blood she is one of few eligible to carry it. I’ll start her out with 3 companions – a General (Combat+Tactics), a Ranger (Combat+Scouting), and a Warlord (Combat+Nobility). To keep them Life aligned, like Eleanor, I need to start them as Knights, so they all get a couple of levels of Tactics. Level 10 seems about right—established heroes, but still able to grow in several directions.

As the Crusade starts out, I’ll have some Sprites come and steal the sword – I’ll set up a battle so that they get it whether they win or lose. When the player’s party follows through the portal that appears, I’ll scatter the members and destroy the portal. That leaves Eleanor alone and ready to set out on her adventure. She’ll follow the ‘trail’ of the Sprites and have some encounters with the forces of Nature, who will be faerie-types who need a couple of quests done before they show Eleanor her way through the woods. I’ll have her go on an investigation and meet up with some others who were with the starting party--and let her start making Peasants, Squires, Crossbows, and Pikemen. Then I’ll send her off to save the Elf King. This makes Nature an Ally.

I’ll give her some hints about magic swords held by Chaos (Flaming) and Order (Swiftness) so she’ll visit both areas to see whether these might be the one she seeks. (She will need to bring both swords to enter the Forge.) Of course, the powers there will have some quests of their own before they will bestow their magic skills on Eleanor. I’ll have the Ranger working as a freelance dragon slayer in the Chaos area and the General will be held as a prisoner by Order. I’ll put in a Dragon cave for Chaos and a Dungeon for Order. This leaves the Warlord to be the one who turns evil and needs killing. I’ll have him seduced by an even greater evil, which has some tie-in with the crusade on Earth. Toward the end I’ll reveal this character was also at the root of the strife on earth and get Eleanor back there in time to stop the bloodshed.

Both Chaos and Order will have relic swords, but not the sword. These will, however, allow Eleanor to meet their maker, Rosencrantz, who also forged the Sword of the Gods– and one more, the Soul Stealer. When Eleanor’s Warlord companion follows the Evil Druid’s trail into the Dark Forest expecting to find Sword of the Gods, he finds Soul Stealer instead and it turns him evil. It has previously corrupted some of the minions of Death and these have ravaged parts of the land. I’ll make a spooky dungeon for the Soul Stealer and drop a few pieces of the Warlord’s armor to set up the confrontation. I’ll try to set it up so that Eleanor needs both the Ranger and General to prevail. By then the Ranger may have picked up enough Chaos to be a Fire Diviner or enough Life to be a Prophet. The General may have leveled up in Order to become an Illusionist or in Life to become a Crusader. All the classes seem to fit the story.

Rosencrantz is the grandmaster artificer, skilled in the craft of metal work. He’s one of the Jewish Magi who fled to Arcadia after the Roman war. He will reveal the origins and powers of the swords and the way to overcome Soul Stealer. I’ll also have him provide a map (via Oracles) to the Temple treasure.

This leaves one more main character, Omar, who is also from Earth but arrives in a different way than Eleanor and her companions and ends up in the Dark Forest. (At first Eleanor might mistake him for the Evil Druid.) I’ll start him as a Barbarian (Might) and have his contact with Eleanor grant him Life magic, leading him to become a Paladin. (In fact, after Eleanor reaches GM Life, I’ll give her the ability to bestow Life magic on other heroes in her party.) Omar will be Eleanor’s love and to further balance things out, I’m making him a dashing Arab. As the two of them come together in Arcadia, they represent the hope of reconciliation of the warring parties on Earth.

Omar is drawn to Arcadia by its Cosmic Balance, as the Arabian counterpart to Eleanor, who is ambiguously European. He’ll be a son of the Caliph and eventually heir to the throne, a worthy match to Eleanor. They should meet after Eleanor finishes the Chaos and Order segments. The Cosmic Balance also accounts for the Swords. The Sword of the Gods was summoned by Bernard and his Monks to aid the forces of Life in the Crusade. But as the Sword of the Gods came to the Earth, on Arcadia the influence of the Soul Stealer grew. This is why the Sprites made their raid—to recover the sword and restore the balance. But they were not expecting that on their return they would be ambushed in turn and the Sword stolen once again. This sets the stage for the main quest. The thief will turn out to be an Evil Druid, who has been seduced by the Soul Stealer. Later Eleanor will meet him and learn the sword has passed on to the Warlord. I’ve noticed that one of the Druids has a close resemblance to one of the Necromancers. I’ll also need two portraits for the Warlord—and fortunately there’s another good similarity between a Knight and a Death Knight.

Note: At first I had planned to allow Eleanor to have children with Omar, but getting her through the pregnancy and raising the children would have required some kind of time distortion. I was going to have her visit the celestial realm, where time passes more slowly to have the babies, and later return to pick them up as adolescents. The boy would turn out to be Richard Lionheart and the girl young Eleanor, who would marry into the royal line out of Egypt. In the end, I decided this was an unnecessary complication and that I would have trouble selling the time distortion. So the babes will appear only in epilogue. Now back to the story…

The Evil Druid dwells in Ghostwood, a dark forest with a population of undead. At the heart of Ghostwood is the Crypt, which is a walled in area with an Evil Tunnel to catacombs below. In one of the rooms, the Warlord waits with the Soul Stealer. To destroy it, she must return it to Rosencrantz, who then reveals the Sword of the Gods has already made it back to Earth – and has already arrived in the Holy Land.

Then it’s back to Earth—portal travel makes for a nice shortcut—in time to catch up to the original crusade. Well almost. There will have already been a bloody battle, and some straggling armies and battle crazed creatures are left to fight. When she arrives at Jerusalem she sees it is surrounded by the Turks and must make her way inside using ancient tunnels leading to the Stables of Solomon. This will be a good place to reward the player with some fabulous treasures and some Templar lore. The final scene will give Eleanor a choice of what to do with the sword, giving players a choice of endings. She can keep the sword and join either side. If she offers the sword to either leader, the first will refuse. If she then offers it to the other, he will accept and present it to the first as a token of peace. If she offers it to either leader a second time after being rejected, that leader will accept and unleash a huge battle that is likely to leave the heroes on both sides dead.

I think I see how to script most of this—many color changes are involved, but that’s something I’ve wanted to use to give the player a chance to build alliances. By using an ‘ally’ color I can have other positions change sides as a result of the player’s actions. The way I see it, since neutrals are so much like computer positions, the main reason to use different colors is to set up conflicts and alliances. At the end, I’ll have the King and Sultan with different colors and change one or both to match Eleanor, depending on her move.

In Part 2, I’ll work out the mechanics of the map. I’ll use the editor to construct the main heroes and locations. I’ll map out the zones and the connections between them. I’ll work out the color assignments and plan the main color changes. I’ll decide which adventure objects wandering monsters to use in each area. Finally, I’ll make a list of the scripts I’ll need and test the more complex ones to save time later.

In Part 3, I’ll layout the main components in a small area and try to do a first walkthrough. Then I’ll put in the other connectors and quests, write script stubs, and see whether everything works. It won’t, so next I’ll start debugging.

In Part 4, I do the decorations. Along with landscaping, I place the monsters, treasures, and secondary adventure objects. Then I write all the text.

In Part 5, I finish up the development work by testing everything, getting some other kind souls to help, and fixing whatever is still broken. While waiting for test results, I put together the readme file and other things that I might want to include in the distribution package.