The Lord of the Rings: Crusades

The Lord of the Rings: Crusades would be a game for most current systems, and the sequel to Lord of the Rings: Conquest. This is something I've been planning for a while, but forgot about until very recently. For the longest time, I've always been convinced that there should be a video game that accurately captures the feel of a battle between the forces of good and evil in the fantastical Lord of the Rings universe. Conquest, in my opinion, was a step in the right direction, and a good move by Pandemic, the company that made the original Star Wars Battlefront games. However, I still think they could have captured the fantasy atmosphere much better while still maintaining the strategic gameplay elements they were going for.

That's why I decided to make this idea; it would incorporate elements from Star Wars Battlefront, as well as games like Chivalry: Medieval Warfare and the more recent Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. My overall goal is to create an outline for a well-balanced tactical medieval battling game, but one that also does justice to its excellent source material.

Main Story: The Crusades of Melkor
I've decided that in order to make things more interesting from a story standpoint, this game would delve more into the history of the Lord of the Rings franchise, as it was detailed in the Silmarillion, despite also extending into some of the main series a little bit. I would be interested in telling the tale of the war between the Valar and Melkor, and the fateful battles it encompassed.

This game would have a story involving Melkor returning to try to conquer Arda, the planet on which Middle-Earth is located, and the species of Arda (Elves, Men, and Dwarves) having to team up with the Valar (who are basically the gods of this universe) and the Istari (or wizards, such as Gandalf) to banish him from the mortal plain once again. It should also be noted that this story would be non-canon, similar to Hyrule Warriors, so that there would be maximum creative license and freedom to bring tons of different things from the universe together.

The story would take place during the events of the main trilogy, near the end of the final installment, during the battle of the Black Gate, which would act as the setting for the first level of the game. However, the difference in the outcome of events would be that Sauron wouldn't be destroyed upon the destruction of the One Ring. Instead, the destruction of the ring would send Sauron to the void, which would give Melkor, who is essentially the metaphysical embodiment of evil, the chance to return to Arda at a fraction of his true power, due to an secret enchantment he created with Sauron that would cause them to switch dimensions in case one of them was destroyed.

It should again be noted that this is a non-canon story, and does not interface with the Dagor Dagorath, which is essentially the end of the world in Lord of the Rings that involves Melkor returning. Instead, Melkor would temporarily return to pose a threat to Arda.

Main Series Missions
With this being the game that it is, I figured I should make it a sort of celebration game. This would also be my way of incorporating a sort of extra campaign mode that could provide fan service for both those who read the books and watch the movies (and maybe who play the games, as well). Basically, in addition to the main non-canon storyline of the game, there would also be missions set on the same maps from other parts of the Lord of the Rings timeline, including the movies. They would have specific hero and villain characters, as well as specific armies to play as. Completing them could be one of a few ways to earn extra costumes for characters.
 * The Great Battle of the Last Alliance - Isildur, leader of men, and Elrond, leader of elves, ally to march on Mount Doom to destroy Sauron.
 * Capture in the Goblin Caves - Bilbo, Thorin, Gandalf, and their party of dwarves have to escape the clutches of the Great Goblin and his minions. This mission consists of heroes only, versus goblins.
 * Escape from Mirkwood - The same party from The Hobbit, as well as Legolas and the elves, fight through an army of spiders in Mirkwood.
 * The Desolation of Smaug - The heroes from The Hobbit have to escape from Smaug in Erebor, then fight off orcs with the help of Legolas and Tauriel, and then help Bard to fight Smaug.
 * The Battle of Five Armies - An all-out battle between an alliance of Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Eagles against an army of Goblins and Wargs. Beorn the werewolf shape-shifter also assists the alliance.
 * The Trap at Balin's Tomb - Moving forward into the trilogy, the fellowship of the Ring has to escape a goblin horde deep in the Mines of Moria, within Balin's Tomb.
 * Pursuit at Amon Hen - After progressing into Amon Hen, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli have to fight to protect Frodo and Sam's flight, but at the loss of one of their own.
 * Evacuation of the Westfold - After orc forces invade the Westfold of Rohan, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas have to help the Rohirrim, led by the prince Eomer, evacuate their people.
 * The Siege of Helm's Deep - Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas team up with Gondorian and Elvish forces to fight off a thousand orcs from the small fortress of Helm's Deep, saved at the last minute by Gandalf, Eomer, and the Rohirrim.
 * The Destruction of Isengard - The ent Treebeard, along with Merry and Pippin, assault the orcish tower of Isengard.
 * Assault on Osgiliath - When Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are captured by Faramir and taken to Osgiliath, they have to respond to an attack led by the Nazgul and Ringwraiths.
 * The Walls of Minas Tirith - Gandalf and the Gondorian soldiers defend the fortress of Minas TIrith from full-on assault.
 * The Battle of Pelennor Fields - King Theoden, Merry, and Eowyn fight against an army of orcs in the large, rocky plain of Pelennor until Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas arrive with the army of the dead to turn the tide.
 * Battle of the Black Gate - Every major player arrives at the Black Gate leading into Mordor, for a massive battle to divert attention away from Frodo and Sam as they go to destroy the Ring.

