So Blaugust is over and I managed to get in a meagre 6 posts. Not for want of trying, but as I was on holiday for two weeks of the month, not to mention busy work and gaming schedule, I’ll take 6.
My reading was far better than writing, so a Big Thanks to all the new bloggers for keeping me entertained over the last month, it’s been great to hear some new voices, even if I didn’t have the chance to comment as much as I’d liked.
And a special shoutout to Wilhelm Arcturus, The Ancient Gaming Noob : https://tagn.wordpress.com/ who has done an amazing job with more than one blog, which I checked in on everyday!
Doubtless Belghast will be along to present a roundup of the event soon, but here’s his final Blaugust 2023 post.
Hope to rejoin you again next Blaugust and will try to post more regularly in the meantime.
As often happens, August slipped through my fingers and I didn’t find the time to post as often as I’d like for Blaugust. Week 3 , Creator Appreciation Week, was celebrating other creators so I have a couple of posts on that theme (time permitting ) and this is the first.
I’d like to speak a little about my two favourite authors. I discovered both of these early in their careers and have avidly bought and consumed all of their work (though I have some reserved on my tbr pile)
Sir Terry Pratchett
The first is the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett. Author of the discworld novels, he was at one point the most read author in the UK, every release hitting number one in the book charts and he was very prolific. He sadly passed away at the age of 66, in 2015 from complications related to early onset Alzheimer’s , leaving behind a whopping 41 novels in the discworld series and numerous others, including the very successful Good Omens, co-written with Neil Gaiman, which is finding renewed popularity through the TV series starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen.
I still haven’t brought myself to finished the last few Discworld books and facing the end of the series.
Tim Lebbon
My other favourite author, still very much alive, is Tim Lebbon. Author of over 50 novels at this point, and countless short stories, at which he excels, in my view, Tim is a master of horror. His apocalyptic fiction, like his early novella, White, epic Zom-Poc novel, Coldbrook and The Silence (that was made into a movie on Netflix starring Stanley Tucci) stand alongside the greats of horror like Stephen King and I definitely recommend them all.
Tim has also been commissioned to write a number of tie in novels for Firefly, Star Wars and Alien vs Predator all of which are well worth hunting down.
Previously when discussing my LOTRO activity I’ve posted about all my characters together but now with so many activities in the game and new areas to discover, I want to focus on individual characters.
My newest alt, Jesturial, is a female elven hunter. On playing my main, Jestro, a hobbit hunter, I wondered what I was missing by my racial choice, as Elves do gain a bonus with bows and as I love the hunter so much, having another at the end game is not such a bad thing, for me anyway. A lot of my fellow players with likely disagree given the saturation of DPS in the game and the lack of tanks and healers.
I decided to tackle Jesturial a little differently, first off I wanted to increase the difficulty. LOTRO now has an option to up the ante with Landscape mobs, by setting a higher difficulty. Visiting the Hardened Traveller at a number of locations (The Prancing Pony at Bree being most convenient for me) you can select a quest that will give you a debuff, decreasing your outgoing damage, and increasing incoming damage, along with other enemy effects at tier 3 and above. In addition, there is a %xp gain for killing mobs. I selected Tier 3, possibly the hardest intended for solo play, the higher tiers supposedly intended for group play. A number of titles are available based on class along with earnable epic emotes, perhaps the most attractive reward for me. The LOTRO Wiki has plenty of information on the related titles.
Despite the increased XP, the slower combat has meant levelling is slow-going, which led me to my second decision, applying a Gift of the Valar to boost my level to 120. This leaves me with 20 levels to grind through to reach the level cap, saving a lot of time but as I know the class about as well as I can, I don’t feel too bad. Although it does grant some virtues, I still have a lot of work to do to get Jesturial up to scratch.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve worked up to 131 and have been working through the Minas Morgul content. On level it was pretty tough but is getting easier now I’m out levelling mobs somewhat but it’s still a challenge.
Browsing through a series of prompts for inspiration, I came across one from MagiWasTaken at Indiecator
How did you get the name that you regularly go by online, and what if anything does it mean?
I have been going by the name Knifesedge online pretty much since the internet as we know it began but it started before that, Back when I ran play by mail games in the traditional Snail Mail fashion, my outfit went from being called Craig’s PBMs to Knifesedge PBMs. I don’t exactly know why, or who came up with it but the name stuck. There have been various logos over the years…
At the time, I was a chef and that might have had something to do with it but it has become my online persona ever since. When I moved away from catering and into teaching online, I used the name to identify my brand, and Knifesedge TEFL (teaching English as a Foreign Language) was born, along with the motto “Sharpen up your English”
So now I use the two, Knifesedge Games and Knifesedge TEFL pretty much everywhere online so I guess I’m stuck with it!
