Rogue Angel

GoH Book III

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35 minutes ago, The Maestro said:

So just to clear my muddled mind, will the guilds remain the same, with Varlyrio staying closed, or has it not been decided yet?

Yeah, I am wondering the same thing. Of course either way you choose, the leadership is gonna make some people happy and make some people mad, as it always does. So, are you guys choosing based on which guild has the more people interested in it or are you guys are going to decide and have the people follow whatever the choice? From an outside point of view, aka an Avalonian a Mitgardian or a Kaliphlin, I assume most would want something new and exciting such as a new governmental power, while others may want to have the original 4 guilds up and running. Do you think putting out a poll for the members of the 3 other guilds to vote on which guild should be open is better? Or have you guys decided to make the guild choice in amongst the leadership? As you guys are in charge, either way you decide, the regular members are listening to you guys and we will follow. Super excited to get building for Book 3! :D

Edited by TheLordOfBricks

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My theory is that they're trying to hammer out storylines but ZCerb did say earlier that Varlyrio is "clearly going to be an option" so what is up in the air presently is whether Nocturnus will be.

I think the best way to help them decide is for us to reach out and get people to drum up some activity on the GoH boards. It is hard to tell, except by using outdated info from a more active time, what level of interest there is for Varlyrio and/or Nocturnus nowadays.

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I think a poll would be great, and would be happy to put one together but don’t want to overstep my bounds since I am still relatively new here.

In the case this helps the leaders here, this was my thinking when joining a guild. I’m hoping knowing personal preferences and thinking will provide some insight for the guild leaders.

first choice: Avalonia.  I really enjoy the classic medieval settting with castles and knights.  I also wanted to work on my landscaping and have some elven builds. I have the idea for a story arc of building a castle in various MOCs, so this was an obvious choice.

second choice: Nocturnus.  I like the dark textures here, and within that seemed a lot of room to experiment, such as with lime green pools, purples and reds, etc.  the main thing holding me back here was a lack of any monster figures.  The bulk of my collection was from the 1980s and I felt behind on all the new pieces and colors, not to mention the evil minis.

third choice: Mitgardia.  I am not as big into the Norse realm as many folks are, although I liked the idea of learning to make snow builds.  I would still like to work with snow MOCs, and like many of the dwarven aspects of this realm.  I had and still have, however, zero Viking minis, so I don’t feel that I can make a MOC easily.

last: Kaliphlin.  Nothing against this guild, as there are some amazing MOCs here, but it’s a personal preference thing.  In addition to not having any Arabian minis and few tropical plants, the Arabian setting and colors have never appealed to me.  I will probably eventually make a build here, but for whatever reason, the color palettes and settings appeal to me more in the other guilds.

Wishful thinking: wouldn’t it be awesome if TLG picked up or guilds for a new castle line?  It would already have a backstory, colors and everything!

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8 hours ago, Grover said:

Wishful thinking: wouldn’t it be awesome if TLG picked up or guilds for a new castle line?  It would already have a backstory, colors and everything!

I’ve seen some long shot wishes in these forums, but this has got to be one of the best. While we’re at it, put @Derfel Cadarn in charge of set design!

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2 hours ago, The Stad said:

I’ve seen some long shot wishes in these forums, but this has got to be one of the best. While we’re at it, put @Derfel Cadarn in charge of set design!

One small set would cost us a small fortune, let alone a big one... Would be very cool though

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There's a lot of great designers here.  I was thinking along the lines of less elaborate builds, but with all the characters and color schemes of the guilds.  Would be very cool to get battle packs to build up armies.

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1 minute ago, Grover said:

There's a lot of great designers here.  I was thinking along the lines of less elaborate builds, but with all the characters and color schemes of the guilds.  Would be very cool to get battle packs to build up armies.

I agree that would be very cool indeed. But I fear the worst... Maybe if we all put our MOCs on Lego Ideas, maybe it will send a message?

