Lord Admiral Helden Ravensdorn

Very nice tutorial! Well written, concise, and all the other goodys. What all you never know, I may even have to try it myself some day :) - Helden

You forgot the 2 adventurers and 1 undistinguishable figure there :P Well, nice lot, but overpriced, me heartys.

Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and the Horatio Hornblower series. Nuff said.

OK, heres the basic set of guidelines for the project overall that I have figured out: Archipalego theme setting, for people to use in game or if they just want a world to place their adventures in One big storyline involving all 9 Factions. Point being to inspire MoCs (Both of ships and islands) and get people to write storys (with or without pics) 9 factions, each with their own overall objective in the story Each player would have control over his own ships and men to do with as he likes, and this would play into that factions overall storyline in the Archipalego Battle system will be worked out so as to realisticly but easily fight ship battles over the cyber sea. A thread will be written by SkaForHire and myself with all the neccesitys anyone needs to know about the ships and people of the Napoleonic Era. What do you think? Now, to answer some questions: - Helden

Why you ask? Because I forgot about them :P I'll be sure to include them ^_^ So, back to buisness. I have finially sent a PM to Ska to begin setting down some initial groundwork, such as basic campaign play and some idea how the battles will be run. We may need to request the addition of a subforum, Mister Phes. Basically, the idea is to keep this *fun*. Pirates of the Caribbean fun (anyone who has seen the movies should know what I am talking about ;) ). I would like the emphasis to be on a narrative driven kind of game promoting the creation of storys and mocs - not based around blowing up other players. There are, of course, some snags, mainly in the area of ship MoCs. Using my ranking system (that we spent 2 pages arguing about :P) would limit creativity. On the other hand, it IS stable, and would go a great deal toward streamlining the battle system. I will post something more "official" soon. It'll be rough sailin, but with enough loyal hands before the mast, we should be able to sail her true!' - Helden

And to quote Senator Palpetine... "Instead of announcing my candidicy for re-election... ... I am announcing that you're all.... morons." So yeah. I still cant believe they lost the PotC contract >_> Fools.

I already thought about that, and I am not quite sure. Basically, I was thinking about 30 years before the rise of Napoleon. All the major naval powers were established, but there was no big war between them yet.

I would probably have to say they would get the same rule of thumb as the seas, the PotC rule of thumb: Cursed treasure chests, sure! Caves housing ancient dragons who will rise and rule the Archipalego? No.

Yup. So, I do believe we have sufficient interest to get started creating it? I'll be sending you a PM in a while here, Ska. - Ravensburg

In essence, gentlemen, I made my ranking list for two reasons: First, these are *legos* with *lego* cannons. Lego cannons are about the size of a real-life 42-pounder. Since Legos are not realistic models anyway, I figured, why try to make a realistic cannon ratio? Why not just say they all have 42 pounders in ratio to their various sizes? Secondly, in a realistic setting, they would not be using ships of the line to hunt out pirates. They most likely would have nothing larger then a frigate. Similarly, the Pirates would also have not much more then something the size of a frigate. And lastly, anything bigger then something about the size of an 80-gun ship of the line would be too deep on the draft for working in something like the Archipalego - The shallower the draft, the better.

Another Wargamer and Naval junkie, eh? Man after me own heart :) Or maby im after yours. ... GET AWAY FROM MY HEART! Ahem, back on topic... - Helden

Wiki to the Rescue! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken Basically, it just depends on what kind of Kraken you want. Small, octopus kind? http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=164542 Or huge, Dead Mans Chest kind? If you want DMC kind, you'd need something far larger then those black tenticles :P

Think MMORPG that allows you to not only explore the world and interact with other people, but shape the world as well. So yes, the scenario of sailing to an unknown island, finding another player there, and then the two sides interact is just about correct. Now, how to set it up is the problem :P - The Lord Admiral

Bravo! If we can get enough people actively interested, this is almost a must.

