A Quick Look At The New Booster Packs
Posted on Monday, June 13, 2011, 7:22 PM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
A Quick Look At Rustic & Gothic Decor For those a little behind, Last week two new booster packs were released. One labeled Gothic and one Rustic. Each pack came with new wall tiles, a few deco items, and two 'extras' that came with the boosters. For the Rustic pack, the extra was a Raised Garden Bed. Description of the item given by EA is the following: "The Raised Garden Bed is a maintenance free gardening plot. Once your garden is setup and seed planted, in 7 days you will have a healthy plant you can remove at any time." It can be placed as several sizes: 2x2, 3x3, 2x3 or 3x2. For the Gothic pack, the extra was a Chest of Sending. Description of the item given by EA is the following: "The Chest of Sending allows you to send your extra items you do not want in your house to your bank without ever leaving your house." Rustic Theme Pack Walls Rustic Theme Pack Stairs Rustic Theme Pack Craftables The Rustic Bench is made by Carpenters. It costs 35 boards. It can be made in south or east directions. If you wish to dye this item with natural or tokuno dyes, you must create it using any of the color woods. (It must be a freshly crafted bench, if the bench has been placed once you will not be able to dye it.) Topiarys can be made in the shape of a goblin or llama. They're crafted by using Clippers on hedges or Juniper Bushes. (Be sure to set your clippers to topiary!!) They can be cut to face east or south. Distillerys are something many players have wished for and finally received. They're crafted by tinkers and can be made to face south or east. It will take 4 heating stands (tinker), 1 copper wire (stealable item & rare loot from pirate ships), 2 Metal Kegs (blacksmith) to create one distillery. Also needed to make your own liquor: Empty liquor barrel - carpenter crafted Yeast - dropped by orcs Wheat Wort - made by cooks Various vegetables depending on what kind you're trying to craft. Bowls of Corn or Potatoes (Inns & Taverns sell them), Honeydew Melon (NPC Farmers sell them, Bunches of Dates (Stolen or Begged), & Tribal Berries (Loot on savages.) Pitchers of wine or water are also needed for some recipes, as well as jars of honey. Gothic Theme Pack Walls Gothic Theme Pack Stairs Gothic Theme Pack Craftables Gargoyle statues can be crafted by carpenters that have used the stone crafting book sold by the gargoyles. It takes 20 granite, and can be made in any of the stone colors. They come in two forms and can be turned with a house deco tool. Ritual Tables can be crafted by carpenters with stone crafting. It takes 8 granite and can be made in any of the stone colors. Advanced Training Dummies can be crafted by tinkers and train your weapon skill to 60. (Old training dummies only train skill to 25.) They're available south or east facing. It takes one training dummy (carpentry), 1 platemail tunic (blacksmith or bought at an npc blacksmith), 1 close helmet (blacksmith or bought at an npc blacksmith), & 1 broadsword (blacksmith or bought at an npc blacksmith.) I apologize that it took me so long to post this information. This week I will be posting deco ideas I've found with these new walls and items. If you have a screenshot or house you'd like included pm or icq me (107296451). I will also be starting work soon on my New Magnicia house spotlights as well as my Gilfane town pictorial. Have any requests? Let me know.
