Hardcore Gamer Resource Kit/Hardcore Gamer Resource Kit - Disc 1.iso/homm/classic/illum/Illuminati.txt

Text File | 1997-04-17 | 9KB | 158 lines

Illuminati - A Map for Heroes of Might and Magic II (R)
        1-5 Players, XL, Hard
        Capture Castle or Conventional Win

Created by Charles E. Watkins, April 1997

BACKGROUND
----------
The Illuminati are supposedly those sinister forces working behind the scenes to control
the fate of the world. They rarely show themselves openly, preferring to work through
others, shifting alliances as necessary to accomplish their hidden agendas. Evolved
beyond mere secret societies of old, today's Illuminati wear contemporary masks as
strange and diverse as the Cattle Mutilators and the Little League.

Over the years, four power centers emerged along the lines of cosmic alignment to
channel occult energies in each of the cardinal directions:

Bavarian Illuminati -- Lawful Good

Masters of Power and Privilege, they take first share of all they survey. In our game,
they have the best starting castle and hero, the most nearby villages and resources, and
of course the best ocean-side real estate on the board. (Historically, the Bavarian
Grand Lodge is said to have launched the Industrial Revolution and created the USA.)

Gnomes of Zurich -- Lawful Evil

Barbarian conquerers from the wastelands have interbred with degenerate city dwellers to
take mercantilism to new heights of savagery. Player of Zurich will never lack for gold,
but other commodities such as trust and hospitality may prove more elusive.
(Historically, the Gnome are said to control the supply of money and the price of
essential resources.)

Servants of Cthulhu -- Chaotic Evil

>From the Dark Places of the Earth (and the Beyond) come the servants of Great Cthulhu,
mightiest of the Elder Gods, who abandoned the Earth in ages long past but whose
worshippers still cry out "Cthulhu F'taghn" beseeching the return of the Great Old One.
In our game, you play the Necromancer (perhaps with a Wizard hero?) with more than one
outstanding possibility for amassing
an army of darkness. (Historically, Cthulhu lies sleeping in the drowned city of Rl'yeh,
somewhere in the uncharted reaches of the southern oceans.)

Discordian Society -- Chaotic Good

Lovers of freedom and eccentricity, the Discordians are regarded to be 'weird' by the
other Illuminati. Despite appearances, the Discordians wield potent magics, delving into
even into such forbidden mystic arts as alchemy and necromancy. In the game, Discordians
seem to have a charmed existence with potent armies and exceptional luck. However, there
may be a problem or two that must be solved before Discordia rises to supremacy.
(Historically, the Discordians are probably a modern invention, now openly pretending to
be a secret society!)

UFOs -- ???

No one knows what the UFOs want--only that they are here. Where once the other four
Illuminati managed to co-exist in something of a balance between Good and Evil, Law and
Chaos, the UFOs have upset the equation. Where the alignments of the other Illuminati
are fixed, the UFO player has a choice of starting castles. Choosing the same castle
type as another Illuminati group makes them a desireable target, since the forces of the
two castles can be combined to create a superior force. On the other hand, the Warlock
and Sorceress are
apparently not represented and may offer unique advantages of their own. (Don't worry
about getting your Dragons, though. All players will be able to recruit dragons in
plenty of time for the end game.)

Pirates -- Computer Player

Though the Illuminati's homelands are filled with goodies, to really get ahead in the
game, PLAYERS MUST GO TO SEA. When you get there, you'll have to deal with a gang of
Pirates who have become more aggressive lately. As they begin taking over more
territory, they'll launch more ships and armies until something is done. They may also
poke into things that should not be poked, a lesson for human players as well. Known
Pirates
Include Blackbeard, who is currently terrorizing the Northeast, Sinbad, who is active in
the Northwest, and Hagbard, who is said to ride the Whirlpools and is liable to pop up
anywhere. The legends also mention a pirate lord whose love for the Lady Death has led
to a dreadful contract with the Lords of Order and Chaos.

