How to explain Belegarth

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How to explain Belegarth

Postby ICARUS » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:28 am

So the problem I come up with when I try recruit people is explaining Belegarth without it sounding really complex or really dorky. So does anyone have any good "one liners" or ways to explain Belegarth quickly and easily?
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Postby Peregrine » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:33 am

I just say that it's full contact medieval combat.
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Postby ICARUS » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:34 am

talk about quick!!! Not mentioning a good one liner to boot.
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Postby Zzyzx » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:37 am

If it's just a quick explanation - I call it a "Medieval Combat Sport", and compare our Local, Regional, and National events to Paintball's somewhat similar event structure, since people usually have a vague familiarty with that.

I also mention that people in our game come from all different backgrounds: military, martial arts, students, gamers, and even some "normal" folks.
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Postby xiao » Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:04 am

medeival martial arts club works for me :)
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Postby ashling » Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:06 am

I call it a full contact sport with foam representations of weapons. Smile and say, basically we dress funny and beat on people with sticks. Then I make the clarification that yes, I am a dork. People love it!
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Postby Syrik » Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:25 am

I pretty much say it's a geek's sport. Being uncool in a cool way is the new "cool". It depends on who you are talking to though, when talking to a jock it tends to be better to bring up injurys and how hardcore it can be.
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Postby Magpie Saegar » Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:26 pm

i say,"it's a full contact medieval sword fighting club. Um... basically, we get together and ...hit each other with swords, and work on techniques. It's like a sport. Do you know what a LARP is? Yeah, well, it's not a LARP... it's like if you take a LARP and remove the hit points, classes, role-playing, and magic..... and just turn it into a pure sport....


.....it's NOT A LARP, shut up! Yeah, come try it out sometime, it's free."



At least, that's what I say if it's one of my friends.... or my roommates, who give me trouble about it.
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Postby Nuri » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:47 pm

When describing to people who have no clue: "We are a medieval/fantasy group with an emphasis on recreating combat.

To geeky-types who ask: "We're the * child of LARPs and the SCA."

To my non-fighting friends: "We dress up funny and hit each other with padded sticks."
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Postby Orso, » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:05 pm

i hand them a sword and start hitting them until they get excited and they wanna hit me back. After there in froth then i teach them the rules. Spar them and teach them rules as they come up.
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Postby Outis » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:50 pm

My one liners are usually:

It's like paintball but with swords instead of guns.

It's like football with swords...and no ball.

or

We basically hit each other with padded sticks.


If people still seem interested I usually say the rules are really simple. If you get hit in the arm, you lose the arm; if you get hit in the leg, you go down on a knee; if you get hit in the torso or lose two limbs, you die. That's it*.

*I specifically avoid piercing rule and other stuff to keep things simple.

I then explain that the sport is very safe. If I have a weapons that's when I show them how they are padded. I explain that the rest of the rules are all about safety (eg. no head shots).

Then I'll highlight whatever aspect of Belegarth they might be most interested in:
-Straight fighting as a sport
-Martial Arts/sword techniques
-Strategy and battle tactics
-Crafts like foam smithing, armoring, or garb making
-Medieval studies
-Role Playing (though we don't really do any RP in my realm)
-Generally hanging out with cool geeky people.
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Postby Big King Jimmy » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:00 pm

"We're belegarth, we're a national orgination comprised of about (random number*) members, in nearly all 48 continetal states. We participate in a safe form of medival combat using weapons that are padded for safety. The game is simple and fast paced.

(Stop if they ask if you're a larp and shoot that down, stop if they just aren't interested, stop if they call you a geek, ect. This is the first chance to back down.)

Explain the game system: Your body has 5 hit locations, 2 arms, 2 legs, and your torso. a hit to the arm and you drop what's in your hand and put your arm behind your back, a hit to the leg and you drop to a knee. 2 limbs and your dead, a hit to the body and you're dead. We use swords, shields, axes, maces, flails, javalins, bow and arrow, spears, glailves, and I'm sure I'm missing something.

(At this point, they'll have some sort of question. Or, it'll be a lot easier to read if they're excited.)

Just kind of improv it from there.

*somewhere between 2-5 thousand, depending on how confident I feel in the sport that day

**pointing out high membership helps rule us out of being a cult or a small group of dorks. We're basically not even a sub-culture, with the exception of being multigenerational.
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Postby Syrik » Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:26 pm

Spar them and teach them rules as they come up.


if you have the chance to spar with them, that is the best way to describe it, and to get people interested. If you bring out rules then people feel like their fun is being suffocated. When they wonder about a rule explain it to them.
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Postby Brooder » Sat Mar 10, 2007 1:33 am

If I feel like buosting how manly this sport is, I say something like, "We take foam weapons and beat each other with them. As dorky as this sounds, I play full contact hockey and I have played high school football and Belegarth's physicality is on par. Trust me, this will leave marks on you." *proceeds to show bruises*

But to others, I just say something along the lines of, "Belegarth is a international organization that promotes the combat aspect of the Dark Ages and Lord of the Rings. I know I'm bais towards it but it's really, really neat." and give them a weapon or something and tell them that they are welcomed to come to practice and they can borrow weapons for free there.
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Postby Eris » Sat Mar 10, 2007 11:50 am

It let's you beat the * out of high school brats without getting you sent to jail for it! What more could you want?
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Postby Hunter S. » Sat Mar 10, 2007 2:18 pm

Tell people it's a combat sport.

