Historical stimulus package

[K-Nut]

How about Community Builds of Non-existing factions? Like Elves, Snake Knights, Druids, Goblins, etc. Much like ACPins SW ones. Maybe these would run a bit longer though? The micro-scale map sounds great. Maybe we could have different people do different sections? Just a thought.

[blueandwhite]

I've been following this thread with considerable interest.

The idea of a map is fantastic. While we have a MOC index, this would be an amazing way to highlight some of the great historical MOCs on these forums. I'm wondering if the plan would be to have a single world map, or whether it might be better to break it down into nations/factions. This would make it easier to include more MOCs on the map. A single world map could link to different nations which would help ensure we don't run out of space on the map too quickly. When presenting a MOC, the builder could indicate what realm their work belongs in so it could be placed on the nation/faction map. I would also suggest having some unmarked territories for future factions, as well as a large territory for individuals who create their own factions (sort of a free-form nation).

I would suggest that we focus on existing factions as keeping track of fan-made factions could prove too difficult. As long as there is a territory or territories for fan-made factions then I think everybody would be included.

A second suggestion is the possibility of joining a builder's guild. We could have four or so separate guilds with different members. Members would earn points for their guild for posting MOCs, reviews, tutorials and participating in contests. These points would go towards building their guild's reputation (possibly represented in the form of tags). This sort of competitiveness would probably help generate some more traffic on the forum as members work to help their guild stand out from the others.

Anyhow, I really look forward to seeing where this goes. So far it looks like the beginning of something big.

[Si-MOCs]

1) Alliance of the Kingdoms of Men

Factions include: Lion Knights, Dragon Knights, Black Knights, Crusaders, Crown Knights, and Falcons

2 The Rogxes' Guild:

A Guild for the riffraff; mercenaries and merry men, this group is for those who prefer the lifestyle of adventure, brawls, exploration, banditry and treasure seeking.

Factions Include: Forest Men, Wolf Pack, Dragon Knights, Bulls Knights, any personally made adventurer(Coat of arms is not necessary)

3) The Arcane Kingdoms:

Factions: Dwarves, Elves (Series 3) and other archaic/ mystic races that people may wish to introduce that have origins rooted in fantasy

4) The Forces of Darkness:

Factions: Trolls, Undead, Other evil creatures, and self-designed faction of corrupted baddies.

Well, there you go; my proposal; nothing is set in stone, but this is the rough idea. If it gathers more traction, I will desing some more Lego-appropriate symbols, buildings etc, to serve as examples of possible architecture/pis/factions. I think this distribution can encompass everyone's favorite faction and give the opportunity of builders to expand into areas not previously explored in MOC'ing.

Let me Know what you think!

Note: (All pictures from Google, as this is only temporary and can showcase the idea better than I can described it)

I read this over a few times and let it sit in my head for a bit.

First off - awesome work putting it together - it's a great start to get people thinking!

At first reaction I was wasn't liking the grouping of all the factions together - I had imagined smaller groups dedicating themselves building out their 'niche' faction... but then I realized that it did make sense and allows for the logical grouping of like minded/similar groups as well as the oh so important and fun collaboration bringing it all together somewhere.

Some of those pictures are truely inspirational!

Though I think we might need to prop up the Arcane Guild up ... as there is only really one official LEGO race that applies - that's the dwarfs and was only available for short period of time. With Dwarfs and Elves being propped up by CMF sales it results in a limited number of minifigs for most people - while this isn't insurmountable it does make this slightly harder. That being said, I think it'd also be one of the more fun Guilds to be in - as you can really let your imagination run wild :D

A second suggestion is the possibility of joining a builder's guild. We could have four or so separate guilds with different members. Members would earn points for their guild for posting MOCs, reviews, tutorials and participating in contests. These points would go towards building their guild's reputation (possibly represented in the form of tags). This sort of competitiveness would probably help generate some more traffic on the forum as members work to help their guild stand out from the others.

