New guy here

[Pellinore]

Hey, just wanted to introduce myself. Getting back into Lego for the first time since being a kid. I recently got all my old lego from my parents house, sparking my interest again. I'm glad I found this community, seems awesome so far.

Quick question while I'm posting - what's the best way to get a lot of castle appropriate bricks (greys, browns, etc)? I didn't focus on any themes when I was a kid (mostly Pirates actually, but no castle), so I have a ton of parts that are almost useless for castle building.

Anyway, thanks, and I look forward to getting to know some of you.

Pellinore

[Aliencat]

Hello Pellinore!

Welcome to Classic-Castle, where I put the ego in Lego

[Bruce N H]

Hey Peillinore,

Welcome to CC! I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay.

On your question, there are many solutions. Of course you can buy sets, especially look for sales and deals. You can get individual bricks a few ways:
1. Through lego.com - Once you're there, click 'shop', then 'by category', then 'individual bricks & building accessories', then 'pick-a-brick'. You can go through and get exactly what you want (albeit from a limited selection).
2. At an official LEGO store, they have the 'pick-a-brick wall'. They look like this. The selection varies over time, but you pay for a plastic cup which you can pack with whatever fits.
3. Bricklink. This is a person-to-person community sales site. Individual people have virtual stores where they sell parts. You can really find any LEGO element ever produced. I should point out that various members of this forum have stores, and we are sponsored by Troy's Surplus LEGO.
4. Be sure to check out our buy/sell/trade forum. You can post wish lists and what you have, and people may set up trades or purchases with you. The forum doesn't endorse or guarantee individual deals, but there is a thread at the top of the forum that gives feedback for everyone who trades via the forum.

-edit- Okay, I'm an idiot. I could have just pointed you to this question in the FAQ, which says pretty much what I just re-typed.

One other note. Not to beat a dead horse here, but you'll find that both the grays and brown have changed shades since you were a kid, so bricks that you buy new won't match the ones you have from before. You can get both old and new shades via Bricklink. There were huge debates in community forums like this about the merits of this change, which I won't go into here, but I wanted you to be aware of that.

Bruce

[Forestboy]

Hello, and welcome to Classic-castle Pellinore! I hope you stick around!

[Napoleon]

Greetings! Congrats on getting back into LEGO!

There are a few "warnings" I should give you:

1 Don't start threads about the grey/brown color change the old Knights Kingdom theme just to condemn them.

2 Don't talk about "clone brands" without having a good reason. Clone brands are LEGO look-a-likes that unanimously hated the AFOL community. If you use 'em,(like I occasionaly do) don't bring up the fact, or you will regret it. You'll get comments just like this:

DUDE! Whatre u duen usin MEGABLOKS?!

Now you don't want that, right?

3 Beware of the moderators! They have eyes everywhere!

Now, in all seriousness, have tons of fun here as I and all our members do!

[Robin Hood]

There are a few "warnings" I should give you:

-snip-

One such warning would be to perhaps ease off on warning others about things when you're still rather new yourself. That's what we have moderators for in anycase.

Welcome Pellinore. Welcome to our humble abode. Do enjoy all that this site has to offer you.

Dan

[Pellinore]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

[annie2200]

Hi Pellinore,
This is my first time back this year, and boy have I missed it! You will love the community and the Lego creations!!
Cheers
Annie

[Napoleon]

There are a few "warnings" I should give you:

-snip-

One such warning would be to perhaps ease off on warning others about things when you're still rather new yourself. That's what we have moderators for in anycase.

Welcome Pellinore. Welcome to our humble abode. Do enjoy all that this site has to offer you.

Dan

I know what you mean, but I was actually jus kiddin' around. The warnings were jokes, and not to be taken seriously. Sorry if they were! Welcome, Pellinore! Have fun!

[Handar]

Welcome and well met. I hope you'll enjoy your time here thoroughly.

Bruce has already answered your question thoroughly, but I have one suggestion to add. Don't write off any piece as 'almost useless for castle building.' While some may be more widely useful than others, I'm always amazed at the new and inventive uses that people are able to come up with for pieces I would have otherwise written off as useless. This has convinced me that if one builds long enough every piece can be used, and used well, when castle building. I hope to have the chance to put this theory into practice. I hope you'll have the time to do so too, if that's what you choose to do.