Do historical combat techniques translate into LARP fighting?

So I play in both fantasy LARP and medieval reenactment in equal measure, and a big part of each for me is fighting! I’m only a middling combatant at best, but I make up for it with unbridled enthusiasm and a sense of childlike glee. As you can expect there’s some key differences to fighting with steel and fighting with foam. Confession time: I am low-key not allowed to use a two handed sword at the local LARP game because longsword techniques typically involve a lot of stabbing your opponent in the face, an act which somewhat offends in a game that disallows head hits. I suspected there were other things which don’t translate well, but I needed to consult someone more experienced. So I climbed to the roof of the nearest building and shouted “Fiore is overrated!” at the top of my lungs*, and then interviewed the first person to come running.

*this is what passes for comedy in reenactor circles

So first things first, can you tell us a little about yourself.

Hi, I’m Mosh Hewson, I’m 26 and moved to the big city to become a swordmaster!

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I wonder what wisdom he will impart?

How long have you been swinging swords for?

I’ve been swinging swords since I got a plastic katana from a showbag at the age of 4, LARP in 2015, and started reading the first manual I read (George Silver’s paradoxes of defence – 1599) in 2017.

Do you have a preferred weapon or style?

At the moment, Scottish broadsword is the closest to my heart, as I think it’s a hilarious side arm that’s been absolutely over engineered for rough and tumble warfare, like a Glock with a stendo mag (a quick Google search tells me that a stendo mag is for when you want more bullets at once. A day without learning is a day wasted. – Matt), massive sight and shoulder brace, and I think it’s really funny and special for that.

I also actively do Rapier and Longsword.

You’re pretty prominent in the local LARP community, what are you working on at present?

At the moment, just keeping spirits high and people still interested in such with how the world currently is has taken a lot of my energy for the last 18 months, I take a very responsibility high approach to being a warband leader and it’s definitely something I actively work to improve for, but I’m also prepping for Swordcraft’s blood and gold and getting an IC knighthood done by my actual sword teacher, in a similar vein to how he was knighted when he did Norman reenactment.

You have a reputation as a skilled combatant on field, do you credit that to your HEMA training?

Absolutely through and through! Even when I was doing full contact martial arts, the second I came up to my own conclusions, it was usually wrong, and I’m absolutely convinced I should not trust my own instincts. So I am purely the outcome of everything I’ve been taught and what I’ve read.

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The old masters were notoriously tight lipped regarding the application of steam powered battle tanks in their fencing treatises.

Is there anything you’ve learned from steel fighting that actively works against you in LARP combat?

So, fencing with steel is like, “letting go of the leg weights”, as it just opens up in so many beautiful ways! LARP fighting, is the same principles and the same goals, but there are just more considerations in the filter of what you can do. I don’t feel like what I do with steel has impeded my fighting, but it’s just, the applicable answers are constricted depending on the rules and considerations of the game you are playing.

Do you have any advice for someone starting out who wants to improve their technical skills?

The more beautiful you move, the more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, the more likely you are to be on the right path!

Also, if you can, go learn LITERALLY ANYTHING and then learn more, the masters who wrote the amazing literature read everything at their disposal, had all the data points available and then wrote their own books with what they valued (and what they wanted to sell…) style purists are the most held back in swords and it breaks my heart.

The shortest and sweetest answer is – go check out Napoleonic era Broadsword and Saber and then learn something completely different.

What’s next on your hobby radar?

At the moment I’m organising to start teaching a second class a week for a different school, (while still staying with the Fitzroy College of Arms), where I’ll be teaching longsword, Rapier and clinch wrestling with a very good friend of mine who is one of the best rapier and longsword fencers in Australia, an absolute honour to be asked to help teach side by side!

Also looking at changing up my class structure and themes to fit with the more holistic approach to fencing that I have developed, looking at it just being purely “historical fencing for warfare” or something like such, as I am no longer a Scottish traditions purist (something that also those very authors were not).

For LARP, I will be starting to work with immersive arts Melbourne for their next event once hearts are a little lighter from the last 2 years, and continuing to not only participate in LARPs all over Aus, but to help encourage others to come for the trips too!