50 points Lion-dor!

I've always though competition brings out some pretty good building juices - my only concern is making sure that everyone finds a place they want to be - while keeping all the guilds somewhat balanced... I would expect the (if going by Siren's guild) Kingdom of Men would be quite popular.

[blueandwhite]

50 points Lion-dor!

I've always though competition brings out some pretty good building juices - my only concern is making sure that everyone finds a place they want to be - while keeping all the guilds somewhat balanced... I would expect the (if going by Siren's guild) Kingdom of Men would be quite popular.

I think the problem with a guild system built around factions is that many builders readily build across all of these factions (outlaws, fantasy, dark fantasy and classic medieval fare). The idea of being tied to a guild based on these criteria may pigeonhole builders. Personally I think that having nondescript guilds that compete against each other would be preferable. There could even be a draft where members who express their interest are drafted into one of the four guilds. Hopefully this would help bridge the different elements of the castle theme rather than divide them.

[LandShark]

Just for the record, I have created the The Historical Misprints Topic, do you think we could have that added to the Index?

In any case, I look forward to seeing what this turns up, lots of great builders here in this great subforum.

[kabel]

wow, great ideas that are out here, just started adding some more landscape to my city evolution moc so that I can put in some of the named factions above ...

[Si-MOCs]

I think the problem with a guild system built around factions is that many builders readily build across all of these factions (outlaws, fantasy, dark fantasy and classic medieval fare). The idea of being tied to a guild based on these criteria may pigeonhole builders. Personally I think that having nondescript guilds that compete against each other would be preferable. There could even be a draft where members who express their interest are drafted into one of the four guilds. Hopefully this would help bridge the different elements of the castle theme rather than divide them.

Oh I definitely agree - I debated this in my mind a bit - which is why I liked the idea of something like 2-3 month challenge cycles focusing on say a particular Theme would be great (Be it official LEGO themes or say the 4 rough areas that Siren drafted up) - and have the entire group/sub groups competing to flush out that Theme would provide some great builds - as well as flushing out our EB History backstory (and we do need back stories, one of my favourite parts of the Historical genre is that people spend more time on their story.

But on the flip side - there may be people that WANT to be pigeon holed into a particular theme. For instance there could be some builders that love the Skeletons or Orcs etc- if we build through each lego theme they'd be kinda left behind for months till they get to do what they were really interests in.

Though I guess at some point we have to realize that we can't please everyone - and that we should try to do something that most people would enjoy... which is essentially the reason for this thread... to ask the group - what do you want to do?

[blueandwhite]

Oh I definitely agree - I debated this in my mind a bit - which is why I liked the idea of something like 2-3 month challenge cycles focusing on say a particular Theme would be great (Be it official LEGO themes or say the 4 rough areas that Siren drafted up) - and have the entire group/sub groups competing to flush out that Theme would provide some great builds - as well as flushing out our EB History backstory (and we do need back stories, one of my favourite parts of the Historical genre is that people spend more time on their story.

But on the flip side - there may be people that WANT to be pigeon holed into a particular theme. For instance there could be some builders that love the Skeletons or Orcs etc- if we build through each lego theme they'd be kinda left behind for months till they get to do what they were really interests in.

Though I guess at some point we have to realize that we can't please everyone - and that we should try to do something that most people would enjoy... which is essentially the reason for this thread... to ask the group - what do you want to do?

There's nothing wrong with having a focus. I am simply of the opinion that if the community were to develop guilds, they shouldn't be used to splinter the community. We already have separate boards which divide posters. Breaking the castle theme into smaller sub-themes might have the undesired effect of driving some folks away. In your previous post you joked about the houses in Harry Potter. Ironically, treating a guild the way Harry Potter treats its four houses actually seems like a pretty good idea to me. If a guild starts to lag behind the rest, new members could simply be drafted into the weakest guild in attempt to keep things balanced.

