It's just too much! (2/6 comic)

[Talen]

LARPing. The one RPG where you can't get around the encumberance rules. :)

Talen at full "Are you expecting me to fight like this" load:

Two swords
One crossbow
One dagger
Two throwing axes
Pouch for bolts
Large shield
Chain shirt
Four pouches (tools, treasure, IG big stuff, OOG stuff)
Two belts (one for pouches, one for weapons)

In D&D, you might not even think twice. Real life, oh dear gawds you learn what an "encumberance penalty" means, as getting above a trot for any amount of time is impossible, and trying to fight like that means you're likely to lose a weapon/tangle up in your own kit and fall over. If I AM, it's usually not pretty to watch. :)

Weightwise, it's not too bad, but I usually end up bouncing up and down like a pogo stick at the end of events, just because I can finally safely do so and the Aahhhhh... from losing all the weight of armor and weaponry feels soooo nice. The rush is nice to counter to post-event "Gah, I'm exhausted".

Though you definitely learn how to creatively and effectively carry stuff. I could rig fancy-sword boy a carrier in a few minutes with a snap and two small loops of leather, and the helm desperately needs a chin strap and padding so it doesn't slide off the guy's noggin. But without stuff like that, your own gear can be your worst enemy!

[Itxi]

lol, in one system I know but don't play you get a skill (can't remember the name) but basically the system ref has to carry all your gear and hand it to you as and when you need it :P

[Travellar]

That's not a ref, that's a squire.

oddly enough, some games seem to think Squire is a rank to be achieved for independant value. Bah!

Although this is a good reminder to me to get back to work on my warharness. I think I've finally figured out how to attach my weapons, so they'll still be readily available.

[Talen]

Can't be a knight too often without squiring first, at least in some places!

Fairly simple way to hook things on your belt is a snap loop- that is, two interlinked straps of leather. The first one fits your belt/harness, the second one is just big enough to fit neatly around your weapon's handle without being bigger than the thrusting tip on the pommel, and has a snap-together closure so you can just close the loop around it and it's held neatly in place.

It's not much tougher than a loop scabbard to make (aka "what do I do with the roll of duct tape when it runs out?" ), but a lot easier to handle.

[Travellar]

I'm going with axes, so it's not really a scabard that I need. I'd like to keep as much authenticity as possible in this otherwise completely fanciful costume, so I don't want to use snaps. What I've finally figured out is how I can do small hooks on the belt to put a hoop over. More importantly, how to do so without a large, and possible hazardous protrusion.

[Twinswords]

It is all about distribution and size.

I know some fighters who have ussually between 10 and 20 weapon on them. Even out of combat. I haven`t counted armour.

Let`s see if we go into massive extreems here: 2 short swords on a belt. 2 light mace on another belt. big weapon in a back scabbard. 2 long daggers in their legplates, 5 throwing daggers in a belt across the chest. 2 daggers in bracers.

For people who aren`t counting that`s 14 weapons and still have your hands completly free. This can be augmented with a bow and quiver. Quiver goes on back across the backscabbard. or a handweapon and a shield. (if you have large shield you can put several throwing weapons on there too.)

I have seen all these systems being used. I myself ussual have 3 to 5 weapons on my person. 1 sword (with a bodyshield), 2-3 daggers and sometimes a large axe. This can be complemented with a chain-plate armourcombo.

Twinswords

[Travellar]

okay, that's pretty well armed to the teeth, but how well can they use all those weapons?

[Twinswords]

Well these guys ussually are 2 weapon fighters, 2 swords will be the standard. 2 light maces for those pesky skeletons, the long daggers as back up and stealth weapon and you use throwing weapons if you have to support a fightingline.
The big weapon for reach. and these guys ussually dislike disarms and shatter spells.

[sableagle]

No worries. The enemy inevitably ignore the high-level swordsman with the two-handed sword and shatter the scout's short sword instead. Wankers.

[Itxi]

hey, if it works. When I monster I grab a pole arm and go for the legs :dcool:

[Travellar]

I was talking to a friend of mine down in Norfolk last weekend, and he was definately interested once I told him yes, he can use a shield and spear. If we were in the same area still I'd love to go play together, each of us weilding spears from behind our shields. (we'd probrably have to abduct another friend or two monthly as well.)