Support your local sword school ❤

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The swordsman in repose, tuckered out from a long day of doing swordsman things.

You can find Mosh on Instragram here, and you can check out The Fitzroy College of Arms on Facebook here. If you want to improve your swordplay, show up at the college and drop my name. You won’t get a discount or any special treatment, but he might say “Oh yeah? Cool” or something to that effect.

5 reasons to not join the fire brigade

I’ve been a volunteer firefighter on and off for the better part of a decade. It’s rewarding and sometimes thrilling work where you can make a real difference and become an integral part of your local community. You get to wear a yellow hat and ride a big red truck. Here’s five reasons why it’s the worst and you shouldn’t do it.

1. Awful hours

Fires never have the decency to start at a civil time. A disproportionate amount start right when you’re sitting down for dinner, or right as your head hits the pillow. You can be out all night for a big one – I’ve had to sleep on the back of the truck before today, which would have been uncomfortable even without one of my crewmates stealing all the blankets. Get ready to overhydrate and then piss where nature intended, and munch on some ration packs that are probably Cold War surplus.

2. The bar is really low

Like, so low. Physical fitness requirements? Non existent. I’ve known fireys who could barely climb on to the truck or jog without getting out of puff. I myself am asthmatic and all I had to do was sign a waiver. Ego? Tonnes of fucking ego. You’ve not seen small dog syndrome until you’ve seen a bunch of alleged adults vying for power within a brigade committee. An ambitious little clique in a former brigade I was a member of (which shall remain nameless) took to backstabbing and driving out the old guard with such enthusiasm that the Roman senate was like “Gee wizz, chill out dudes.” At the end of the day it doesn’t matter that volunteers aren’t the cream of the crop, every pair of boots on the ground is another hand that can hold a hose. But if that behaviour is driving away new members it becomes a problem.

3. Trauma

Turns out fires are actually terrifying. The radiant heat hits you like a physical thing, the smoke chokes you through your mask, and the front can change directions out of nowhere. You’ll do traffic control, rescue, and clean up after car accidents, and you’re not going to save everybody. No matter how hard you try. I’ve attended fatal car accidents and I’ve seen my fair share of burned out cars and homes from bushfires. It’s not pleasant.

4. Clear and present danger

It’s amazing how many ways you can be maimed or killed on the fire ground. Forget the fire for a second, because that’s obvious. Instead here’s some other fun ways fireys get done in if they’re not (and sometimes even if they are) careful. Widowmakers will drop on your head (that’s a hanging branch). Burned out trees will fall on you. Trucks can roll over and squash you like a pancake. You’re doing traffic control and some lunatic tries to run you over in their commodore. Smoke gets into your lungs. You collapse from heatstroke. You miscommunicate your position to fire control and a water bomber drops an entire swimming pool on your head.

5. That ain’t a BBQ

We were out at a grassfire that had started in some farmer’s paddock. It was only small and we got on top of it easy enough, and it was pretty relaxed as far as turnouts go. But I remember getting the mouth-watering smell of barbeque, and remarked to a crew member that I was feeling a bit peckish. Laughing, he pointed to a lumpy brown something laying on a patch of burned ground nearby. Clearly, dear old Flossy hadn’t been as lucky as the rest of the flock. I wish I could say that the experience ruined lamb chops for me going forward, but I’d be lying.

So if all that sounds horribly repellent, you should probably direct your spare time to a different but equally valid volunteering entity. On the other hand if you’ve read to the end and you still hear the siren song of the big red truck, why don’t you wander down to your nearest station and sign up.

My favourite pseudoscience

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We’re in the car, Sarah and I, on a drive from somewhere to somewhere else. “Honey,” I say, “don’t you just love the Aquatic Ape theory?” Sarah is quiet for a moment. I see an eye twitch and white knuckles grip the steering wheel. My beloved wife, an archaeologist with her Masters in Cultural Heritage, is as sensible as she is clever and known not to suffer fools gladly. This is dangerous territory. “I know it’s been well and truly debunked,” I add hurriedly. “But it just makes me so happy.” And it’s true. I’m fascinated by old science and not-quite science – the naturalists and paleontologists of yesteryear (giants upon whose shoulders we stand), undeterred cryptozoologists, and unqualified but enthusiastic armchair historians. One of my cherished possessions is a vintage book on dinosaurs complete with dated reconstructions and horribly hyperbolic language, which I read when I need a laugh. Here’s a few of my top favourites.

