Voxumo

I would wholeheartedly agree that the Rahkshi did work, but much like Kulta and the Skull Warriors, they were an enemy that was present from the start, or at least known at the start of the game. This gave them some form of "Relatable" connection. I can certainly say the twist with Panrahk wa likely my favorite part of this season, as it was something I certainly wasn't expecting, and provide some intrigue to the story.

I can't really say there was anything unique to this season that I enjoyed over other seasons. That's not to say there wasn't parts I enjoyed, just that said parts weren't unique. Perhaps if anything I enjoyed the uniqueness between the regions, whereas in prior seasons they all just kind of felt like carbon copies of each other. Here it felt like each one was distinct, had it's own culture and advantages, or disadvantages. Though my list of what I disliked for this season is numerous. 1) Lack of plot focus: I can not speak for every region's players, but at least for Kamuk it felt like there were far too many plots going on at one time, with many of those plots just kind of being swept away by the larger plot at the end. Honestly the amount of different sub-plots kind of was super overwhelming at certain points and made it hard to properly play around any single one. 2) Lack of Impact: Again, at least from my perspective, it felt like players actions didn't really mean squat. It felt like everything was being pushed directly to one outcome, and despite player actions the story would be worked around them to continue towards that one outcome. That's not to say season 2 didn't have determined outcomes for the overall plot, but it seemed, at least from a player level, that actions taken by players twisted that outcome, or were of serious enough that they proved an actual obstacle to that outcome. Season 2 gave the illusion of players affecting the outcome, whereas season 3 did not feel to have such an illusion, and was very heavy-handed in it's plot outcome. 3) Lack of Player Enemies: You know who I viewed as my enemies during this entire season? NPCs. Never once did I feel at risk from another player. Never once did I truly consider any single other player as an enemy, even Quin who stole from Vinheim early on. He was an annoyance, not an enemy. Sahmad, Velika, The Fire Soldiers. They all felt like real enemies that posed a risk to my character, they were a threat... That shouldn't be the case in a game like this. I shouldn't be more concerned about what an npc will do than what another player will do. Npcs in the prior seasons teetered on a very precarious balance, especially during season 2 where you had Kulta and Skull Warriors. Sure they were big bad villain npcs, but they never quite felt like a real threat unless wielded by other players, as it should be. They were there to facilitate player actions, not so much to be autonomous players themselves. Honestly, I can feel more connection to a villain or enemy that is another player, another character who has worked their way through the season to register as a risk, whereas an npc just lacks that character development to make me like them even as an enemy, to be able to appreciate them as a character. Lady Raqmu is a fine example of this. She had next to no lead up to her arrival in game, and yet upon her arrival she existed just to be a counter force. In summary, npcs should be left to facilitate player actions, instead of being used as Macguffins, aside from cases such as Kulta or Umarak, who while being autonomous, their direct involvement did not feel forced, but natural with the flow of things.

Yup. Attendees only. Alrighty, welp thanks for confirming.

Given what I've read, I presume this is only open to folks who will be physically attending Brickfair 2018?

I actually rather like #4. It's simple yet effective in it's message. So yeah, voting for #4

I'd certainly be interested in playing.

The increase in time seems a bit excessive.

