Belegarth

Ok, so I have they guys at the local TV station interested in doing a little community, unique, fun, segment thing. But, they want a twist. Basically, what sets us apart from all the other reenactment groups, other than padded weapons.

Basically, he is looking for some sort of twist to make it different, (his example were things like, girls playing, senior citizins, massive amounts of people, a pastor playing, or something.) and attach his story to. And thats fine. I just can't think of any ATM.

So I thought I would ask if anyone has any ideas. What makes Belegarth different that every other medieval reenactment club out there?

no magic.

We and our closed-source counterpart, Dagorhir, are the only major full-contact version. We're higher contact than the SCA, for God's sake.

We have Peten, who is a news story all to himself.

Pierce wrote:no magic.

I fairly sure that what he has seen before is SCA and maybe a roman reenactment group. He have no other LARPS up here the I know of.

Arrakis wrote:We and our closed-source counterpart, Dagorhir, are the only major full-contact version. We're higher contact than the SCA.

Ya, I think they will realize that when they get here how different it is. However the trick is geting him here.

the difference is the amount of money a person has to spend in order to enjoy the sport. SCA you must buy armor and equipment($300 US$ minimum). A roman reenactment group probably has garb requirements that requires a fair sum of money to be spent not counting equipment. In Bel/Dag you need maybe 30-50 US$ for a sword & shield and poor garb or a spear & dagger and good garb.

Bel isn't like airsoft or paint ball in the fact you only need to buy the equipment once, Plus fixes/upkeep every 5-6 months. Not over and over or every time you wish to play.

Major difference is the cost to play.

Edit: Also invite the reporter/camera crew out to a practice on their own time. And when you do get the interview remember the trinity of recruitment:
Shield bashes/kicks
Arrows
Armor/good garb

Inclusivity. I don't believe any other LARP/reenactment group has the same spectrum of young and old in addition to having pure stick-jocks fighting alongside pointy-eared fantasy types. Just about every type of person can and does fight.

Guys, think of this in terms of a story you'd see on the news.

"And lastly, look at this. The Belegarth Medival Combat Society, fighting in a park near you blah blah blah, and get this: :: BAM ::." That's what he needs, is the bam. "they don't have a magic system" is not a BAM. Neither is "They let everyone fight!" people would assume that. He needs something like they regularly take a crippled kid to disney world, or something.

What does Belegarth offer that the rest of the fantasy larp world doesn't? First off, it's not a Larp. It's a fantasy-based combat sport. Just look at that shield bashing and grappling. They'd never let that fly on any other fields other than Dag. Do other sports dress up in funny outfits? yeah. When's the last time you saw someone dress up in football pads and just take a stroll down main street? Your uniforms are far more personal and are the equivalent of Halloween costumes that you use year round.

Sure, you are dorks for it, but you are FIGHTING dorks. I think that is the core of what sets you apart from the NERO-esque 5000 hp light tap style of 'fighting'. Those folks don't fight, they play tag. You go out there, give it your all, and get extremely physical. Yet you keep the combat as safe as boxing, if not safer.

The point isn't to remove the sting or the pain, but the injury. That's something shared by all combat sports.

Atman wrote:Inclusivity. I don't believe any other LARP/reenactment group has the same spectrum of young and old in addition to having pure stick-jocks fighting alongside pointy-eared fantasy types. Just about every type of person can and does fight.

Amtgard and Dagorhir do as well. It's amazing to see the big three combat boffer sports all share this tendency for multi-generational interaction unseen in most other parts of society.

Do you have females in your group? That could be your selling point, since people always seem to be shocked that girls do this.
Or a really old dude/chick? Or a prominent community member?

Arrakis wrote:We and our closed-source counterpart, Dagorhir, are the only major full-contact version. We're higher contact than the SCA, for God's sake.

Cib, are there any people out in your area that can do a coordinated shield bash? Two guys in no armor, just plowing over some heavily armored guy (who may, for the cameras, not be bracing for the impact) followed by a quick spear against the downed guy.

Yeah, it's 3 on 1, but that kind of stuff happens sometimes in Belegarth.

Instead of comparing yourselves to SCA or LARP's, start saying things like:

"we try to fight just as hard as the MMA, without going home to our familes all bloody and broken. ... everybody out here this week, we want out next week."
or
"Almost every family has ten year olds that like to swing toy swords. (shrug) We still like the adreneline of a sword fight, but aren't ten any more and don't fight that way."
or
"I've heard of reinactment groups that use real swords, but for safety's sake their bouts are largely choreographed. We really hit each other ... full force."

I'd leave words like LARP and SCA and Amtguard out of it all together unless the interviewer asks specific questions about them.

Edit: I know most people in belegarth aren't either that rough or that hardcore in their attitudes (myself included), but the fact remains there may be a place in Belegarth for those few people and that "twist" may make news.

Seriously, this is meant for a mass audience who has no concept of the foam fighting world. Comparing us to other groups is not the way to go.

Oh, here's another one:

"Ever been an employee wishing you could just beat on your boss or a boss wishing you could beat on your employees? Invite them to practice. ... Let out some aggression and everybody comes back to work Monday whole and unharmed."

By and large, fighters are the lowest stress people I've ever met.

bangor wrote:What does Belegarth offer that the rest of the fantasy larp world doesn't? First off, it's not a Larp. It's a fantasy-based combat sport. Just look at that shield bashing and grappling. They'd never let that fly on any other fields other than Dag.

Darkon has the same exact angle, but Darkon seems to be a regional thing.

Thomas MacFinn wrote:I'd leave words like LARP and SCA and Amtguard out of it all together unless the interviewer asks specific questions about them.

A very fine point, the interviewer generally knows nothing about the other groups, and any time you spend talking about the other systems is time from the 30 second spot or quarter page article that won't be talking about what it is that you do.

