Amtgard, Twitch and Writing

There hasn’t been much Amtgard related content these past two weeks. The notable exceptions are One Grind nation and Sword Knight Boot Camp. Both Facebook pages have had streams. Neither of which I have actively watched.

SKBC and OGN

SKBC did a two part series on short sword, both which are something I’d like to go back and watch when I feel motivated. The first one was Single Sword Part 1: Brett & Raven and the second one was Brett & Raven Single Sword Pt 2. I’m a short sword fighting advocate so it’s nice to see videos about the short sword. I’d like to see what new information I can learn from these videos. Even if it’s just a refresher course it’s worth my time.

Dalos of ONG did a video entitled On the Grind: Building a Game. I don’t know specifically what that is but he always produces good content. I also plan on going back and watching this video as I’m assuming it has to do with your mental game, which is something I’d like to know more about. Of course I could be completely wrong, either way I’ll be watching it.

My guess that we would see an uptick in online Amtgard seems to have not come to pass. Maybe it will but I think this is probably the level of online videos that we’ll get; a limited few each week. I know I’m only producing one video each month, Beers With Baelnorn.

Beers With Baelnorn

I’ll be doing my monthly stream Beers With Baelnorn on June 4th at 7pm PST on my Twitch Channel, which you can find HERE. The topic is Enhancing Amtgard. How do you enhance Amtgard outside of the games? That’s the question we’ll be exploring. I’d like to thank Kormac for the idea.

There will be two main focuses. One being what you can do in office to help the game along. The second will be what you can do outside of office to help enhance the game. I’m fairly certain there will be some talk about awards during this talk but awards are not the main focus.

Streaming with Synth Dad

I’ve started to go beyond writing and LARP. I’m now introducing Twitch Streaming to my repertoire. I even spent money on a fancy webcam and mic so I can be somewhat professional.

Synth Dad is the personification of my new streaming brand, it’s even infected my Patreon. It’s influenced the name of the awards tiers. The idea behind Synth Dad is he’s a 80-90s sitcom dad but without the family. He’s there for everyone, he has beers and grills with the besties. He’s the uncle to all his friend’s kids. He’s the go to for advice and a good time. He’s equally at home helping out a friend as well as throwing a fun party. Also, Synth Dad LARPs, the tie in to the Baelnorn Brand.

It’s still in its early infancy. I’ve been streaming for two weeks now. My schedule is Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11am till around noon, PST. Although I’ve had some trouble staying to that schedule. As time goes on I’ll get better adhering to it. The game of choice right now is Terraria. With the new patch 1.4 Journey’s End I’ve found it fitting. Plus I enjoy the game. I’m playing a casual game in Journey Mode on a server I host. If you’re interested in joining me you can find my channel HERE.

I’ve also been uploading my streams to YouTube if you’re interested in watching them. Eventually I’ll get into doing highlight videos but I might have to wait till I upgrade my computer. The program I’ve been using for editing freezes when I skim through a video over an hour. I might just need to switch programs. We’ll see.

Writing

The lat few weeks I’ve continued my writing as well. Specifically the Philip Clowes story. That’s the story I’ve been posting on my Patreon, which you can read HERE. There are currently five parts, although there will soon be six parts as it’s almost June.

At the start of the pandemic my normal writing schedule had been disrupted. I’ve found it really hard to be creative but in the last several weeks that has changed. I’ve been able to write more and stay a head of my posting schedule. It’s been pretty exciting.

Sadly my blog, as you might have noticed, has taken a hit. For the last four weeks I’ve only written 2 blogs, rather than keep to my normal weekly schedule. This is party due to the lack of content to write about but mostly it’s due to my home life. I’ve found it hard to sit down and write my blogs the last few weeks. Especially with me starting to stream. I hope that this will even out and I’ll find a good balance.

My Patreon

As I mentioned early my Patreon has gone through something of a revision. I changed it a bit to be in line with my Synth Dad brand. I’m now calling my Patrons, Synthlings. Tier One is now called Kid, Tier Two is now called Cousin and Tier Three is now called Bestie.

The goal was to make these levels gender neutral, otherwise Bestie would have been called Boys. This was because of such catch phrases as “Beers with the boys.” and “Grillin’ with the Boys” but I wanted to be more inclusive. I think it still works with Bestie.

The names were inspired by the persona. Kids is indicative of the children of my friends. Cousin is indicating a closer relationship and Bestie is an even closer relationship. This is supposed to invoke a family vibe. We, my brand manager, Uriel, and I have plans to expand upon the Synth Brand in the coming months and years.

I’ve also revamped the rewards for each tier. Kid has stayed the same but if you become a Patron at the Cousin or Bestie level you get access to my private Discord Server. At the Bestie level you also get access to my private Terraria Server. I really hope that my community grows and people are willing to join me on my discord server.

Right now I have 8 Patrons and I’m making about $35 a month. I hope that expands over the coming months. I’m more excited to see the community grow, than an increase in money, although those go hand in hand.

If you like my content consider becoming a Patron on Patreon. You can see my Tier 2 (Cousins) and 3 (Besties) supporters on my Patreon Supporters page as well as find out how to become a Patron yourself.