Era III and a call for New Leadership!

[NOD]

Happy New Year! I wish all Brethren of the Brick Seas and Eurobricks members happiness, health and bricks (real or digital).

 

 

Remember that not everyone has the opportunity to build what they want with real bricks. Brethren of the Brick Seas is intended to be fun and enjoyable for everyone. Retain existing members and attract new members that should be Era III.

Edited December 27, 2023 by NOD

[Kai NRG]

14 hours ago, Khorne said:

For the photos, I can make a zip-file/WeTransfer with all the icons and stuff I have stored on my computer, so you can upload it to the new website?

Thanks for the offer, Evan may already have it all but if not we'll take you up on it when we get to that point! 

[evancelt]

On 12/27/2023 at 2:50 AM, Khorne said:

I did not you were already able to edit posts. I can only imagine the amount of time it takes to stay on top of things here . The automated system sounds hopeful!

For the photos, I can make a zip-file/WeTransfer with all the icons and stuff I have stored on my computer, so you can upload it to the new website?

Yes please! Thanks

[Khorne]

3 hours ago, evancelt said:

Yes please! Thanks

Okay, I will look into it tomorrow or during the weekend and send it via PM to you.

[blackdeathgr]

Hey guys!

Really happy to see a new Era for our beloved community game! I fondly remember when it all started and can't help but feel awe regarding where everybody is now, be it in their lives, their LEGO collections, techniques improvements etc. Ofc new friends and creativity from the community are and will always be the driving force in my opinion. So, whatever direction you chose to steer the game guys I am sure it will be fun and entertaining just like the day it all started (for me here and here). Wish you all best of luck and hopefully see you soon again in-game! Till then, have a great New Year everybody!

 

On 10/30/2023 at 8:42 PM, Jeff of Clubs said:

I forward a grand Oleonic Revolution with all nations vying over it's outcome, thus shaping the world of BoBS E3

My kind of bro! 

Vive le Roi l' Emperor! 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by blackdeathgr

[Khorne]

(Taking this from the Sea Rats topic, as to not derail the faction topic too much)

 

On 12/29/2023 at 9:51 PM, Ross Fisher said:

I like that. It would be great if we all doubled-down on our identities; Oleon would become a Cult, Corrington would become a Sophocracy, Eslandola would become a Megacorporation, and the Sea Rats would become a movement of freedom fighters. 

On 12/30/2023 at 6:17 AM, Tezclatipoca said:

Hey great idea ! I like it !

It would be very RP to accentuate those identities to represent the fact that Factions evolved. You should suggest this in the "looking for help for new Era" or something like that... dedicated thread.

23 hours ago, Fraunces said:

We could also just become the Pirate Faction. In real times the Pirates/buccaneers were basically Sea Rats as clever and respected captains would be hired and respected in Dutch/English/French port especially in the early age of sale.

9 hours ago, Ross Fisher said:

I have been told many times that the Sea Rats are not the Pirate faction, so I avoided that suggestion. That said, Pirates and Maroons were responsible for establishing a number of independent enclaves, so "Freedom Fighters" isn't an entirely inappropriate direction to take things. 

4 hours ago, Capt Wolf said:

Alas, I think that was the biggest mistake in early BoBS: deciding that the Sea Rats weren't all pirates. It should be the pirate faction, IMO.  Hopefully Era III will fix that in some fashion.

1 hour ago, Tezclatipoca said:

Yes it was a mistake IMO. I agree with you.

I hope the new rules could help players to play some real bad guys by helping them in doing some acts of piracy and real ship attacks without risking to loose too much. I always found too risky to attack by myself the ships passing at my vessel range... 

As it is actually, I find the rules too gentle for the trading actions and too hard for the piracy actions.

 

---

 

4 minutes ago, RobTheVan said:

Could subfactions be a potential solution?

Like for the Searats there could be subdivisions between aggressive pirates, liberty loving freedom fighters, and independent traders. 

Eslandola could be divided between Conquistador style conquerors and powerful trade companies.

Oleon could have more royalist factions, church minded missionaries or revolutionary enlightenment minded factions.

Could help provide some templates for how you want to play as a faction and also add some internal strife that would guide what the nations become.

Sorry for not replying in the Sea Rats thread, but I didn't want to derail that topic too much with non-Sea Rat faction discussion and thought it'd fit better here as someone else already suggested.