You might also want to go into how you make all of your own equipment, unlike other sports, and how long it takes to make chainmail, etc...

It's far better to talk about what you are and what you are good at than it is to talk about what you are not and what you are poor at. Spend your time pimping your group, your sport... don't talk about other sports or groups.

The above suggestion about a staged bit is a good idea... afterwards, the guy in armor can talk about the craftsmanship he learned making his suit of armor...

-bort

Wow, ok some good stuff come out here. Keep it up.

Bevin wrote:Do you have females in your group? That could be your selling point, since people always seem to be shocked that girls do this.
Or a really old dude/chick? Or a prominent community member?

That was one of this first things they guy asked. And unfortunately we don't. We are new, and thus a small group.

Well, just throwing this out there, but you may want to drop the goal of TV coverage for now and do recruiting through some other outlets. When it comes to media, size matters. If more people are doing it, then it's more relevant to put up on the news.

This way, you'll grow your realm, have your massive size be the selling point, and generate even more interest through brand spankin new TV spot.

savetuba wrote:SCA you must buy armor and equipment($300 US$ minimum).

This isn't true. Because of the material allowances, you could have full armour for under 50$, including sword and shield. Pickle-barrel and ply wood, rattan and heavy canvas. I've seen someone make full "plate" armour for a total of 65$ including his shield and sword in the cost. So price isn't a different really.

You could boast the education aspects of researching and making armour. Some colleges have entire classes on "material tech" and I've seen you, Cib, use fabrix, leather, wood, metal, foam, and fiberglass.

Educational aspects also go in if you do any combat-technique research.

Excircise for the geeky kids? I'll keep thinking.

HesinRaca wrote:

savetuba wrote:SCA you must buy armor and equipment($300 US$ minimum).

This isn't true. Because of the material allowances, you could have full armour for under 50$, including sword and shield. Pickle-barrel and ply wood, rattan and heavy canvas. I've seen someone make full "plate" armour for a total of 65$ including his shield and sword in the cost. So price isn't a different really.

Real price is different. If you stay in the SCA for a year or two, you'll be replacing that el cheapo armor with expensive armor, buying a nice helm, adding more coverage to your kit, etc. If you stay in Bel, you might buy some cheap leather armor and a couple of replacement swords/shields.

Every time anyone says that Bel is cheaper than SCA, somebody rolls that tired argument out. It can be as cheap, yes, if you spend money on a nice Bel kit and build your SCA armor from scrap and make your Bel garb really nice and period and barely try with your SCA garb, but really, normally, it's not.

Remember that a lot of people are turned off when they hear the words role play. You might want to focus on the sporting aspect of it.

It's a game where you get to run and jump and, most importantly, hit people with few consequences other than them hitting you back.

Know what day the camera is coming and get your younger fighters to bring their parents for the day and sell it as a bonding experience. You could also coach a parent for an interview to say something about how they like that it gets their kids off the couch and into something that is very physically demanding.

Above all, don't do any interview cold. If possible, know what you want to say, and know what questions the interviewer has before tape starts rolling. Remember that you're the expert and it is your job to give an idea of what the sport is to the interviewer.

For Darkon, when the media started focusing on us, we pulled on the "How Darkon has changed you" bit. Because really, this hobby for most of us, has affected our personalities, and our real lives. The Docu, we just let them get in on the in-game aspect, since we do have the LARP aspect as well. If you really want to take it the road of media, make sure you have lawyers involved, so they don't turn around and slander you. It sounds silly, until it happens.

Garath de Lorac

Garath de Lorac wrote:For Darkon, when the media started focusing on us, we pulled on the "How Darkon has changed you" bit. Because really, this hobby for most of us, has affected our personalities, and our real lives.

I strongly dislike this angle, despite how true it may be for many of us. The Darkon film makes my eyes roll with the whole focus on ordinary blue collar people that become mythical heroes on the weekend. It's demeaning to those of us who don't work at Starbucks or live in our parents basement. Not everyone who likes to put on a dress and beat up nerds is a headcase or a social misfit. It's asking the impossible, but it would be nice for media to concentrate on the hobby aspect of it instead of the delusional outcasts that wish they were elves.

Okay, so my argument doesn't really hold any ground.

The paper that interview us last week just released the article (small town paper).

http://www.airdrieecho.com/Community/396707.html

Good article.

It might just be the picture, but it looks that shield REALLY fails. I finished shield should be about a couple of inches thick, that looks like half an inch or so.

Big Jimmy wrote:Good article.

Ya, I thought a few things like the title were funny, and how many times my and my bros last name are in it, at a quick glance all you see are M's. Hopefully it will create some interest.

Big Jimmy wrote:It might just be the picture, but it looks that shield REALLY fails. I finished shield should be about a couple of inches thick, that looks like half an inch or so.

I think it is closer to an inch thick, maybe a bit more, but I have thought it looked really thin. It seems safe enough to me, but that is the thing with starting up completely isolated, we only have the rules to go off of, no one to compare to or show us stuff. It seems to hit fine, but I am guna look at it more closely now this friday for sure.

Make sure it's got ~3 layers of blue on the face. You should be able to full-force punch the shield face and not feel core and full-force Judo Chop! the edge and not feel core.

Nice article.

That is a very succinct article.

I escpecially like the quote about hitting people and fabric choices. I chuckle a bit every time I say or read that.

If you can keep the interviews as focused as that article I'd say you're in good shape. Play up the exercise and combat and downplay garb and characters.[/quote]

Doesn't look like this is guna happen anytime soon.

However, our group is growing, and the other paper did an article on us. I think it is pretty good and well written.

http://airdriecityview.com/pdf_pages/May16/page15.pdf
http://airdriecityview.com/paper_pdf_links.html