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Spring Cleaning 2008 Deco
Posted on Thursday, May 26, 2011, 1:12 AM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Spring Cleaning 2008 I thought that because we should be getting Spring cleaning fairly soon, a post on the 2008 cleaning would be nice. If you were on a break from UO at that time, or maybe didn’t even know the game existed that long ago.. This post will hopefully get you excited for the new Spring Cleaning. Spring Cleaning turned out to not really be in spring, like this year will be. It began on May 6th, and was rolled out slowly. The 2nd and 3rd round added in new rewards to claim as well as new items you could donate. The donations weren’t turned off until well after the summer, but you could still turn in your tickets or claim items from points you already added. There were 37 rewards to choose from, 18 of which were mostly for deco use. (Only 30 rewards if you don’t count the virtue tiles separately) Sherry the mouse statuette – Works (or is suppose to work) like a town crier. Virtue Titles – Eight tiles are in the set. They can be placed facing two different directions. Chaos Title - Looks like the Virtue tiles but can only be placed in one direction. Yucca Tree Bamboo Horse Barding Dragon Head Nest with eggs Fire Pit Beehive – Produces honey Archery Butte – Can be used like a dart board Mouse Hole A full list of the turn in items and rewards can be found here. Personally I think the mouse hole was kind of silly as it’s hard to even see. I don’t know that I have a favorite per say as I use almost all of them in my decorating except the mouse hole. I thought I’d share a few different examples I’ve seen on my travels the past 2 weeks or so. Bamboo and Beehive - Mystical Llama Bamboo and Chaos Tile - Eve Libertine Bamboo - Hunter Moon Yucca Tree - Franny Flame Yucca Tree - Ozz Yucca Tree - jaclyn Yucca Tree and Honesty Tile - Snowbird Honesty Virtue Tile - Teika Justice, Honesty and Humility Tiles - Teika Compassion, Honor, Justice, Honesty, Spirituality, and Valor Tiles - Tommy Girl Compassion, Honesty, Humility, Justice, and Sacrafice Tiles - Goodman (Andrasta) Justice Tile - Skeletor *Going to stop naming which tiles are in since we've named them all by now* Branwyn Of Errol Jefferson Fire Pit and Virtue Tiles - Snowbird Archery Butte and Virtue Tile Sherry The Mouse - Teika Nest (On the keg) - Tazar Horse Barding - Witchblade Horse Barding - Franny Flame Horse Barding - Norm Abram Horse Barding - Goodman (Andrasta) Fire Pit (It's in there I swear!) - Norm Abram Fire Pit - Desdemona Dragon Head - Franny Flame Dragon Head - Ikea Dragon Head Chaos Tile - Franny Flame Beehive - Tazar Beehive - Gaius Beehive - TalSanSu Beehive - KaFenris Beehive - Norm Abram Beehive Do you have a favorite out of these items? Let’s hear it or better yet, If you have a very unique use for any of these items, Let’s see it! (I can come take screen shots if you have a hard time doing it yourself.) Would you like to see other posts like this? Past deco reward items such as rubble perhaps being used in deco? Let me know.
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Towns - UWF Township
Posted on Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 3:58 PM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
UWF Township A Pictorial Tour Located on the Atlantic Shard UWF's town seems to be ever changing. As new players come in, new deco items and themes become available, the town is added to or upgraded. As you'll see in this spotlight, Not all the buildings were 100% complete in their remodels or rebuilds when these screen shots were taken. It simply wouldn't be possible to show this town 100% complete, because it is never complete. They're always working on improving their town for their players benefit. The Guild Hall Cathedral Auction House At the time I was taking screen shots this building wasn't finished, but what was finished of it looked amazing! UWF Library Interior Decorators TreeHouse Rain And Lion's UWF Museum This Museum not only showcases some rare items and artifact sets, it also showcases some of it's historic members. Treasury Tavern Town Hall These are far from the only homes UWF owns and offers to the public, but it would truly take weeks to show you all of their homes, so I selected a some that were recommended to me and some I personally loved in the main township area. UWF is a very large guild on the Atlantic shard that not only is heavily involved in PVM but also takes part in some pvp. They're also one of the premier guilds in helping new and returning players. If you're interested in more about United We Fight you can check out their website. Coming Soon: Spring Cleaning 2008 - Various displays of the 2008 decorative items. Gardens - Various floral designs ranging from a single flower pot to an entire beautiful overgrown garden. I will also be spotlighting some of your Stratics Staff members homes. We have some amazing interior designers on our team and I'd love to shop them off to you! I assure you you'll find some amazing deco ideas you've never thought of in them. If you have any requests, Please feel free to PM me! I'd love to show you exactly what you're looking for.