The Aquatic Ape

Imagine if you will a troupe of ancient hominids meandering along a sandy shore. They pick through the washed up detritus, hunt for shellfish in rockpools, and frolic amongst the breakers. The theory goes that many of our features – bipedalism, hairlessness, etc, are adaptive features for an aquatic or semi aquatic lifestyle. It’s widely debunked amongst the scientific community but nevertheless persists, I expect because of it’s novelty value.

A bit like this, I guess

Honestly it’s just here for me because it’s super cute. Any time I need a serotonin hit I just imagine the little dudes splashing about in the shallows – maybe they get dunked by a wave, maybe they find a crab. They’re living their best lives. Aquatic Ape theory is sweet, silly and wholesome. Aquatic Ape theory just makes me smile from ear to ear and it can do no wrong.

The Tasmanian Tiger is still out there!

Thylacine hunters have always struck me as a beautifully optimistic bunch. They appear to be driven as much by the desire to discover as the desire to undo past wrongs – as if finding this beautiful creature alive and well after its untimely supposed extinction would somehow count as a point in our favour on some cosmic scoreboard. So far of course, they’ve been unsuccessful at producing more than alleged droppings and spoor, plus blurry footage of various animals which are not tigers.

“Do I look like a tiger to you?” – the oft misidentified Tasmanian Pademelon – https://www.jjharrison.com.au/

Nevertheless our enterprising hunters persist, and every year the good people of Tasmania play host to expeditions into the bush. To be clear I am unabashedly and unequivocally rooting for the tiger hunters here. Maybe 2021 will be your year, so keep your boots laced tight, your water bottle full and your camera charged, and go out and make history.

Neanderthal Super Predator “theory”

Trigger warning for this paragraph – mentions of r*pe

Admittedly this isn’t old science, and I don’t even consider it pseudoscience. This utter lunacy is what happens when you experiment with recreational drugs while binge watching The Time Machine. The author of this drivel, a man named Danny Vendramini, has no scientific credentials to speak of and styles himself as a visionary who stands as a radical David against the Goliath of Big Anthropology. He maintains that our closest relative Homo neanderthalensis was not just a competitor for resources, but a voracious carnivore who not only hunted our ancestors for meat, but also raped them with staggering frequency. He also thinks they looked like this:

Here comes Home Brand Bigfoot!

Apparently we were so traumatised by the widespread depredations of this monstrosity that our racial memory literally invented the bogeyman. There is a lot to unpack about the author’s fascination with linking predation and sexual assault, so lets just throw away the entire suitcase. We won’t even touch on the connotations of dehumanising a sentient species to further vilify them. I won’t drop a link to his website here because I don’t want to divert traffic to him, but I can’t stop you from a quick Google search if you’re overcome with morbid fascination and want to dive deeper into his “work”. I’ll be honest, when I started writing this I didn’t expect to end with such a dim view, but it’s left a sour taste in my mouth.

For reference, this is a modern reconstruction of one of our dear Neanderthal cousins. I’m pretty sure I saw this guy at a pub once. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy Stock Photo

Well that was a bit of a ramble, wasn’t it? There’s honestly no overarching point to make here so I’ll leave you with a link to one if my favourite blogs for more amusing paleohistorical goodness, Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs: https://chasmosaurs.com/. If I’ve attacked your most cherished pseudoscience and you’d like to tell me off, or if you want to tell me about your favourites, please leave a comment below.

Introducing my parents to Dungeons & Dragons – a lockdown story

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During the first major lockdown in Victoria last year, Sarah and I made the decision to move in with my parents temporarily for mutual company and some support with Ellie. I was optimistic. We were going to fill our evenings, I had decided, with drinks and games. What a sight I must have been arriving on their doorstep with bag in hand, little Ellie on my shoulders and a stack of board games and dice tucked under my arm. A small campaign of Dungeons and Dragons was just the thing. I had attempted to run a game once before with only a small amount of success but I was confident I was ready this time – I had been watching “how to” videos after all! So after a great deal of badgering, Mum and Dad relented to humour me and sit down for a session, along with Sarah and my brother Dan (They often read this blog. Hi family!). Here’s some things I learned on the way.

