'Larp' Summary and Closing 2006
Posted on: Tue, 10/24/2006 - 10:01am
Ethos
Joined: 2003-06-20
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'Larp' Summary and Closing 2006
Ethos here, one of the two core Marshals for the "Larp" event of 2006.
Wow, we had a great showing this year. I counted well over 300 signatures of people who signed up and participated, many of whom showed up every day and stayed for several hours. (A few stayed all day. Oi)
I wanted to add an addendum to the event and put a few ideas for next year on the table for anyone interested. But I'll start with a brief history of the event for people who have not attended, which should catch people up to speed, and also explain why it will not be called "Larp" next year.
"Larp" or "Live Action role Play" covers several games, but the overall theme remains the same, you act out your characters, and basically enact in impromptu roleplaying. Oni-Con Larp started out as a Vampire the Masquerade Larp, a variation of the game involving vampires as a main theme. The first year, we held one and it went over pretty well. The second year, we set up for the same, but brought a bunch of our own foam weapons for us to play with while we waited- not really intending to make a game of it. As we waited for Larp'rs to show up, several, and I do mean several people filed in and wanted to play with the weapons.
When at last it came time to start the Larp we had about six people to play with, and over thirty there playing with the combat weapons. So, we scrapped the Larp and went with the weapons as the main event.
This year, 2006 we brought even more weapons and set up a class/level system and the turn-out was amazing. We had almost a hundred players on Friday alone, many of whom again stayed the entire day. Thirteen hours of none-stop combat. Saturday saw a fantastic tournament with several standing ovations to impressive fighters and Sunday proved to be even more impressive with armies of 24 players going at it in the Grand Melee. Mind you that number was only limited by the amount of weapons we had- next year we plan to raise the stakes even higher. While I think we ended up with four level sixes, next year will also see to our first level seven, the highest and most dangerous ranking available. (Yes, all scores will carry over into next year... better hope we can read your handwriting though!)
So! To get back on track, what we were playing was not in fact "Larp" and led to some confusion. In lieu of this, next years competitions will simply be called "Battlegrounds".
So what will next year see? That may in part be up to you. We are very interested in feedback concerning the event and would like to build it further around what you enjoyed and would like to see. Suggestions may include-
-New Weapons
-New Events
-New Classes (Using the weapons available)
-New Abilities beyond level seven. (Using common sense)
A weapon making panel/shop class has also been suggested, where you will be taught to make weapons of your own by our standards that you can bring to compete with. (Note that while there are endless ways to make weapons, we only allow weapons we approve- as some homemade weapons might be dangerous, or unfair.) So give us your thoughts on that. It was considered that with a small fee (to cover the materials used) we could sit with you and teach you how to make your own weapon hands on and that you get to keep the weapon you make after the panel.
So again, questions, comments, suggestions? Post them here.
Sounds good to me. Printed out the simple instructions, but lots of ideas come to mind..
First project would definitely be a simple sword. After that, though, I have some other wants, some complex.
Large Shield
Small Shield
The Asian-styled sword with hand guard.
2 of Talim's weapons from SC2 (anyone know what these are called?)
Nunchuku (Something soft, flexible, and nonstrechy for the Chain)
Curved Katana or scimitar.
Large blade with hilt.
Sounds good to me. Printed out the simple instructions, but lots of ideas come to mind..
First project would definitely be a simple sword. After that, though, I have some other wants, some complex.
Large Shield
Small Shield
The Asian-styled sword with hand guard.
2 of Talim's weapons from SC2 (anyone know what these are called?)
Nunchuku (Something soft, flexible, and nonstrechy for the Chain)
Curved Katana or scimitar.
Large blade with hilt.
As for the shields, currently what we are using are martial arts punching and kicking pads, which work phenominal. They are shield shaped, completely padded, and absorbe all impact. As for making your 'own' shields, it becomes alot more complex and difficult. I don't do it myself, since the martial arts ones work so much better than any attempts I've made, but I would not mind trading notes on designs or looking over your own home-made shield to clear it for an event. Just keep the hard edges to a minimum.
