Deaddude

One aspect of Heroica I found disappointing, despite all the fun of fighting monsters and grabbing gold, was the fact that your skill has little to no effect on the outcome of the game. While your decisions do have some influence on the course of the game, they're mostly limited to choosing what branch to take, and when to use a potion if you have one. I made the following changes that I thought made the game a little more fun when playing with friends, especially when multiple sets were put together (I only have two right now but it could work for more or less). All the dice rolling felt a little more fair when you could make small decisions to affect the outcome- Each class gets Skills that a player can use on their turn. Each skill costs at least 1 Strength (hereby called SP) worth of slain monsters. You can only spend one monster per turn, so monsters with a Strength of 2 will give you more bang for your buck per turn. Barbarian: Move 1 space for each SP spent. Druid: Heal 1 HP for each SP spent. Knight: Push an adjacent player back 1 space for each SP spent. Ranger: Damage an adjacent player for 1 HP per SP spent. Thief: Take 1 gold piece for each SP spent. Wizard: Use telekinesis to grab something(e.g., gold, potion, key) 3 squares away per SP spent. For longer games, you could do a very simple leveling system, where spending a certain number of SP unlocks a second, more exotic Skill for your character to use (For instance, letting the Thief sneak sneak past monsters). The skills I listed were just the one's we've used, but I've thought of a whole bunch of other skills, and it'd be fun to try to think of new one's every time you play and see how they effect gameplay.

My contribution to the contest, a small pod-like mining vehicle with a pickaxe-grinder assembly at the front and impractical looking wheels at the back. The cockpit is extremely ... cozy, and has only a small opening to see through, since it would be a shame to lose his head over flying rock pieces! Hope you like :D -DD

Interesting :D 1. Price: Always gonna be high, Value is a better indicator. 2. Value: This is vital, but it depends on basically everything else- whether you're getting enough playability, pieces, or design for your dollar. 3. Playability: So important! As a TFOL I don't law out the whole box of bricks and have a ball like I used to but each set has to at least be fun on its own to just mess around with minifigs and try out features and have cross-theme adventures. 4. Design: For me a set shouldn't look too minimalist (ok, the new farm is - but I'll buy it anyway because it's really needed for my Lego City and because I don' think that we'll have to await many more farms in the nearer future) but it should even not be too detailed because then the classic "Lego feeling" disappears. Plus a very important thing is that houses have to include no backwalls but a very nice interior. 5. Integration: As someone who can't buy too many sets, the -less- sets integrate the better, I'd rather my sets look good alone. 6. Theme: Too personal to factor into reviews and stuff, but important in that it dictates my interest in playability and display 7. Visual Quality: Depends. Some sets look fantastic but are statues, and some are loads of fun but unimpressive assemblages of buildings. Really, not that important to me beyond first impressions in buying a set. 8. Minifigs: That goes with playability for me :D I have noticed the complete lack of standard bricks. I've counted two 2x4 standard bricks in the past 10 system sets I've bought. Very interesting that the symbol of LEGO has been to reduced to literally just a symbol, for the most part. -DD

Would an elevated train system be a feasible set idea? I know LEGO has railroad, cross-country style trains, but I'm thinking of New York style elevated train lines. Perhaps a ~$100 set featuring two small train stations, one train, and a short elevated railway connecting them. This could get pricey, but it would add a really nice look to some city designs. Also, I would be really interested in seeing a LEGO baseball field. Nothing big or fancy, just a green baseplate decked out with ... baseball field stuff, ie, the bases, scoreboard, bleachers, maybe fences, and a few minifig baseball players and a fan. It's hard thinking of city designs that seem like they'd be fun yet realistic. -DD

Hey all, first time posting. I've generally only bought Bionicle, Technic, and Star Wars sets, but since recently buying the little front end loader set as a taste of town, I've been hooked. Now I don't want to go all out, but what (preferably recent and attainable) sets do you fellows suggest as having the most bang for their buck, not necessarily parts wise but as in features and display. I'd especially love to get construction sets, so any suggestions there would be great. Looking forward to good times at Eurobricks, and thanks for any help! -DD