Accessibility is vital to keep new players interested

To the horror of many a veteran rpg gamer, I chose to run a 5th edition D&D game – I find it very accessible for new players, and I wanted to make sure my folks didn’t lose interest. I wrote a quick map and the first few encounters, and a not tremendously original story about a sleepy border town and children being kidnapped by a necromancer and their followers. I decided on premade characters – I made a handful and let everyone pick who they liked best. As a bit of a personal spin I drew a picture of each character to go with their character sheet. In the end we had Sarah as Valerie Trueheart the human paladin, Mum as Lanni Featherfoot the gnome ranger, Dad as Althos Branduin the half-elf barbarian, and Dan as Magog Thunderfist the half-orc monk. I think the moment they really started to get into things was when I placed their character sheets and a sketch I’d drawn of each character in front of them.

Enjoyment is more important than rules adherence

I’m a big advocate of being flexible with rules as a DM. I’m there to facilitate an enjoyable story, not to beat my players into the dust like I’m playing a game of Risk or something – I’ve been a player in a campaign like that before, and I have to tell you it was about as fun as stubbing your toe. Maybe I’ll write about it down the track. Back to the family game, in practice this meant that when I realised I had misjudged the power of their first random encounter terribly I simply had the damned creature run off once they’d hit it enough, as if this was my plan all along and not just a rookie error. They got the success of scaring off a monster (which I maintain is more realistic behaviour than every single enemy fighting to the bitter end, and keeps things varied), the story progressed, and I avoided having a total party wipe in the first session.

Not for the faint of heart

My family approach a game of DnD with all the wild enthusiasm of the proverbial bull in the proverbial china shop. Within the first 30 seconds they had latched in to a throwaway NPC whom I’d used to set the scene, and completely ignored the big dangling plot hooks which I had oh so cleverly placed.
Dad and Dan soon found the tavern and apparently decided to go drink for drink with their respective characters. Several gin and tonics later and I could barely get a word in edgeways between them. Mum would conceal a dice roll and with a decidedly impish grin insist that she had rolled a natural 20. Sarah was eager to get the most out of her paladin (a class she had never played) and so spent half the first night pouring over rules documents. I’ve participated in games with twice the number of players that were half as chaotic.

When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail

Giving dad a barbarian character may have, in hindsight, been a mistake. Monsters were met with his axe. Puzzles and traps were met with his axe. NPC interactions were met with threats, at least one attempted kidnapping, and then his axe. It’s not that he disliked roleplay, or puzzle solving, or anything like that; but when the solution is in your hands and you still have a Barbarian Rage left in your pocket, why not play to your class strengths? By this point I had learned not to invest too much preparation into each individual NPC, or into elaborate traps – if something was needed I just made it up on the fly which actually worked fairly well.

I would do it all over again

Despite things coming close to careening off the rails everyone had a grand old time. Mum especially has talked about playing more, which has been a pleasant surprise. At the time of writing we’re back in lockdown restrictions again and can’t visit each other, but you can bet once that changes I’ll be kicking down their door with dice in hand. Whether you’re new to tabletop RPGs or a seasoned veteran, you can get a lot of value out of this spin on family game night.

My First Time as a LARP NPC: Bernhardt’s Wild Weekend

In the thick of battle. Photo credit Hannah’s Happy Snaps

Imagine if you will a hooded figure marching with purpose through a tent city, past the town guards, through the maze of hawkers, merchants and guilds. He leans on a staff festooned with trinkets, feathers, bones and jingling bells, and he greets people in the crowd as he goes about his business. There is his contact – he stops to speak with a person sitting beneath the awning of a large tent – he needs support and soldiers, and this is one way to get them. As the two get down to the business of negotiating, another voice cuts through the conversation. “Daddy, I want UP!”