Extra Missions

 * Battle for the Two Trees - Melkor and the great spider Ungoliant march to destroy the two trees of Valinor, which serve as beacons of purity on Arda.
 * The War of Wrath - Eonwe, one of the powerful Maiar (with power roughly competing with Sauron's), leads an army of elves, dwarves, and more in a final battle against Melkor.
 * Mordor in Flames - Talion, the main protagonist of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, leads an army of powerful warchiefs and brainwashed orcs through Mordor against the sinister Black Hand of Sauron.

Instant Action
This classic mode from the original Star Wars Battlefront games would return in LOTRC, allowing a battle in any map as any army. Instead of mission objectives, victory is determined by whichever side kills all the opposing soldiers first, or takes and holds all the command posts.

Gameplay
The gameplay would take place much like the average shooter or PvP-oriented game: on sizable maps. The combat itself would put priority on responsive and fluid controls, so as not to make the player feel disconnected from the character he/she is playing as.

Battlefields
The layout would have roughly the same as Star Wars Battlefront or even games like Battlefield or Titanfall. Fighting would take place on maps with varying designs, dotted with command posts that dictate how units move about the battlefield. Holding a command post uninterrupted for a certain amount of time will claim it for your team and make it usable as a respawn point. Battlefields would be spacious, but not so large that players end up getting separated from the action, particularly upon dying.

Heroes and Villains
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest had a hero and villain system similar to Star Wars Battlefront II, whereby meeting certain conditions in battle would allow a single player use of a notable, powerful character for a certain amount of time. I would bring back this system, but make it blend more seamlessly with the rest of battle. An objection I had to the system in the other games is that using a hero or villain would feel like it took me to a different game, rather than feeling like a change to a continuous battle. To change things up, I would have the hero and villain characters have unique abilities, but also have weaknesses that would, on the whole, only make them somewhat better that normal units. Unless, of course, you play with them long enough to figure out how to apply their strengths properly in battle. Here's a list of heroes who would appear in the game: And a list of villains:
 * Isildur
 * Elrond
 * Bilbo Baggins
 * Thorin Oakenshield
 * Gandalf
 * Radagast the Brown
 * Bard
 * Tauriel
 * Beorn
 * Aragorn
 * Legolas
 * Gimli
 * Boromir
 * Sam Gamgee
 * Frodo Baggins
 * Pippin Took
 * Merry Brandybuck
 * Faramir
 * Eomer
 * King Theoden
 * Eowyn
 * Talion
 * Melkor
 * Sauron
 * Saruman the White
 * Azog
 * Smaug
 * Lurtz
 * Ungoliant
 * Gothmog
 * The Black Hand of Sauron

Melee Combat
Player movement would be controllable at all times, without melee moves carrying the player in a particular direction and disorienting them. However, there would be separate heavy and light attacks, with heavier, more powerful attacks requiring more deliberation. As such, swinging wildly would be an inferior strategy to planning movements according to surroundings and the opponent you'd be facing. Unlike Lord of the Rings: Conquest, there would also be no system of elaborate combos. Combos would instead be simple, and meant to take opponents by surprise or overpower them, but they'd also expose certain vulnerabilities in the player using them that could be taken advantage of if the user isn't careful.