Asian styled sword with a hand guard.... that could be one of a million things. Toss me a weapon name or image.
Talim from soul Calibur uses a variation of Tonfas. Sort of like some police batons. We've considered making these, and we might still... but there were some kings in a demo set we made that we would have to work out as anything using L, T, or X PVC piping joints are automaticaly weakened. They tend to break. It's entirely possible that some will be available next year though, we will see.
Nanchuku, or flails, whips or anything with a chain/rope on it are completely out of the question, sorry. This is for reasons of saftey, as if they wrap around a wrist or anything else... two people moving in an opposit direction ends up in a broken/dislocated wrist, arm, etc. It's happened before, and I won't allow any such weapons on our field. Too much of a liability.
Katana or Schimitar... I 'do' have one katana blade, with a curved PVC edge... but just to let you know now to mold the blade into a permenant curve like that you have to brace the PVC up at that angle and curve and leave it there over a month. It takes a long time. A schimitar could easily be done with clever padding designs, and would not need as much curve in the PVC.
Large blade witha hilt... again, I'd need you to ellaborate.
As for the shields, currently what we are using are martial arts punching and kicking pads, which work phenominal. They are shield shaped, completely padded, and absorbe all impact. As for making your 'own' shields, it becomes alot more complex and difficult. I don't do it myself, since the martial arts ones work so much better than any attempts I've made, but I would not mind trading notes on designs or looking over your own home-made shield to clear it for an event. Just keep the hard edges to a minimum.
Asian styled sword with a hand guard.... that could be one of a million things. Toss me a weapon name or image.
Talim from soul Calibur uses a variation of Tonfas. Sort of like some police batons. We've considered making these, and we might still... but there were some kings in a demo set we made that we would have to work out as anything using L, T, or X PVC piping joints are automaticaly weakened. They tend to break. It's entirely possible that some will be available next year though, we will see.
Nanchuku, or flails, whips or anything with a chain/rope on it are completely out of the question, sorry. This is for reasons of saftey, as if they wrap around a wrist or anything else... two people moving in an opposit direction ends up in a broken/dislocated wrist, arm, etc. It's happened before, and I won't allow any such weapons on our field. Too much of a liability.
Katana or Schimitar... I 'do' have one katana blade, with a curved PVC edge... but just to let you know now to mold the blade into a permenant curve like that you have to brace the PVC up at that angle and curve and leave it there over a month. It takes a long time. A schimitar could easily be done with clever padding designs, and would not need as much curve in the PVC.
Large blade witha hilt... again, I'd need you to ellaborate.
My problem is I'm not familiar enough to know what kind of weapon everything is.
Not surprised nunchuku "chains" present a liability to be honest, but figured I might as well toss the idea out just in case there was a way to remove liability.
The Asian styled Sword w/ Hand Guard was inspired by the red "blade" you had there. Didn't get to play with it much, but it looked well done.
How was the guard attached? However it was attached, it would seem you could do the something similar to get the handle of the tonfa, but it may be that the way it is put together may not be able to handle being held.
At any rate, I think dual tonfa would make for a fun alternative, allowing excellent agility and defense, while sacrificing some range, while the curve of a katana/scimitar might allow for some slightly different mechanics.
Might I ask, by the way, how you differentiate a piercing-only sword from a slashing sword?
I'm really quite new at all this, although I do have a purchased foam Katana at home, as well as a Shinai and a wooden boken. Played a little with both..
My problem is I'm not familiar enough to know what kind of weapon everything is.
Not surprised nunchuku "chains" present a liability to be honest, but figured I might as well toss the idea out just in case there was a way to remove liability.
The Asian styled Sword w/ Hand Guard was inspired by the red "blade" you had there. Didn't get to play with it much, but it looked well done.