[Itxi]

What?! They have LARP in norfolk? I obviously didn't search the net hard enough, I was looking for ages before I left for uni :P

[Travellar]

I didn't say they had LARPs in Norfolk, I said I was visiting my friend in Norfolk. I don't really see any NERO chapters anywhere close. One holds games at the southern end of North Carolina, another in the northern end of Virginia, and one more just about as far west in Virginia as you can go.

[sableagle]

Sure it works ... until the new guy decides he's going to use the monster's sword, no matter how much manual violence he has to commit to get it.

[Talen]

Sure it works ... until the new guy decides he's going to use the monster's sword, no matter how much manual violence he has to commit to get it.

"You find the monster's weapon is battered and cracked by the fight, and is useless for further battle. Now give the nice NPC's weapon back so he can go respawn." :)

[Itxi]

"You find the monster's weapon is battered and cracked by the fight, and is useless for further battle. Now give the nice NPC's weapon back so he can go respawn." :)

lol last time a pc stole a monsters weapon it possessed them and they got plot-raped to the nth degree :dcool:

[Travellar]

AWSOME!
since my charecter's new, I think I need to go swipe some weapons...

[Twinswords]

Never let your npc weapons be worth money. My necromancer made a very comfortable living from looting massive amount of weapons of corpses. Then they stopped giving money and i had to turn to healing and robbery. I almost had to work. grmbl.

[Travellar]

What?! They have LARP in norfolk? I obviously didn't search the net hard enough, I was looking for ages before I left for uni :P

WOOT!
luckily for me, my chapter has had some recent confusion over it's campsite. I'm close to thier winter campsite, not thier usual one. (I say I'm lucky here because if it weren't for the mass of confusion on the boards over that mix-up, I'd never have found out where the usual site is.

I mention this with a quote because the usual campsite is actually just south of Richmond. Much closer for folks in Norfolk.

[Itxi]

Sounds pretty cool, I've never attended a large LARP event before. I'd imagine that it's very different to the smaller ones I'm used to

[Travellar]

I can't wait! I've got everything packed that can possibly be packed, and everything else wrapped up and ready to go. there's only one thing left that I even CAN do to get ready for this weekend, and it's not even a neccisary step. (nylon sheaths for my bannerpoles)

I didn't have room in the bag I use to travel with, so I unpacked everything and filled my seabag instead. I do mean "filled". when I had some extra room left over, I asked myself "gee, what ELSE can I fit in there?"

I still need rations, but I've got costume, banners, bedding, socks, the three most useful known items, (towel, duct tape, rubber bands), and a chessboard!

is it friday yet? is it friday yet? is it friday yet? is it friday yet? is it friday yet? is it friday yet? is it friday yet? is it friday yet? is it friday yet? is it friday yet? *passes out*

[Talen]

The joys of a new LARPer- you overpack, and over the years you trim it down to something that doesn't break spinal columns to carry. :)

And it's NEVER soon enough to be a Friday. Never ever ever, even at 11:59 PM Thursday!

[sableagle]

Oh yeah, happy memories. Cleaning kit, stove wrapped around fuel block and a clean pair of socks shielded inside mess tins in utility pouch, biscuits and pate or cheese in the rear half of the ammo pouch, because we never did get more than three magazines, speed-loader between magazine pouches if you got one and it hasn't broken apart yet, paper, pens, diary, pencils and possibly empty magazines in big inner breast pockets, chocolate in outer left breast pocket, flares and boxed ammo in outer right, gloves in jacket hip pockets, medikit in stolen second water bottle pouch centre-rear, water bottle, fork and steritabs in main water bottle pouch to right of that, knife and spoon left in room so they won't clink when you move, respirator, inner and outer gloves, morphine pens, atropine pens, DKP-1 and -2 and more food in the respirator pouch, NBC suit rolled up and shoved into one side pouch, 24-hr rat. pack, remnants of previous, smoke grenades, more clean socks and clean underwear, poncho, bungees, torch and tape in the other, pick helf and head down the back of one, side-pouch yoke down the back of the other, sleeping bag in stuff bag rammed into the bottom of the main pouch and left there, outer bag rolled with mat under main pouch, clean, dry outer clothes and additional underwear and a few other things in vertical bin-liners in main pouch and that *&*&*&* minefield kit in the top, and that was for combat support arms, not the PBI.

