Boffer Weapon Guidelines
While there are many designs and kinds of LARP weapons I am establishing a basic set of guidelines for the weapons to be used at LARPcon. All weapons must be inspected by a LARPcon staff member at check in before use. Each weapon will carry a safety tag to show it has passed inspection. The staff reserves the right to deny the use of any weapon it deems unsafe even if for some reason is follows the guidelines. I.e. it is too heavy or dangerous for some unforeseen reason. These guidelines are not designed to tell you how to make a weapon but to see if your existing weapons can be used at the convention.
Here are the basic guidelines:
1. All striking surfaces must have at least 5/8 inch pipe insulation padding. This includes the sides of swords. Any weapon with a rigid core (a core that does not flex with impact such as aluminum, must have an addition 5/8 inches of padding).
2. All weapons that can be used for thrusting must have 2 inches of open cell foam for a thrusting tip.
3. One handed weapons must not exceed 46 inches. Two handed weapons must not exceed 72 inches. The minimum length for any melee weapon is 24 inches.
4. Shields may not exceed 36 inches in any direction. All shield edges must have 5/8 inch pipe insulation padding.
5. Thrown weapons may not have a rigid core and must be constructed all of foam.
6. There are no flails or chain weapons.
Safety at LARPcon.
In order to ensure a safe environment for all participants, there will be staff members who are responsible for making sure the combat safe. These staff members will have the responsibility of warning or removing participants who fight unsafely. Most often, a private warning will issued to the participant before any formal action is taken. The staff members can remove a participant from combat for an event or the entire day if the need call for it. I certainly believe that it will not come to this. After all, it is all just for fun. Fight safely and there will be no issue.
Basic combat guidelines:
While the various adventures you attend may have separate guidelines for safety depending on the rules of the game, there are certain safety guidelines that will govern all combat for LARPcon. They are:
1. No Physical Contact. You may not touch another participant in combat or on any adventure.
2. No hitting in the head, neck, hands or groin.
3. No wild baseball swings. Swings that require a wind-up. In other words, don’t hit hard.
Emergency and Caution.
In addition to combat guidelines there will be three simple mechanics that we will use to make sure the convention is as safe as possible. They are:
Emergency: Something has happened that is significant enough to stop what ever is taking place to attend to the injured person. Yell Emergency as loud as you can to stop all action in the area. This is similar to a Hold in many popular games.
Caution: A Caution call is to inform a small area that there is some danger or that you need a moment to collect yourself. Instances where a Caution is used are hits that hurt but you need to take a minute to collect yourself (it happens to all of us), someone you are fighting is unaware of a danger, equipment failure such as a broken sword or shield. 99 percent of all incidents can be taken care safely and efficiently with the use of a Caution call. A Caution call only caused a small pause in the action, long enough for all the parties involved to collect themselves.
|