"He who sees the end, yet can only warn." So here we have a moc I've been working on for a good portion of April, whenever inspiration struck me. An alien whose sole duty is to warn a select few from sentient species on the brink of extinction-level events. This moc started with the simple notion of "Hey, I want to use spring green and purple in a moc." and turned into much more. I must say, I had quite a bit of fun designing this character, especially the torso. Originally it started off utilizing a design Renzari had provided me, but changed early on to incorporate a piece I'd never built with, 32307.That piece actually makes up most of the torso. The Augur also has quite a bit of system, mostly as addons. Such the spine, which was probably my second most favorite section to build. An Otherworldly Rose I should note the general body was somewhat inspired by the Saturnian from Lord Bung's The Giant from Sirius, while the head and hands were inspired by the Harvesters from Independence Day. So yeah, just overall a really fun moc to build. I'll likely update him with time, as I want to replace a fair number of the black pieces with purple counterparts, and maybe pick up some more spring green parts. Now for some backstory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An extraterrestrial being from a sentient species that was the first to experience extinction. Being the first, he was chosen from among his people for his appreciation of life, and given the opportunity to play against fate as The Augur. He who warns of the end, in hope that life can persist. But that was billions of years ago, though sightings of The Augur still pop up now and then, typically seen as nothing more than madmen's tales. But aren't all who warn against the impossible, of what surely couldn't happen, seen as mad? "Beware the Core Lewa, for it shall undo everything you will become." "I... I don't understand." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upon taking the role of The Augur, he was granted several abilities ontop of his pre-existing one. These include: Instant Teleportation Telepathy Dream Projection Precognition Universal Translation Limited Immortality Hard Light Projections (Natural from Species) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So yeah, that is The Augur. Let me know what you think.

Soo... any update to this?

It definitely would seem like a topic for folks to find partners for the contest would be helpful. Probably would be more efficient than the route I took to find my partner.

Just for clarification, I presume the two mocs don't actually have to be shot together, like in person? Photoshopping them together would be allowed?

Hmm, an interesting idea.

do you not discord anymore I haven't bothered checking it in like two weeks.

30k for what?

So tried searching for some sculptures in Disneyland hong kong, couldn't find any. Though Disneyland Paris had some interesting ones. Woody and Buzz Lightyear R2-D2 The Mickey Mouse scene out of Fantasia... Not sure the name. This one was my personal favorite. BONUS: So I tried looking at the Lego Store in the Shanghai Disney Resort via google maps, and needless to say there weren't any street views. Heck finding the resort via google maps was alot more difficult than it should have been. However, I wondered if the Chinese version of Google, Baidu, has a street view like function and it turns out they do. So I ended up referencing the google map I had open to find the resort on Baidu, and then had to randomly click buttons in hopes of finding their "Total View" because I can't read chinese. And long behold, I was able to find a sculpture outside of their Lego Store. It's of the aliens from Toy Story, and there appears to be another sculpture on the roof, but no good angles of it. A Screenshot for those who don't wish to open Baidu. And then the link to the actual page... fair warning it's all in chinese. Yeah it's not google street view, but it's still interesting.

Begone!

So I've been thinking about why I didn't really Moc all too much in 2017, and I think I figured out why. I was building for others, and not for myself. I do not mean this in a literal sense, but that when I went to build I was always trying to build to meet some standard I imposed upon myself based on those around me. I wasn't building what I truly wanted to build, but I was building to try and compare to the other MOCist's around me. If a moc didn't have a custom torso of some kind, it wasn't worth building was the mindset I'd worked myself into. I think this is why all motivation to build in 2017 kind of went out the window. I wasn't enjoying building. Now this isn't to say I'm suddenly going to be building only generic HF frame mocs, but if I have a simple concept in my mind, I'm not going to throw it out simply because it's "Simple". I'm going to build what I enjoy. Also this isn't in anyway blaming anyone else. I solely worked myself into the mindset I did, I felt I had to build like so many of the popular builders, even if it was only a fraction of a fraction of what their builds are like. So yeah, going forward, I might put out more lesser quality mocs, but at least I'll be enjoying it, and hopefully enjoying Moccing will in turn provide more motivation to build more complex mocs.

Oh Quin... These aren't Shadowvezon's guards.

Although you can play almost entirely using discord if that changes your mind at all I use Discord even less than I check BZP. My issue is more about time commitment and game format – super busy with classes and D&D currently! RIP *Shrugs* I tried.

The fact I got you to post in the games and trivia section, I count that as a win all in itself. *Cancels the Bribery money transfer*

This was certainly one of the more enjoyable games, and I definitely look forward to any future games you may host.

Vinheim Maran the "Modest" shall be taking his reserved place. Also given the use of discord, should we still pm you our stats or what?

I'd say I'm fairly content with where Kaathe has left off. Receiving a "Quest" from the big bad evil himself in the remains of his lair. Seems a fitting end for now.