Jul 05 2019

Website is Now Live!

Loyal followers will probably already have noticed that this isn’t actually the first post on my blog’s website. This was mainly due to my excitement. The web page was basically done when I wrote my weekly blog and I didn’t want to wait to use the site. However this is the official welcome to my website post. So welcome to my site!

Moving to a website will help me reach a larger audience by allowing the content to be easily scanned by search engines. I will have more organic visitors. It also allows me access to site analytics so I can tell how many people are coming to my website, which content they are reading and how long they are being engaged.

The second thing that a site will allow me to do is to offer better content. The most obvious new content you’ll find on my website is the resource page. I have a good start on it but I hope to expand it. I might be a bit picky but you would be surprised how hard it is to find quality and current content for Amtgard, Arts and Sciences and Foam Fighting. Take a look at what I have so far HERE. I’m looking for web pages and YouTube videos and channels. If you have any suggestions let me know, I’d be happy to evaluate them.

The other sections are not really new content. I have uploaded my articles from Facebook. They are now easier to find than they were on the Facebook page, which is a plus. I also have added a galley to my web page but I will continue to upload to my Facebook page as well so I can tag people.

I also want to be upfront about ads, I will be introducing non-intrusive ads to the web page once my Google Adsense account is approved for the site. I don’t want them to get in the way of the content. There will be no inline adds or adds between paragraphs. They will be at the end of the posts. I hope I don’t lose viewers over this decision but I wanted to give people the option of monetarily supporting my content without having to give up their own money.

So that’s my introduction! Take a look at the site and let me know what you think. The one thing that will change is a header image, but that will come later. As a side note I’m also looking for new article suggestions. Leave me a suggestion if you have one.

Jul 03 2019

Silvermoon Summer Mid-Reign 2019

Welcome to the first blog post on my web page. I consider this to be a soft-premier. I still need a good header but other than that the web page is ready to go. I will make an official announcement with a dedicated web page post in the next few days. 

This last Saturday found me at my home park, Silvermoon (Salem, OR). It was our park’s Mid-reign and Ceian was running a weapon master tournament.  I arrived a little late, around 12:45. When I arrived an encounter was just ending. An encounter is a quest lite scenario that starts at noon to encourage people to show up on time. They have mostly if not all ways been run my Torg. It is a pretty good tool to get people to show up on time. 

After the encounter they ditched. Sadly i was unable to join them. Despite feeling well enough to go to Amtgard I was having serious stomach and intestine issues. One good hit to my mid section and I’m not sure what would happen but I know it wouldn’t have been good.  It was a shame, it was a pretty big ditch, but chaotic. There were a lot of new people which really makes it unpredictable, but it looked like everyone was having a lot of fun. It ended as a game was called. 

It’s hard to know when to end a good ditch, you don’t want it to get so boring that people are discouraged, but you also don’t want to end it while everyone is having fun. A good ditch has been a rare thing at our park. I think in this case they may have ended the ditch too early but I wasn’t playing so I don’t have to much of an opinion. 

During the battle game I talked with Kai and Minerva who convinced me to participate in the Selfie Contest being put on by our Duke, Ceian. He is encouraging people to post selfies on the MeetUp app to get us more exposure. The winner gets a belt favor. So far the front runners are Chameleon, Minerva and Kai. They have uploaded hundreds of pictures. I have no hope of winning, but beating them isn’t my goal, my goal is to beat Critias. At last count he only had 8. I issued the challenge publicly and he has responded. It’s on!

After the battle game was the tournament. I did participate, but by reeving rather than fighting. The tournament went very smoothly thanks to Ceian planning it out. By the end I was feeling pretty dizzy though, I really needed to sit down. The overall winner was Critias, the second place winner was Hyde and in third place was Odin. 

After the tournament was court. Fifty awards were handed out, a lot of lower level awards The highest awards that went out were level 6th. A rose for Blargist for his work at Shattered Kingdoms, Torg, a Smith for his work on quests and encounters, a rose for Kamerah Ladi for her work at Shattered Kingdoms, a Dragon for Ginga for her art work on a Baron title and then Sploob for his work on the Shield of Balance which was donated to Shattered Kingdoms. 

