Plain Discussion!

I am going to answer your question from the other thread here, as that other thread mostly hosts outdated information.

You wrote...

Okay, as for what weapons you will recive, and the methods of victory, I am going to hold off on that until tommarow because I will be posting the full rules as well as alot of information tommarow. It should answer alot of your current and future questions. I will instead, address your weapon question.

It sounds like you put alot of work into your weapon which I certainly applaud. It has the basics of a core, padding, and copious amounts of tape. There are a few aspects of it that concern me however. Foremost is the core being made out of a swifter rod. I believe I had one of those at one point and if I recall, it was some sort of aluminum, right? That may not work for two reasons, and possibly a third.

One, is that metal does not flex. It is not only the padding we use that protects people from harm, it is also that the PVC piping bends a little to soak up the impact. That brings me to concern number two, if it bends.
While we stress that people never over swing, or "baseball bat" as we call it, occasionally the weapons will collide pretty strongly. If the core is made from some sort of metal, at best it will simply bend it. At worse, it will break, which may expose the players to sharp metal bits which we cannot allow.
The third issue, which may or may not be an issue at all. (I can't tell by your discription) is weight. Unlike many similar groups that do play fighting, we tend to use medium weight weapons instead of ultra light ones. We enjoy the realistic element they bring and unfortunately alot of the weapons from Amptgard and similar functions cannot be used because they are far too light. It is unfair to other players.

Something I am considering doing, for players such as yourself is having some half built examples on hand, and possibly small bags of examples of the materials we use to take home with you so that people can find some that match. That way, people that wish to create their own weapons can with greater ease and surety of acceptance.

It's one of the aspects I've been looking forward to with mixed emotions. On one hand, I 'really' want to see what people come up with. On the other, I do not look forward to telling people they cannot make use of their hard work if it comes to that.

Do not worry though, only ranked events force you to use a specific weapon, and we allow alot of chances for people to go up in rank, all through out the events. So while you might 'start' with a dagger or kama, you are sure to progress past it in no time.

Hope that helps, look to tomorrow for many updates!

Okay..I sorta fixed my problem. You know how the swiffer stick can detach? Well I did. It now only holds the handle from the original swiffer stick. Will that be fine? As for the wieght thing, it doesn't weigh -that- much. I was merely describing it weighed slightly more than before. Will that be acceptable? The foam bends, but only if I hit hard enough.

Well, at this point it's hard for me to say really, unable to really see it myself. Best I can tell you is to bring it up, and I'll look it over. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, we'll trade notes and you can use some of our very numerous weapons. Either way, battles will be had.