Magic
Magic use in this game would be oriented towards area-of-effect attacks, attacks from a short distance, and support, much like in your typical MOBA-type game. This is not to say a wizard character couldn't defend himself at close range, but his close-range abilities are far inferior to those of melee-oriented characters. Powers in a magic user's arsenal would include slow fireballs, lightning bolts, lightning storms, and shields, among others. His or her purpose would be primarily to put enemy groups at a disadvantage to his or her allies, but a wizard on its own could be a niche specialty class.

Ranged Combat
Everybody knows about  Lord of the Rings' s elves, and their legendary mastery of the bow and arrow. There would certainly be a lot of elven goodness in this game's ranged class, along with crossbow users and users of other weapons, such as spears. Much like with every other class, the weapon loadout could be changed, and every ranged weapon would have noticeably different control dynamics, much like in Chivalry. The ranged class would generally be able to operate either from a very long distance or a very close range. Grouping up against it would be a dominating strategy.

Stealth Combat
Yes, you read right; this game would incorporate certain stealth elements as well as outright battle. This area of gameplay is directly influenced by the scout class in LOTR: Conquest, which specialized in surprising opponents and groups of opponents to make them vulnerable to attack by a larger force. They would definitely be the most strategy-based units in this game, and would be most helpful in securing areas on the battlefield for their armies. Additionally, different scouts would move in different ways from army to army, making different approaches necessary depending on what faction you're playing as.

Special Units
Similar to Star Wars Battlefront, each army in this game would include a special unit, unique to that army, intended to differentiate the armies in interesting ways. In order, they are the Gondorian Ranger, the Rohirrim Paladin, the Dwarven Ironfist, The Elven Sage, the Warg Rider, and the Cave Troll. None of them conform strictly to the four basic templates of soldier, archer, wizard, and scout, but rather have their own specific strengths and weaknesses.

As such, some special units might have abilities better suited to certain battlefields - for example, the horse-mounted Rohirrim Paladin would be good for getting through long stretches of rough terrain quickly, the versatile Gondorian Ranger would be good for battlefields with lots of ledges to traverse, and the Cave Troll or Dwarven Ironfist might be good for maps with lots of choke points to be broken through.

Once again, special units are another thing that make experimenting with different armies worth it.

Armies
One of the major points of this game would be its wide variety of playable armies. The armies would have only a few key classes each, in exchange for there being a large number of armies with interesting differences among them. My reason for having large number of armies is twofold: for one thing, I wanted there to be a lot of different armies for the sake of portraying battles accurately, but in addition, I feel like it would add to the replay value and depth of the game to have a bunch of different armies to experiment with and set against each other.

Gondorians

 * Gondorian Knight
 * Silver Wizard
 * Gondorian Bowman
 * Gondorian Scout
 * Gondorian Ranger

Rohirrim

 * Rohirrim Soldier
 * Rohirrim Firemaster
 * Rohirrim Longbowman
 * Rohirrim Fencer
 * Rohirrim Paladin

Dwarves

 * Dwarven Juggernaut
 * Dwarven Digger
 * Dwarven Axethrower
 * Dwarven Runt
 * Dwarven Ironfist

Elves

 * Noldorin Soldier
 * Elven Sorcerer
 * Elven Bowmaster
 * Elven Acrobat
 * Elven Sage

Orcs

 * Uruk Hai
 * Orc Demolitionist
 * Orcish Crossbowman
 * Orcish Backstabber
 * Warg Rider

The Army of Melkor

 * Easterling Soldier
 * Balrog Warlock
 * Easterling Atlati
 * Vampiric Assassin
 * Cave Troll

Battlefields
This game would have plenty of battlefields to choose from, all of them playable at some point in the main story as well. Some would be larger than others, some would have large rooms, and some would have multiple levels where others don't. There would seriously be something for everybody in their collective design, and hopefully they'd do justice to the various Lord of the Rings locations.

Here's the full list:
 * The Shire
 * Rivendell
 * Fangorn Forest
 * The Westfold
 * Amon Hen
 * The Mines of Moria
 * Misty Mountain
 * Sea of Nurnen
 * The Black Gate of Udun
 * Erebor
 * Minas Tirith
 * Isengard
 * Pelennor Fields
 * Cirith Ungol
 * Helm's Deep
 * Mirkwood
 * Osgiliath
 * Laketown
 * The Two Trees of Valinor
 * Anfauglith