[I Scream Clone]

Just for the record, I have created the The Historical Misprints Topic, do you think we could have that added to the Index?

Done.

I like the idea of the four super guilds to get the ball rolling.

New polls up! You will have to delete your old votes to vote in the new questions

First post updated as well.

[Lordofdragonss]

I started building my own Orcs Fortress like a year ago, and I still do!

Topic:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28783&st=0&p=495947&fromsearch=1entry495947

It would be honor to add it to the Dark Side! :D

[Matn]

Although I don't really have anything to add to this topic (I'll think of some things eventually), I want to say I'm impressed with all these great ideas floating around! Keep them coming. I especially like the guild idea, I hope to see it soon on Eurobricks.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Matn

[SirSven7]

Just a work update.

I have now popped my Black Knight article online and Wolfpack will only be a few days behind (only three sets to look at for those guys).

I was just wondering if you would creat a space for all the stop motion work people make out there as it is always the hardest stuff to find on eurobricks and some of it is really good.

Cheers

[I Scream Clone]

Just had a thought, all wizards and witches could be in the mystical guild. Should help fill it out.

Just a work update.

I have now popped my Black Knight article online and Wolfpack will only be a few days behind (only three sets to look at for those guys).

I was just wondering if you would creat a space for all the stop motion work people make out there as it is always the hardest stuff to find on eurobricks and some of it is really good.

Cheers

There is a whole forum on EB for stop motion work already. Nice work on the review too.

[Tazmaniac]

I like the idea of a "whack a guild" type build off's and it'll be great to be able to group some themes for the purpose of indexing ect , but I don't want to see this go the way of Red and Blue over on classic pirates, it's fun to have a laugh and poke some fun, but lets not make the guilds a defining characteristic of the history forum..... remember all castle figs were created equal, well almost.

[Fred Daniel Yam]

I like the idea of a "whack a guild" type build off's and it'll be great to be able to group some themes for the purpose of indexing ect , but I don't want to see this go the way of Red and Blue over on classic pirates, it's fun to have a laugh and poke some fun, but lets not make the guilds a defining characteristic of the history forum..... remember all castle figs were created equal, well almost.

Then couldn't it be like a Round Robin/Rotation thing where eventually all guilds fight each other or ally with each other reducing the crazy stuff that happened with Red Vs Blue?

[SirSven7]

There is a whole forum on EB for stop motion work already.

I know but what I am asking is why, why would I go to a different part of the forum and shift through the work there to find stop motion movies, or set reviews on youtube about castle sets, when we could have them here on this the historic page.

I know what I am asking might be impossible but i never really search for cool lego movies on this site, i use youtube most of the time and I think thats a shame, its a missed opertunity.

I know it probably won't change but I thought I would ask

Cheers

[Derfel Cadarn]

Ive read a lot of interesting ideas on this thread, the guild idea is interesting and the idea about earning points for your guild sound cool, but would probably be hard work to give points and keep track of every moc. That would involve a lot of updating, but it could work. One thing I have noticed though, this whole thread is extremly 'Castle' biased. This is the 'History' forum, not the 'Castle Forum'. Yes I know that probably 90% of mocs posted here are castle orientated, its the most popular historic theme. But lets not forget about the history itself! A guild with all different castle factions is great, but if thats the case, at least have a section for other historic builds like western, ninja, vikings and mocs that are based on actual historic events. I've built a few mocs that are based in the 17th/18th century during the witchcraft trials, and I'd like to think that they would be put into a History section as they are based on real events and people, rather then bundled in with medieval castle stuff. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of the faction/group/guild thingy, but it would be nice to have maybe a historic time line that features mocs based on real historic events. As for the castle side of things, I've always been very interested in the Arthurian Legends, infact every castle moc I've made is either named after Arthurian Locations or has references to it. I have spent 3 years now, planning a project that I am now finally able to start. This project is one of the main reasons I started building with Lego again and its something I wouldn't do till I knew I could do it in the best way possible. Whats the project? Well, Im going to build Camelot, naturally. I have just finished making and putting together the 20ft x 20ft square table of boards in my loft to build it on. Yes its gonna be huge! So, I wondered weather I would be able to do a Arthurian section and map, where all my Arthurian mocs will be based. Obviously if anyone else wants to build any mocs based on the Legends, then they can be added too. Its just that I see my mocs and future mocs belonging more to the Arthur story and not fitting in with Lego's factions, plus I'm also going to make custom shields. Just a thought.