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Deco Ideas: Rivers, Waterfalls & Waterworks - Part Two
Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 1:12 PM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Rivers, Waterfalls, & Waterworks Part Two This will be the final edition of our spring water designs. I thank you all for all your great input, as well as all the messages I've received by people who've enjoyed these posts. Darkfemist Zang Solemnia Rags Botulism MahsMage This house will take part in a future New Magnicia Homes pictorial And finally, your moderator Vlad's multi home river. I also wanted to add in a few screen shots I've taken since the fountains post. Jaclyn Tommy Girl Coming Soon: New Magnicia Homes Do you own one of the homes on New Magnicia and want to show it off? PM or Email me at [email protected] with your Shard, Coords, Facet, and House Name. Town Spotlight UWF Township on Atlantic If you want your town to be one of the next spotlighted send me the information on it! (I'm not currently making appointments, So your town must be mostly public.) NPC town designs that you can create. I'll be taking screenshots of various designs in the cities across all facets and showing you how you can recreate them in your own home.
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An Early Happy Easter
Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011, 10:16 AM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
I want to wish everyone a very happy spring, at the very least. Personally, I love spring and spring deco in and out of game. I love rabbits so obviously Easter is fun to me.. So I figured I'd share a few in game deco ideas that I've used myself or found by others. This is my idea for Spring/Easter deco this year. Hidden battle chicken eggs in pastel colors instead of the colored eggs from Vorpal Bunnys. A Nesting Bunny (I found this one and its directions online in a search, but no name was listed on the page. If this was yours please let me know so I can credit you!) Items Needed: Dice Eggs Scattered Hay Round Bag Shoes Bonnet East Facing Skullcap South Facing Skullcap Place the hay where you want the bunny to sit. Lock it. Stack the shoes on top of the hay. Lock them. Stack the bag on top of the shoes. Lock it. Stack the bonnet on top of the bag. Lock it. You will now have a squatty looking little pile of non-bunny looking junk. That is correct! Do not sweat it! Stack the dice cup on top of the bonnet. Lock it. We need to put the ears on, but it’s important that the skullcap facing south goes on first. The South facing one is the one the glove is pointing at in the picture below. Lock it. Stack the east facing skullcap on top. Lock it. Using the deco tool, raise the east facing skull cap 1 time. Raise the south facing skullcap 1 time. Raise the dice cup one time. Raise the bonnet one time. Raise the bag one time. Place the eggs in the square that is directly SOUTH of the bunny on the diagonal. (Where the glove is pointing.) Lock them. Using the deco tool, raise the eggs 11 times. I thought I'd share a few of my favorite items for spring deco. Basket Of Herbs from the Spring Decor Token Collection. (I tried to blow up the screenshot a bit so it may appear a bit blurry) Last spring colored versions of this basket were available as Easter Baskets. From those baskets you could receive candy coated rabbits in multiple colors. (You can see a white one in the first screen shot of this post.) Have a favorite spring decorative item? Post a screen shot or description of it!
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Deco Ideas: Rivers, Waterfalls & Waterworks - Part One
Posted on Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 10:23 PM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Rivers, Waterfalls, & Waterworks Part One Almost every house I own or have owned has had some kind of water in the design. They're one of my favorite deco themes especially when combined with a nice garden. This will be a multi post pictorial, So I hope if the previous spring deco ideas haven't awakened your deco senses yet that these will. Watermills By Greymist "Moats" Faa Tribute Seyonne Wells Jupiter Vivi Small Waterfall Ideas Deacon Jones Marina Of The Glen HiJiri Bridges Airmid Taris Gambit Epic If there's no name credit below the picture, I apologize if it's yours. I forgot to save a few of the house names. Please let me know if you know the name and I'll add it. Don't worry if you aren't inspired by any of these, I'm saving the best for last! Part 2 will be posted very soon!
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Would You Take Part In A Deco Contest Without In Game Prizes?
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 6:47 PM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Basically my question is this: Would you be interested in taking part in a deco contest thats main prize is a special title on stratics, a special avatar or icon under your name (Like what the winter deco contest winners got), and your house featured. (Possibly an interview as well) I'd love to run contests more often but realistically prizes need to be able to go to every shard since this board serves all shards. Siege and Mugen don't allow character transfers (Therefore no item transfers.) Yes, there will be contests in the future for actual in game prizes still... This will just allow me to run contests much more often.
