Kai NRG

Great job with the training dummy! I really like the group shot too.

Thanks everyone! Really glad you're finding it useful. Thanks Aurore! Actually, in terms of sentence structure, I addressed that more under style and grammar (the structure section is more about structuring a story). But I didn't get into formal details. English is somewhat irregular in terms of sentence structure and while I could tell you in a second whether any given sentence is right or wrong I'm sure I'd miss something if I tried to write a comprehensive set of rules! Oww, my eyes!

Really nice job with the hair and facial expression of this guy!

I had to look that up!

A while ago I volunteered to do a writing guide to help anyone trying to improve their story writing for GoH. Finally finished writing that, hope it's helpful!

I don’t know about you but when I think GoH, I think castle, I think great LEGO builds, and I think stories. Because what separates this forum from the history forum is the fun we all have telling our own unique stories in a shared world. Our builds tell stories all on their own. And some of the most powerful stories don’t need words. But there are definitely times when we want to know what the characters said, what they thought, what came before and what came after. So the question is: how do I say that without boring myself and boring my reader? It’s a lot like photography: you’ve built a great MOC but if you can’t take a good picture we can’t see it. So similarly, you’ve built a great scene but if you can’t explain the before and after we don’t know what we’re looking at. But somehow there’ve been lots of photography tutorials, but precious little about writing your LEGO creation’s story. This is an attempt to drop a few bricks into that gap. It’s been a long time now since I volunteered to do this, I know. So I guess it’d better be good. Anyway, as an introduction to why I volunteered to write about writing: I’m not a bestselling author yet, but you might want to get my autograph anyway if you have a chance, because when my books start hitting shelves… No seriously, I love to write, so what could be better than writing about writing? I’ve divided this guide into three sections. Story: brainstorming, structure, and character Style: writing beautifully Grammar: writing well I. Brainstorming Brainstorming is a lot like sacking a castle. You want the treasure and they’ve hid it. So you grab ahold of a scullion’s collar and you brandish your spear an inch from his nose and you scream: “Where did you put the silverware??” In other words, ask your brain questions. Who is this story about? What are they doing? Why are they doing it? Find out what it is you don’t know and ask questions about that. Where did Queen Ylspeth’s strange counselor come from? Why is he here? What does he tell her? (Or was it a she? I’ve forgotten…) If you’ve already built something, or already know what you’re going to build, that’s a great springboard. If I’m building a castle I’ll ask questions like, “How long has this been here? Who lives in it? What tempts him to leave? What makes him stay?” This is a great dialogue to have with yourself while you’re building. All those little details that make your build come to life can make your story come to life too. Just keep asking yourself why they’re there. Then take those questions and use them as background for your story. Once you’ve found out the answer, hold it out like a carrot on a stick for your (hopefully vegan) reader. This is a step you can come back to again and again. When you’re stuck don’t stare at a blank paper, but write down questions and answers. Act like it’s someone else’s story and you’re trying to squeeze it out of them. Questions will have you using writers’ block as a diving board. II. Structure The amount of structure you need depends on how long your story is. Obviously you don’t need three stories of scaffolding to build a mud hut. So if it’s just about one build, pick one subject, stick with one or two characters, and make it fun. But if you’re carrying across multiple builds, writing a whole tale in fact, an outline could help keep you from getting stuck. Especially if you pick some scenes you really are looking forward to and put them toward the end. Otherwise, when you have to get inspired both for the next build and for the next piece of your story, chances are it’ll just peter out. An outline of a story is basically a timeline. First the Queen came to power, then she celebrated, then there was some discontent and rebellion, then – you get the picture. If it’s a mystery then you may want to move some scenes out of chronological order, and an outline will really help you keep track of that. So sit down and write an outline the same way you’d write a to-do list for your day. An outline can help you build suspense. Like the carrot on the stick we mentioned above. When you know what’s coming you can kinda wink