Whoa, thats a long thought. I do ramble on

DC

[Fred Daniel Yam]

Ive read a lot of interesting ideas on this thread, the guild idea is interesting and the idea about earning points for your guild sound cool, but would probably be hard work to give points and keep track of every moc. That would involve a lot of updating, but it could work. One thing I have noticed though, this whole thread is extremly 'Castle' biased. This is the 'History' forum, not the 'Castle Forum'. Yes I know that probably 90% of mocs posted here are castle orientated, its the most popular historic theme. But lets not forget about the history itself! A guild with all different castle factions is great, but if thats the case, at least have a section for other historic builds like western, ninja, vikings and mocs that are based on actual historic events. I've built a few mocs that are based in the 17th/18th century during the witchcraft trials, and I'd like to think that they would be put into a History section as they are based on real events and people, rather then bundled in with medieval castle stuff. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of the faction/group/guild thingy, but it would be nice to have maybe a historic time line that features mocs based on real historic events. As for the castle side of things, I've always been very interested in the Arthurian Legends, infact every castle moc I've made is either named after an Arthurian Lore or has references to it. I have spent 3 years now, planning a project that I am now finally able to start. This project is one of the main reasons I started building with Lego again and its something I wouldn't do till I knew I could do it in the best way possible. Whats the project? Well, Im going to build Camelot, naturally. I have just finished making and putting together the 20ft x 20ft square table of boards in my loft to build it on. Yes its gonna be huge! So, I wondered weather I would be able to do a Arthurian section and map, where all my Arthurian mocs will be based. Obviously if anyone else wants to build any mocs based on the Legends then they can be added to. Its just that I see my mocs and future mocs belonging to the Arthur story and not part of Lego's factions. Just a thought.

Whoa, thats a long thought. I do ramble on

DC

Well said, another I've been noticing is the lack of stuff based on other cultures, sure there are the occasional Nordic and real "Historic" MOCS, but none that are actually from a non-European/Western Culture, not everyone builds Ninja's that much and I see nothing based on the Orient except for a few like that great Great Wall of China (pun not intended). How about we broaden the view to a more larger spectrum?? Hopes for Three Kingdoms MOCS and Contests

[Si-MOCs]

Ive read a lot of interesting ideas on this thread, the guild idea is interesting and the idea about earning points for your guild sound cool, but would probably be hard work to give points and keep track of every moc. That would involve a lot of updating, but it could work. One thing I have noticed though, this whole thread is extremly 'Castle' biased. This is the 'History' forum, not the 'Castle Forum'. Yes I know that probably 90% of mocs posted here are castle orientated, its the most popular historic theme. But lets not forget about the history itself!....

I have just finished making and putting together the 20ft x 20ft square table of boards in my loft to build it on. Yes its gonna be huge!....

First off.

:O TWENTY FEET BY TWENTY FEET?

that's like bigger than my condo.

Back to matter at hand - You bring an excellent point. We are very Castle focused - but I think that there are ways to introduce a bit more variation into it - much like the spaghetti western injected some great builds - if we move towards the 4 MegaGuilds and rorating competition - there's nothing to be said that we can't have a "Asian" month or a "Western" month - thus focusing the community into a seldomly highlighted theme. Plus it'd flex our building muscle and get us out of our comfort zones.