After court was another battle game and a fairly interesting one. It consisted of three rounds. The goal was to gather cones and place them on a shield. A member of the other team could knock them off. At the end of the round the total cones on the shield were counted as points. It looked fun although this specific instance of the game looked unbalanced and the points seems to have supported this observation. 

Next week I’m not sure where I’ll be. I might be up at Mystic Seas (Portland, OR) or I might be at my local park. Mystic Seas is having their monthly BBQ plus they are doing a chili cook off. I wouldn’t actually be participating in the cook off but it would be fun to taste. At our local park is a Phoenix League match, Arcana vs Black Company, I would kind of like to be there to support Arcana. It really depends on my squire Indra, he said he would go to Portland so if he doesn’t back out I’ll be going to Portland with him. I’ll find out on Friday for sure. 

Jun 23 2019

Masterhood and Knighthood

I’d like to take a few moments to talk about the differences between masterhood and knighthood. The following is just my take on the two awards and their meaning, other people might have differing opinions and that’s alright. The basis for both of these awards is the award ladder system. This system is very much Amtgard, no other LARP that I’m aware of has something like it. Since it is ours we should embrace it. I’d like to highlight some of the nuances that separate the two highest (non-noble) awards in our game and the mindset I think should be taken when thinking about the two awards.
 
The pinnacle of the skill based award system is the Masterhood and for me is a worthy goal in and of itself. When it’s given it is an acknowledgment that a person has mastered one of the paths of Amtgard. It’s a very important milestone in an Amtgard career. What it should not be seen as is a stepping stone to a Knighthood. In fact it’s okay to become a master with no intention of becoming a knight.
 
While it is true that a person needs to have a masterhood to be a knight, it’s not true that every person who has achieved masterhood should be a knight. Knighthood should be viewed as a separate entity than masterhood, which I don’t always think is the case. I, myself, am guilty of this when I was younger. I thought of masterhood as a stepping stone and I robed myself of something great. When I finally achieved masterhood, I didn’t celebrate what it meant and what it meant was that I had achieved mastery in a craft. What I saw it as was a major key to becoming a knight.
 
Masterhood is a wonderful achievement that means a lot, it’s less quantifiable than the 1st through 10th award. Similar to knighthood, masterhood has an ineffable quality to it. A master has gone above and beyond the typical award work and have shown that they have mastered their path; it is an acknowledgment of their skill. It’s the capstone to a long and difficult path.
 
Knighthood is a whole other beast, it is an acknowledgment of a person’s character. Unlike with masterhood there are continued expectations with knighthood. A person is expected to be a teacher. A person is expected to be a good example, a role model. A person is expected to be a leader in their field. A person is expected to continue to serve the club and to make it better by their service. All of those things are not expected of a master.
 
A person who has achieved masterhood doesn’t have any expectations. They could stop doing what earned them their masterhood and nothing will have changed. It will be a shame that they have stopped doing something that made the game better in some way, but as a group we don’t have a requirement that beholds them to continue their work. They also aren’t expected to teach what they have learned. While most people will often still teach what they have learned, there isn’t the same sort of expectation as if they were a knight. They also aren’t expected to be a role model. There are no continued cultural expectations.
 
As we have seen, there are some stark differences between the two. As noted in this essay and in the awards standardization, masterhood is the recognition of skill and knighthood is the recognition of character. That is really the basis for the separation. The recognition of someone’s skill is a celebratory achievement but as I mentioned, doesn’t always get celebrated for the right reasons.
 
I earned my Master Rose and then I was made a Knight of the Flame, but that didn’t mean that the other masterhoods, even in the same belt path, have become meaningless. As of the time of my writing this I’m working on the Smith path. I really want to achieve my Master Smith. Will that mean that I will get a second belt, no, of course not, but it will mean that I’ve mastered yet another path in our game. Unlike the first time when I achieved my Master Rose I will be able to fully experience the joy that is to be acknowledged for achieving a mastery in a path.
 
It’s not that a person shouldn’t strive for Knighthood, if becoming a knight is something a person wants to become, then by all means, strive to become a knight. Just realize that Masterhood and Knighthood are two different things and require different mindsets. The point is that Masterhood is important, it’s a pinnacle of skill and should be recognized as such and not relegated to a stepping stone in an award system.