at your reader every now and then. Plus, you can hint at themes and motifs from the end of your story at the beginning. However, while there’s lots to be said for an outline, in an RPG setting where you’re going to want your story to be flexible and accommodate other people’s stories and the challenges, deciding to just go build by build – building whatever inspires you and fitting it into a story later – can work better. In fact, if you are going to use an outline, I suggest keeping the story arc tight and short so you don’t get burned out or distracted before it ends. III. Characters In an RPG like this, the odds are most people won’t remember the details of what happened in your last story. But if you create a great character, they’ll remember that character and it will make them want to read your next story. Full disclosure: back when I wrote GoH stories I didn’t really think about that. My characters were pretty boring and unlively. I did better in BoBS. So how do you create a great character? Again, you have an advantage as a LEGO builder. You can build your character and then look at him/her. What is he wearing? What kind of facial expression is his norm? This can help you get started. Get to know your character by placing him in dangerous or awkward situations. Make him sweat. Readers will enjoy this too. Take inspiration from people you enjoy being around in real life. Most likely, your main goal with a story like this is to have a good time, so a friendly, quirky, funny character is probably going to be a bigger hit than a super complex, struggling character who needs a whole novel in order to properly develop himself. My advice is: resist the temptation to start with your character in his or her everyday life. That’s really tough to pull off. Only once you’ve gotten to know his extremes are you ready to figure out what he acts like every day and still make it interesting. And don’t forget that awkward is just as good a way to test your character development as danger. The bonus for awkward is, you can incorporate that into the most generic of builds! IV. Style Variety is the spice of life. Here are the rules on variety: Don’t use the same key word twice in two lines of text. Don’t start two sentences in a row with the same word. Don’t use the same sentence structure twice in a row. (Unfortunately it started to rain. Angrily the baker threw out his soggy bread.) Don’t use a person’s name twice in a row. Don’t use pronouns more than three times in a row. Don’t start two paragraphs in a row with the same word. Remember those rules. Know them. Internalize them. Follow them. Then when they become a part of yourself, break them. But don’t ever, ever, break the rules without knowing it! Variety in word use comes from a wide vocabulary. So read! Look up words you don’t know and try to get a feel for them. If you’ve used the same word twice, take the time to look up synonyms. Sentence structure is another, often overlooked, place where variety is essential. Most sentences start with the subject. White colored pencils are a gimmick. A notebook is a tablet whose battery never dies. I’m always surprised when I open a can of evaporated milk and there’s actually something inside. So change it up. Start with a preposition. Underneath the table, he shivered with fright. Start with a participle (that’s a verb that ends in -ing). Slashing furiously, she destroyed the piñata. Start with a clause. When it started snowing, Alaric realized that today wasn’t the best day for a smoothie. Vary the way you end your sentences, too. And the middle. Pay attention to where your commas are going. They shouldn’t always be in the same place. The goal is to create a mental picture. As a builder, you have the advantage of already presenting your reader with a visual image, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use some description in your writing. And the whole point of a picture is that it’s a riot of color and shape. It’s not uniform. It’s varied. Other stylistic techniques include parallelism, alliteration, similes, metaphors, questions, and quotations. Let’s take those in order. When the lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled, he knew it was time to take shelter. Parallelism is huge and awesome. You can parallel anything from a word to a sentence to a paragraph to an entire chapter. And a good triple is like a grand slam. He looked at her as if she were a hat rack. That’s a simile – a comparison. Try to avoid cliché’s, but good similes are powerful. This paperwork was a hurdle he couldn’t jump. This one’s a metaphor – a simile that doesn’t explain itself. No “like” or “as if.” Why was the floor stained red? Questions make your writing more personal. Get your reader involved! “Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!” Quotations are a chance to show off your Shakespeare. Again, we’re trying to create a picture in the reader’s mind. When