Minefield kit: 100 tent pegs with white insulating tape butterflies, 100 tent pegs with two orange insulating tape butterflies each and one long knife, rod, bayonet or whatever. The two each was my addition so you could tell them apart behind your back or in total darkness. Damnable job. Probe at 15mm intervals over a metre line, mark the end with a white flag, move forwards 5cm, work your way back to the other end, mark with a white flag, move forwards 5cm, work your way back to the other end, mark with a white flag ... and if you find one of the buggers you flag it orange and leave it there, and clear a path around it, assuming neither rain nor devious b_____d has turned it on its side and it doesn't go off and launch the knife hilt-first into or past your face.

Of course, there are better ways and specialist kit. You only do that if you can't get them or can't wait for them ... like if your mate's out there holding what's left of one leg and you need to get to him and tie it off before he loses his grip and bleeds out.

Sorry. *ahem* Back to topic: for realism and convenience, you want a set of kit with which you can walk twenty miles and, if necessary, run. Action on anything: ditch the b____y rucksack. Whatever you're going to need had better stay on you when you do. Alright, so the real Vikings or whoever were probably obscenely fit but you still want something that only takes one trip, something you could carry from bus-stop to station platform and onto the train.

[Travellar]

oh, not all of that is kit and costume. Maybe half the seabag. The rest is decorative and hygene items that can stay in the cabin. Two heaviest items in the bag are my chainmail and my boots. They're really good boots, and a cahinmail hauberk doesn't seem to weigh anything once it's on. I can move all I'll ever need to with what I'll be carrying into battle, the rest is just window dressing.

is it friday yet? I wanna hit something.

[wolfie]

Sorry can't resist.

A suit of armor, in the later middle ages, weighed about 60lbs. That is actually less than what a modern soldier carries on his back in his rucksack today. The biggest difference in the two is that the Plate armor that the Knight was wearing was much better distributed than the rucksack today is. (Now for the relevance) Chainmail, while god awful heavy to lug around as dead weight, once it is worn and belted down no longer feels as if it weighs 40-50 pounds. Another completely useless fact, a sword only weighed 3 pounds.

As for the topic at hand, I pack 3 bags when I go eventing, my duffel for my hard armor, a small suitcase (the kind that have the zipper on top with the two pockets at the ends) for my soft armor, and another suitcase for garb.

The reason for the hard and soft bags is that the hard stuff is made of steel, throwing the soft and sweaty stuff in the same bag after a day of fighting gennaraly leaves me with a lot more clean up work when I get home than I like.

[Sehson]

not to mention the body adjusts to the work it has to perform and its environment.

so for most of use wearing a 60lb plate armour would be uncomfortable and tiring. But the people that do it all the time...(modern jousters) they've grown accustomed to it and so it is no big deal.

I know because I've asked a couple of jousters about this, their armour was in fact 85lbs with the extra safety deflectors.

[sableagle]

... a sword only weighed 3 pounds.That depends on your sword, surely, but it still beats a 14.5lb LSW.

[Talen]

Yep. That's one thing about armor. It feels like a real pain if you're carrying the whole suit in your arms, but get it on and it's nowhere near the same.

(You still feel like the Earth lost a tenth of a G when you take it off post-weekend, though.)

And yes- thank goodness most of your LARPin' gear is NOT packed around all day. That's what a tent, cabin, or room is for!

[wolfie]

That depends on your sword, surely, but it still beats a 14.5lb LSW.

Archeologist's have unearthed swords in Scandinavia from battle sites and whatnot. Think about it, if you have to swing something around all day, you don't want it weighing a lot.

[Travellar]

true, but if you're trying to kill people, and they're trying to kill you back, it'd be really nice to actually hurt them when you connect.

*edit* not saying a sword needed to be particularly heavy, but there's a limit to how light you can go if your opponets might be wearing any armor.

[wolfie]

You also want to be able to connect with the last person at the end of the day the same way you did with the first one at the start of the day.

