The Guild's Weekly

[Ecclesiastes]

Week 7

Starting of with veteran Kayne. Who is continuing his Resistance story in a great way with this grand gate! Can't wait to see what's next!

Second is soccerkid6. It's good to see he keeps building fantastic interiors which makes a castle way more complete!

And last we we visit the cold with Blufiji. Excellent landscaping here which almost gives you the chills!

[Ecclesiastes]

Week 8

There's just a few days left to vote for the Frozen Beyond Contest. And like many contests it's hard to choose a favorite, like this one made by BrickCurve. (Voting is only open for GoH members!)

Dragons were part of tales of the old folk, but it seemed their numbers are growing. Especially in Mitgardia were you don't want to mess with Blaze's Northern Ranger Dragon Team!

Knowledge is power. Luckypat realizes this all to well and has build himself a library.

[Ecclesiastes]

week 9

While he has used this style of woodwork before, Blufiji perfected it further in this wonderful swamp scene.

Of course everyone's sigfig needs his own castle, like Jakorin Swiftsword's. I'm sure he feels safe here!

If you like interiors, this one made by Jacob Nion, sure is one of those were you want to turn yourself into a minifig and walk through it.

[Ecclesiastes]

Week 10

Before we start with the winners of the Frozen Beyond contest we first warm up a bit in Kaliphlin. Were kinggregus made a wonderful gate. The colors and architecture just makes you think of how Persian times would have been like hundreds of years ago.

Next, the winners of the Frozen Beyond Contest are in! Make sure to congratulate them!

First place category A: Gideon

First place category B: again Gideon!

First place Category C: Jacob Nion

[Ecclesiastes]

We've started this for a few weeks now. And ofcourse we would like to keep it running. So any ideas are welcome. It could be things like a feature on our builders, a look on the AoM or even digging up some of the great old/first mocs. All suggestions are welcome.

[dathil]

I would like to see more about the story of Historica, I just feel like there is just too little published in the guild pages, given how big a fan of fantasy worlds I am :D It would be great if this can be done with the help of the old MOCs.

Im here twice a day, so everything that is in here I already saw, yet maybe some in-depth things on the used techniques, so more of an analysis instead of just the picture?

[TitusV]

Maybe soccerkid's builds? These are really good examples of the beautifull MOCs in the AoM...

And you could link to his website, where he has a lit of really handy tutorials?

[SarahJoy]

I'be been enjoying the weekly selection of builds.

Other ideas I like:

- featured builders

- tutorials / featured techniques

- AoM (say, a few examples of the progression of stages of farming)

- UoP (say, a few examples of one of the required builds)

- Historican Settlements (Task 4) -- feature member-built settlements

- thematic sets of builds -- swamps, trees, taverns, stables, graveyards, etc.

- legendary builds/builders of Historica, like the lighthouse of Barqa

- have members submit proposals for features, with links to the relevant builds

[BrickCurve]

Featuring some of the builds from book 1 would be a great way to revisit the events chronicled in the first book.

Maybe every couple of weeks there could be a continuing recap of the story line, starting at book 1 and gradually catching up with book 2.

[Jacob Nion]

I can only second what the others already have said. Some recap of the whole main story would be incredible useful, not only for people who would like to join GoH but also for all those who have signed up at some point in book II. It don't have to be too detailed, just what happened before and after every challenge.

The presentation of old outstanding builds is a fantastic idea too. Especially in combination with the story recapitulation. These mocs probably would be builds used for the prelude/ challenge story, like Z's obsidian Spike, or winning entries which decided how the story was continued.

Though I like all the other ideas like building techniques tutorials and featuring members/personal stories, I'm not sure if it's too much work for every week. Maybe these things could be featured every few weeks or so instead of weekly. Which does not mean that there can't be a standard short weekly.

[Kai NRG]

...The presentation of old outstanding builds is a fantastic idea too. Especially in combination with the story recapitulation. These mocs probably would be builds used for the prelude/ challenge story, like Z's obsidian Spike, or winning entries which decided how the story was continued...

The problem with that is that we don't want old topics being bumped... right?

[TitusV]

I can only second what the others already have said. Some recap of the whole main story would be incredible useful, not only for people who would like to join GoH but also for all those who have signed up at some point in book II. It don't have to be too detailed, just what happened before and after every challenge.

The presentation of old outstanding builds is a fantastic idea too. Especially in combination with the story recapitulation. These mocs probably would be builds used for the prelude/ challenge story, like Z's obsidian Spike, or winning entries which decided how the story was continued.

Though I like all the other ideas like building techniques tutorials and featuring members/personal stories, I'm not sure if it's too much work for every week. Maybe these things could be featured every few weeks or so instead of weekly. Which does not mean that there can't be a standard short weekly.

ZC's black spire is indeed worth it!

Maybe 1 old challenge featured per week? like starting with Book I, Challenge I, telling it's story and showing the winner's entries? Following week Book I, Challenge II, and so on...

A good idea would also be to feature the Task 4 and it's wonderfull settlements. In such a case, I'd recommend Barqa and Thorshaven

[Jacob Nion]

ZC's black spire is indeed worth it!

Maybe 1 old challenge featured per week? like starting with Book I, Challenge I, telling it's story and showing the winner's entries? Following week Book I, Challenge II, and so on...

A good idea would also be to feature the Task 4 and it's wonderfull settlements. In such a case, I'd recommend Barqa and Thorshaven

There's not always a big story behind a challenge. The first challenge ever was building a watch tower. Maybe it would be nice to have every week a different feature. Lets say one week recap of the main story, then a settlement feature etc. And then repeating this rythm

[Exetrius]

I am fine with the Guild's Weekly as it is now: highlighting a few cool recent builds plus some announcements. However, that doesn't mean that I'm not open for changes.