Awards points and the tracking of said points - that'd have to be a mod&company decision - it can be a lot of work and it'd be up to them if they want to take it on - as well they'd have to be impartial which may mean they won't be in a guild.... or in a pointless guild (as in lack of points )

it really depends on how we want to do the points - it could be a simple as awarded for competitions - 100/75/50/25 points each and only need to be tallied a few times a year. or as onerous as mods randomly giving out points for good behaviour or clever puns.

How about Community Builds of Non-existing factions? Like Elves, Snake Knights, Druids, Goblins, etc. Much like ACPins SW ones. Maybe these would run a bit longer though? The

If we are going to have a dedicated Theme month(s) - I would think "Custom" month would also be a good one to consider - that way we can make sure our minifig customizers and such have a place in our new world too ;)

There's nothing wrong with having a focus. I am simply of the opinion that if the community were to develop guilds, they shouldn't be used to splinter the community. We already have separate boards which divide posters. Breaking the castle theme into smaller sub-themes might have the undesired effect of driving some folks away. In your previous post you joked about the houses in Harry Potter. Ironically, treating a guild the way Harry Potter treats its four houses actually seems like a pretty good idea to me. If a guild starts to lag behind the rest, new members could simply be drafted into the weakest guild in attempt to keep things balanced.

... I *NEVER* joke about Harry Potter.

But yes. you won me over - dispute the fun that could be had to be a "Dragon Knight" guild - I could easily see how that could splinter the group.

I like the idea of a "whack a guild" type build off's and it'll be great to be able to group some themes for the purpose of indexing ect , but I don't want to see this go the way of Red and Blue over on classic pirates, it's fun to have a laugh and poke some fun, but lets not make the guilds a defining characteristic of the history forum.....

While I don't visit the pirate forum often - I can see how that's problematic.

So tying in the logical thought process of Taz and Blue ...

Perhaps a way to combat this is to reset the guilds after a set period? redraft or rebuild periodically - thus no one is too invested or stuck in a particular guild - it also gives builders opportunities to work with other builders maybe even in our own guild club houses (whiteboards?)

Which begs the question - how ARE we forming these guilds? I assume draft - but there could be other methods - like rankings (if we have individual point totals by builder) or round robin (so everyone eventually works with everyone) etc etc.

[Fred Daniel Yam]

What about some things based on mythology, there's a lot of unexplored ground in that area. Would it belong here?

[Brickdoctor]

I admit that I hadn't really put a lot of time into following this thread until today, but I must say, I love the idea of the guilds. I do agree that some friendly competition between guilds would be the best way to inspire people to build more often. I know I myself have been intending to do another Forestman MOC for a while, but I never get around to it. And the MOCs that usually end up taking up the time I would've devoted to that Forestman MOC have of late been MOCs built for some other group effort. (Heroica, Star Wars Community Build, etc. - not to say that those are bad things that I don't love being a part of) The presence of a guild could bump Castle/Historic MOCing back up to near the top of my priority list where building is concerned.

[Artanis I]

Just thought I'd throw in some thoughts from my perspective. When I visit the site (okay, so I have a tab open 24/7) I don't view by subforum. I just click on "view new content" and scan through the 6-7 daily pages to see what may interest me and comment if I feel the need. The only time I go to a certain subforum is if I'm searching for a certain topic that I imagine would be stickied (eg Such-and-such sets 2011 discussion). So what I'm getting at is I'm oblivious to "not a lot of activity in this section" and "we should do something to increase interest", and I never look at the front page. Seems I'm in the minority on that?