As I mentioned in this previous post I recently ran as one of two major NPCs in a weekend LARP event. This was my first event as an NPC of any kind, and also my first event with an almost 4 year old who’s willpower exceeds my own. So we had a blast, and here’s a few things I learned and some stories from the weekend.

The Stoll family: Bernhardt, Inga, and little Elsbeth

Non Stop

The biggest difference for me was how constantly switched on I had to be. We anticipated being busy, so we precooked meals and stayed in a cabin on site instead of a tent. Even then I was run off my feet. I could barely stroll to the toilet without being accosted multiple times. The main thrust of the game was myself and another NPC vying over resources and influence to become mayor of this fictional fantasy town, and so everyone wanted to talk to us to negotiate deals, get quests, coerce, and occasionally attempt assassination.

Small Person

Ellie loves LARP. She gets to dress up and swing a sword about, and play with all of mummy and daddy’s friends. I’m fairly sure that she’s convinced that our weekly battlegame is held solely for her benefit. Attending a LARP event with your kid is a challenge, but of course can be good fun if you’re prepared. Unfortunately you do sometimes have to compromise your highly sought after sense of immersion in order to parent. Little bladders and hungry tummies do not wait for you to finish roleplay. Along with the usual parenting tricks like bringing extra snacks and a change of knickers, we always carried an extra sword to satisfy her insatiable lust for LARP violence. Also, we had friends playing who were willing on occasion to babysit for in-game coppers.

“Father I crave violence!” Photo credit Hannah’s Happy Snaps

Two Distinct Goals

As an NPC I was part of an excellent team of volunteers and organisers, and I cannot speak highly enough of their professionalism and passion for the project (some of them likely read this blog. You cuties know who you are). I had two aims over the weekend, the first of course being to overthrow my rival. The second goal, the more important one I suspect, was to make sure the game ran smoothly and enjoyably. To this end I made sure to catch up with other NPCs regularly, especially my in character opponent, to chat about what we were doing and what we would do next, and debrief or address any issues that had cropped up, out of character. This regular checking in and planning ahead was probably the biggest change of gears from being a regular player.

Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown

The event was a modestly sized one with something like 300 attendees (more than what we hoped for, and still the biggest event our group has run to date), and was my first time commanding a side in large scale battles. It’s incredibly exhilarating to fill your lungs and shout orders to charge, to stand firm, to push the enemy back.

Bernhardt carved his legacy on the battlefield with an axe in hand and a prayer to the Wild King on his lips, and eventually emerged victorious. The real joke is on the township though – their new mayor is nearly illiterate and inclined to wander off into the deep woods for weeks at a time to reconnect with his god.

“May Taal guide your path.” Photo credit to Hannah’s Happy Snaps

All in all I had an absolute blast and can’t wait to be an NPC again. Which is super lucky because the event will run next year, presumably with Bernhardt as the incumbent mayor facing a new challenger. Check back in approximately one year’s time to see how that pans out.

Quitting your shitty desk job and starting work as a farmhand: 6 things I’ve learned

If you’re following me on Instagram (no pressure) then it will not be news to you that I recently quit my safe full time job as a hotel admin/receptionist in exchange for farming potatoes. On the surface it’s not the most financially sound long term decision I’ve made, but I felt I had little choice. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice to say that a toxic environment of gossip, bullying, miserly pay and terrible work life balance was not an environment in which I was thriving. So I walked out with my head held high, and a kindly friend assured me a job on a potato farm where he also worked over harvest season, to get me by.  

I had never done anything of the sort before and didn’t know what to expect. But I told myself, “Matt, you’re a country boy at heart. You’ll take to this like a duck to water. No worries.” 

No worries indeed. Here’s a few things I discovered as I stepped out of my comfort zone.

The friend in question on the left (a spud farmer in between acting gigs) and yours truly on the right

1. Your Body is not Ready

Ok, maybe yours is. You hit the gym every day and run a half marathon before breakfast. You should be fine. I was not fine. My doughy body, so used to sitting behind a computer, was not ready for a full day of physical work and by the end of the first shift on the harvester felt like a bag of jelly that had been pounded by a mallet. I actually napped during my lunch break – in my defence the sun was shining and the grass was comfy. It’s taken a little time, but I’m getting used to the work and probably on my way to becoming slightly less doughy.

