A couple of months ago I posted a message on larp fora to ask for people to accompany me to Outlore in the UK. To show how cool it was I posted along some videoclips from previous Outlores.
The result was a cry for unsafety, disaster in making etc.
It's seems that in Belgium a lot of larpers are afraid of some bruises and want super safe fights.
Now I also like fights in a larp to be safe. But aren't we overdoing it here in Belgium?
My first larp at Conquest of Mythodea introduced to me fighting that was a lot harder than in Belgium. Harder weapons, shieldbashes, etc. But did I cry out that it was unsafe? No, I actually enjoyed it immensely.
I still remember when I was a kid we played zorro. We hadden WOODEN sticks that we used as swords. Some of us even had hard PLASTIC swords that are way harder than the hardest larp sword. You can even buy those today in toy shops!
So why is it that some larpers cry out that we are fighting unsafe with our very soft latex coated weapons when we allow kids to hit eachother with wooden or hard plastic swords?
I believe that with some common sense and safe weapons and shields (i.e. all foam shields) you can have some 'hard' fights where the worst one can get is some bruises.
I still remember the guy with a gambeson under a full plate armour who was crying out when someone hit his SHIELD to hard. I mean, a foam weapon on a foam shield and that guy (in full plate) was complaining of the hard hit.
Maybe we should have a larp revolution to bring the fun back into fighting instead more and more safety rules.
4 comments:
Vechten is voor jeanetten! Zever en geleuter FTW! :-))
I have been LARPing nearly eleven years in the U.S., and the safety issues you bring up were regular concerns in a few of the games I attended. Shieldbashing is not allowed, 45 degree swings are the largest you can employ, and there are strict regulations for weapons, which leaves them looking bloated.
I support your revolution. If I don't leave LARP with a few bruises or a bloody knee, I know I wasn't in worthwhile combat.
I have been Larping in the UK for about 21 years and have seen fighting become much safer. This I put down to improvements in weapon design and better awareness. When I first started it was nothing to be running around the woods hitting each other with gaffer weapons that weren't much softer than the curtain poles they were made of.
Yes, even with the super safe weapons of today, people still get hurt occassionally, but a little bit of common sense and maturity is all that is needed.
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