Belegarth

I am trying to start a group, and any advice will be welcome. My problems so far: everyone thinks the garb is lame and there is a complete refusal to make/wear any, our members are afraid to move out of the back-yard to start fighting in a public park, the only weapons between us are ALL owned by me, we only have three swords and one shield, we only have three fighters that are of age. That brings me to my next point, how do you handle young fighters? We get ALOT of interest from the 11-15 group, and as long as they have parental consent (which includes me explaining the probable injury part) I have been letting them fight. Most of our younger fighters are siblings of the older fighters, and we only have two under 14. (One is brother of a an older fighter, and one is the toughest 11 year old I've ever seen. His parents are ok with it, and sometimes watch us fight. -We fight across the street from his house.- He is actually our third-best fighter.) We ALWAYS are extremely careful around them, and none have been injured so far to my knowledge. I have alot of problems, and if anyone has any possible solutions I would love to hear them.

P.S. I have been keeping a sword(or two) with me, so that when I see a prospective member, I can show them how it feels to hit someone, and to be hit. That is how I got all three people of age so far. (I am counting myself in that, because that is how I was recruited by Numenor, and if I lived closer than the 5hour drive I am, I would join them.)

Dragonheart91 wrote: everyone thinks the garb is lame and there is a complete refusal to make/wear any

Garb isn't necessary, however, the thing I would suggest its: Set an example. Get some garb yourself, invest in it, and make it look good, and make sure it is something that looks good on you.

I am already finding people take us more seriously when we have several fighters in garb.

Cib has a point about garb. It's the difference between being a "reenactment society" or a bunch of freaks hitting each other.

1) Make or buy some garb that really looks good.
2) Wear it to every practice.
3) Remind everyone that garb doesn't have to be much more than earth tone sweatpants and a tabard or tunic.
4) Get all of the older fighters on the garb bandwagon.
5) Go to a national event.

The fifth suggestion can be a real eye opener for some people. Going to a weekend event where everyone is in garb all the time adds a comfortable feeling of community. People who regularily go to events will tell you that they often feel incredibly out of place at Belegarth functions if they're not wearing garb.

If you really want to get people to tow the line, set a timeframe for them to get garb. Allow a month of practices (or something) until limitations are placed on their fighting for not being garbed up. In order to enforce this you should also have weapon and garb making sessions to facilitate people who might need some help with sewing and learning how to do such things.

I definitely recommend the national event trip, or even just a trip to a big one-day event. There was a lot of sexy garb on display at the Dur-D Opener, for example.

I was kind of leary about garb initially myself, but then I saw what people like Izareth, Snotbelly, Sir Kenny, or Sir Peter wear. The difference is between technically wearing non-modern items so that you technically pass the garb rules (like I did at my first event, wearing a cut-up polo shirt...) and wearing non-modern clothes that you look really good in.

There is no way we could get the money to go to a national event. It is nearly impossible to have a weapon/garb making party, because none of us know how to do it. I am trying to convince some of them to make/or buy some weapons, but it is difficult to convince them it is worth the money. (even for making their own) And, to pre-empt your "Have another group come show you how..." The closest group is a three-hour drive, I think the one in Springfield is closest, but St. Louis is about the same distance. I would love to have one of the St. Louis groups come teach us to fight and/or show us how to make weapons/garb, but I doubt they would be willing to drive that far for just three guys that are old enough and a half dozen 14-15 year-old people. And that leads back to the other point that it is hard to expand without more weapons/garb. If anyone has a possible solution to this, please tell me. I will get myself some quality garb though (even if it is just a colorful tunic) and try to convince the other older guys to follow my lead. My goal is to have all three of us with at least a shield + sword + one other weapon, and garb by the end of summer.

Have you read the Wiki page? The how-to guide is very helpful, when we started we made 6 weapons in the first week. We must have done it right, they've held up through intense practices. It's relativley cheap too, I think we spent a total of like $60 on all the materials to produce 5 blue weapons and one red.

The cheapest option is to find some 1/2 600psi PVC (typically $2 for 8') and go to Wal-Mart to buy a pair of rolls of bluefoam, a can of DAP, and some Duct Tape. Total Cost: <$30 with tax. Then, you can follow the wiki's instructions to put together some 5-6 swords, at least, and, if you can get some 1/2" plywood and spring for another roll or two of bluefoam, you can turn out two or three shields with old leather belts for straps and cheap wood screws with the tips sawn off to hold them on.

Otherwise, buy from me or Edhellen.

If you can contact Switchblade she makes some pretty awsome stuff.

And her prices are fairly low.

Pierce, you're talking about garb, yes? I've heard her name come up in garb discussions before, I thought...

I was first introduced to this game when I was 12 yrs. old. I got out of it for awhile from my family moving around and such, but when I was 18, I came back to Khatovar. It was basically dead by then, with basically only me, my 2 brothers, and my dad, helping the last realm leader restart it.

At that time, we just had some kids ranging between 12-14 yrs. old.

They were into this game bigtime. Trust me, with young kids, it's really tough to keep them going. Just keep telling them, "When you turn 16, just think about how much * you'll kick on a national field." Keep them pumped with what kind of fighter they WILL be by the time they're "allowed" to play the game.

Not much advice there, but I guess I'm telling you, "just don't give up".

I also finally got a good buddy of mine fighting at the end of last year. He was totally against garb. "Dude, I'm not wearing a dress, and playing house here. I'm hitting people with sticks". Well, we went to Avalon's Season Closer, and I just told him garb was madatory. So I gave him an extra torn up shirt, and a pair of makeshift hakamas (Japanese style pants). He said it was so much more comfortable than wearing jeans and a T-Shirt, I ended up just giving him the clothes, and he fights in them everyday.

Garb is a good way to keep your good "mundane" clothes from getting ruined too. Trust me, garb is a LOT cheaper than a new pair of jeans and a new T-shirt.

Oh, and do what Arrakis said to do. It's relatively cheap, and easy to do.
If they don't want to help out, then just go after some newer people...

My brother and I completely remade the realm cause it was just him and I sparring at the park. From only 2 people we had around 50 people fighting at one time.

Just keep it up and don't get discouraged. It's all very possible.

P.S. Show them some videos online too (people in garb) and show them, "hey, these guys are kickin' * cause they don't have jeans restricting them"

Pierce wrote:If you can contact Switchblade she makes some pretty awsome stuff.

And her prices are fairly low.

http://belegarth.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=19737

Arrakis wrote:Pierce, you're talking about garb, yes? I've heard her name come up in garb discussions before, I thought...

Yep.