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21 hours ago, Alfadas said:

I agree that would be very cool indeed. But I fear the worst... Maybe if we all put our MOCs on Lego Ideas, maybe it will send a message?

It would probably be waay too complicated for LEGO to do anything like a Guilds theme, even just considering permissions and all.  But an easter egg reference to the Guilds in an official set would be awesome.  Just gotta get a guildie in as a castle designer! :grin:

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1 minute ago, Kai NRG said:

It would probably be waay too complicated for LEGO to do anything like a Guilds theme, even just considering permissions and all.  But an easter egg reference to the Guilds in an official set would be awesome.  Just gotta get a guildie in as a castle designer! :grin:

Or a designer to join US!

The best we could probably get in a Lego Castle set would be a new map based on the shape of Historica as a whole.

Maybe we could get a Creator set that includes a brick built creature based on a design here. Someone link that Kaliphlin beasts guide, because there are tons things we would love Lego to create there.

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22 hours ago, Grover said:

There's a lot of great designers here.  I was thinking along the lines of less elaborate builds, but with all the characters and color schemes of the guilds.  Would be very cool to get battle packs to build up armies.

I think that this would be really cool, and it touches on a point that makes me a little nervous about the future of the guilds.  This whole adventure started at a time when Lego was in the midst of a castle theme resurgence, and then came LoTR and the Hobbit, and all those themes served to fuel the builds and drive the aesthetics of stories.  I mean, the official heraldry of Avalonia and Kaliphlin came directly from the Kingdoms line, and the Hand of Corruption is based on the official Uruk-Hai figures for cryin' out loud.

I just wonder, as those themes get farther into the rear view, how do we make sure that there aren't too many barriers to entry for those who are considering the guilds but don't have any of the "appropriate" minifigs?  An official GoH Lego theme would be the most effective way to propagate those parts, followed closely by a new, generic castle theme, but neither of those seem to be forthcoming (there's not even a "normal" CMF series on the horizon). 

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44 minutes ago, The Stad said:

I just wonder, as those themes get farther into the rear view, how do we make sure that there aren't too many barriers to entry for those who are considering the guilds but don't have any of the "appropriate" minifigs?  An official GoH Lego theme would be the most effective way to propagate those parts, followed closely by a new, generic castle theme, but neither of those seem to be forthcoming (there's not even a "normal" CMF series on the horizon). 

I think that if a new Castle line came out, we would get more builders here, as it would generate excitement.  I do have a couple of concerns, though, one of which would be helped by a new line.  The first I share with you, and that is the general lack of minifigures.  If you have to go on Bricklink to get figures for your army, then you are in trouble.  I have this issue with Mitgardia, Kaliphlin, and Nocturnus.  I missed out on a lot of the Viking, Arabian, and monsters in my dark ages, and since these themes are not evergreen, you have to buy used figures if you want to build (for instance, I have no mummies, and only one minotaur, so building these in Nocturnus is a problem).  However, to some extent, this is mitigated by a new line of Castle, especially if we get different factions (good guys, bad guys, wolf packs, maybe some monsters).

My larger concern, though, is kind of ironic: I am a little concerned that new builders will be intimidated from joining.  From reading all the forums here on Eurobricks, it is my opinion that GoH has among the top builders, if not the top builders on the boards.  Looking back in the forums to 2010, you see a lot less detailed builds, but as time progresses, this group has really pushed the limits and brought a lot of new ideas for building MOCs.  The build quality here is exceedingly high.  Hence, the irony: we have some of the best builders, but new builders, particularly younger ones, may be intimidated into not posting their builds since they don't feel they are adequate. 

Although I am less concerned with people thinking my builds are terrible, one of the things that I have felt was a challenge was my lack of modern bricks and colors.  Almost all my collections when I started here was from the 80s, so it was the basic colors, with only a few brown and green bricks, and almost no modern pieces.  Since I started here, I have been buying up as many new colors (brown, tan, dark tan, greens, dark red and blue, etc.), but since I don't have a LUG anywhere near me and live in a small town without a chance of starting one, I have to buy from the secondary market, which is fairly expensive in most cases, and it has taken me several years to get to the point where I feel I have enough 'modern' bricks and colors to be able to build something that looks halfway decent.

