Era III and a call for New Leadership!

[Garmadon]

Hey all!  

Era II has been an exciting adventure for all of us, but all good things must come to an end - buuut... that's just because Era III is just around the corner!!    We've been working on some exciting new ideas and plans behind the scenes, but we're also looking for a new team of leaders to take up the reins for the new Era!  We want you, the players and members, flesh and blood of the Brick Seas, to take what you find fun and engaging about our RPG and steer the course into the next stage of adventure.  The fate of BoBS is in your hands - will you step up to meet the challenge?

Please let us know here or in a PM to @Garmadon (yes that's me ) or other current leadership if you'd be interested in taking on the responsibilty and pleasure of running BoBS in the next Era.  And even if you're not, we'd love to hear what attracted and keeps you in BoBS, and what you want to see more of in the upcoming years!  

So here's to another 8 years of BoBS (woah, has it been so long already!?) and to an epic Era III!!

Spoiler

And yes, most of current leadership will be staying on to help plan and work on everything that needs to be handled for a new Era, along with helping new leadership members to learn the ropes of the behind the scenes - but, we really do want to assure you that if you're stepping up to the wheel, we're here to help you forward with your vision, not to shove our own ideas down your windpipes!    So never fear, and come on and join the fun! 

 

[Yperio_Bricks]

What does a change of eras mean in general? Will the world (map) be the same? Will all cities still exist in era III. Will the same factions and NPC nations and their political affiliations still exist? What about a player's treasury and properties?

[Capt Wolf]

3 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

What does a change of eras mean in general? Will the world (map) be the same? Will all cities still exist in era III. Will the same factions and NPC nations and their political affiliations still exist? What about a player's treasury and properties?

When we changed from Era I to Era II, it was mainly a change in some of the rules and an expansion of the map. The current court has some ideas, but we figured it'd be better for the current players to really dictate the answers to those questions.

[Bricksbypidy]

Curious about ERA III! 

[Captain Genaro]

I'm willing to help out with whatever needs to be done. 

[NOD]

Thanks to everyone who keeps this great, fun game alive! 

I'm looking forward to Era III and hope a lot of good things come. I like fun competitions like Oktoberfest or Faction Flavors.

I had a lot of time for Brethren of the Brick Seas during the 2 year corona pandemic. Now I have less time but I'm still active. If I can help then I will help.

[Justsomebrix]

Very excited for the new era, willing to help out wherever I can

Edited October 26, 2023 by Justsomebrix

[Khorne]

Curious to see what you have in store for Era III. Hopefully the activity will rise again somewhat, but as you've said in the introductory post: as this is already the 8th (!) year, I think much has changed over time. People got older with busier lives (I know my life has certainly gotten busier once I got out of school) and I think overall much of the community has shifted from forums to app like Instagram, Flickr, Discord, etc to stay connected resulting in traffic loss here.

Not to be a downer though! I very much like the world you have created with BOBS and I hope the spirit remains and the activity is renewed with this new era! 

[evancelt]

5 minutes ago, Khorne said:

I think overall much of the community has shifted from forums to app like Instagram, Flickr, Discord, etc to stay connected resulting in traffic loss here.

I'd be interested in seeing Era III intra-team communication move from the messaging here on EB to a platform like Discord. So much easier to share WIP builds and plans in a chat-type environment.

I'd like to keep inter-team and public posts on EB still of course

[Keymonus]

First, a great thank you to the current leadership for all your work, which has really kept our ship afloat for all those years!

I'm looking forward to seeing what the next Era will bring... In Era I our little world started, but Era II has really shaped it, with the adventure MRCAs, the NPC nations beginning to play a bigger role, some wars and dozens of new islands explored and colonized!

I'm not being as active as I would like (I'm often far from home, and I only build with physical bricks), but I'm following (and I'll follow) all the future developments!

[Captain Pirate Man]

If one wanted to become more involved, where can I start?

[NOD]

8 hours ago, Captain Pirate Man said:

If one wanted to become more involved, where can I start?

First you choose a faction. I don't want to influence you, but the Sea Rats would be a good choice. 

 

[Yperio_Bricks]

22 hours ago, Keymonus said:

In Era I our little world started, but Era II has really shaped it, with the adventure MRCAs, the NPC nations beginning to play a bigger role, some wars and dozens of new islands explored and colonized!