RE-READ THIS POST, YOU MAY NOT HAVE SEEN THE FINAL VERSION OF IT Which is, incedentally, why I am here. Let me tell you a story. About three years ago, there was a boy who liked Lego Castle. This boy found Lugnet, and they became great friends. First, this boy made a lot of noise and stirred up alot of discussion and debate, which, in a chain-reaction, led to the re-vitalization and re-organization of .Castle. The boy then lost interest. About a year later, the boy saw The Two Towers, and came back. This time the discussion he stirred helped in the creation of www.classic-castle.com, particularly the "games" section. He even spent about a year trying to make a castle game for publishment on .Castle! However, after so many failures, he declined to be moderator, a place now filled by... um... whats-his-face. Anyway, He came back one or two more times, promising great things, from games to MoC's to whatnot. But he always lost interest and never followed what he said through. Since then, he has always felt that he owed something to the LEGO community for what he promised and never delivered. Which is, as I said, why I am here. Sure, its a completely different theme on a different forum with none of the origional people anymore, but I am determined to repay my debt to the LEGO community in some way. I am here to stay, and I will follow through on my promises. Anyhow, I will edit this further once I check those links out up there... C'mon, scroll buttons, dont let me down now! EDIT: Well, they all look good, thats for sure. I have declined posting in fleet listing seeing as I havnt even finished rebuilding the one ship I own, and I certainly dont have an army. As for maps, I would have to say that we should keep the map reliativly vague to allow maximum origionality on the part of the players. Basically, I see it as a world where players could, essentially, conquer an island and then fill in all the details themselves. Only places like Port Cochraine and the iron mines of Cortimer would have that level of detail to begin with. And Toles Suggestion - If we can get the UPSS off the ground and get a fair sized player base, this is, as I said, almost a must. Just think of it as someones personal pirate blog with their own statistics. If you ever want to do that, I could work up a format people could use. The combat system: Lets see what you've got, Ska! Just as long as you can take commentary and suggestions - Among other things, I am also a pretty veteran warhammer player :P Basically, what I am seeing here is at least one sub-forum dedicated to this. All the essentials could be in stickys at the top, and the game itself run in multiple threads within the sub-forum. Just remember that the goal is to make something thats quick, fun and easy to play without allowing room to go out-of-character, such as with the aforementioned steam vessels. Also, I believe we may have lay down some guidelines so as to keep the ships in roughly some kind of realistic format. To further this end, I am already thinking on a post to put up that would cite how real historical ships were built, looked, were run, etc etc. I was thinking, for ease of the combat system, we could use this system on the ships: My ship ranking: Frigate: 3 middle hull sections, wide, 3 masts, 4 Cannon Large Sloop: 2 Middle Sections, wide, 3 masts, 3 Cannon Small Sloop: 2 Middle Sections, Skinny, 3 masts, 3 Rotating Cannon Large Brig: 1 Middle Section, wide, 2 masts, 2 Cannon or 2 Rotating cannon Small Brig: 1 Middle Section, Skinny, 2 masts, 2 Rotating Cannon Large Schooner: No middle section, Wide, 1 mast, 2 Cannon or 1 rotating cannon Small Schooner: No middle section, Skinny, 1 Mast, 1 rotating cannon Rotating cannon means the setup on the Armada Flagship. Cannon rating is "guns per side" or Rotating. This would allow for ease of combat pluses and minuses in combat, but could limit creativity for those of you who like mounting tons of cannon on ships. On the other hand, it DOES give a realistic designation to the ships. - Helden

Also, say i have a storyline already in mind (ie the legowind straits background my stories follow now) would that just become part of the archipalego, or would it be like next to it or something? or does everything have to happen in the archipalego, which I assume you are making a map of? Hm, a most intriguing question, I must say. I suppose this wouuld be up to the disgression of the originator: Phase his story location into the Archipalego itself, or have it as an outside force with units operating within the Archipalego? just some things to kick around... Also... what if my spanish wanted to attack someone elses brits, how would this be handled? random dice roll by a third party? A most difficult question, this one. I would have to say that some manner of 3rd-party dice rolling system would have to be developed. Basically, I wouldnt want the outcome of the battle to be decided on a simple toin coss. Hear me out, mates. What I am thinking along this subject is basically a "Battle mod" to be the neutral 3rd party. I will think on a way to come up with something simple yet realistic - Sailing ship battles are NOT easy things. One must take into concideration wind, ships, crew training, and the tactical thinking of commanders in question. Something that would'nt be overly complex or boring or aggrivating but could take all these into account. i hope you can garnish support, this would be fun. Aye it would be mate!

Ahh, back when pirate sets were genuine, honest, and AWESOME pirate sets. Those were the days... Back on topic: Very informative review, matey! Good pics, too.

G'day sirs, I have started this thread to find out if there is interest in a Universal Story Setting - Namely, my Pirates of the Archipalego project. Basically, what I am proposing here is a fictional setting where the wooden ships and iron men of all the various members of the Pirate community can gather, meet each other, and interact. A world that is theirs for the taking, a place of discovery and wonder. A place where they will be forced to face each other and other threats completely out of their control, and create their own stories within the Story Setting. This world would have 8 factions in which you could sign your ships and men under: 1 The British 2 The French 3 The Spanish 4 The Americans 5 The Pirates (duh) 6 The Dogs of War (Freelancers, privateers, anything that isnt straight out Pirates) 7 The Islanders 8 The Otherworldly (Ghost ships, sea monsters, the works.) Each would, in the overall, be working toward their own ends, but there would be tons of room for the individual person to have his Lego Pirates explore, conquer, plunder, and fight. Simply because most of the islands are settled does not mean that the Archipalego isnt a savage land, after all. The point of the effort overall would be to promote activity in the Pirate community, add a focus to peoples storys and ships, and generally be overall fun for everybody to basically create a world from scratch. What do you think, me lads? Drink up, me heartys, yo ho! - Helden

Well, I'd have to say the Durmstrang ship if you added some sails, and replaced the HP people with some good swabs to man the cannons you would have to put in...... aww, who am I kidding? They both stink T_T

Just make sure you've got plenty of flying bricks, preferrably thin ones. Those ships splintered awfully bad. - Helden

My point was was that not only is it aimed at kiddies who already have too much annoying pirate crap aimed at them, like all of Davie Jones Cannons on the Black Pearl, but that this is horrendous even for Duplo.

OK, so, if you want to build, basically, a giant squid.... The one Phes put there is definetly the best. If you want the Kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest, You simply cant build the whole thing. Rather, each tentacle would have to be built up out of blocks with spinning thingys and connector joints for full articulation, and the head would be QUITE a trick, involving about 500 more connector joints for the full, giant, roundy-toothed mouth thing. Yeah. - Helden

Very good ideas, Ska! Reminds me of the ol' "Isle of Mist" that Castle had a few years back. I will see what I can do with it, mate. But I will DEFINETLY make use of your ideas :) - Helden