Addressing the quoted post by @RobTheVan directly above: I don't think the subfactions need to be specifically outlined as such necessarily. I mean, as 'official' subfactions. The overarching factions are already played with different accents and the underlying differences are also explored in the background lore of each faction and have been expanded upon by the players' own stories. @Ross Fisher plays his Oléonese character very Faith-minded, while @Keymonus and @CapOnBOBS or @merc for example build with a more general military or commercial theme. Which also works. The few builds and characters I have made were more political scheming, with conservative royalists vs revolutionaries. Like I said, they don't need to be actually split up as genuine subfactions, I think. The current framework and outline works, IMO.

 

Quote

I like that. It would be great if we all doubled-down on our identities; Oleon would become a Cult, Corrington would become a Sophocracy, Eslandola would become a Megacorporation, and the Sea Rats would become a movement of freedom fighters. 

In a way, this is already how the factions are kind of described in the Quick Start Guide, but these short doubled-down descriptions of the factions are more nuanced in the actual faction threads. But over the years most factions and players have moved more towards the doubled-down versions and away from the nuance (I feel).

 

To add my 2 cents to the Sea Rats = pirates faction: I always thought they were the pirates faction . Never saw them as anything else. I'm not really up to date on the EGS and stuff, but I can imagine a more 'piratey' way of play can be added, if this is not already the case? Kind of like you have Horde factions in Rome TW: Attila, Pirates could have more raid/plunder via the seas benefits but are unable to grow settlements beyond a certain level to compensate. Whereas "normal" factions must gain their riches via colonies, settlements or regular trade. Just from the top of my head. Like I said, I'm not up to date on the EGS, so maybe this is already the case .

[Kai NRG]

Making piracy a vibrant part of Era III game play is a big priority.  We're also looking to heighten potential for exploration.  The goal is to give players more to do than just amass DBs and some fun ways to use what DBs players collect.  And most importantly, we're trying to make every aspect of the game inspire building and storytelling.

For factions--we're looking at solutions that aim to keep all the lore that we've built over the years, but consolidate the player base a little more so we don't have a bunch of tiny groups but are all building one world.  At the same time, we're trying to structure it so players have freedom to make and break alliances with other players.  So hopefully it will allow for player-created subdivisions that can change as player's stories change.  I don't want to say too much while we're still hammering out details, but I think it's very much along the lines of what you all are suggesting.  Keep up the discussion by all means though, it's helpful to see what everyone thinks about this and there are lots of good suggestions you all are making too, and some of them will surely show up in Era III.

[NOD]

On 1/4/2024 at 4:23 AM, Kai NRG said:

Making piracy a vibrant part of Era III game play is a big priority. 

That sounds good!

A pirate simple and humble sailor suits me well! 

On 1/4/2024 at 4:23 AM, Kai NRG said:

freedom to make and break alliances with other players.

I hope you also mean players from other factions.  

On 1/4/2024 at 4:23 AM, Kai NRG said:

We're also looking to heighten potential for exploration.

This is also interesting and I like it. 

[Kai NRG]

3 hours ago, NOD said:

I hope you also mean players from other factions.  

Yes I do! 

[NOD]

1 hour ago, Kai NRG said:

Yes I do! 

I'm asking for a friend.  

Would collaboration between @Mesabi , @Bricksbypidy and @NOD be possible?

Let the games begin!  

[Kai NRG]

3 hours ago, NOD said:

Would collaboration between @Mesabi , @Bricksbypidy and @NOD be possible?

Don't see why not, if you all can get along, that is! 

[Yperio_Bricks]

Now that i made an account Maybe a dedicated BotBS flickr group could also help to promote the game?

[evancelt]

4 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Now that i made an account Maybe a dedicated BotBS flickr group could also help to promote the game?

There is one :)

Here's the link

 

[Yperio_Bricks]

Just now, evancelt said:

There is one :)

Here's the link

 

Eureka!

Thanks for the link

[Bricksbypidy]

23 hours ago, NOD said:

I'm asking for a friend.  

 

Would collaboration between @Mesabi , @Bricksbypidy and @NOD be possible?

Let the games begin!  

Should be nice! 

[blackdeathgr]

On 1/4/2024 at 5:23 AM, Kai NRG said:

Making piracy a vibrant part of Era III game play is a big priority.  We're also looking to heighten potential for exploration.  The goal is to give players more to do than just amass DBs and some fun ways to use what DBs players collect.  And most importantly, we're trying to make every aspect of the game inspire building and storytelling.

For factions--we're looking at solutions that aim to keep all the lore that we've built over the years, but consolidate the player base a little more so we don't have a bunch of tiny groups but are all building one world.  At the same time, we're trying to structure it so players have freedom to make and break alliances with other players. 

