Weapon Construction

Weapon Construction& Armor Rules

Weapon Type	Striking Surface		Max Grip	Total Length		Base Damage
	Min	Max		Min	Max
Short Weapon	6’’	18’’	6”	12’’	24’’	1
Medium Weapon	18’’	24’’	9”	24’’	36’’	2
Long Weapon	26’’	34’’	13”	34’’	46’’	2
Spear	10”	15”	20”	40”	55”	2
Great Weapon	36’’	54’’	30% Weapon Length	50’’	72’’	4
Staff	60”	60”	2 @ 12” or 1 @ 15”	48”	60’’	2
Short Bow	NA	NA	12’’	26”	36’’	2
Long Bow	NA	NA	12”	36”	48”	3
Crossbow	NA	NA	6”	24”	18”	3
Thrown	5”	24”	NA	5”	24”	1
Gun: Pistol	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	2
Gun: Rifle	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	4

Weapons may be constructed from any materials previously approved for use. If you choose to use new materials, you must have them approved prior to construction.  You may run the risk that the finished weapons will fail approval, due to those materials. Examples of properly constructed weapons will be available at any event.

All weapons must have padding for their entire length, except for the Grip lengths in the chart. Listed Grip Lengths are maximums, and may not exceed that maximum. However, Grips may be less than those lengths. Placement of Bow Grips must be in the center of the weapon, and the weapons should have curves in the shape of a bow. Staves <staff> must have the Grips toward the center of the weapon, and must have at least 18” from the ends. Spears must have open cell foam pieces on the striking end to make it appear spear-like.

Hilts and Cross guards can have no dimension greater than 6”.

Weapons made of solid pipe foam must have a minimum of 5/8-inch-thick Closed Cell foam on all striking surfaces. Weapons made of flat foam, IE Flat Blades, must have 1 inch of closed cell on striking surfaces, and 1/2 inch on non-striking surfaces. The foam padding of the weapon must extend 1” past the end of the weapon core; this is to prevent the core from stabbing through the end of the weapon.

All weapons must have a 2” Thrusting tip made of open cell foam (Such as a couch cushion). Weapons that do not have stabbing tips, such as the molded Latex weapons must all be approved before use. While the butt end of the weapon does not need to be padded with foam (since it is not legal to strike players with the end of the weapon), it must be covered and built up with foam tape or the like so that the core is well covered and the end of the pipe cannot stab anyone.

Weapons built of hollow cores must have that hollow core sealed in some way on each end, such as with strapping tape and padding. Weapons built in such a way that the entire length of the weapon is not secured to the core, and it must include an anchor point, examples of which can be seen at an event. Colors are also an important aspect, Red and Orange are reserved is for claws, and Yellow for Brawlers.

Thrown weapons must be comprised of only foam (open or Closed). They cannot have any kind of solid core, and can be covered with tape. The thrown weapons should also have no points and narrow ridges should be covered with ½ open cell foam.

Packets are used for spell casting, as well as other skills like Chemistry and Engineering. Packets should be made of cloth, and be filled with birdseed, roughly 2 tablespoons. Typically, White packets are used to spell casting, Yellow for arrows, Red for Bombs, and Orange for Vials

Bows must be covered with at least 3/8-inchfoam; this is to protect weapons that might strike them. Bows by default cannot be used to block weapon attacks. And if they are struck they cannot be used to fire arrows until the bow is restrung, which is a 3 counted action.

Crossbows have 2 dimensions that matter, the stock and the prod. The Stock is the body of the rep and must be at least 24” long, and the Prod which must be at least 18” wide.

All weapons must receive a safety tag, signed by a marshal, or they will be subject to removal from Game when their use is discovered, regardless of safety.

Shield Size	Max Area	Max Dimension	Max Radius	Max Perimeter
Small	320 sq	26	10	72
Medium	520 sq	36	13	93
Large	610 sq	40	14	105

Shields have several restrictions to their size as shown on the above chart: In the case of a round shield ignore the Max perimeter as the radius will place it much smaller. Max Perimeter is measured with a string around the edge of the shield when necessary. The Maximum Dimension for a shield is the distance between the two furthest points, not the longest edge. Additionally, Small shields only require a handle, while Medium and Large shields must have a handle and arm strap and both must be used for proper shield use. Shields may not be used to strike targets, and may only be used to block. All shields must have Closed Cell foam around the outer edge; this is preventing damage to weapons in combat. Max area is measured in square inches and everything else is in inches.

Guns

Covered in a great deal more detail under Combat.