That peaks their attention--then tell them it's full contact fighting with fake weapons, and bingo, they're hooked ;)
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Postby Reverend » Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:20 pm

A perfect example of why you should always wear your garb/armor before and after practice:

Thursday night, after our realm opening, a couple of use went to Denny's for some coffee and a chat.

The three of us were still in garb and I was still in armor.

Someone walked up to me and interupted us. "Excuse me. I just wanted to let you know that I think your arm protection thing is pretty dang cool. Where did you get those?"

"Well, I had a friend make them for me. I'm part of a Medieval Combat group. Would you like to learn how to make your own?"

"Sure. I mean, I don't have a lot of money but I think things like that are awesome."

"Well, cool. We meet *insert details*. Why don't you come down some time? We're setting up some nights this summer for armor classes."

True conversation. In a stupid Denny's. WEAR YOUR EFFING GARB!
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Postby ICARUS » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:21 am

I have to say wearing you garb always is good and is also one of my biggest problems with the Morrigains brood. True some are new but some just rather wear jeans and a shirt instead of some garb. Which I think might actually be hurting our recruitment efforts which is sad cause the more you have to fight the funner it is.
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Postby Reverend » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:41 pm

ICARUS wrote:I have to say wearing you garb always is good and is also one of my biggest problems with the Morrigains brood. True some are new but some just rather wear jeans and a shirt instead of some garb. Which I think might actually be hurting our recruitment efforts which is sad cause the more you have to fight the funner it is.


Crack down on it.

I did the same thing for a while. I was wearing some Army Surplus pants and a wife-beater.

Then the realm set a loose rule.

"If you don't have garb, even just a simple tabard, you have 2 more weeks to get some. If you don't have some at that time, you don't fight."

I call it a loose rule because you can use your judgement on bending that rule.

But seriously, a basic tabard costs what? $4 for the fabric?

You can also play around with some of the other rules as well.

Take a single practice and build tabards. Nothing too fancy or anything, just single color with a sash, but bring the fabric and then charge a percentage of that cost.

Garb is a necessity.
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Postby ICARUS » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:34 pm

I don't have the authority to set any rules and every time I have tried to tell some people to get some garb I have 3 people saying that I'm only saying it b/c my girlfriend can sew and etc
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Postby savetuba » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:22 pm

bah, it doesn't take an idiot to figure, sweat pants and 1 yard of cloth from walmart $1 bin equals ok garb. NO SEWING! Just a measure and cut a hole in the fabric. Use extra fabric to tie taberd to body.

As fr wearing garb. If you want to publicly advertise gather a group up and hit different places on different days.

Ways I have gotten people:

Wendy's: after fighting got the entire staff wondering and finally the manager came over and asked what the garb armor was for. After explaining we passed out several fliers, got free frosties and have been back to wendy's twice monthly for free frosties. I'd swear Wendy's would sponcer us if we asked.

Walmart: Buying anything in garb and the staff and visitors are always curious. Staff tend to ask, but regular people will stand and gawk. If the keep looking at you but acting like they are unsure about approaching, go over and ask them if they were admiring your garb/armor. What ever they say explain to them what it is for.

some stories from wal mart...
buying 12 arrows made some of the staff asked 'what are you hunting?'
"people"
really?
"yes" GRIN
you actually shoot people with these arrows.
"every week." laugh like it is a joke, NO EVIL LAUGHS "in fact if you want to try it you are more than welcome to join us."
and we went on to explain what we do.
We had her show up shortly after that just to shoot people.

night of build day. We bought out all 6 rolls of camp pad. Had a nice chat with the manager when we were stopped due to the armor. gee because we are wearing armor we must have weapons on us.

home Depot see wall mart. ;)

Taco bell at 9pm: staff asked, we told. Got several people out.

Church group. Hooked one person, he told his church group and they all showed up. boy was that a day.