As regulars of this blog might know, I run a number of roleplaying games as play-by-post over at a site called Gamersplane.
Of late, I’ve gotten heavily into Call of Cthulhu so that has become my staple and over the last year I have taken to running one-shot games for new players, to introduce them to the joys of 1920’s investigative horror, through the Cult of Chaos Organized Play program, an initiative by game makers Chaosium, to encourage GMs to run games at conventions and online to attract new players to the game. Over the last few months, I have run:
Dead Boarder, a scenario in which the players are tenants in a building where one of their neighbours have been found ritually killed in a locked room and they have to get to the bottom of why.
In The Necropolis, the investigators are in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, venturing into a newly discovered tomb where they uncover something that has long been sleeping.
In What’s in the Cellar?, a team are sent to investigate the cellar of a summer house where a friend of theirs was arrested for killing his wife. However he claims it was a genie that did it and the investigators need to get to the bottom of what happened and find evidence to exonerate him.
In The Darkness Beneath the Hill, a friend of the investigators finds an entrance to tunnels beneath his home and wants assistance checking it out, to find an ancient mystery beneath Providence.
These scenarios all ran smoothly and the players enjoyed them, for the most part (though CoC is not for everyone!) I hope to run more, on behalf of Chaosium’s Cult of Chaos in the coming months.
Lord of the Rings Online has been my MMO of choice for almost 15 years and the biggest draw for me is the community. I’ve tried almost every other MMO on the market but nothing comes close to the sense of a family than with LOTRO players.
Kinships, the LOTRO equivalent of Guilds from other games, are a big part of that, a channel to chat, to ask for or give help, a kinship house for socialising in game etc. a lot of players have a tendency to jump from Kin to Kin but I have always stayed in one place for the most part.
My kin on the original server (I can’t recall the original name) changed its name to Defenders of the Right when there was a change of leadership and not long after that, Windfola server closed and we moved to Landroval. Prior to that, I’d also set up some characters on Landroval which I joined for the Coursera course on Tolkien that involved playing the game with fellow students, so we had our own kinship there, The Courserrim.
During that period I had characters in both kinships but as time went on memberships dwindled and active players dropped to just a couple of active players and most of the time I play, I’m alone.
Now I’ve started to look into other Kinships and found one that I’ve raided with, Hope Remains. They’re not only focused on raiding but welcome characters of all levels, so I’ve joined up with my newest character and have been made to feel very welcome. It’s good to have people to chat with while playing again and though I don’t plan to completely abandon my old kinships, having an active kinship really changes the experience of an MMO.
So with the introduction of Blaugust out of the way, today I want to recap what’s going on in the Knifesedge Garden this summer.
I no longer have the allotment (you might see it in previous year’s Blaugust, but I let it go a few years ago) so now my only growing space is at the end of my garden. Having said that, I’m using as much of the space as possible as well as growing out of pots on the patio. With the rising costs of food, growing your own is becoming more and more important and the opportunity to eat real organically grown vegetables is great.
Courgette – Bush variety
Three plants survived the Snailpocolypse of May and have now started producing fruit. So far, 8 decent sized courgettes, some shared with neighbours, some into my fridge for pasta’s and such, I suspect now growing season is well under way, there is much more to come.
Courgette – climbing variety
I’m regretting not taking note of the variety of this one, as I’ve never grown climbing courgette before and this one is producing really long pale green courgettes. We ate the first today, tossed in basil oil and butter and it’s delicious!
Edit: CLIMBING COURGETTE TROMBONCINO ALBENGA
Tomatoes
Tomatoes tend to make up the bulk of what I grow through summer and this year is no exception. With close to 20 plants on the go, some in tubs, some in hanging baskets and a couple in greenhouses I’m hoping for a bumper crop, but with so many uses they will all get eaten! I even gave plants to my non-vege-growing neighbours so they don’t cut into my own supply 🙂
Spinach
In the spring, I through some random spinach seeds into an empty spot, not expecting much, but they have sprouted two big spinach plants that are giving plenty of delicious leaves.
Cucumbers
Had a bad time with Cucumbers this year, of the 7 I planted, every single one was demolished by slugs and snails, despite my usual efforts to prevent them. I’m contemplating trying again with an F1 variety, just waiting for a bit of free time and dry weather (having a particularly wet end of July this year)
Lettuce
I sowed a number of pots and tubs with lettuce this year and all were demolished by snails. Hope they enjoyed it! I do have a pot of rocket that they don’t seem interested in, so will hopefully be able to eat some soon.
