Forkbeard wrote:Use our weapons. I have fought in a number of different organisations with stupid ideas about what is safe. Belegarths weapons are by far the safest in designs, materails and safety inspection. Don't try to re invent the wheel. Don't think you're clever and thought of the new end all be all thing. THere are enough people involved in dag and Bel that pretty much everything has been tried and either hurt some one or in in current use.
Cloth covers for weapons are the best thing ever. Do not use duct tape covered weapons. Don't use latex weapons unless you aren't going to be really hitting each other.
FB
Amtgard actually has stricter rules for weapons in some cases. Most Bel-legal and Dag-legal flat-blades (because of the box method you use) are not legal due to padding requirements in Amtgard.
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If you are making your own set, amalgamate some of the standards and try to make it as clean of a rule set as possible. Here are some key points I would use:
1) 2.5" rule for protrusions. Have a test that is easy to administer(like the ring test). Also, do not use the words "2.5 inch diameter" because that will cause dumb things. This rule should include pommels.
2) One inch of closed-cell padding on a striking surface, half an inch of closed-cell padding on non-striking padded portions(courtesy padding, et al).
3) All weapons should require a cloth cover on the striking surface, with no tape on top of the cloth. Non-excessive tape below the cloth is fine.
4) Have a minimum padding requirement based on the length of the weapon. Non-hinged, non-pole weapons should have 2/3 of the weapon length padded with a minimum amount of striking surface(12", 6", or whatever you pick). Pole weapons should have 1/3 of the weapon length padded with a minimum amount of striking surface(make this the same number as the other case). Hinged weapons should be padded on the non-striking shaft, to some extent.
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Varadin wrote:Amtgard are close but the tape over the blades tend to cause slapping.
I don't know what kind of backwoods Amtgard you're playing where there is enough tape on the blade to make it hurt more than usual. Most people don't put a layer of packing tape on their blades anymore, but even then we still require opaque cloth covers so the tape shouldn't have any effect on how much it hurts.