Belegarth

Hey guys. I'm from a little *dag* group in michigan called Eryndor and our population is growing like mad. Now there is a need for heralds at most every practice now. The best heralds I've ever seen come from Belegarth and have been at Belegarth events. So, I was wondering, what do you guys think makes a good herald? What do you do to herald more efficently? What makes someone a presence on the field? More or less, what is it about a specific herald that strikes the fear of not rhino-hiding in to your veins? Thanks in advance for your answers.

Celeste of Eryndor

good herald: knows the rules
is cool headed and reacts fairly and doesnt blow the situation out of proportion (or humiliate anyone)
keeps the fights moving quickly and smoothly
is very aware of all things going on
can spot a potential fight/argument starting and stops it before
doesnt play favorites

etc

Also they don't have to know "everything" They just have to know how to find the answer to everything....

Hey Celeste!

I will say it is always a good to see you guys at events, I can imagine a greater problem will be the running of Rag this year. I hope your chapter of Dag is ready for it.

I would say that a good hearald/marshal should be equiped with 3 things. A copy of the rules, a nice yellow tabard, and a loud mouth.

Once you have those basic things, you need to read the rules often, there is no harm in reading the rules before every practice even though you have several memorized. Back in the day it was recomended that you read the rules on the way to big battles on long trips, and quiz one another on them. If you can recite your rules like bible verse all the better.

The last advice I would give to a new Marshal / hearald is learn from your mistakes. Battles that don't work, don't work. If standing on the side lines doesn't work jump into the battle like you were a fighter and follow a team group or cheating individual. If you didn't call that quick enough, next time be quicker.

Now what makes a Marshal great:

First an formost many many practices of Marshaling / hearalding. By year 7 or 8 you kind of have seen most of all what you will see. You know what to do and also certain people who have been around a really long time you know how to handle. People show up that do the same thing trouble makers do and you can recognize it right of the bat and focus in on them and get them strait.

The biggest problem a great hearald / marshal has is a fighter who think they have a big *. These people will lie cheat and steal victory from the other fighter. It takes a lot of courage to kick these people into low gear, they are often older than you and have more people behind them then you do. The most important thing to do is stand up to them. If they try to weasle their way out of something, call them on it. If geo-politicaly it would be suicide, then tell everyone if you ever see it again from the individual they can pack their gear and go home because they won't be allowed to pick up a weapon at 'this' event again.

M-dog--

whoa! we're just running weapons check, not running rag! I'm trying to get more Eryndor to events that aren't rag. There was 5 of us at 'fest and we had a ball. Everyone was nice (for the most part )

everyone else---

Thanks for the input, feel free to keep the advice coming.