• Pistols:
  • Pistols are smaller blasters intended for one-handed shooting (although a disturbing number of them insist on two-handed priming actions). Semi-automatic flywheel blasters are permitted - this is an accessibility issue to help people with smaller hands or weaker thumbs play on the same field with people who can work hammer action pistols very quickly and comfortably). Again, you cannot fire more often than you can legibly call damage, even where the blaster will permit significantly higher rates of fire - this is both a balance and playability concern. Aside from flywheel pistols, the more common hammer-action and assorted slide-action spring-powered blasters are generally fine where they do not exceed 120fps muzzle velocity.
  • Pistols carry a base damage of 3 and their in-game construction is available under Engineering.
• Rifles:
  • Rifles are by design two-handed weapons and treated as such for game purposes. We are well aware that you can, with a little practice, carry a lever-action rifle in each and prime them by rocking the rifle forward on the lever, and also aware that this produces no long-term desirable consequences. Accordingly, using a rifle involves both hands; you cannot use one with a Maimed arm, for example. Rifles are also not allowed flywheels, owing to the more forgiving nature of rifle configuration offering less advantage to strong thumbs or big hands.
  • Rifles are restricted to semi-automatic (or slower) priming mechanisms, and must be either string- or spring-powered.
  • Rifles carry a base damage of 5 and their in-game construction is available under Engineering.

Common Weapon Material

Weapon Cores must be a hollow cored non-metal tube, which must be a continuous piece for the length of the weapon. Common cores are: PVC; for weapons shorter than 36”, the suggested pipe diameter is the 1/2” OD; for Spears and 2 Handed Weapons suggested pipe diameter is the ¾”-1.0” OD; or Fiberglass Kite Spar; for weapons shorter than 46”, the suggested pipe diameter is the 0.370” OD; for Spears and 2 Handed Weapons suggested pipe diameter is the 0.745” OD. While Graphite Golf Clubs can be used it is suggested they only be used for flat weapons. This is because it is difficult to have the pipe foam fit the tapered core.

Fiberglass Kite Spar Cores

https://goodwinds.com/fiberglass/filament-wound-epoxy-tubing.html

Weapon Foam is the majority of the weapon’s construction, and the most crucial for safety reasons. For pipe foam the type that should be used is Closed Cell, Polypropylene Pipe Foam, with a minimum of a 5/8” wall thickness. This product can be difficult to find, though your local chapter should be able to help, since the only places that sell it are Plumbing Supply stores and you normally need to buy a case of it at a time. For flat weapons the recommended foam is the blue camping pads, which can be found at Wal-Mart and Sporting Goods Stores.

Blue Foam Mat

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trial-Camping-Pad-Blue/16783660

Weapon coverings must be on weapons to help protect the foam from harm and increase its durability, there are a large number of ways this can be achieved. The most common types of coverings are: Duct Tape, which you can get at Wal-Mart and any Hardware store; Nylon Tape, which is often called Sail Repair tape or Kite Tape. Weapons can also be covered by a fitted cloth sock-like covering, and even Plasti-Dip, which can be found at Pep-Boys or online.

Kite Tape

http://intothewind.com/shop/Repair_and_Kitemaking/Tape_for_making_and_repairing_kites/Nylon_Repair_Tape

Plasti-Dip

http://www.plastidip.com/

Armor

Armor plays a very important part in the game, it allows the characters to take much more damage in combat and protects from some attacks. Armor is broken into 5 categories for determining how much a suit is worth and what it takes to rep the armor. This game is more about appearances than if your armor would really stop a weapon, atmosphere is the most important part of the game. Listed below is a list of the categories and what types of armor falls into each, now since looks are key there are many things that may fall into different categories based on what it looks like; it is very possible to have Battle armor with a rep that is not metal but looks very much like black steel plates.

In addition to needing the proficiency to wear armor, and the rep you also need an item tag for the armor you are wearing to receive the benefit of it. Armor must cover 40-50% of your body to receive credit.

Costume

Has a maximum value of 10 points and it is made up of just what it says; so long as you are wearing a decent looking costume you will get credit. This means costumes that avoid major things like shirts with logos, blue jeans and baseball hats.

Light

Has a maximum value of up to 20 points. Light armors are made of Heavy Padded Cloths and Light Leathers.

Medium

Has a maximum value of 30 points. Medium armors are made of Thick Leathers with Studs or Plates, and even Light Chain.

Heavy

Has a maximum value of 40 points. Heavy armors are made of Heavy Chain and Brigandine.

Battle

Has a maximum value of 50 points. Battle armor is made of plates or scales of metal.