I think there's been some cool ideas so far, I will probably go along with whatever. But to be honest, I found as a new EB member all the organised member involvement stuff isn't really explained anywhere so I had no idea what the crap were all those goings-on in the pirates area , or the games section (I know there's lots of mafia games played in there - which doesn't interest me, and it appears there's a lot of Heroica stuff at the moment, but I don't think it has anything much to do with the board games) but no idea how any of it worked or that. If we're going to do "stuff" in this section I think we should really explain clearly in a sticky post so the new members can have a clue by just reading an explanation of what happens, how it's organised and how to join in! Put it in a prevalent position, and not just expect people to use the search function (when they don't really know what to search for), or else have a myriad of locked threads where a moderator answers the "wtf is all this / how does it work / how do I participate" with "click here" (link to obscured post lost in the archives somewhere)

Regarding the "Castle heavy-ness" of the guild ideas: I think the problem is that on EB, we have lumped vaguely similar Lego themes together, then said "if anyone wants to post a MOC that fits closer to these themes than the other Lego themes, chuck it in here too" for some subforums like "Historic" & "Sci-Fi" but completely different story for others like Star Wars & Pirates. (If you think about it, Pirates is an "Historic" theme, Star Wars (mostly) a "Sci-Fi"...)

Those 2 forums are so successful in their EB community involvement because there's no other stuff lumped in with it. We'd be better off having "european medieval castle" as a separate subforum from all the other stuff if you want to ramp up the community involvement for Castle theme, or maybe separate the MOCs from everything else (Watto's Junkyard?)... just some thoughts. (Another problem we have is the cross-over with many themes where a lot of eg PoP, PQ, PoC, Ninjago or Indy inspired realistic MOCs are fitting in the Historic setting but if posted here would be met with "nice MOC but it probably belongs in the Licensed/Action/Pirates themes subforum with all the other underground temples/dojos/camel trains/pyramids".)

the good bit of the post

I think a rotation could be a plan, where 3 times a year you could have a month of a special focus on something non-euro-medieval-castle, (be it a limited run Lego theme OR something original. Wild West, Ancient Greece, Samurai, Viking, 19thC, Maya/Aztec etc) and for the other months do a medieval castle/army thing with the guild ideas or whatever. Reset the scores each time? Maybe even change the guilds however often? Keep churning out the ideas.

[Sirens-of-Titan]

@ Derfel Cadarn:

Although I agree with you that themes like Ninja, Wild West and Vikings don't get enough love these days, the Guild System is, in my view, an incentive to boost castle building. I think we should stick to strictly castle factions, and later on do a big event for other, less-represented historic themes.

As far as Camelot, that is quite an undertaking, I can't wait to see the min-blowing epic proportions of this build! I also think the Lego map and the Guild System is flexible enough to encompass any fantasy adventures be they with wizards, dragons or knights, so that would fit right in without a problem. (It'll be the jewel of the map)

@ I Scream Clone:

It seems like a solid idea to include a magic faction, so my thought is; how do we go about moving forward with this project? More polls perhaps to see how many people would be interested? Once we have an idea of the size of the participants pool it may make more sense in what direction to go.

[Voodoo Hand]

I just trow in every Medieval minifig in 1 party, anything lurking in the forrests as second party. Then other groups are French, Brittish, Spanish and Pirates. I am working on making a Dutch faction though, but I likely need to buy some new minifigs for that before I can start customizing I do however have a few quick versions made in LDRAW. But yeah, its 3 main groups (Knights, Brittish and Pirates)and a few smaller groups, all in battle! So a massacre is near

[Brickdoctor]

I just trow in every Medieval minifig in 1 party, anything lurking in the forrests as second party. Then other groups are French, Brittish, Spanish and Pirates. I am working on making a Dutch faction though, but I likely need to buy some new minifigs for that before I can start customizing I do however have a few quick versions made in LDRAW. But yeah, its 3 main groups (Knights, Brittish and Pirates)and a few smaller groups, all in battle! So a massacre is near

But Pirates has it's own forum, and if by 'British, French, and Spanish' you mean Redcoats, Bluecoats, and Armada, they're also categorized under Pirates. There's really no reason to draw those factions/themes into this.