-->>
-->> Avast, Me Hearties! There Be Spoilers Below! <<--
-->>


DESIGN NOTES
------------
This is my first map for HOMM2 and was a lot of fun to do. In creating it, I came up
with some little tips and
innovations that might be useful to other map makers:

(1) The map is set up with beginning, middle, and end games. The beginning is a phase of
exporation and development, where players establish their territories and recruit
distinctive armies based on their starting castle types. The middle game is where
players explore
the entire board, reducing the cast of contenders as 'allies' are absorbed, and where
victors begin to build up massive forces for the end game. The end game takes place in a
quarter of the board that only opens up when the players are able to deal with small
stacks of dragons.

(2) The "Capture Castle" objective helps give the player a sense of climax after the
grand battle. Though the standard HOMM2 'reward' is pretty lame, I prefer that to having
to hunt down every last hero at the end.

(3) Thanks to Grayson for his tip on putting stuff in the water. I hope you enjoy the
effect as much as I do. See Stilt City.

(4) Did you fall for the Fizbin trap? What I wanted to do was to trick a greedy player
into unleashing a powerful enemy (Lord Chaos). First I had to trap Lord Chaos, which was
tricky in itself. Normally, a computer player will not pick up a Fizbin, so I placed one
where both the computer and human could get it. Until the human takes the Fizbin, Lord
Chaos stays trapped by the surrounding objects. To make that work, I had to adjust the
size of Lord Chaos's army--too many and he takes the Fizbin anyway. I also had to give
him something to do--the fountain. Otherwise he would disband. Finally, I had to
convince the player to take the Fizbin, and that's why the armor is laid out the way it
is. In a test game, a computer player actually fell for the trap and took the Fizbin to
get the sword. Then, as expected, out came Lord Chaos and wham!

(5) Another interesting feature is the tame ghost. I liked the idea of a ghost army, but
did not want it to become active until at least the middle game. Since you cannot
recruit a ghost (yet), I had to start the player out with one, so I put it in a very
remote, very well guarded village. Not allowing the village to be upgraded to a  castle
prevents the player from recruiting a hero there and breaking out. By the time Cthulhu
can get to the ghost, the number of easy targets should be greatly reduced, especially
if the other players respond to the threat. Even then, it will take some delicate
handling to cultivate a ghost army, since you obviously can't expose a weak group of
ghosts to enemy flyers or shooters and expect them to survive.

(6) Teleports are used to control access to the middle and end games. One set provides
entry to Armageddon Isle. A second set allows easy travel between Illuminati homelands.
The third set allows players to gain access to the endgame areas. Whirlpools provide a
fourth method of rapid transit, and here they also open up views of certain restricted
areas to tantalize the players.

(7) Playtesters have complained that there is not enough treasure to allow rapid
development of the starting castles. That was deliberate to insure that Bavaria enjoys
an initial advantage due to its built-up castle and that the Gnomes of Zurich maintain
their ongoing advantage of wealth. Though chests are scarce, I have made gold mines
relatively plentiful to encourage players to maintain control of their territories
rather than just go looting.

(8) If things go as expected, the green pirates should pile up plenty of gold. If they
can get the other resources, the final castle should have built up a truly splendid
defensive force by the time the player arrives.

(9) During development, the game developed a 'bad spot' (a castle, I believe) that
caused the game to crash when it was visited. I erased that entire quadrant of the board
and rebuilt it, and so far the problem has not come back. I believe it is an artifact of
the DirectX drivers I am using on my 486 notebook. Players might want to save every week
or so just to be safe.

CREDITS
-------
'Illuminati' is loosely based on the card game by Steve Jackson Games, which is loosely
based on the books by Robert Anton Wilson, which are loosely based on works by authors
such as Jules Verne, HP Lovecraft, Alistair Crowley, and Tim Leary, whose works may be
loosely based on the activities of the Illuminati themselves.

Charles E. Watkins is obviously a fabrication by one or more of the groups whose
existence he denies.