Sure it is a small town, but no matter were I go everyone knows me. With garb, with armor or without. Looking good OBVIOUSLY helps. Knowing how to talk to people tends to close the deal. Actually that is how I found my GF...well now ex GF, but that is a different story.
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Postby ICARUS » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:48 pm

savetuba- I don't think recruiting the next sereail killer is good for anyone espically when you are training her how to hunt people.
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Postby savetuba » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:55 pm

dur, you smile and use tone while saying it. Like you are a young kid who is fooling around to get attention. Besides it should be easy to tell the ones who want to have fun from the ones who want to hurt people.
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Postby ICARUS » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:41 am

sorry- forgot to say I was joking.
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Postby Soo Ma Tai » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:55 am

This was once stated by Izareth....

"It's full contact foam fighting in a fantasy dark ages setting"

I think it sums it up pretty well.
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Postby Xenoc » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:30 am

To get people interested I usually tell them that there is a sport where you do full contact sword fighting, that's fast paced, and lots of fun. We have a team here in town with (however many) members and we fight every (practice time). It's really fun, come try it out!

They almost always jump in with a million questions and come to the very next practice. but yeah it was explained really well above. Football with swords and no ball. :D :devil:
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Postby Eris » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:33 am

And don't forget, if you're talking to a chick about it mention that the ratio of men to women is something like 20 to 1... A veritable smorgasbord! :devil: ;)
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Postby Sqeege » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:46 am

Eris wrote:And don't forget, if you're talking to a chick about it mention that the ratio of men to women is something like 20 to 1... A veritable smorgasbord! :devil: ;)


Yeah, 20 hot and sweaty nerds all over the one OMGGIRL!!! 8)
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Postby Eris » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:58 pm

It's better than 20 pale, useless, clammy, pimply faced nerds who know how to program in 6 languages, have the D&D rules for the past 4 editions memorized, and have absolutely no inter-personal skills whatsoever. And trust me, that's what geek chicks usually have to go for. It's sad.

Oh, and at least in this game, you can beat up the guy if he * you off.
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Postby To'Gur » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:29 pm

It's better than 20 pale, useless, clammy, pimply faced nerds who know how to program in 6 languages, have the D&D rules for the past 4 editions memorized, and have absolutely no inter-personal skills whatsoever.


well im screwed then
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Postby Kensman Bam » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:41 pm

Well I took some of your ideas and spruced it up a bit, if you recognize your statements...thank you in advance..hehe

We are Belegarth. We're a national organization comprised of about 4500 members who participate in a safe form of medieval combat using weapons that are padded for safety. The game is simple, fast paced and a full contact sport.

We use a game system consisting of 5 hit locations on the body, with results ranging from wounded to dead. We use safe, foam covered swords, shields, axes, maces, flails, javelins, bows and arrows, spears, and glaives. Fighting can be one vs. one or 200 vs. 200, and can last for literally seconds to 10 minutes.
There's something for almost everyone. Why should you try Belegarth?
- Beat people with sticks legally
- Relieve stress (see above)
- Experience the thrill of battle
- Create your own battle strategies
- Try your hand at crafts like weapon smithing, armoring or garb making
- Learn about Medieval cultures
- Role-playing lite
- Camping

And then I added my contact info and practice locations to the end of this.

For those that have Craigslist in you area, try posting something there under groups or activities, and see what ya get.

Thanks again!
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Postby Renato » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:40 pm

Also mention that a lot of the menfolk have long hair, that usually does it!

And yes, I love the "and then you can beat him up if he * you off."
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Postby Tren » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:06 pm

Whenever someone asks me about foam fighting the conversation usually goes something like this

"Well have you ever heard of the SCA?"
"No, I haven't"
"Well the SCA is a sport where people dress up in full armor and beat the hell out of each other with bamboo sticks."
"OMG that sounds painful!"
"Yeah... foam fightings a slightly less hardcore version of that. We fight with padded boffers but it's still a full-contact sport. You can body check people, shield bash them-- it's a lot like football in terms of physicallity."

I always try to play down the fantasy aspects of it, because even some nerds can get put off by the idea of dressing up like an elf and going out in public. I don't lie about it, but I emphasis the fact it's very challenging physically, requires skill to get good, and it's a lot of fun to do with your friends.
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Postby Renato » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:25 pm

Also in the college setting I emphasize "it's a great way to destress"
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Postby To'Gur » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:31 am

for some reason the sca dosnt like foam fighters all that much
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Postby Vokor » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:54 am

I like "Violent chess" then give them a evil grim and ask them if the want to play.
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Postby Feaher » Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:13 pm

"This is like tibia, it looks all nerdy and stupid on the outside, but when you play it is actually fun" my friends first time, and i love his description.
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Postby Roanoa Kiran » Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:36 pm

to be entirly honest in many ways we are more of a contact sport then the SCA, we just use different methods to provide safety, they wear portection and we pad our weapons(no sexual puns intented)
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Postby Olos » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:32 pm

When they don't get the comcept of it, I say: "think of it as paintball, but with swords and shields instead of guns." Then they pretty well get the main point of it, and I can go into the rules more if they are interested.