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Castle themes seem to be not that popular with the children these days, and neither are pirate themes. Yeah we got a few lines semi-recently, but those lines came with less and less sets and figures every wave... I think children like the Nexo knight stuff more, you know, big over the top machines and action features. And ofcourse the Ninjago line that has been running for, what, 7 years now, which is also getting ever bigger and over the top. That's what most children want unfortunately. Look at the castle sets from the '80s (im from '95 so it's waaay before my time), they wouldn't sell today. Yes you get a nice amount of figures, pretty much a small army in every set. But action features? None.  But I love them. And Fantasy Era, pretty much the most popular Castle line. Kingdoms after that was pretty damned good too. And the most recent didn't even get a name, just Castle. But halve the sets, if not less, then Kingdoms. The "bad guys" were pretty cool, black armor with red works really well, imo. But I miss the Viking/Fantasy Era lines and I don't have high hopes for those returning in any way shape or form...

5 minutes ago, Grover said:

I think that if a new Castle line came out, we would get more builders here, as it would generate excitement.  I do have a couple of concerns, though, one of which would be helped by a new line.  The first I share with you, and that is the general lack of minifigures.  If you have to go on Bricklink to get figures for your army, then you are in trouble.  I have this issue with Mitgardia, Kaliphlin, and Nocturnus.  I missed out on a lot of the Viking, Arabian, and monsters in my dark ages, and since these themes are not evergreen, you have to buy used figures if you want to build (for instance, I have no mummies, and only one minotaur, so building these in Nocturnus is a problem).  However, to some extent, this is mitigated by a new line of Castle, especially if we get different factions (good guys, bad guys, wolf packs, maybe some monsters).

My larger concern, though, is kind of ironic: I am a little concerned that new builders will be intimidated from joining.  From reading all the forums here on Eurobricks, it is my opinion that GoH has among the top builders, if not the top builders on the boards.  Looking back in the forums to 2010, you see a lot less detailed builds, but as time progresses, this group has really pushed the limits and brought a lot of new ideas for building MOCs.  The build quality here is exceedingly high.  Hence, the irony: we have some of the best builders, but new builders, particularly younger ones, may be intimidated into not posting their builds since they don't feel they are adequate. 

Although I am less concerned with people thinking my builds are terrible, one of the things that I have felt was a challenge was my lack of modern bricks and colors.  Almost all my collections when I started here was from the 80s, so it was the basic colors, with only a few brown and green bricks, and almost no modern pieces.  Since I started here, I have been buying up as many new colors (brown, tan, dark tan, greens, dark red and blue, etc.), but since I don't have a LUG anywhere near me and live in a small town without a chance of starting one, I have to buy from the secondary market, which is fairly expensive in most cases, and it has taken me several years to get to the point where I feel I have enough 'modern' bricks and colors to be able to build something that looks halfway decent.

This. When I joined, what, 5 years ago, I had my sets. That's it. It took a long time to get more proper bricks for Historical builds. And now, 5 years later I still don't feel like I'm good on bricks... 

 

 

But anyway, this is a forum post about GoH book lll, which is very exiting, so let's not clog this thread up with "what if-s"... 

Edited by Alfadas
spelling/grammar

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5 hours ago, Alfadas said:

This. When I joined, what, 5 years ago, I had my sets. That's it. It took a long time to get more proper bricks for Historical builds. And now, 5 years later I still don't feel like I'm good on bricks... 

But anyway, this is a forum post about GoH book lll, which is very exiting, so let's not clog this thread up with "what if-s"... 