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Deco Ideas: Swamps
Posted on Saturday, April 9, 2011, 8:05 PM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Swamp Ideas You might think "Swamp? Why would I build that?" but it's actually an interesting deco challenge to give yourself. Since the peculiar seeds release, we have trees and plants to match the swamp tiles.. Not to mention a swamp theme has one big step up from a water theme, You can walk on swamp tiles! Making the decorating a little less obnoxious since you don't need to go in and out of customization mode to add items over the water. This is my personal little swamp I've been working on Let's see some other ideas Have you caught the spring deco bug yet? If not, We still have rivers and waterfalls to try to wet your appetite to design!
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Fountain Ideas
Posted on Sunday, April 3, 2011, 11:17 PM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Fountain Ideas Personally I absolutely love the new fountain/water pieces that came with Stygian Abyss.. So this pictorial is inspired by those. By Edward Striker By Sunshine By Help By Merci By Luise Lawrencium By Verriz By Karl VanDeGraff By MrCrowley By Athena Do you have a fountain idea completely unlike these? Post it here and show it off! Rivers, Waterfalls, & Swamps still to come this month!!
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Deco Ideas: Plants, Flowers, & More
Posted on Saturday, April 2, 2011, 2:10 AM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Floral Displays Outdoor Plants Sunflower Items needed: Two Cotton One Shadow Iron Plate One Elephant Ear Plant (Normal Dye Tub To Dye Cotton Yellow) Spring Pastel Flowers Items Needed: One or Two Cotton per plant One Elephant Ear Plant (Normal Dye Tub To Color Cotton) Lilies Items Needed: One Lily One Water Plant Multi Color Lilies Items Needed: Two Lilies Of Different Colors You'll raise one of the lilies up twice so the other peeks out from behind it. Items Needed: One Water Plant Three Onion (Two together,One seperate) Three Colored Eggs - Can be Obtained From Vaporal Bunnies (Two together, One Seperate) Flowering Water Plant Items Needed: Water Plant Two or Three Colored Eggs Cactus This design includes a very large amount of small pieces and will be very difficult to recreate. It's also one of the most original plants I've seen in game. This design is by Orb of Hokuto Items Needed: Sheaf of Hay Rope Water Plant Sextant Partsx2 (one turned?) Spine (bone) x2 3 Single Balls Of Yarn - Green 1 Single Ball Of Yarn - Yellow 3 Double Balls Of Yarn - Green 1 Double Balls Of Yarn- Yellow Large Daisy As Seen On Castles&Courtyards Items Needed: Elephant Ear Plant Water Plant 3 Clock Parts - Can Be Bought At The Tinker Honeydew Melon Flowers With Planters Items Needed: Snowdrop Artifact Basket Items Needed: Empty Tub Water Plant Colored Bulrush Items Needed: Water Trough Any plant you wish to place with it - Square plants work best. You can always place a different shape plant on top of that. Planter Ideas Empty Tub Found in stables - Use a water pitcher to be able to take it Open Barrel Found in stables - Use a water pitcher to be able to take it Basket Stealable Item Artifact Baskets Various artifact baskets can be stolen from The Mines in Tokuno Small Forge Round plants look best with this 13th Anniversary Gifts Large Vase Can be made with any ore color Small Vases are also craftable Urns & Vases can be found in different colors Most are stolen from dungeons by thieves Cauldron Brazier Looks best with round plants or multi layered plants. Stygian Abyss Stealables Plants With Vases As Seen On Castles&Courtyards Items Needed: Urn or Vase One Snowdrop At least 8 Nightshade Items Needed: You can really just use your favorite plant combinations for this.. But in the screen shot you see.. Orfluer Foxglove Multiple Flax Items Needed: Small Vase of your choice Two Nightshade or One Waterplant Yarn - Dyed to your color choice The vase is sitting on a dyed barrel top Misc Vase Ideas Items Used Include: Waterplants Eggs Grapes Fried Eggs Onions Garlic Dyed Yarn Nightshade Misc Ideas Vet Reward Cart Filled W/ Flowers Option One Needed: Two South Spinning Wheels Three Yew Tables Two gnarled staffs (Use a third staff if using a horse - on eastern side at next to horse) Option Two: Two South Spinning Wheels Two quarter staff (Three if using horse) Two small stone tables (bronze looks best in my opinion) 'Cart' deco ideas Personally, my favorite two ways I've seen carts decorated are with various sized crates OR Various plants like in the screenshot above. More Spring Ideas To Come! Thank you to everyone who's helped me with this and those who's ideas I've screenshot for this post.