The idea of thematic sets of builds that Sarah proposed is one that I very much like, because it will both show the variety and the unity of builds for Historica. It just has so much potential, also in the long run! Old builds can be 'mixed' with newer ones, too. Let me give some more examples:

Four Great....

... creatures

... seasonal builds

... battle scenes

... contest entries

... saga episodes

... colossal builds

... scenes from Nocturnus

Anyway, I could go on another hour, but I think you get the idea

Kai brings up a good point about bumping old topics, though. Maybe the post should have a reminder to only discuss old builds in this thread?

I'm not in for featuring building technique tutorials; you'll learn that stuff anyway if you keep looking at GoH builds for long enough.

Besides, I think the frontpage should remain reserved for exceptional MOCs, reviews and major announcements; building tutorials would inflate that, imho.

[Umbra-Manis]

I have to agree with Sarah's Ideas, as well as following the story of Historica through older builds.

[BrickCurve]

The problem with that is that we don't want old topics being bumped... right?

There is always copy and paste. It might work though, if the images linked back to the Guilds Weekly thread instead of the original MOC thread.

[Blufiji]

I like the recap of the lore of Historica idea. It really is good reading, and it helps us newer members along with the current structure.

[Full Plate]

Is this meant to be put on the frontpage each week? Because I think the type of material that is appropriate depends on the audience. Is it something that should be interesting to everyone, or mainly for GoH:ers?

I think the current setup with featuring recent nice builds works well for frontpage. Give people an idea of what is going on in GoH and perhaps draw in some new people.

Featuring builders could also work in this format - I think it has already been done a few times.

If we dig up old GoH history (which I personally would find very interesting) I'm not sure if that is suitable for frontpage, but probably depends on how it is done.

I also quite like the idea of techniques and tutorials. Not sure I agree that you automatically pick all this up by just looking at builds. Whenever I go through tutorials I always learn a lot more than if I just look at a build.

I think Jacob Nion raises a good point about level of ambition for this. How much is manageable? Don't want to put too big a burden on you to make something grand every week. A possible solution could be to outsource some of this to GoH members to make some content for the weekly once in a while, maybe?

[Jacob Nion]

Now I must say Exetrius convinced me with his point about learning by looking (and doing). Really everybody who stays here for long (including myself) improves over the time. Increasing your skills is mainly done automatically. Maybe we could talk about a tutorial thread where members who have shown special skills in serious techniques or did come up with something new are asked to write a short how to with some pics from time to time.

But I think short recaps of the main story of GoH are suitable for front page. There are always post of sub themes I'm personally not interestedin, like Lego technic or trains. But they also have their right to be featured on the front page since EB is for every Lego enthusiast. And sometimes there are things I can enjoy even if they're not my interest.

Remember, whenever there is a GoH build featured on front page users from other themes visit this subforum and comment, because they enjoyed the moc without being much into castle and fantasy.

And I'm sure many of those people would be curious to know more about GoH to keep up in some way.

Another point is that we always want new people to join the fun. And it's so hard for newbies to enough information about the lore here. This could really get people interested.

Also it makes me sad that this whole story from book I slowly gets forgotten, and so the members who have added great builds and story plots in the past, just because they went inactive. People who want to join GoH and therefore the story should at least know some basics about Revolword saga and these things.

In the end it wouldn't be that much effort to recap one chapter in a week in a few sentences and it would secure all this information. Maybe we can find some long time members willing to write about storyparts and then mailing it to Ecclesiastes too lessen the burden.

We could call it "lore of Historica -Part xy" and then have a few words explaining what happened between two challenges.

[Gunman]

How a builder/s (old GoH members) developed their skill through ages with moc reference.

[TitusV]

How a builder/s (old GoH members) developed their skill through ages with moc reference.

Great idea! Take a builder who was preferavky active in Book I, and show his progress in 3-4 builds. That would really show of how hard one can improve by joining GoH, and maybe get some new members to join

[MiloNelsiano]

How a builder/s (old GoH members) developed their skill through ages with moc reference.

I think all the ideas so far have merit, but I like this the most, as its most likely to appeal to new/would-be-members. It can be a little intimidating seeing all the amazing builds front pages every week, and it could deter members from joining because they'd be too embarrassed (I was at first) to post their beginner MOCs among all the great ones.

I had also thought posting the old story would be good, but really, it's all there in the story index. If anything, that could be updated, and there would be little need for it here.

[Lord Vladivus]

I like the ideas showcasing member development, as well as cool Mocs from the week. We could always link to the Story Index in each update (have a pic related to the story as the link, change it weekly, maybe 4/5 Mocs that just rotate, like a signature type thing at the bottom of the Guilds Weekly post)- that way, people might spot a great Moc, and be inspired to find out the History of Historica! It might stop newer members, who've been enticed in by good looking Mocs, from asking for the History.

[Kai NRG]

How a builder/s (old GoH members) developed their skill through ages with moc reference.

I also really like this idea.

The re-cap of good builds throughout a week is very nice as well.

Although having a blurb about the lore might be a good idea, it's more complicated and personally I kind of like the "who cares about what happened earlier" approach.

However, I think in general it would be nicer if the pictures were downsized. It's nice to be able to go from one frontpage news slot to the next without having to scroll down to terribly much, so if the pictures were arranged like this:

...instead of larger and in a row going down, that would be easier to scroll through.

(Sorry, a bit of self promotion there. )

[SkaForHire]

So we would pretty much just be putting soccerkid's and LD's MOCs up (I just wanted to use smileys.) But for real, we have done that before, Z has put up a thread like that at least once, if not multiple times.

The top four or "four great" by theme is an interesting concept though.