I think the portion about how to get new people to join may be very much relevant to Book III.  How do we get more people interested in Book III?  Can we somehow make more limited builds, like 16x16 or even 8x8, that don't require a lot of bricks to join?  Those were the ones that most appealed to me, as I felt that I had enough of the 'good' colors to do something like this.  A bunch of unlimited size builds, or even 32x32 size, may be too large for newcomers.  Sure, I like the idea of a few of these so we can make new builders oooh and aaaah over the spectacular builds, but for those without access to a LUG or regular access to several Lego stores, I would like to see several size limited builds.  Typically there seem to be a good balance of these, but perhaps we could have more?  Maybe a color-restricted build as well?  Those might be kind of interesting.

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To help drive prospective builders' confidence we need to show the weakest of our builds, then the not quite so bad builds, and keep the progression on into the beautifully skilled builds. Show that joining in the RBG can help improve your overall building skill, and also that it's okay to be a novice.

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1 hour ago, gedren_y said:

To help drive prospective builders' confidence we need to show the weakest of our builds, then the not quite so bad builds, and keep the progression on into the beautifully skilled builds. Show that joining in the RBG can help improve your overall building skill, and also that it's okay to be a novice.

Yeah, I agree. Any time you are part of any kind of community in Lego, you really start to improve.I have a group of fellow castle builders that I continually share WIPs with, and it has helped me so much. I wish there was a way to tell that to all the newer builders that.

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41 minutes ago, gedren_y said:

To help drive prospective builders' confidence we need to show the weakest of our builds, then the not quite so bad builds, and keep the progression on into the beautifully skilled builds. Show that joining in the RBG can help improve your overall building skill, and also that it's okay to be a novice.

I agree that we need to show weaker builds, however, we have run into the problem that without a constant influx of new people, the only builders who are left are very, very good.  Maybe we need to open a few contests or categories to new folks only (i.e., those with less than a certain # of builds, or those who have been a member for less than a certain period of time?), and that would help us get newer members feeling like they can still compete and yet have something to aspire to?

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What could help too, is posting GoH stuff on the front page. Yes, some stuff ends up there, but I haven't seen this thread on the front page. And as it is the start of Book lll, this is the perfect moment to post it there. That way, new people will get exited for it. When we post it on the frontpage when the book has started, more people might be inclined to say "nah, they already started" or something. 

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7 hours ago, Alfadas said:

What could help too, is posting GoH stuff on the front page. Yes, some stuff ends up there, but I haven't seen this thread on the front page. And as it is the start of Book lll, this is the perfect moment to post it there. That way, new people will get exited for it. When we post it on the frontpage when the book has started, more people might be inclined to say "nah, they already started" or something. 

I think the plan is to front page the moment book III actually starts.  The thing is, if we jump the gun, yeah, we can have lots of hype now, but may well have died down a bit once the next book actually starts.  Besides, right now we've got a lot of ideas floating around, and it's great to hear those from old guildies who know how it works, but it'd be a little tough to wade through for someone new to the scene!  I think it's wise to wait until we're organized with final decisions on what guilds will be opened, who is leading, and what lore is essential for new members to know, before we go live on the front page.

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Yeah seems too soon to front page Book 3's launch. I would bet it'll be front paged when the story is unveiled, as I expect we'll see some pretty wicked builds in there.

14 hours ago, Grover said:

I agree that we need to show weaker builds, however, we have run into the problem that without a constant influx of new people, the only builders who are left are very, very good.  Maybe we need to open a few contests or categories to new folks only (i.e., those with less than a certain # of builds, or those who have been a member for less than a certain period of time?), and that would help us get newer members feeling like they can still compete and yet have something to aspire to?

Dude, I think you're just projecting onto an anonymous, supposed group of people that there's no way to know even exist. Namely, these "intimidated weaker builders". It's clear that you have these concerns and that's okay, but you have to realize it takes years for people to get "very, very good". I'd say I'm fairly mediocre and it took four years for me to even get there. Guys like Ecc, Soccerkid, and the longest running GoH members have spent the better part of a decade collecting Lego, sharing builds, refining techniques, etc.

