Kai NRG

Awesome that you guys are getting some story motivation out of this... I really like where it's going so far! And the microscale is great!

I may have typed Terreli for one of my builds, but if so, it was actually located in Terreli...

Edit: Missed the second page - 350 Goldilocks.

Neat build Bregir, I really like the turrets on the wall and the dock is pretty good too! The ship is great also, very nice job on the hull and the black and dark red lines look very nice!

This is one of my favorite builds from you ever SK, fantastic layout and colors, the roofs at varying angles and heights look amazing and the stonework is just epic! The interior is excellent also, and the tudor section is lovely! Using the silver in with the stone texture looks really good and the way you did the angle with the poles for the sign out front was ingenious!

The path is what really stands out here... and stand out it does - fantastic curve and really great dual-colored texture! The loaded camel and desert vegetation look really good too!

With regards to the sorting system question - I do a mix of sorting by parts and sorting by colors based on what other parts I generally use a piece with and when my containers start to overflow... for instance, most of my 2x1 plates are in three containers divided by bright colors, earth tones, and grey/blacks, but I have a ton of lavender ones. It doesn't make sense to swamp my reds and yellows and blues and greens, so the lavender go in a container by themselves. On the other hand I don't have very many olive 2x1s, but I tend to use all different kinds of olive pieces together for landscaping - so the olive 2x1s go in with the rest of my olive collection. Similarly most colors of cheese slopes are separated, but not whites or greys or blacks or browns or tans (or yellows, I think), because I have a lot of each of those and I generally use them in conjunction with other slopes of the same color. But as you build you'll get a good idea on what pieces are pointless to sort out since you always use them together, and what pieces could really use a spot for themselves. With my own very personalized system, well, I doubt many other people would be able to logically reason out where a given piece would be, but I can locate it in seconds, generally speaking! I have two MOCing siblings who keep their own collections separate (though we have a tendency to borrow from each other when the building gets tough...), which makes for some interesting contrast... Garmadon keeps his bricks in apple-pie order with probably a hundred little baggies (I can't stand his little baggies... so much opening and closing!) and then those little baggies are in their little buckets and I really wonder how he can endure having to unearth so many baggies just about every time he wants a piece! And then my other brother has the most unorganized organizing system you'd ever want to see... but at least he never closes his baggies.

Very nice landing scene ayrlego, the boat looks great and so does the driftwood on the beach! Great palm trees also!

I'll chime in too - 1. Well, it really kind of depends what I'm building for... if it's a contest, or if I'm working to further a storyline, I'll usually have an idea in my head. But the final build doesn't always look too similar to my initial mental image! I will do a sketch every now and then but I'm no good at drawing so I usually don't bother. For larger creations I do like SK does and use plates to get the rough idea of the layout after building the border or base. But every now and then I'll just start putting bricks together and see what happens. So really, a combination of methods! 2. I usually take things apart just as soon as I can make the time - often the same day of photography. Some creations stay intact a little longer - usually ones that I put a lot of time into or really liked. But even those generally succumb eventually. I do have a few smaller creations or parts of creations here and there that I add to whenever I build something that I really like and that doesn't use too many very useful pieces, but every now and then I'll go over them and get rid of a couple and dust the rest. I don't have either the space or the parts to keep many MOCs lying around. Even the ones I do keep often spend days in a crumbled state as I "borrow" pieces from them for whatever current project I'm working on!

Kraaken food... how lovely. Still, all things considered, I think I made about as much as all my previous runs added together...

That's the usual policy. But it may be more the result of habit than rule. With so many builders always posting MOC topics people just aren't used to discussion topics other than the pinned ones. So I don't think you did anything against the rules, but if you want answers, maybe you should ask here. Although technically this is a new member guide, so it's not exactly intuitive to use it for discussion, but that seems to be what it's become.