[Seolta]

not saying a sword needed to be particularly heavy, but there's a limit to how light you can go if your opponets might be wearing any armor.


Depends on what you're trying to do with it...if you're trying to just crush the stew out of 'em through the armor and/or dent 'em to pieces, then yeah, weight is good...but that's for things like claymores. If you're trying to hit vulnerable spots between bits of armor and pierce or slash the fleshy bits, you're going to want lighter and pretty sharp. Different swords for different purposes...longsword has different uses from a gladius, which has different uses from a claymore, which has different uses from a falcata(which really was just a long-bladed short-handled ax, anyways).

[Travellar]

you know, if I could remember what point I was trying to make when I posted the first part of that post, I might have a retort on some specific aspect of something or rather...

yeah, 3-5 pounds sounds about right for a sword. Much more than that and you'll not last too long in combat. Much less and there just isn't enough metal there to make a decent sword, no matter how sharp it is. Well, maybe a fencing foil, but my money's on the guy in full plate with a longsword. he may get a little punctured, but joints in platemail tend not to be over most of the vitals. And the other guy only has to get hit once to ruin his day.

I suppose you could use a fencing foil with full plate, but that just seems wrong somehow.

you know, I shoulda gone to bed an hour ago... Or, as Jen has been known to say... wait, I'm not the Lizzard Queen.

[Plunder Down-Under]

I like pole weapons. Or weapons that are extensions to your own body like first weapons and short weapons.
But thats just RIGHT now.

Tommorow i may like swords.

[idleknight]

carrying larp kit is always an issue and getting it right takes practise and then you change character or system and you need to rethink it again.

I know people who have gone out and bought expensive swords then ruined them in cheap belt ring loops. I've also seen people leave behind there weapons in fest systems after a couple of drinks.

Its best if its attached and you can get it quick

I generally aim my kit at what my character is doing, so more weapons and armour if going into battle. But generally a Main Gauche and a selection of pistols and sword if i am out of camp.

[Talen]

I like pole weapons. Or weapons that are extensions to your own body like first weapons and short weapons.
But thats just RIGHT now.

Tommorow i may like swords.

The former isn't a bad combo- pack a polearm + a small backup of some kind, like a hatchet/handaxe or shortsword/dagger, or club, etc.

Swordchucks are right out.

[sableagle]

There's one place a set of plate mail doesn't cover that really does matter, and yes I could have hit it back when I was fencing. You're not allowed to do that on LARPs, though.

Btw, foil has an end like a LARP arrow. You want a rapier for going through people.

Halberd or Naginata and a short sword and hatchet as backups for close work and/or after some git with a flamberge takes the head off your polearm sounds good. The hatchet also counts as +3 to Campcraft. Daggers aren't really meant for splitting firewood or sharpening a centre-pole for the tent, after all.

[wolfie]

my dear sablegal, look into a good quality codpiece.

[sableagle]

Eyes.

You know that visor Sir Knight wears in the Hagar The Horrible cartoons, with the one-inch vertical slots in it? How much would you really want to bed that the agile guy with the four-foot rapier can't hit one of those slots? Of course, you can't parry a broadsword with it, but you can hit faster and from considerably further away ... unless we're talking about the broadsword made for the occasion and given to HMS Broadsword all those years ago. That thing's HUGE. It'd do fairly well for a werewolf in Crinos, but you wouldn't want to try to pick it up by one end if you didn't really have to.

[Travellar]

the eyeslots may be one place you can best hope to hit a full-plate-armored effectively, but if he's charging, or the battles been on long enough to feel the effects, you could have some difficulty hitting those slots. Between him trying to parry, the adrenal rush of physical labor, and keeping yourself calm enough to hit a precise target under pressure, it's not childsplay. Even assuming a full open face on the helmet, It would be hard as most people are fairly protective of thier faces.

Best use of a Rapier (in my humble opinion) is against unarmored or lightly armored opponets. They didn't appear until late in the medieval period, probrably due to that reason. (although sword lengths did tend to rise and fall, it wasn't until armor became less mandatory that rapiers became more prcatical.)

[wolfie]

About the time guns were being used on the battle field.