But really, my girlfriend is a better recruiter than me, much more social and all that.
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Postby Tren » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:52 pm

Olos wrote:But really, my girlfriend is a better recruiter than me, much more social and all that.


Boobs go a long way too.
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Postby Ryoma » Sat Mar 31, 2007 7:11 am

"We dress up in costumes, run around a field, and beat the **** out of each other with Nerf bats."
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Postby diesel » Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:04 pm

Tren wrote:
Olos wrote:But really, my girlfriend is a better recruiter than me, much more social and all that.


Boobs go a long way too.


dude yeah, i got a couple girls at my school that as soon as they said they were going, like 20 other people wanted to as well
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Postby TEL Archer » Sat Mar 31, 2007 7:42 pm

Well, I say something along the lines of this:

"It is a fun, cheap sport where you bash each other with mideval style weapons"
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Postby bo1 » Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:54 pm

i hand them a sword and start hitting them until they get excited and they wanna hit me back. After there in froth then i teach them the rules. Spar them and teach them rules as they come up.


i can not for the life of me think of a better way to sell the sport. i have trained over 100 poeple the rules and combat system, handing them a sword puts a smile on every member that stays. it never fails, hand them a sword, if they smile = new member, if they just kinda look at it and go Ehhh, never coming back.
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Postby Outhro Youkker » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:46 pm

The best way to convince people and explain to them is the simple fact of how inside everyone's mind there is a little spot where the image of William Wallace from Braveheart stands.

Just start with what I ask.

"What do you think about Medival Combat?"

It doesnt matter what they answer, it could be possitive or negative. Just follow up with:
"Just think about how you would feel about running across a field of grass with others as you fight and slay other players?"

You can change the ending a bit with
"...Running across the field like in Braveheart or 300 to slay your opponents?"
"...Running across the field with a sword, shield, ax, spear, flail or any other weapon combination you can think of to pummel someone in full contact combat? "

You have 3 possible reaction.
No, not interested. Fine, tell them to visit and enjoy a great spectator sport.
Maybe, but dont know. Ask them what idea of weaponry they would want to use, and then explain to them the game. They will have a better idea of the game and can then choose to try or not. Invite them to go watch. They might join in later.
Yes. DONE, just explain the game and say when is the practice.


in 3 months I turned the total of 8 to 40+ fighter, where atleast 20 of them where mine by recruitment.
The problem was the leadership and most got scared off from fighting. I am trying to convince them back onto the field but into Umbar territory.
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Postby savetuba » Thu Feb 07, 2008 3:26 pm

I have tried several different ideals and the one that has gotten the most attention is:

Medieval Combat SIMULATION.

Anyone who reads/understands that will know it won't be real weaponry, but they will still be able to fight, It isn't 100% historical, but can have historical parts in it.

For the newer generation simulation sounds a lot like a 3D game and you follow it up with their parents' with "HE/SHE is not sitting in front of the TV/Puter, but is instead outside running around and exercising. Meeting real people and making friends."
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explaining

Postby Farin » Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:43 pm

What i say is " We get together with padded swords and beat the tar out of each other, then we laugh and continue." or " We are a group of friends that get together and have medieval"ish" fights with SAFE weapons, its a fast passed good time." and if they are interested i invite them to come out and fight some, start slow and work them in.
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Postby Thomas MacFinn » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:12 am

How not to get members: Hand them a sword and beat the hell out them. That would be funny if I didn't see people do it.

As an alternative: Hand them a sword and say "Hit me". If they tap you, don't block it, grin and say "go ahead and swing. They're padded." If they wind up to swing like a baseball bat, block it and say "this is where technique comes in." Let them see how good it feels to safely beat on people before you start beating back.

Ten year old boys usually have no problems with Belegarth and dive right in. The older we get, the more we have to make an effort to give ourselves permission to have fun like little kids.
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Postby Cib » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:52 am

Thomas MacFinn wrote:Ten year old boys usually have no problems with Belegarth and dive right in. The older we get, the more we have to make an effort to give ourselves permission to have fun like little kids.


Wow. Truth.
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Re: How to explain Belegarth

Postby Kirethorn » Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:11 am

My conversation normallygo down like this:
"It's a medieval combat sport using foam padded weapons."
- "Foam? That sounds pretty pansy."
"Do you know what wiffle bats are?"
- "No (or) Oh, those padded softball bats?"
"Yeah we basically use those. It's full combat without killing people."
- "So you can beat people in the head with them?" (excited, not shocked)
"No, but you can shoot arrows at their head or hit them with rocks."
- "Sounds all right, I'll give it a go."

Seriously, 3 out of 4 conversations are EXACTLY what is above; even with girls. Some girls aren't even intersted in the sport but still want to get a suit of leather armour.:eek: :eyes:
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