Beans
Broad Bean Harvest 2023
Broad beans did very well this year, but have all been picked and eaten by this time. In place, I have some French Beans growing but waiting for them to flower.
Garlic
This year was the first time I had success with garlic. The bulbs aren’t massive (they’re currently hanging to dry) but I’m happy with the result. I want to try elephant garlic next year.
Leeks
In preparation for the autumn/winter, I have started some leeks from seed. Once some of the other crops make space, I’ll get those in the ground .
Fruits
It’s not been a great year for fruit this year. My Jostaberry bush barely produced more than a handful of berries, my apple tree has only two apples on it and one of my pear trees has no fruit at all this year! On the positive side, we had a load of raspberries (see above). My second pear tree seems to be doing well and my now hugely overgrown plum tree has plenty of juicy plums ripening up right now. My grapevine is doing well this year but needs trimming back to allow the grapes to develop and ripen.
Flowers!
First Marigolds!
I’ve never been one for growing flowers, but as middle age sets in, I want to pretty up my growing space, so I’ve been growing flowers from seed. Poppies and Marigolds have come through and flowered. I’ve also bought some African Marigolds and upcycled my old barbeque to accommodate them.
Barbeque now a planter.
How about you? Do you grow anything in your home, either in a garden, on a balcony or on your kitchen windowsill?
So I’ve now come to the realisation that the only time I find the time or inclination to blog about my hobbies is through the month of August, thanks to this wonderful event called Blaugust that begins tomorrow.
As my last post on this blog was my final Blaugust post last year, this is as good an excuse as any to dust off the old WordPress and write a few mumblings.
For those that don’t know, Blaugust, subheaded “Festival of Blogging” is an event created and organised in part by Belghast over at Tales of the Aggronaut and is an opportunity to start blogging, continue blogging more or drag yourself back into your personal corner of the internet to write about things. This started as a gaming community event but has spread to all manner of blogs. My own blog covers primarily gaming, especially what I’m personally playing, but I sometimes write about horror and my other hobby, growing things.
the aim is to blog every day through August, in itself a challenge for me, being bang in the holiday season, but I will not hold myself accountable to any particular number of posts. There are achievements and things, but I’m getting too old for that stuff (though will gladly post achievements on the sidebar and proudly show how many years I’ve been doing this.)
So what can you expect from me this year? Well, my computer gaming has been less varied of late, mostly Lord of the Rings Online, though I might be inspired to jump into other games in the coming weeks. My play-by-post roleplaying games take a lot of my time, so you’ll likely hear about those and my garden is filling up with all manner of veggies, so expect photos of the green stuff.
If you’re interested in taking part, either with your own blog or entering with an existing blog to get some new readers, you can check out Bel’s yearly post below and sign up to join the fun.
I can’t believe we’re on Day 24 of Blaugust already and less surprised that I’ve only managed 7 (8 including this) posts so far. It’s not for lack of motivation, but time seems to get away with me and especially this summer, with my garden flourishing and requiring attention daily, my daughter getting ready to enter her senior school, and work ticking over.
Add to that, what little free time I’ve had has been spent dipping into various games, new and old.
Chimeraland
Chimeraland has been a new discovery for me and I’m loving the many aspects that the game offers. My character has hit level forty and after accidentally wandering into a fight against one of the massive ancient creatures and finding some sweet loot, I’m not chasing that particular dragon, literally and figuratively.
Lord of the Rings Online
LOTRO has been calling me back too, with a new update on the horizon, I’ve been trying to arrange my storage over 17+ alts, that in itself a mammoth task, as well as levelling my guardian.
Monster Hunter World
Yesterday I jumped back into another game I haven’t touched in some time, Monster Hunter World. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing so have started from the beginning again and thoroughly enjoyed that too.
Lord of the Rings: Rise to War
On the mobile front, I’ve been playing Lord of the Rings: Rise to War. My server is now entering its fourth season and I’m beginning to wonder if I should continue. It’s one of those games that has become a habit, I don’t get much from it, but it’s there. I don’t participate in the War, but just build and grow. I’m a bit baffled by the adverts I’ve seen for it lately, it looks nothing like the game I’m playing!
As regular readers of this blog will know, I’ve been a diehard fan of Lord of the Rings Online for many years and it’s always my evergreen MMO. I have periods where I take a break from it, but always go back. Of late there has been a lack of new end game content but this latest info from SSG is looking promising.
Some interesting tidbits:
New expansion/region
New Delving system, making certain content more difficult for greater rewards
Knifesedge Blogs 