was the last time you got a mental picture out of a textbook? So don’t write like a textbook. Write like a symphony. V. Grammar Bet I know what you’re all thinking: “Oh look, she saved the best for last!” Don’t worry, I’m just going to run over a few common errors to look out for. By no means an exhaustive list! They’re, their, there. The terrible triplets. They’re is they are. Read it like that when you proofread and you’ll never get it wrong. Their is possessive. Their book, their pen, their funeral. There is location. Your vs. you’re. Again, read you’re like you are and you won’t get it wrong. The boys’, the boy’s… where exactly does that ‘postrophe go? Think of it without the apostrophe. Does the toy belong to the boys or the boy? If it belongs to the boy, then it’s the boy’s. If it belongs to the boys then it’s the boys’. Me and I. Lord Gideon and I are going shopping in Barqa. Lord Gideon and me are going shopping in Barqa. Which is it? Get rid of Lord Gideon and you’ll see. I am going shopping in Barqa, or me am going shopping in Barqa? Oh, duh… How about this: De Gothia met Lord Gideon and I while we were shopping in Barqa, or De Gothia met Lord Gideon and me while we were shopping in Barqa? Try getting rid of Lord Gideon again. Here’s a tricky one: Barqa is a place where Lord Gideon and I like to go shopping, or Barqa is a place where Lord Gideon and me like to go shopping? Note that the pronoun (I, me) always goes after the name(s). Two, too, to. The number two has a w, too has too many o’s, and to… well, it’s short, sweet, and to the point. Affect vs. effect. The effects of the Black Spire’s demise affected me. Its vs. it’s. Read it’s as it is, a contraction. Its is possessive. A possessive without an apostrophe. No wonder it’s confusing. Peak and peek vs. pique. Peak is a jutting rock or mountain top, peek is when you stick your head out from around the peak to catch sight of someone, and pique is the disgruntled feeling you get because the person you expected to peek around the peak didn’t do it. Who, whom, whose, and who’s. Okay, deep breath. Who is about he or she. Whom is about him or her. Who was messing with my LEGO? She was. Whom should I attack for destroying my MOC? I should attack her. (But sometimes whom just sounds wrong, even though it may be grammatically correct. Those are the moments you have to pick… will you be a scientist or an artist?) Whose and who’s is the contraction thing again. Who’s = who is. Whose is possessive. “Whose was this MOC?” she asked. “Who’s the one who needs a taste of my blade?” I retorted. Alot. Which is not a word, even though it gets used a lot. Than vs. then. Than is a comparison. A sauna is better than living on the sun. Because if you lived on the sun, then you would burn up. Should of should’ve been should have. Complement vs. compliment. I was going to say that you could compliment someone regarding their ability to complement you but then I realized that you could kind of do that either way. But a compliment is something you say and complement is something you do, or something you put on a hot dog. Farther vs. further. Farther is strictly referring to distance. Otherwise, use further. The dangling -ing. Running full speed, the table broke in pieces when Sally made impact. Last I heard, tables couldn’t run despite their four legs. Just remember this: the thing right after the comma must be the subject, i.e. the person doing the -inging. Except vs. accept. Except is about taking something out. Accept is about bringing it in. Breath vs. breathe. When you breathe you take a breath. Run-on sentences. Some people just keep writing, no periods, there really should be periods, new sentences should be starting, you can’t just join two sentences with a comma, it’s not proper gwammar. Fragments. An incomplete sentence. A sentence without a verb. All fragments. Fragments are not bad, they’re stylistic. But only when they’re intentional. It’s the difference between accidentally forgetting to stick two bricks completely together and purposefully leaving a crack between them. There are more, but I’ll stop with this: by far the most common error is not proofreading. So please, proofread. I mean seriously now, if you’re not willing to read your own story over, who do you expect to read it? (Whom do you expect to read it? Nah, sorry, artist here…) So there you have it – five writing tools to hang in your arsenal next to those photography tips and SNOT techniques. Hopefully they were helpful or at least entertaining. If you’ve got some expertise in this area by all means share it! This is far from the writing guide to end all writing guides – it’s more like the writing guide to begin ‘em. And a shout out to those of you who’ve been writing GoH stories for years, you’ve given the guilds the restful feel of an old library. There’s so much here and it’s a pleasure just to look around. Keep telling those brick inspired stories!