I think Elostirion has brought up some decent points: the 3-2 limitation on properties probably doesn't really increase quality (does the lack of such a limitation decrease ship quality?): it could do the reverse, by encouraging people to hurry up and finish their builds this month, so they don't end up having too many next month (that may have happened to me actually). Also the one location 3 vs. two locations 2 is something I do think should be reconsidered by leadership please. Does it make sense to encourage builds in a single location? Flipping the rule would in fact make more sense from a OOC perspective, to encourage diversity and the growth of multiple settlements. IC, arguments could go either way: multiple locations in one month means more travel time, but then, a single location may strain that locations resources. I believe I have only been forced once to wait to license thanks to that rule, but especially early on it was an annoying something I had to juggle, and I really don't think anyone is concerned about me just pumping out builds without regard to quality... If there were any likelihood of someone building 30 builds a month, it might be a good idea to impose limitations, but we're probably talking at most an additional 2 or 3 licenses, and even that is not something anyone is going to be able to keep up consistently for very long. Well, I'm behind on mine, but that's been lack of time, not lack of intention!

This is a really lovely little interior, so many neat techniques packed into one build! The paneling on the wall is great, but so is the floor and the stonework of the chimney! I really like the way you did the double cheese slopes on the border too!

You can certainly have secondary characters that are from other guilds than your own. Building a whole town specifically for your secondary character might be a little much though... you may want to wait until Book 3 for that! But additions to the lore of other guilds than your own are always welcome. And I don't really think it would violate any rule or the spirit thereof to build a town in a guild you don't belong to - it's just a little surprising!

Possibly the biggest help to storywriting for those who are not used to it is just asking yourself questions. Who is that minifigure running wild along the rocks on my MOC? Where did he come from? What was he doing a minute ago? What will he be doing a minute from now? For brainstorming, questions are invaluable. Even when you've had so much practice that your brain runs in a creative groove, you'll still run into brick walls in your storyline and just have to get back to the basics and ask questions. (What possible excuse can I trump up for Matt having coincidentally arrived just in the nick of time? Oh, that's right - he can smell a donut a mile away and that led him right to the spot. ) Of course then comes the challenge of writing what you're thinking clearly and vigorously. I'm not sure how much a reasonably sized guide could cover, but I imagine it might be helpful for many. I'm wondering if it might be a little too far removed from LEGO to have a guide to writing a story on EB though. But then, we have photography tutorials. Anyhow I love writing (mostly fiction, especially historical fiction) and have practiced it a lot through high-school and college, though I've not been published in any significant way yet. But I'd be glad to put together or help put together a guide. I believe MassEditor is also a writer? And gedren might be interested in pitching in on the grammar aspect? Anyone else? - if this is considered something that would be a good project?

Thanks blackdeathgr! Let's hope the proportions are epic... I've got big plans but am short on time! Thank you! The boardwalk was fun and the inspiration for this build! Thanks! I really like how that kind of water looks too, and will probably be using the technique again in the future! Who knows? Well, as it happens, I do, and I'm afraid it probably isn't... Thanks Titus! Thank you Capt Wolf! That tan bank was really quite the challenge... every time I try to do rock in tan I realize that I really don't have that much of it! Thanks Ayrlego!

Really neat whimsical style, as I said on Flickr! It's surprising how well the odd slopes and horns and such like work together! The stilts are great, but I particularly like the slanted base for the house on the left! Great collab!

Great build LJ, you packed a lot of Mitgardian feel into this! The palisades, especially the subtly leaning posts, are really well done and excellent snowscape! The frigid water looks fantastic also, and the curved tan roof has such an epic viking feel!

Thanks! Oh, I enjoy writing the story, but I get tired of hashing out such similar builds! But we might be getting to a bit of adventure now... we'll see! Thanks Capt Wolf! I run out of table designs all too quickly, and who would be innovative if not Guy Wyndzon? Well, no more glass topped tables I guess. Too much of a hazard for clumsy maids anyways.

Thanks SK! Considering how long this took me, I still think Kaliphlin is the guild for me... Thank you BrickCurve! Well, yes, it could maybe fit GoH, but I felt that would be a bit of a stretch and didn't really want to spoil it with a bunch of monstrous Algus figs anyways.

Thanks!

