Armed and Caparisoned...
Jan. 12th, 2004 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mirrorshardNext weekend is the first LARP event of the season - before the season, really, since very few sane people will be out doing cross-country pantomime in an English January. Fortunately, roleplayers in general aren't the sanest of people. There's real accommodation, with actual beds (a rarity indeed) and probably even showers! Toilets that aren't awash, clogged with black makeup, and out of paper by Friday evening. What ineffable luxury awaits.
So here I am, pulling my armoury out and trying on various combinations of sword-belts, baldrics, and sashes to see what looks best and works best - not in that order, for once, I hasten to add. I've been accused of "having an absolute affinity for posing" in the past, but my first priority for costume is warmth (in the winter, at least) and the second is practicality. Since I'm going to be wearing at least one sword, which is to say a metre-long rigid object attached at my waist and sticking out behind me, it had best be thoroughly attached and not about to fall off, twist around between my legs, or simply not be there when I want it (which will usually be in a hurry, for obvious reasons). Fortunately, there are a number of traditional solutions to the problem, since it's not exactly unique. This time, I'm using a wrapped red sash, with my favourite sword stuck into it. Corazon is a swept-hilt rapier, 3'6" in total, very slim with a flattened hexagonal cross-section, carefully balanced at the ricasso (Tallows FX, for those few of you who are likely to need a carbon-fibre and foam roleplaying sword any time soon - I can wholeheartedly recommend them). The thinness and extremely light weight mean she's a lot more fragile than most swords, but I take good care of her, and her sheath keeps her safe.
I'll also be taking Rhosyn, my next-favourite sword - she's the same length, but designed after an elvish style, with a smooth silver blade growing out of a hilt shaped like rose thorns, with a red rose on each side. She's a bit heavier, and the balance isn't as good, but she's shaped for one- or two-handed use. I don't like fighting with two weapons (I can't coordinate both at the same time) but having a dagger handy is always a really, really good idea, since pulling out a metre-long sword and hitting someone with it needs several square metres of space to do properly. My dagger is named Ungerade (there's supposed to be an umlaut in there somewhere, but I can't be bothered to find it) and it was designed by Cloak and Dagger. Well, okay. Perhaps 'mis-designed' would be better. It doesn't have any symmetry at all, since each part is set slightly askew from the next, and the balance-point is halfway down the grip, so that when I toss it end over end it has about the same aerodynamic quality as a clawhammer. Betting people that they can't flip it and catch it ten times in a row without losing fingers is always entertaining. I can do it without looking, but then I used to practice with kitchen knives - I'm trying to kick the habit, since it's not entirely safe with cats in the house.
I have no idea yet what the rest of the kit will be, since I'm monstering (playing one or indeed many of the supporting cast, villains, natural hazards, and disposable goons that the players will encounter, interact with, or slaughter mercilessly) and the organizers supply kit. But I can safely predict that it'll have a lot of layers and be very muddy by the end, since roleplaying usually involves a great deal of falling over in the mud and the wet, or indeed the brambles.
So here I am, pulling my armoury out and trying on various combinations of sword-belts, baldrics, and sashes to see what looks best and works best - not in that order, for once, I hasten to add. I've been accused of "having an absolute affinity for posing" in the past, but my first priority for costume is warmth (in the winter, at least) and the second is practicality. Since I'm going to be wearing at least one sword, which is to say a metre-long rigid object attached at my waist and sticking out behind me, it had best be thoroughly attached and not about to fall off, twist around between my legs, or simply not be there when I want it (which will usually be in a hurry, for obvious reasons). Fortunately, there are a number of traditional solutions to the problem, since it's not exactly unique. This time, I'm using a wrapped red sash, with my favourite sword stuck into it. Corazon is a swept-hilt rapier, 3'6" in total, very slim with a flattened hexagonal cross-section, carefully balanced at the ricasso (Tallows FX, for those few of you who are likely to need a carbon-fibre and foam roleplaying sword any time soon - I can wholeheartedly recommend them). The thinness and extremely light weight mean she's a lot more fragile than most swords, but I take good care of her, and her sheath keeps her safe.
I'll also be taking Rhosyn, my next-favourite sword - she's the same length, but designed after an elvish style, with a smooth silver blade growing out of a hilt shaped like rose thorns, with a red rose on each side. She's a bit heavier, and the balance isn't as good, but she's shaped for one- or two-handed use. I don't like fighting with two weapons (I can't coordinate both at the same time) but having a dagger handy is always a really, really good idea, since pulling out a metre-long sword and hitting someone with it needs several square metres of space to do properly. My dagger is named Ungerade (there's supposed to be an umlaut in there somewhere, but I can't be bothered to find it) and it was designed by Cloak and Dagger. Well, okay. Perhaps 'mis-designed' would be better. It doesn't have any symmetry at all, since each part is set slightly askew from the next, and the balance-point is halfway down the grip, so that when I toss it end over end it has about the same aerodynamic quality as a clawhammer. Betting people that they can't flip it and catch it ten times in a row without losing fingers is always entertaining. I can do it without looking, but then I used to practice with kitchen knives - I'm trying to kick the habit, since it's not entirely safe with cats in the house.
I have no idea yet what the rest of the kit will be, since I'm monstering (playing one or indeed many of the supporting cast, villains, natural hazards, and disposable goons that the players will encounter, interact with, or slaughter mercilessly) and the organizers supply kit. But I can safely predict that it'll have a lot of layers and be very muddy by the end, since roleplaying usually involves a great deal of falling over in the mud and the wet, or indeed the brambles.
Hello my friends!
Date: 2009-09-17 11:29 am (UTC)