Every few months we get people on RBGs, but particularly on GoH, who fret about stuff like this. Just build as best you can with what you've got. It sucks that you couldn't bolster your fantasy Lego with LoTR or The Hobbit stuff when those themes were prevalent. There are a lot of Ninjago, Star Wars, and other bits that work well for GoH, though. For example, the recent Aquaman in Atlantis set (more of a battle pack) had lots of goodies for a fantasy MOCer. I also definitely recommend using Bricklink to piece together 'figs using their component parts. I've been known to buy heads, torsos, legs, etc all separately and it's quite possible to do this affordably as long as you're not looking for rarer 'fig pieces.

Ultimately, there aren't enough new members to do a contest just for them. That kind of thing, if even considered, would need to wait until Book 3 was well underway and GoH had some life breathed back into it again. Newcomers should focus on learning and commenting on what precious few new builds have been presented here lately. Feedback is a big part of the draw for posting stuff, and feedback has died off drastically on EB in general. I think new people could really help there.

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On 7/11/2018 at 7:59 PM, Kai NRG said:

Yep, I agree here.  Let the group PMs be a BoBS and AG thing, GoH isn't so much of a strategy game, so we don't really need perpetual PMs.

Oddly enough, I just found out about Book III through a BoBS group pm. :grin:

Just to add a counter-argument, the Sea Rats' group PM has always proven useful for previewing your MOCs and getting faction feedback before posting them.  It also bred a certain esprit-de-corps.  GoH is obviously not the brick-boardgame that BoBS has morphed into, but I would not discount the idea.

I'm heading out on vacation and won't be back until after Aug 1.  After that I plan to throw my hat in the ring, which is unfortunate because one poor faction is going to be stuck with my really lousy skills and miserable demeanour. 

Go Nocturnus!... crap

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4 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

I think the plan is to front page the moment book III actually starts.  The thing is, if we jump the gun, yeah, we can have lots of hype now, but may well have died down a bit once the next book actually starts.  Besides, right now we've got a lot of ideas floating around, and it's great to hear those from old guildies who know how it works, but it'd be a little tough to wade through for someone new to the scene!  I think it's wise to wait until we're organized with final decisions on what guilds will be opened, who is leading, and what lore is essential for new members to know, before we go live on the front page.

Definitely, however it might be good (once everything is set and the launch date is decided) to post a tease about a week or so ahead of time so that some people aren't just caught off guard.

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Good idea x105black about a teaser. Definitely let people on eb know to get ready. 

Post my new sigfig tomorrow hopefully. 

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Yeah, I'm actually kind of surprised we aren't seeing more activity in general. I'm working on something, but it won't be ready til closer to the end of the month.

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7 hours ago, mccoyed said:

Dude, I think you're just projecting onto an anonymous, supposed group of people that there's no way to know even exist. Namely, these "intimidated weaker builders". It's clear that you have these concerns and that's okay, but you have to realize it takes years for people to get "very, very good". I'd say I'm fairly mediocre and it took four years for me to even get there. Guys like Ecc, Soccerkid, and the longest running GoH members have spent the better part of a decade collecting Lego, sharing builds, refining techniques, etc.

I am speaking from experience and my perspective.  I am intimidated.  Fortunately, I am somewhat shameless, so I have no problems being torn down.  Other new members may be, though, as being intimidated is my initial reaction and so it may be for others.  Also, the guys you just mentioned here as the longest running members are those that are posting the bulk of the builds now--I would also consider you to be among the high quality builders here.

I agree, there are few new members, but why not have a category just for them?  Then if there's only 3, one wins a prize.  Great! Those low odds should attract more new members in my thinking at least.  I am merely suggesting this, so the guild leaders can do what they want.

The reason I am here, and left Classic-Castle, is for feedback, which is significantly more here than CC.  I am more than happy to see more feedback.  Any way we can do that would be great in my opinion.

Edited by Grover

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