Guy K. Wyndzon sauntered along his waterside boardwalk, as he liked to do whenever he had difficult matters – state or personal – to think over. To be sure, Uncle had often slandered the walk as a “boredwalk,” but that was because he didn’t believe in meditation. To Guy’s Uncle, thinking while walking was synonymous with daydreaming. Perhaps, in Guy’s case, Uncle wasn’t entirely wrong. At all events, if Guy had really been as intent upon state matters as he liked to claim, he probably wouldn’t have been so easily distracted when a loose sheet of paper blew across his path. As it was, he ran at it, jumped, caught it – missed! It fluttered down towards the water – Guy made a desperate lunge – just then a breath of air swept by, spinning the paper around tantalizingly. Another jump – caught it this time! “What is this, anyhow?” Guy muttered to himself. “Probably an old copy of the King’s Port Advertiser – trashy old Marderian propaganda… hey, wait…” Guy stared intently at the piece of paper as his heart began to race. This was… it couldn’t be… but it was! The famed treasure map of Captain Booya! Captain Booya, for the curious among my woefully ignorant twenty-first century readers, had been a notorious pirate of the Brick Seas. All sorts of villainous deeds possible and impossible were ascribed to him: he had raided Terreli, and left large portions of the city in ashes; he had slain the great Sea Kraken, and his crew had lived off its flesh for a full ten years; he had discovered a far off island, and buried a tremendous booty there. Then, suddenly, some sixty-odd years ago, he had disappeared. Not a trace of him remained. Back in the day, the vulgar people thought he had sailed right off the edge of the earth. But since it was now common knowledge that the earth was round, most people supposed he had sunk in an unusually heavy storm. Thirty years after Captain Booya had disappeared, an old marooned sailor of his was rescued. He had been left behind by the pirate Captain, he said, because he had, out of sheer curiosity, dogged the Captain’s steps one night on shore and caught him in the very act of handing a detailed map to a young lady. The sailor gave a vivid description of her: slightly curly black hair, dark eyes, tall, etc. And so the gossips throughout the Brick Seas quizzed any acquaintance matching the description in any degree, which was rather ridiculous, since thirty years later the odds were she had grey hair or was dead. At any rate, neither map nor lady was ever heard from again. Until now. With wildly throbbing pulses, Guy spread the map out on the boardwalk. It looked authentic… it felt authentic… it even smelled authentic. Could this – might this – possibly be THE MAP?!? He had to find out. He had to try to follow it. Right off the bat, he didn’t recognize the location. Were there any clues? He turned the parchment carefully upside-down, and noticed a poem, originally traced in a bold hand, but now scarcely visible, thanks to the effects of time. After staring at it for a while, he managed to decipher the following lines: Sail ho, my hearties – the treasure awaits! Unship your compass and head for the straits! The animal sound guides to the ground Where riches untold wait to be found. Your bravery is tested on this small island strip, And be sure in resin your torches to dip. Onward and forward, follow your nose, Keep up with it, as far as it goes! Up and beyond, climb and away, As over you breaks the light of a clear day! The shadow progresses, it points, it ascends, And away from the hollow your footsteps it bends. Awake, awake, my hearties, soar to the skies, He who steps falsely – that man dies! Below these were more lines, evidently added, in a different though similar hand, at a later date: To you, bold adventurer, goes forth the call, Give it your best, give it your all. No other business can interfere, Make this your first and your only care. Leave State and Company for treasure, forever – if you dare! “State and Company!” thought Guy, amazed. “It’s almost as if it were written with me in mind!” Well, I wonder what Uncle thinks about this latest development... more soon, hopefully! Jungle scenes are so much fun! I had a great time with this one - and you can see an alternate version of the MOC here and here. C&C welcome! Thank you for looking!

In what sense? You could start up a public protest, but if you were to try to assassinate the Admius Legistrad, that might not be so easy to get away with...

Thanks!

Great build dG, the perspective along the street looks really good and there are so many neat little details! I really like the chickens out front and the tan and dark blue house in the background is great!