2. Daily Schedules are malleable

Behind on schedule while there’s a truck waiting to make the next delivery? Guess what, lunch is getting delayed. Something’s jammed the conveyer belt? Take a breather while it gets sorted out. It works both ways I suppose. You get up at the crack of dawn for an early start, but if the work is slow and you’re running behind then sometimes you’ll push on past dark. Heavy rain or mechanical issues can stop work for a day or more if you’re unlucky. All in all it’s a jarring change of pace if you’re coming from a regular 9 to 5 job.

3. Rotten potatoes smell worse than you can imagine

No, even worse than that.

4. Country hospitality is alive and well

As I said above, I grew up in a small town so I’m used to small town attitudes. But if this was, for whatever reason, your idea of a tree change (ya big ol’ city slicker) then you’re in for a pleasant surprise. A family run farm is a pretty special thing in it’s way. Long term employees are basically considered family – the fellow who drives our tractor has been with the farm for something like 14 years, and has on one occasion paused work because the owner’s small daughter had come along with her granny to show him her new princess dress. That old fashioned hospitality extends to seasonal workers – you can fill a bag with spuds for yourself if you ask, and they’ll feed you as well. I’ve honestly eaten the best damned pikelets on the planet there. Fresh out of the farm kitchen, slathered in cream and jam. I’m getting hungry again just writing about them.
This sort of work is usually considered the domain of travellers, backpackers and other assorted blow-ins. But with the good old ‘rona and it’s associated travel restrictions, plus the economy spiralling down the toilet* the harvester has been filled with mostly locals like myself.

*The economy is always spiralling down the toilet. Also I don’t understand economics.

Ol’ Reliable. She’s bigger in person.

5. Accidents will happen, but are a key source of comedy and banter

The other day a rogue potato tumbled from the harvesters conveyer belt and hit me between the legs. This was considered hilarious by all who witnessed it. Prior to that I had jammed my thumb in the harvester door, which is possessed of an unnecessarily strong magnet, while climbing out at the end of the day. In wrenching my hand free I lost my balance and fell a good 6 feet down the ladder, and landed on the world’s prickliest thistle. This was considered the funniest thing in comedy since the invention of the cream pie to the face. I’m yet to hear the end of it.

6. It will do you the world of good

I’m honestly feeling healthier at the moment than I have since before lockdown (accidents notwithstanding). I’m getting plenty of physical exercise, I’m out in the fresh air, nowhere near a takeaway so I’m forced to eat a healthy lunch, I’m getting plenty of social interaction with some decent and friendly people, and not a single soul has mentioned KPIs the entire time. It’s super low stress and has been a wonderful rest for the brain.

It’s not for everyone, not by any stretch. But it’s suiting me to a tee at the moment, and as long as I don’t fall off the harvester again I suspect I’ll come out of this better than I came in.

The wonderful world of LARP: Creating a Character

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Last year I was approached to create a prominent NPC for a fantasy LARP event* which would take place over a long weekend. Of course, 2020 happened in all of it’s glory and the event was postponed, but it’s back on the cards and I am super excited. Designing a new character for a LARP event or tabletop game is one of my favourite creative processes, but some people do find it challenging. There’s a lot to figure out and it can be overwhelming. So here I’ll talk through my process, share some tips and tricks, and we’ll all learn something along the way. My experience is predominately with historical and fantasy LARP so that’ll be our focus.

*LARP, for those not familiar, stands for Live Action RolePlay – basically a group of players adopt character personas, put on costumes and physically act out a scenario together. Lots of good fun, you get out in the fresh air and get to whack your friends with foam swords.

The First Step

When I’m sitting down to make a new character I set the foundations with two key pieces of information – a name, and a job. This not only gives you a solid base to build on, but it’s actually enough to let you begin engaging in roleplay with relative confidence.

