I’ll be honest, these days when I’m at an event I’m not usually playing the actual game of Amtgard. Weather permitting, I’m usually working on content, volunteering to help at the event or just there to vibe, meet people and hangout with friends. The Northern Lights Coronation Campout was no exception.
A lot of this blog will be about working on content personal encounters, but I would like to talk about the event itself too, which I did have fun at. If you’re just curious about my thoughts of the event the next section is the one your looking for, if you’re interested in my experiences of the event and what content I recorded, I’d love to have you read the whole blog!
The Event
First of all, this event was huge. The final count was 357 people and there were over 200 prepays, which is a lot for the Pacific Northwest Amtgard. If I’m not mistaken this is one of the most well attended events that have happened in Northern Lights. To get that many people hyped and willing to go out to an early spring event is pretty impressive for the PNW Amtgard scene.
I’d also like to thank Hated and Galuria for running the event. From how Galuria talked, and what I saw they did a good job complimenting each other. They both have different strengths and weakness and they worked well together. Not to mention they only had three months to plan the event and this was their first times running an event they did great!
The event had a little bit of something for everyone; battle games, a quest/bounty board, tournaments, both for foam fighting and arts and sciences and that’s just the game stuff. They also had downtime activates such as boardgames, a Magic: The Card Game tournament, a sip and paint, karaoke and a merchants row. I’m probably missing a few things too!
I’ve taken so long to put out his blog I’ve already had a live stream with Gally, Lenalin, Oso and Runebeard talking about the aftermath of NLCC. You can find that recording of that live stream HERE if you’d like to listen.
My Experience
My personal experience was mixed but it had nothing to do with the event itself. I try to keep my blogs positive, but part of the Baelnorn experience is also talking about my troubles with things like depression and anxiety, which is, sadly, a big factor in my life.
I did have a good time, I enjoyed everyone having such a good time and it was nice seeing old friends, but I also felt rather disconnected most of the event. It was no one’s fault, I just felt separated from everyone, which was at odds by all the people who were excited to meet me.
I met several new people this event, I had people I’d never met coming up and thanking me for all the content I make. I got more notice for my content than I’m used to getting, it was wonderful. Working in my room (or sometimes the coffee shop, like I am right now) for most of my content really isolates me. I’m not such a big content creator that I get a lot of online feedback, I get almost none, so it’s hard to see my impact week from week.
This event I felt my impact like never before and it was a wonderful experience that I’m still processing. Even thought it’s been happening for the past few events, I’m still not used to strangers coming up and wanting to meet me and think me for my content. It’s wild. I’m still not sure how I should handle it so I just smile and thank them for watching my content, mentioning that I really appreciate it.
This experience was a stark contrast to hanging out with my friends at the event. I felt disconnected from them, it was pretty disappointing. It’s no one’s fault, it was a busy event and people were going every which way and I was busy as well. There were a lot of people there so it’s understandable that people would have to split there time up with all there friends, especially when they only get to see many of them a few times of the year.
That feeling, mixed with feeling overstimulated by the crowds, led me to leave the event early on Saturday night. I didn’t stay for court, which I do regret a little. It sounds like there was a heartfelt speech by Miller for Hardplace’s knighting that I would have liked to have caught on video. Still I wasn’t in a good place, so it was probably better that I had headed out.
The Content
I had eight people apply to do an interview for LARP Chats, I scheduled six and I ended up recording a total of three interviews. The weather did not play nice, but luckily I had talked with Galuria before the event and got it cleared that we could use the stage area to record videos in case it was raining, which turned out to be a good idea.
I’m extremely happy that i was able to record so many episodes in one weekend but it wasn’t all great news. My nice wireless lapel mic system broke. The receiver module wouldn’t turn on. I was worried I wasn’t going to get any recordings, but I went ahead and tried using my shotgun mic. I worried it would pick up to much of the background noise in the hall and it wouldn’t pick up our voices nearly as well as the lapel mics would have.
I haven’ had the chance to plug them into the computer yet but from what I heard on my phone I’m pretty happy with how they turned out and I won’t have any problems editing them in the coming weeks.
On top of the interviews, I also got one fighting video, despite all the rain. I’ve actually already released it. It was Matrix vs Opi, you can watch it HERE if you haven’t already seen it. Hell, even if you have seen it, why not watch it again, lol?
Additionally, I was able to record Oromis’s knighting. I felt bad that his first knighting video didn’t turn out well enough that I could put it on the channel. Luckily this one turned out and will be live on Monday, April 8th. I also managed to catch Guin receiving her Master Rose, which you can see HERE.
All in all I’m happy for the content I got. I got five weeks worth of content, which is more than I usually get. It would have been nice to have gotten all eight of the interviews recording, that would have been the whole season recorded at one event. Wild! But getting three done is more than I’ve gotten at one event and I’m happy with what I got.
What’s Next
In only a few days I’ll be heading out to Sword Knight Boot Camp. I’m looking forward to getting more classes to put up on my YouTube Channel. The ones I have are the most watched content on my channel (here is the playlist). I imagine the ones I capture this time will do just as well. I just hope my equipment cooperates. I’m always worried there will be random static, which does happen. I have new cables, so it shouldn’t happen, but you never know.
I plan on capturing two classes and hopefully one lecture. The classes I hope to get are Short Sword and Combat Computer with Dalos. I’m not sure about which lecture I’ll try to record. We’ll see when I get there in a few days!
Keep a look at the community section of my YouTube Channel this weekend, I hope to be making a few, at event, posts.
You can see my Tier 2 (Rock Gnomes) and 3 (Tinker Gnomes) supporters on my Patreon Supporters page as well as find out how to become a Patron yourself.