I wish my dark ages would have ended some years earlier and and would have joined the game earlier!

What are the visions for era III?

[Captain Pirate Man]

I wish I didn't have to be with just one faction. I'd like to create little stories for multiple factions.

[LM71Blackbird]

I'd definitely like to help out. I've been around for 6 years and seen some stuff . LOL! Hoping to get back to building and seeing some more life in BoBS very soon!

[Capt Wolf]

44 minutes ago, Captain Pirate Man said:

I wish I didn't have to be with just one faction. I'd like to create little stories for multiple factions.

Understood, but it's kind of like asking where you were born. You can travel several places and interact with all the factions, but you have one main sigfig and they were born in only one place.

[Khorne]

On 10/27/2023 at 7:55 PM, evancelt said:

I'd be interested in seeing Era III intra-team communication move from the messaging here on EB to a platform like Discord. So much easier to share WIP builds and plans in a chat-type environment.

There's a Discord currently, right? Weren't there intra-team comms there? I lost my login information, so I haven't checked it for ages . 

 

14 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

What are the visions for era III?

I'm very curious as well! However, I think the Court is trying to remain intentionally vague until Era III arrives:

On 10/25/2023 at 3:53 PM, Capt Wolf said:

The current court has some ideas, but we figured it'd be better for the current players to really dictate the answers to those questions.

IMHO, I think the world shouldn't expand as much this time. There should be some new stuff as exploration is the basic core of BOBS, but seeing as the current (active) player base is smaller than when Era II started, I think a too big of a world/map would make the world feel empty when there's not enough activity/characters/people/buildings to populate it. Maybe a refocus and finetuning of what is already there, plus some new bits of land. I know I'm faaaar from a very active member so other members might see it differently, but those are just my 2 cents as I see it .

 

Is there an ETA for when we move into the 3rd Era?

[evancelt]

5 hours ago, Khorne said:

There's a Discord currently, right? Weren't there intra-team comms there? I lost my login information, so I haven't checked it for ages . 

Currently all intra-team communication is still officially on EuroBricks. Here is that Discord link: https://discord.gg/f79wYj4Zn7

[Kwatchi]

I applaud this initiative.  Era 2 did a great job fleshing out the the initial vision SkaforHire had for a game system.  The world building has been extraordinary and the action turn improvements welcome.  But that world map(s) is a wee bit bloated and unwieldy, the sheer amount of legacy "generator" properties broke any economy long ago, and the active pop. distribution has become a skewed.  Hopefully Era 3 comes with a reset of some kind.  May I suggest a massive tsunami caused by an exploding Bruhaha brewery?

Looking forward to seeing more information.

 

[evancelt]

3 minutes ago, Kwatchi said:

I applaud this initiative.  Era 2 did a great job fleshing out the the initial vision SkaforHire had for a game system.  The world building has been extraordinary and the action turn improvements welcome.  But that world map(s) is a wee bit bloated and unwieldy, the sheer amount of legacy "generator" properties broke any economy long ago, and the active pop. distribution has become a skewed.  Hopefully Era 3 comes with a reset of some kind.  May I suggest a massive tsunami caused by an exploding Bruhaha brewery?

Looking forward to seeing more information.

 

We have some plans in place to make Era III a refreshing, reinvigorating era for the game :) Input from additional new leadership welcome, of course

[Captain Pirate Man]

So I'm confused about the whole "monetary" system for the game. I have a rather large pirates Display, and I'd be happy to register some forts and ships, with characters and what not. But I'm not really understanding it. Also, what I DO understand, is that I have to start on the "smaller" end of things, especially for ships. But that's not really what I'm interested in. Like I have some galleons I could and would register (I'm thinking Sea Rats), but I'm under the impression I can't start with those.

 

What the deal is, like I said, I have a rather large Pirates Display already. I'm interested in adding some story elements to the "game" but I want to fit the game to what I already have, not so much the other way around. I would also want to keep things a little more "in cannon" than maybe the game has been played so far, which I'm not sure how everyone would feel about that. What I mean is, register the Black Seas Barracuda or Black Pearl. Have Captain Roger Redbeard or Jack Sparrow be my characters. Maybe have Rock island Refuge as my home "base." 