“I am Reginald and I am a tailor,” you might say. It gives you a place in the world, anchors you to it with a purpose. As our hypothetical character Reginald a few sentences back is a tailor we can make a few assumptions; he’s skilled with his hands, likely hails from a town or city, he’s probably not wealthy. Any assumption that you can make another player could make as well, and their actions will be driven accordingly. Some folks don’t go any further than this, but for many it’s just the beginning. We’ll touch on roleplay and more in depth character building a little further down below.

Costuming

A key part of LARP is dressing up. The extent to which you do depends on the individual game – my most regular LARP styles itself as a battlegame; the weekly games are relatively roleplay light and combat heavy and as a result have a lower minimum starting requirement. So where to start? 

There’s plenty of dedicated retailers online, especially for fantasy or historical LARPS. Be aware that they vary in price and quality accordingly, and as with any mass produced clothing item you’re not always going to get a perfect fit. Commissioning custom made clothes from a historical costumer is also an option, but is significantly more expensive as a rule. It’s worth the investment in terms of quality, but be prepared to wait for it.

If you’re on a tight budget (like me) then an excellent cost effective option can be hitting up a thrift shop. Here you’ll find old wool blankets that make the basis of an excellent cloak, you’ll find flowy plain shirts to make a tunic, interesting belts to cinch your new tunic with, calf length boots (I fit a womans size ten or eleven) which will cost you a tenth of a reproduction medieval shoe, and all sorts of odds and ends to use as props. I love thrifting. 

I won’t go into too much detail on the crafting side of things – many much more talented folks have already covered that in great detail. Jump onto youtube and check out the abundance of vlogs and sewing tutorials if you’d like to try it for yourself. I’ll just say that making your own gear can be very rewarding, and there’s nothing more satisfying than receiving a compliment on a new item that’s the product of your own hard work. 

Roleplay

Roleplaying is central to the LARP experience – it’s even in the name. As above you can get by on the basics just fine, but if you want to go deeper you need to expand upon your character’s background. Establish some key pieces of information; where are they from, who are the important people in their life, are they religious, what brings them joy, or makes them angry or afraid? All this helps you to relate to other characters, and directs how you will interact with them.

Something important to keep in mind is that your story is only beginning. When you take a character into a roleplay situation you’ll get more out of it if they have room for growth. 

Taking it to the Next Level

“That’s all well and good but when do I get a sword?” Most typical LARPs involve combat to a lesser or greater extent. Knights and barbarians clash swords, wizards sling spells (often you just need a beanbag and a good throwing arm), and interstellar marines blow away alien monstrosities in a hail of Nerf darts.

Arms and armour, or hard kit, is a big investment. It is also not one that should be taken lightly. A mistake I often see in new LARPers and reenactors (and in fact one that I have lived out) is to spend their hard earned cash on some fancy armour or weapon straight off the mark. They’re easy to spot at a LARP game with an ill fitting helmet slipping over the eyes and clunky pieces of plate armour strapped across a bulky gambeson. Often they will have a katana and rarely will they know how to use it. A much better option is to borrow your first weapon – either from a charitable fellow player or from a pool of loaner weapons if your game has them. Learn, get a feel for what suits you, and then go shopping.

Consider that hard kit should be an accessory, not a cornerstone to your character. Even the most knightly of knights takes off their armour and puts their sword down when they’re not in battle.

Bringing it Together

Here we have the end result for the event, and a character that I’m excited to explore further. Bernhardt Stoll, wandering priest of the wild god Taal (yes, it’s a Warhammer LARP of all things), former forester and all around family man.

Photo credit to Hannah’s Happy Snaps

The hood and tunic are hand made – not by me but by my super talented wife. The boots and trousers are thrift shop finds, the under-tunic, belt and pouch were pilfered from my 14th century reenactment gear, the staff is a stick I found on a bushwalk, plus some bones and feathers and knicknacks I’ve collected over time. The weapons were bought specially to suit the character, being a skinning knife and a woodsmans axe. I wouldn’t ordinarily spend so much on hard kit in one go, but this was a special case and I can’t deny being a little excited and impulsive.

By the time this post goes up, the event will be done and dusted. Next time you hear from me I’ll hopefully be sharing more photos, and stories of all the things that Bernhardt got up to over that weekend.