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Deco Ideas: Spring Ponds
Posted on Friday, March 25, 2011, 2:03 PM EDT by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Spring Ponds With the spring equinox just days behind us I thought we could all use a look forward to the warmer weather. (Especially if, like me, you just got more snow) Over the next month I'll be posting rivers, waterfall, ponds, wells, and swamp ideas, I thought I'd start with ponds. Even if you have limited space, a pond is almost always possible.. Including using the new carpet tiles to create a pond so you can always remove it to redecorate without going into customization. Examples of ponds using carpet tiles By Mariredbear By AmberMoonshade The carpet tiles allow you to choose the color of your water, so if you'd like a more tropical coloring like AmberMoonshade's carpet tiles are the way to go. -The new carpet tiles require you to have the High Seas upgrade and to do a simple quest that starts at the tailors in the Royal City- Small Ponds By Arya By FalonoFelder By Mako Illusion Ponds If your lucky enough to have one of the homes on the road of Makoto, You're handed a very simple way to do an illusion. By Kenpachi By Ryo Larger Ponds (With More Decoration Involved) By Crystal Canyon By Tommygirl By APirate By HunterMoon Tips Can't figure out how to place an item on the water of your pond? Place it before placing the water tile. Raise it up, It will stay in that spot through customization as long as it's raised multiple times. After placing the water tile you can then lower it back down. Teleport tiles also help. If you want to decorate the center of your pond, place a teleport tile so you can come & go. You can later delete the tile or place an item over it to cover it so you can use it again later. Waterfall Wall Pieces: In the final screenshot of HunterMoons home she uses the waterfall pieces to connect the first and second floor without interrupting the water. These can be a great tool. They can attach one level to another, and you can also walk through them.
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Deco Ideas - Caves
Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 3:06 PM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Deco Ideas: Caves & Caverns A guide to the decorative aspect of caves. If you're looking to create a cave or cave entrance without a lot of customization involved or for ideas on how to decorative your cave once you've customized it, this is for you. Hunter Moon's Want to make a hole/tunnel in the ground? Here's a few tips on how to make one that looks like Hunter Moon's. Using gozas or cloth obviously it will come out square, You can soften and round the edges with rocks. You'll need a house decorating tool and an axe. To stack the rocks easily so you can raise them to your desired location place a trash barrel in the spot you'd like the rocks. You can place the barrel by saying 'I wish to place a trash barrel' Use the axe to chop the barrel once you put the rocks inside. If you're nervous that you may lose connection and the rocks will be deleted, you can use a wooden container and chop that with the axe instead. Remember that chopping that container will destroy it, so don't use one you aren't willing to lose. Another example of a solen hive style hole: Vlad of Atlantic Vlad also has a very unique idea, You can actually enter this hole. He's placed stairs beneath a part of it to enter his cave beneath. Vlad's Cave These are both great examples of mining caves. Here are some of the items featured in these caves and where they originate from. Ore or Gem Cart (10th Year Veteran Reward) Gems: Small (Bought from NPC jewelers) Large (Mined By Players) Full List Of Mined, Lumberjacked, Fishing Gems Crystal Shards (Lumberjacking) Crystal Granules (Made from shimmering crystals) Crystalline Fragments (Prism of Light) Shimmering Crystals - Come In Multiple Color Schemes (Shimmering Effusion Peerless at Prism of Light) Power Crystals (Loot on Golems, Controllers, and Betrayers) Hovering Wisp (Created by Alchemists) Treasure Items Gold Coins Faction Silver Scales (Tinkered or obtained from Cavern of the Discarded) Treasure Chest Jewelry Gold Bricks - Can be stained with natural dyes (Minor Artifact - Level 6 T-Maps, Paragon Monsters, Fabled Nets) Copper Ingots (Rare SOS drop) Inspected Ignots (Quest in Ter Mur Royal City -Thepem or