How was the guard attached? However it was attached, it would seem you could do the something similar to get the handle of the tonfa, but it may be that the way it is put together may not be able to handle being held.
At any rate, I think dual tonfa would make for a fun alternative, allowing excellent agility and defense, while sacrificing some range, while the curve of a katana/scimitar might allow for some slightly different mechanics.
Might I ask, by the way, how you differentiate a piercing-only sword from a slashing sword?
I'm really quite new at all this, although I do have a purchased foam Katana at home, as well as a Shinai and a wooden boken. Played a little with both..
No problem at all, its something I really enjoy, and I love talking about it and sharing notes with other people when I can.
Again, yes, chain weapons are a liability, though I suppose if some sort of hinging mechanism could be created for for a pair of nunchucku that were soft, and short enough not to wrap around a limb... it could be passed. If you are up to the challenge you are more than welcome to give it a try but again, no promises it will be cleared.
The curved red sword I had was the one I spoke of previously when refering to the curve. We left it underneath a cement block, with both of it's ends propped up on two other blocks for about three months to give it that permanant curve, PVC takes a while to mold like that. Just make sure your curve is not 'too' strong, or it might damage the stability of the weapon and cause it to break when used.
The guard on the red schimitar blade thing was actualy just some stiff foam that we found, that was strong enough to hold that shape and bounce back when hit. There isn't actualy any boning or structural peices inside it at all so it would not make a good handle for say, the tonfa's that you mentioned.
If I were going to make tonfas, I would use a foot long PVC pole, and two 1/2 foot long poles with a T fitting.
That would give the tonfa it's shape. Unfortunately, due to no glue/apoxy we've found so far being able to withstand the punishment of prolonged combat, and the flexing of the PVC plastic, any joints you add will increase the chances of the weapon coming apart in combat. Even on friday we had one of the crossguard swords come apart. So, in short, tonfa's would be easy to make, I just have my doubts as to the stability of the weapon.
And the peircing only swords we had, were made of 1/2 PVC, instead of 3/4th's PVC like the other swords... that made them considerably lighter and thinner. That also meant we had to use less padding, so they were not safe for slashing. 1/2 PVC is also what we used for the daggers. We gave them the basic dagger padding, and a heavily padded tip for thrusting which essentialy gave us our rapier/Tai-chi blades. Thrust only, no slashing. They made up for the lack of slashing though with being exceptionaly light and quick.
Hope that helps.
No problem at all, its something I really enjoy, and I love talking about it and sharing notes with other people when I can.
Again, yes, chain weapons are a liability, though I suppose if some sort of hinging mechanism could be created for for a pair of nunchucku that were soft, and short enough not to wrap around a limb... it could be passed. If you are up to the challenge you are more than welcome to give it a try but again, no promises it will be cleared.
The curved red sword I had was the one I spoke of previously when refering to the curve. We left it underneath a cement block, with both of it's ends propped up on two other blocks for about three months to give it that permanant curve, PVC takes a while to mold like that. Just make sure your curve is not 'too' strong, or it might damage the stability of the weapon and cause it to break when used.
The guard on the red schimitar blade thing was actualy just some stiff foam that we found, that was strong enough to hold that shape and bounce back when hit. There isn't actualy any boning or structural peices inside it at all so it would not make a good handle for say, the tonfa's that you mentioned.
If I were going to make tonfas, I would use a foot long PVC pole, and two 1/2 foot long poles with a T fitting.
That would give the tonfa it's shape. Unfortunately, due to no glue/apoxy we've found so far being able to withstand the punishment of prolonged combat, and the flexing of the PVC plastic, any joints you add will increase the chances of the weapon coming apart in combat. Even on friday we had one of the crossguard swords come apart. So, in short, tonfa's would be easy to make, I just have my doubts as to the stability of the weapon.