Definitely on the right track! Eagerly waiting to see what you've come up with!

[Maxim I]

*thud* (falls out the sky).

Wow, shame on me that it has been so long since I visited the forum.

Anyway, in the meantime, baby numéro 2 is already 5 months

But building time is nihil. I hope with the daughter becoming a bit older, that I can start creating stuff with her.

Anyway, some feedback from someone who was there in the beginning.

• automatisation is much needed (I read this will be the case, so hoooray!)
  • The AMRCA was a nice part of ERA II, altough it took way too long to get feedback from the Gamemasters, killing the building-vibe so now and then for me.
  • Automatisation of the TMRCA would be awesome to reduce waiting time and to keep the intensity high (deadlines and new ideas after events).
• I hope some bonus could be forseen for very high quality mocs.
  • It has been a frustration since long for me who spends multiple months on a vessel with full intensive rigging to see it being destroyed by a ship built in less than a day.
  • Same for properties
• We need a journal
  • After being gone for a small period of time, it is really hard to know what's up
    • An idea for automatisation could be that when a player fills in the form to register his MOC, he fills in a line where he describes in 1 sentence what happens in his/her story/MOC.
    • A list of these events (journal) is visible for everyone
      • 624/01/18 - [Eslandola/Maxim I] - Captain Grey inspects his new recruits in Damaborg - link to topic (<= link)
      • 624/07/10 - [World/Maxim I] - Damaborg hosts the new World Cup - link to topic (<= link)
      • ...
    • Other events could be included (TMRCA outcomes, events, faction announcements, ...)

Looking forward to what ERA III brings!

PS: I will ask to some ex members what their feedback is and what could bring them back

[Jeff of Clubs]

Good thoughts all the way through.

This especially;

21 hours ago, Maxim I said:

I hope some bonus could be forseen for very high quality mocs.

• It has been a frustration since long for me who spends multiple months on a vessel with full intensive rigging to see it being destroyed by a ship built in less than a day.
• Same for properties

 

For me, I have a ton of hobbies outside Lego, poor patience, a limited collection and roving cats. I will not be able to produce large, finely detailed MOCs often, if at all. Many potential members are in a similar boat and if we are after more people, then broad terms for MOC acceptance should be the norm. That said, you're right. The EGS has scaling rewards for the size of MOCs but nothing in place for quality. A positive-reinforcement, game mechanic that rewards high quality across all scales and build types to the builder should be considered.

The Personal Influence Points system is sorely under-utilized at this point and may provide the answer? The more PIPs a player has, the more effect they can have directly in-faction or world events. Perhaps allowing them to be spent to save an exquisite ship from destruction/theft in some form of 'hail-mary' action, exchanged to boost revenue from properties, reroll an AMRCA outcome, and fast track promotions for the builder's character could work?

High-quality brick AND digital builds would reward much higher amounts of PIPs?

Naturally this is all subject to abuse but that is why we have the Court.

Edited January 19 by Jeff of Clubs

[Kai NRG]

23 hours ago, Maxim I said:

Anyway, in the meantime, baby numéro 2 is already 5 months

Congrats!  That's exciting.  Glad you found time to stop by and give us your thoughts too.  A couple things I especially liked and will bring up in the court:

23 hours ago, Maxim I said:

I hope some bonus could be forseen for very high quality mocs.

Really good idea.  Maybe the reward could be something along the lines of the BoBS cards.  I wonder if we could have players nominate great MOCs, say quarterly, and then the GMs choose from that pool the ones that they think achieve the required quality, granting BoBS-cards like stat bonuses to the player.  Size shouldn't matter, just effort and artistry.  These extra high-quality MOCs could also be used to promote the game and could be featured somewhere special.

23 hours ago, Maxim I said:

We need a journal

Another idea I really like.  As a line in the form for players to fill out, it shouldn't add to the GM workload and could make catching up a lot easier!

[Tezclatipoca]

On 1/18/2024 at 10:13 PM, Maxim I said:

*thud* (falls out the sky).

Wow, shame on me that it has been so long since I visited the forum.

Wow ! Nice to see I'm not alone to be back ! Good to see you here my friend !

I totally agree with you on the quality MOC idea ! I Would recommand to separate Brickbuilt MOCs from Digital ones though in order to avoid some unfairness... So there could be a prize for the best Brickbuilt MOC and another prize for the Digital MOC of the quarter or of the season, whatever the regularity the Court would choose...

[evancelt]