Zosilem ) Priceless Treasure (Abyss Stealable) Misc Mushrooms - Red (Heartwood) Purple (Solen Hive/Solens) Chaga/Black (Tomb of Kings) Corruption (Peerless Ingredient) Rocks There's a huge variety of rocks that can be used to help decorate your cave or cave entrance. Granite (Mined) Plain or to add some depth Dull Copper or Bronze. Rock (Doom Artifact, Stealable) Rocks/Small Rock (Stolen) Rubble Rocks (Magnicia Event) They come in a wide variety of colors including whites, greys and browns. Stalagmites & Flowstones (Obtained from the puzzle quests in The Underworld) Tazar's Cave Evil Cave/Animal Home Various bone or internal organ pieces (Zombies drop them often) Bone Containers (Ant Lions) Statuettes (Various Veteran Reward Statuettes like Dragons) Stuffy Dragons (Valentines Gifts) Doom Stealables Dark Caves Various Essence (Stygian Abyss Mini Champs) Skeletor If you have the extra gold to burn the Primeval Lich Champion spawn in the Abyss has some good cave items. Items include grave dirt, brambles and various black colored boulders and rocks. Cave Entrances (Upright) - TommyGirl Using stones and black dyed cloth or curtains you can make a standing cave entrance against a wall. A good space saver if you have a smaller home or don't want to invest a whole floor. (Curtains come from heritage tokens) Ice Caves Faeryl Snow piles were Holiday gifts from 2009. Snow Tree is available from uogamecodes. If you have vendors and cannot or don't want to put down snow tiles in customization.. Gozas made with white bod reward cloth, or the new carpet pieces dyed with white natural dyes will also work. When dying the carpet pieces be away one charge can dye one stack as large as your pack is able to hold.. They do not need to be dyed seperately. You can also use white dye to dye most furniture or decorative items. Remember furniture needs to be made with any wood oak or higher, and cannot have been placed in your home previous to dying it if it is a deeded item. I hope this has been helpful, I've really enjoyed making it. If you have any suggestions to help your fellow deco hounds make their ideal cave, please add them below! If anyone has any requests for future room/floor themes, respond or pm me. Thanks!
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Temple Of The Eastern Sky
Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2011, 1:23 PM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Temple Of The Eastern Sky The Blue Crane Historical Society Tea House And Shop Located on The Atlantic Shard. Makoto-Jima This home is owned by Hunter Moon. The various elements of it were once incorporated in two separate houses that were across the road from each other. She's now put the best elements of both into one home. I love all the little details in her home like the masonry tool next to the statue. This may not have been the first cave someones made in game, but it was the first I'd ever seen years ago. I've always thought it was amazing.
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Winter Deco Contest Winners!
Posted on Friday, February 11, 2011, 12:12 PM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
2011 Winter Deco Contest Winners!! Thank you to all who entered! The judges really enjoyed all of the homes. All of the houses that entered will soon be up on the Homes & Castles sidebar. Custom Player Homes: First Place Faeryl Atlantic Second Place Queen Aglaranna Oceania Third Place Septr Lake Superior Public/Classic Homes: First Place Nyx Chesapeake Second Place LadyMichelle Great Lakes Third Place Azurka Europa Winners please contact me with your prize choice via PM.
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Towns - Tanelorn of Atlantic
Posted on Thursday, January 20, 2011, 11:20 PM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Tanelorn A Pictorial Tour Located on the Atlantic Shard Tanelorn is a town that's slowly grown around Poet's Garden over the past 7 years. Poet's Garden has been a RP staple of Atlantic since 2003, Including taking part in ARPC tavern nights as well as hosting various other roleplay events. Poet's Garden Bed & Breakfast General Store & Cafe Docks & Pier Temple The Precinct Tanelorn has recently applied for a town banner from the EM town recognition program. I wish them the best of luck in receiving it quickly. Next month I'll have a special town pictorial for Kingdom of Dawn's [Baja] anniversary.