 

Would these ideas be possible within the context of the game? Please advise.

[Jeff of Clubs]

Fantastic work one and all. I'm in the midst of some personal nonsense but will type up some thoughts later. A big world changing event would be a good idea,as well as logging many era 1 settlements into a group with the home countries. There for lore but not interactible for player EGS. I forward a grand Oleonic Revolution with all nations vying over it's outcome, thus shaping the world of BoBS E3.

[Kai NRG]

54 minutes ago, Captain Pirate Man said:

I'm interested in adding some story elements to the "game" but I want to fit the game to what I already have, not so much the other way around.

BoBS has two aspects--a game and a story.  These can fuel each other, or you can participate in either one separately.  Some of your ideas sound more suitable to the story aspect.  For instance, you are always welcome to post your own creations no matter how big they are so we can enjoy and comment on them.  But if you would like to license them in the game, yes, you will have to start small until you build up enough "money" to afford licenses for your larger creations.

56 minutes ago, Captain Pirate Man said:

I would also want to keep things a little more "in cannon" than maybe the game has been played so far, which I'm not sure how everyone would feel about that. What I mean is, register the Black Seas Barracuda or Black Pearl. Have Captain Roger Redbeard or Jack Sparrow be my characters. Maybe have Rock island Refuge as my home "base." 

BoBS is its own fictional world, so bringing in names and places from other fictional worlds is not the best fit.  I encourage you to take inspiration from your favorite pirate stories but find a way to customize them and make them your own, while fitting them into the world of BoBS.

As far as using LEGO sets in BoBS, if that's what you're asking about--I'm afraid that's not what this RPG is meant for.  Part of the idea is to spark creative LEGO builds, something new for us to see and enjoy.  We can already go to the internet and look up pictures of the Barracuda or Pearl.  On the other hand, if you're taking the set as a canvas and modifying it substantially, go for it!  Or if you just mean that you're taking a picture of those ships and building it from scratch, that's great too!

21 minutes ago, 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.

  Why do I like this idea so much? 

[Captain Pirate Man]

24 minutes ago, Kai NRG said:

BoBS has two aspects--a game and a story.  These can fuel each other, or you can participate in either one separately.  Some of your ideas sound more suitable to the story aspect.  For instance, you are always welcome to post your own creations no matter how big they are so we can enjoy and comment on them.  But if you would like to license them in the game, yes, you will have to start small until you build up enough "money" to afford licenses for your larger creations.

BoBS is its own fictional world, so bringing in names and places from other fictional worlds is not the best fit.  I encourage you to take inspiration from your favorite pirate stories but find a way to customize them and make them your own, while fitting them into the world of BoBS.

As far as using LEGO sets in BoBS, if that's what you're asking about--I'm afraid that's not what this RPG is meant for.  Part of the idea is to spark creative LEGO builds, something new for us to see and enjoy.  We can already go to the internet and look up pictures of the Barracuda or Pearl.  On the other hand, if you're taking the set as a canvas and modifying it substantially, go for it!  Or if you just mean that you're taking a picture of those ships and building it from scratch, that's great too!

I have found, that people REALLY respond favorably to existing lore, and characters. While I'm not suggesting "changing" the existing lore that exists within the game, I don't see why adding Redbeard, Sparrow, Ironhook, Broadside, Wood house, etc into the game would be a negative thing. I feel like they could add some attention from folks that don't follow BOTBS, and I feel the story aspects they could bring, would be fun. So that's one of my main reasons for wanting to go a route more similar to that. But that doesn't mean they would be ALL I would want to do, quite the contrary. The idea of telling the stories of Ironhooks first mate is appealing to me. But in order to do that effectively, Ironhook himself needs to be established. 

 

Here is my Pirate layout, I'm already telling stories as is. But I'm trying to figure out how to tell new stories, within the context of the game. 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Captain Pirate Man

[Khorne]

11 hours ago, 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.

Security forces are hard at work at mitigating that threat though!

... or perhaps a conservative reactionary revolution that turns the kingdom into an empire, with even more power to the emperor. Napoléon III meets Roman Empire. However, it wouldn't fit with the current king's more benevolent character. He's a good guy. The conniving underlings are to blame for any shade on Oleon's shining reputation!