Total War Warhammer 3 End Game Scenarios

[Haziel Barbour]

Warhammer40,000: Warpforge aims to become a reference for quality, depth, and innovation among digital collectible card games. One of its most striking features is the approach our team has taken to depict the scenarios where battles take place.

The approach we take in Warpforge draws from the experience of Horus Heresy: Legions, our previous card game in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Originally a mobile game, the scenarios and game logic were done in 2D, faking the perspective to create the illusion of being 3D. This helped keep the game lightweight and able to run on low-spec devices.

However, building the scenario and logic in 2D caused important limitations when trying to create VFX for the different cards and abilities, and even more so when trying to animate or add VFX to the background itself.

From the start, we wanted our 3D scenarios to maintain the exact same visual aspect as our amazing 2D concept art. When using the usual 3D asset production workflow for creating 3D assets (concept, modeling, unwrap, and texturing), some deviations were introduced in each step, making the final result different from the original concept art.

Since the game will be released on mobile, creating high-fidelity 3D assets on less powerful devices risks introducing performance problems, like frame rate or memory issues, and increased loading times. Add to this increased production time when executing this workflow properly for each of the scenarios, and it was clear that we needed a different approach.

With this approach, we managed to get all the benefits of a 3D scenario without most of the drawbacks. It allowed us to faithfully keep the art style and level of detail of the concept art, without having to recreate it through 3D assets. It also requires very little processing power at runtime, allowing the game to run perfectly even on low-spec devices. Plus, the end result requires much less work and cost than creating full 3D environments.

The process of generating a scenario has several steps. For Everguild, it starts with the creation of a placeholder scenario directly in Unity using simple primitives. It consists only of a floor plane and some vertical cubes to help find the camera perspective that best matches the desired gameplay.

Once everything is set up correctly, we capture an image from the camera perspective to send to the painting software. Using the Unity FBX Exporter, we export the 3D placeholder scenario, including the camera position and lens parameters, so we can import it into Blender.

Taking the exported image as perspective reference, the concept artists draw the scenario. They have total creative control without any type of restriction, because whatever they do will be translated 1:1 to the game. Concept artists not only draw the scenario itself, but also the visual effects (VFX). Those will be used later as reference, even as textures, for the VFX artists. In this step, it is essential to properly organize the file in layers, always drawing whatever is behind the objects, so that we can export the different layers separately later.

Once the concept art is ready, it is brought into Blender, where each element is projected onto a simple 3D object. This projection technique eliminates the need for the 3D artist to laboriously create custom UVs for every object, since the camera projection mapping automatically calculates them. The 3D models are then exported back to Unity. Here, using custom Editor tools, a final pass takes place where the various texture layers are combined into a cohesive atlas texture.

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As the gamesmaster, it will be up to you to invent all of the details of the game. You must decide for yourself where the adventure is taking place, why it is taking place, and what the player characters have got to do with it all. Each adventure can be regarded as a scenario; the Oldenhaller Contract is a scenario designed for you so that you can see what one entails. A number of scenarios can be played successively to form a lengthy game campaign. Campaigns might take up whole weeks, months, or even years. The advantage of playing a campaign, rather than a series of unrelated scenarios, is that the players will identify closely with their characters and their environment. As they play more scenarios they will become more familiar with the locality and can establish permanent contacts, hide-outs, or supply dumps. Designing a whole campaign is a big step, but it need not all be undertaken at once. A far better plan is simply to design one scenario and, if your players survive, take it from there.

A scenario is based on a plot or theme. However, it is not an exact storyline, like in a book or film, since it must allow for many different actions on the part of the players' characters. The first thing you must decide when designing a scenario is the plot. You will probably have hundreds of good ideas, but here are some ideas for plots that have formed the basis for many of our own games.

Investigate and report: This morning a bloodied and exhausted rider galloped into town, hurled his dying carcass into the town sheriff's office and instantly expired. He was one of the settlers/soldiers/miners from a distant village. The sheriff has organised a party of adventurers to investigate - offering 10 GCs to any volunteer who returns with news. What the characters will discover is that the settlement has been taken over by a group of Orcs who are even now sacrificing their human captives to their own dark gods.

Gold Fever!!!: An old Dwarf mine has been uncovered in the hills and adventurers from miles around are congregating to share in the booty. The mine has been abandoned for thousands of years, but is it as empty as it appears? Has it been occupied by dangerous creatures or does something supernatural lurk inside? How do the members of the local Dwarf community feel about the looting of their ancestral property?

Larcenous Pursuits: The old temple contains a rich treasure and is poorly guarded. The people of the town are backward and foolish to take so few precautions. You would be doing them a favour by relieving them of this troublesome burden. There are guards both inside and out and maybe traps inside too in order to discourage nocturnal visitors. Furthermore, the high priest lives in the temple with several acolytes. Such dangers are trifling compared with the riches rumored to be inside.

Stand and Deliver: According to a local contact, a special coach is due to leave town within a week. You don't know what's on board, but whatever it is, the owners are being really secretive, hiring extra guards and silencing dissenters with bribes or threats. You are curious to say the least. Are all these precautions for the benefit of a treasure hoard or perhaps some high ranking official or prisoner? In any case, there could be a fortune involved.

The Quest: The characters have been sent on a quest by some powerful NPC. They must find an item or person located in some dark and dangerous place. Perhaps a long-deserted house, an isolated ruin or an ancient and long-abandoned Dwarf Citadel. Quests can be beneficial to the characters involved. For example, a quest might aim at recovering a sacred relic whose powers can heal a debilitating disease or mental illness.

Assassination and Kidnapping: The characters have been hired to kill or kidnap a powerful NPC. The task will not be easy as the victim suspects a plot and has already taken precautions for his safety. Furthermore, he lives in a remote and inaccessible place or a fortified castle, and even gaining entry will be difficult.

Jabberwock...: A large and fearsome monster, such as a Jabberwock, is terrifying the local inhabitants. Whoever slays the creature will gain untold riches, universal acclaim, etc. Can the characters find and slay the monster or will other NPC hunters beat them to it? Are the local authorities to be trusted or will they back out of their bargain once the monster is dead?

Kali's Heroes: The characters find themselves fighting in a great and terrible war. They have been ordered to take a village already occupied by an enemy garrison. Fortunately for the characters, one of their NPC companions used to live in this village and he has a strange tale to tell. In the village lies the great and wealthy temple of Kali, now largely abandoned due to the fighting. Only a minimal staff of priests remain to guard the great treasures. So far, the occupiers have not dared desecrate the temple or maybe they don't yet realise what is inside. Can the characters break in and steal the treasure, will they have to fight off the occupiers, and can they perhaps strike a bargain with their foes? Meanwhile, what of the war? How long until others arrive on the scene?

One of the things that will help you most as you create this adventure for your players will be a map of the area where the scenario is to take place. The amount of detail needed is up to you. It is always possible to improvise some details during play. If the setting is an underground complex, such as a dungeon, you should make an accurate scale map using graph paper. Areas can always be left blank, to be filled in later during other scenarios perhaps. If the adventure features a house or houses, then floor plans should be drawn for each level.

Once you have decided on the broad outline of the adventure, you will have to consider the roles of the players. If the players already have established characters, will these be suitable? If not, you will have to have the players create new characters. If the plot necessitates specific skills or specific careers, then have the players create characters as appropriate. Trappings are important too. Will the players require special trappings which must be bought locally? If the players already have established characters, make sure that they don't introduce magic items or exotic trappings that would spoil the game. If necessary, invent a feature of the game which will actually counter any such effect. Introduce NPCs as seems necessary, especially where the task is a difficult one.

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