And the peircing only swords we had, were made of 1/2 PVC, instead of 3/4th's PVC like the other swords... that made them considerably lighter and thinner. That also meant we had to use less padding, so they were not safe for slashing. 1/2 PVC is also what we used for the daggers. We gave them the basic dagger padding, and a heavily padded tip for thrusting which essentialy gave us our rapier/Tai-chi blades. Thrust only, no slashing. They made up for the lack of slashing though with being exceptionaly light and quick.
Hope that helps.
Hey Ethos, Hojo here. I definately enjoyed the event. Nice work on coming up with a pretty workable system.
I've got some ideas on some other types of related events/panels you could do next time, as well as at least one new large-scale battle scenario, listed here.
LAZARUS MEN
Large Scale Battle: 3 - 4 teams plus special
Victory condition: Last team standing
This event is designed to allow a small number of high-level players compete in a battle with several lower-level teams. Time is an enemy for everyone as well in this battle.
Setup
Split your lower-level teams up evenly into 3 - 4 teams. Spread them to the corners of the battlefield. Set up the high-level team in a line off to the side. They should be no larger than any of the other teams, and probably smaller. They are the Lazarus Men.
How it plays out
Begin the match between the lower-level teams. The high-level team remains out of combat.
Every 2 minutes the Lazarus Man at the front of the line joins the combat. When a Lazarus man dies, he goes to the end of their line, and will return given enough time. (May have to be more or less than 2 minutes. Have to see how it plays out a few times. Maybe 2 minutes before they start coming in, then every 1 minute)
Victory
When there are only members from a single team alive on the battlefield, that team wins.
Strategy
Time, more than anything is the enemy in this battle. The lower-level teams can't take too much time trying to finish each other off or waiting each other out, because it gives time for the Lazarus Men to accumulate on the field. Odds are that the Lazarus men are more skilled, and thus, the most dangerous targets on the field. Too many, and its all over for the normal teams. If they are wise, they may even stop fighting each other briefly to focus on a Lazarus when he enters.
The Lazarus Men have to try and hold out long enough to have their teammates join them. They will need to be both strong solo fighters, as well as good team members, as they will be outnumbered most of the battle. For this reason, they do need to be the most experienced combatants in the battle.
Hey Ethos, Hojo here. I definately enjoyed the event. Nice work on coming up with a pretty workable system.
I've got some ideas on some other types of related events/panels you could do next time, as well as at least one new large-scale battle scenario, listed here.
LAZARUS MEN
Large Scale Battle: 3 - 4 teams plus special
Victory condition: Last team standing
This event is designed to allow a small number of high-level players compete in a battle with several lower-level teams. Time is an enemy for everyone as well in this battle.
Setup
Split your lower-level teams up evenly into 3 - 4 teams. Spread them to the corners of the battlefield. Set up the high-level team in a line off to the side. They should be no larger than any of the other teams, and probably smaller. They are the Lazarus Men.
How it plays out
Begin the match between the lower-level teams. The high-level team remains out of combat.
Every 2 minutes the Lazarus Man at the front of the line joins the combat. When a Lazarus man dies, he goes to the end of their line, and will return given enough time. (May have to be more or less than 2 minutes. Have to see how it plays out a few times. Maybe 2 minutes before they start coming in, then every 1 minute)
Victory
When there are only members from a single team alive on the battlefield, that team wins.
Strategy
Time, more than anything is the enemy in this battle. The lower-level teams can't take too much time trying to finish each other off or waiting each other out, because it gives time for the Lazarus Men to accumulate on the field. Odds are that the Lazarus men are more skilled, and thus, the most dangerous targets on the field. Too many, and its all over for the normal teams. If they are wise, they may even stop fighting each other briefly to focus on a Lazarus when he enters.
The Lazarus Men have to try and hold out long enough to have their teammates join them. They will need to be both strong solo fighters, as well as good team members, as they will be outnumbered most of the battle. For this reason, they do need to be the most experienced combatants in the battle.