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Deco Ideas: Shrines
Posted on Monday, January 17, 2011, 9:45 PM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Shrines Various Shrine and Chapel Ideas When they added the ankh and ankh of sacrifice to the game as veteran rewards it opened up a whole new theme for housing that I personally love. Can't decide what to do with your ankh? Here are some different ideas including ones without ankhs. By HeartsDesire By Drunken Monk By William By CrimsonMoon By Popo By Tommy Girl By NormannBates At Dragonstorm Manor on Atlantic The shrine at my rune library Have a shrine, chapel or another way you use your ankh? Post yours here!
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2011 Winter Deco Contest!!
Posted on Sunday, January 2, 2011, 1:05 PM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Stratics Homes & Castles Presents 2011 Winter Deco Contest! This will be a month long house deco contest. Pull out your best snow and winter themed ideas! This contest will be judged first and foremost on originality and creativity!! Spending all your gold will not guarantee a win for you. Be Creative!! Throughout December we posted various snow, winter, and holiday deco ideas… Now it’s your turn to use them and show us your own ideas. There will be two categories to this contest. Player Homes: Customizable housing. This category is for all players that have and are able to customize their house easily. Public Locations & Classic Housing: All homes that either physically can’t be remodeled or can’t realistically be remodeled because of vendors or other public building uses. Unless you fall under any of the following please enter the contest under the player homes category. *Classic Housing – Non customizable. *Rune Library *Vendor houses *Museums *Other buildings constantly used by the public. If you’re not sure if you fit into this category PM me. There will be five judges from various shards. The judges will each nominate two houses to enter the final round of voting in each category. From there the judges will rate their first, second and third choices in each category. First place will earn 5 points. Second place will earn 3 points. Third place will earn 2 points. The winners will be selected by which home has the most points. Prizes: Both categories will have a first, second, and third place. First Prize - Choice of one of the following.. *House Tele Tiles *Workman's Bench *Haochi’s Pigments - 3 *Ancestral Gravestone *11th Year Bookcase *11th Year Fallen Log *11th Year Lampost *11th Year Maple Tree *11th Year Willow Tree *11th Year Snow Tree *11th Year Hitching Post Second Prize - Choice of one of the following.. *Workman's Bench *Haochi’s Pigments - 2 *Ancestral Gravestone *11th Year Bookcase *11th Year Fallen Log *11th Year Lampost *11th Year Maple Tree *11th Year Willow Tree *11th Year Snow Tree Third Prize - Choice of one of the following.. *11th Year Bookcase *11th Year Fallen Log *11th Year Lampost *11th Year Maple Tree *11th Year Willow Tree *11th Year Snow Tree *Haochi's Pigments – 1 All players that enter the contest will get a special title under their avatar as an honorable mention. All homes entered will also be placed as the first update on the Homes & Castles side bar. Rules: One entry per person. Sorry, No multiple house entries. [If the interest is great enough the next contest we do will have a category just for multiple house entries, so please pm me personally so I can keep track of the interest.] Your house must be public, Each judge may choose to visit your home separately. Players will be asked to submit their shard, facet and coords to a sticky that will be placed in the coming days. As well as which category they’re entering. If you’re able to screenshot your home, we ask that you please submit those in the same post. If you’re unable to do panoramic screenshots please contact me and I’ll help. Providing a rune would also be extremely helpful to the judges since we don’t all play every shard. Your entry must be submitted by January 31st! [Midnight PST] Screenshot Tips: I’ve found that using Greenshot to take the individual screenshots and then using Windows Live Photo Gallery to create the panoramic picture itself is very simple.. Both programs are also free! Positive feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome.