Does anyone have a large (like at least 200 px high) version of the Eslandola and/or Sea Rat sigil? Even a link to the high-res version of the flags would do, I could get it from there. Trying to size up my banner and I can't get either of those big enough. P.S. Hold it where on earth did that new tag of mine come from?? I see someone decided the pirate in my life needed some recognition...

They've all been good so far but this one is tops! I like the bird recolor especially.

Fun pastry theme you've got going here so far! Great selection of cookies on the first one and I like the look of that pretzel barrel!

That's a good idea, much more size appropriate for sure... these ones are antediluvian.

What an amazing castle - and an even more amazing landscape to go with it! I love that outpost and the rivers and swamps are such a unique setting! Loads of detail too - scarecrow, spiderweb on the porch roof, and the boats moored at different spots. Good to see you posting a build in GoH again!

This is a very nice build, I really like the way it's built into the rock! Great job with the snow too. And the minifigure shots are something else I really enjoyed! If I can make a suggestion, I recommend not using the same color or technique for two different substances. For instance, if brown is going to stand for wood on the roof and tree, it'd be better to use dark brown or dark tan or something else for your dirt. If you're going to use slopes a lot for your rock/snow, maybe best use round bricks or some other technique for your tree. Just a little tip for making it easier for viewers to quickly see what they're looking at. Of course, there will be situations when it won't be possible or desirable to use one color for just one thing, but I've found that handy as a rule of thumb!

I'm going to have to mention the simple, but very eye-pleasing irregularity of the base here. I'd never dream of just stacking wedge plates right on top of each other like that but it looks great! Nice interior too. The whole building has a great colonial look.

Whew! And where have all those lovely lobsters of yours been hiding? Here my wallet started to shed tears after two (nah actually, it was my ten beautiful sea gulls that made my wallet cry... mwahahaha... ). I meant for the red horns to be shrimp. Copied the design from one of the Hidden Side sets so I am not to blame! Thank you! Thanks Exetrius! That face works well since not only does it have a reverse side but there's also another head with two expressions for the same guy, so it's great for story telling! Thanks Captain! I'm having fun writing these.

Very nice little factory, I really like the use of dark red for the furnace!

Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV (you are here) Chapter V I beg my reader to remember that Captain Argentum, having shaken the moldy rafter dust of the Colonial Council from his feet, is off to seek his fortune once again in the wide, wide world. And where should he first visit but the scene of his latest philanthropic triumph and diplomatic failure, Nova Crablandia? As it happened, there was a party of Corrington officers and their friends dining on the beach the self-same day that Captain Argentum, floating on his purple plank, came wafting to the sunny shores of Nova Crablandia. The picnic party was quite a merry one, consisting not only of several officers and their wives and one particularly obnoxious five year old, but also a group of ladies from Terraversa, among them the daughter of a high general. The circumlocution has been in vain--you must have guessed it--among this party was none other than Captain Argentum's very own Lady Cora, who had so touchingly fainted dead away when he presented her with a ring on the point of his sword and with whom he had been able to hold only the most meager communication since, due to his onerous position as representative of the MCTC in the Colonial Council. Captain Argentum, splashing eagerly through the water after his plank ran aground, came rushing up, recklessly kicking sand onto the picnic blanket. His first impulse was to draw his sword and assist the dying crabs; his second, as he recognized the dress which, in good Brick Seas fashion, Lady Cora had not changed for years, to fall on his knees and thank providence for leading him thus unerringly to the very spot where she was to be found. He did neither, however. For no sooner did Lady Cora catch sight of the redoubtable dark green plume that was as always a true herald of her fiancé’s arrival, than she cast one desperate glance at the Corry officer to her left and fainted dead away. This desperate glance would have fired the blood of a man much more patient than Captain Argentum. Even if the glance had been insufficient, the suspicions ease with which she had fainted right into the officer's arms was simply too much. Captain Argentum drew his sword and tossed his coat on the ground in wrath. "Who are you?" he thundered. "Colonel Travilla, at your service," the officer replied coldly, calmly laying Lady Cora on the sandy beach and drawing his own sword. The first clang roused the astonished picnic party. The women sprang up with shouts of alarm and terror and hurried to save the dishes. The officers pulled Captain Argentum and Colonel Travilla apart, one exclaiming, "Gentlemen, gentlemen, this is highly irregular! Your seconds, please!" In the midst of the excitement Lady Cora revived. Seeing Captain Argentum flourishing a naked sword a few inches away from the Colonel's nose, she cried out, "Oh Edmund!” (Of course, Edward Argentum naturally assumed she was talking about Edgar Travilla, and vice versa.) Finding this gentle remonstrance to be of no avail, Lady Cora laid hold of the nearest available weapon, which happened to be a crab, and rushed to join the fray. Captain Argentum, swinging his sword wildly, saw the crab and fell upon the Colonel with redoubled fury, crying out, “Black-hearted betrayer of the crustaceans’ confidence! Your Empire will answer to King Fernando for this, and you will answer to me!” So saying, he drew back for a tremendous blow that would end the fight once and for all… A few more pictures... Well there, now that I've gotten the picnic bug out of my system, I wonder what Captain Argentum will be up to next - after he finishes striking his thrilling blow, of course! C&C welcome! Not a whole lot to this build, I wanted to go wild with the sand but on the other hand sand is kind of a flat sort of a thing and there's really only so much that can be done with it at this size if it's still going to look like sand. So basically I'm just showing off my lobsters again...

Yay for articulated horses! The pineapples are a fun idea too.

White and light aqua for a middle eastern gate?! Beautiful. That combination went on my for future reference list right away! And now I can get on to the rest of the build... wow, a magnificent piece and, dare I say it, a fitting end for the Desert King. Very ambitious layout with a whole slice of city wall, and those are some really nice houses behind! A few details I have to mention... the vines made out of the 3 leaf stalks, the rooftop bower on top of the highest building, and that road technique! Great build, wish I could see it in person.

Bear cavalry?! Was not expecting that and it looked great! Three very impressive builds here, the council scene was really neat with the Knights Kingdom sigil in the background and using the guild colors for the seat cushions was a great idea! And cool technique for the lamps on the walls of the tavern. Of course the ruined stone chamber is the star of the show, stunning scale and I really like the first panoramic shot! The medley of warriors makes the battle scenes a bit visually confusing but I understand that the story kind of required that. Speaking of the story, a lot of creativity to come up with such a well thought out threat and then deal with it!

I love the scale of that hall! The floor colors are well chosen too and I like those candelabra a lot. Have to admire the microscale build too, the blue dome was a great touch!

What a ship! Magnificent scale and amazing detail with the rigging, sloping sides, stern decorations, and I could go on! Great job.

Very smooth use of the crown! Love that tree too and the little cat door. And the roof with the alternating round bricks and cheese slopes looks perfect!

Really cool ruined tower! I like the immersive minifigure level shots too.

The angle on the walls of this for take the MOC to another level. Nice flagpost too, simple design but looks realistic!

Boy I had to look for that crown! Cool use! Neat way to build trees too, I don't think I'd ever seen that technique used at this scale. It doesn't look quite... real, if you know what I mean, but it has a certain artistic style to it that goes well with the rest of the MOC. Overall a really nice vignette with some out-of-the-box techniques (like the sideways bank, lime green grass) - good work!