I have no idea where to start with this topic. I met Belghast on Mastodon years ago. It was mostly me interacting with his posts with the occasional response from him. He was a pretty interesting person. I'd tune in randomly to his podcasts over the years, mostly as background noise while doing other activities. His musings over at Tales of the Aggronaut were always enjoyable as a quick read. It always gave me a sense of "hey, I'm not alone" in the random shenanigans that he found himself in. When July 2023 came around, he was talking about some event called Blaugust and I was intrigued. I can't find exactly when I started with the whole posting and participating, so I'm not sure if it is 2023 or 2024. I think I did both years, while taking off 2025 due to a whole bunch of IRL things going on. I was horrible at tagging Blaugust in my posts, so that is kind of working against me right now in my searching. New habit to start! Anyways, when I read about Belghast's horrible life experience with losing his wife in 2025, it hurt. I haven't experienced that personally, but I have experienced the loss of a parent and can only imagine the amount of pain he went through on that loss. Shortly after that tragic event, he blogged about life after, which included his discovery about the cancer within himself. As he progressed with the chemotherapy, his life deteriorated. A year later, to the date, he passed away. The community he built around Blaugust is huge. The Discord currently has 274 residents within its walls, with more to join in the future. With the sudden passing of Bel, people inquired if Blaugust 2026 was going to happen. A large amount of people said that it will, because that is what Bel would have wanted. I agree wholeheartedly with them. From what little I know of him, he would want this tradition to continue on until the world ended. It was designed to combat writer's block, encourage creators to share their voices and ideas, build community, and support others. This is something we need in the world today. I'm not going to get into the whole AI vs whatever because it's a fruitless point. I do feel like the era of blogs, people getting creative and sharing those ideas to the world, and just plain info-dumping and writing is dwindling. Blaugust aims to change that. So what does this mean for me, one of the writers for Byte Vortex, and you, the reader? Well, this coming month of August is going to bring more activity here. I aim to write as much as I can, while balancing everything else. One of the things I want to do is get a badge to proudly display that we participated in Blaugust. Getting me to write more and do more projects, therefore more articles, would be great. There are so many unfinished projects lying around the house. The other thing I aim to do is get me to talk more about the game I am building. So far, all I've done is talk about the creatures I've created, with the addition of Dev Logs while building the FoundryVTT stuff. I want to share more, but I just don't know how to even do that. That is where the other topic for August comes in: #RPGaDay2026. Essentially, this is a tagging event with a daily word prompt. Much like Inktober. Blaugust 2026: August 1 - 6: Welcome to Blaugust August 7 - 13: Introduce Yourself August 14 - 20: Creator Appreciation August 21 - 27: Staying Motivated August 28 - 31: Lessons Learned Blaugust 2026 Community Builder Edition (pick at least 3): Post before August 1st, inviting others to join in the fun Make at least 5 posts that are directly inspired by a fellow Blaugster (I have no idea if this is correct but I'm running with it because it just works in my opinion) + linking to the post(s) that inspired you Join or create a group project Engage with other Blaugsters at least once a week Leave comments Join discussions on Discord Share posts across various platforms #RPGaDay2026 prompts: Discipline Stature Poise Charm Burden Reach Mercy Resolve Privilege Secret Tact Loss Strain Regard Endurance Composure Intensity Directness Desire Promise Charity Grit Fortune Distance Familiarity Regret Hunger Devotion Labour Pride Edge Where I Found All This The Herald of Blaugust 2026 - Blaugust Must Go On! - has a fantastic list of all participating blogs Nerd Girl Thoughts - Blaugust 2026 is Coming! - she took the reins of Blaugust 2025 when Bel had to step back Blaugust on Mastodon - still the place where everything tagged #Blaugust and #Blaugust2026 shows up