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EM Holiday Bank Decorations
Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 11:45 AM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
EM Holiday Bank Decorations I thought I'd share a few screen shots of the Event Mods Holiday Deco. Chesapeake EM Dudley Drachenfels EM Ealia Tiefwasser Origin EM FaineMorgan EM Infinity Baja EM Crysania EM Seppo Atlantic EM Bennu EM Spriggan Legends EM Helios EM Ikaris Pacific EM Kaz EM Cyno Razik Today being the solstice, I wish you all a very Merry Yule.
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Christmas And Winter Deco Ideas: Trees & Plants
Posted on Friday, December 17, 2010, 9:11 PM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Christmas and Winter Deco Ideas Trees This is actually an EM decorated tree on Drachenfels but most of it is pretty doable if you have enough space. Basic Christmas tree with the new angel gift on top. Another basic tree with presents and fireplace w/ stockings. Picture was taken at Hellfights on Great Lakes. Modern tree with a lovely decorated sitting room. Picture was taken at Marinas on Lake Superior. Very large tree made up with multiple christmas trees. Picture was taken at Nathan Windfalls on Lake Superior. Very large tree made w/ roof tiles. Picture was taken at Tiger Lilys on Chessie. Also taken at Marinas house on Lake Superior. Picture was taken at False Prophets house on Origin. Petra decorating her tree on Siege. Plant Combinations Red and Green Lillies Just raise one a tile or two above the other and both colors will show through. I prefer the green on top personally. Bulrushes with Poinsettas sitting on red fishing nets. Picture was taken at DarkHelmets on Lake Superior. Picture was taken at Lavas on Great Lakes. Picture was taken at ImaGoob on Great Lakes. Lillies with Rushes. Picture was taken at Marinas on Lake Superior. I also really love the dark green and dark red pampas grasses for seasonal deco. They very easily go under fences and harder to place areas. Bulrushes do as well. Mistletoe Picture was taken at Miths on Siege. There will be at least two more posts before christmas next weekend. Misc screen shots of player decorations & EM Luna bank decorations Have a great holiday or winter themed house? PM me your coords for the next post.
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Christmas And Winter Deco Ideas: Snow
Posted on Thursday, December 16, 2010, 1:14 PM EST by Lady Kero (HomesandCastles)
Christmas and Winter Deco Ideas I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far. Here's a few deco ideas and screenshots to help those that, like me, have yet to finish their deco. Snow Ideas: If you can't customize your house because of vendors or you just really don't want to deal with things going into your moving crate just to change the floor tiles.. Here's a few ideas: White Poppies - As seen at Red and Purple Mini Mall on Atlantic. Stygian Abyss Carpets dyed with the new white stains. It doesn't turn quite as bright as the poppies, white gozas, or even the snow tiles themselves but are the quickest/cheapest alternative. It only takes one use of stain to dye as many carpet pieces as you can hold in your backpack. White gozas from the reward cloth are also an option if you happen to have a lot sitting around or are willing to do many, many single bods. [For those interested the BODs that have a chance for white cloth are: 20 normal barbed - 20 exp spined - 10/15/20 exp horned - 10/15 exp barbed] Falling Snow Acesh on Great Lakes uses the old holiday gift snow flakes. If you don't have them or don't want to use them, you can easily use diamonds [not the blue diamonds] or Egg/Smoke bombs as falling snow. Snow Piles/Snow Drift Two cotton raised against a tree, or raised into a corner make a nice snow drift effect. Although it definitely looks better when used on the snow tiles as opposed to on the carpets in this screenshot. Snowmen The christmas gift snowmen from years ago. The scarf can be dyed using a normal dye tub. If you don't have one of them you can use Siobhan of Legends snowman idea. You'll need: One Large Vase Two Small Vases A Bandage - Dyed whatever color you'd like your snowmans scarf A Carrot A Straw Hat - Can also be dyed whatever color you'd like Melted Snowman You'll need: One snow pile A Small Piece Of Blackrock A Carrot Straw Hat I know the pictures are small, So I've stretched one a bit. And finally for those that really love their snowman we have Tiger Lily of Chessies snowman. The next holiday deco post will include Christmas trees and various plant ideas.
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