How do you carry stuff in larp?

I’m thinking of making/getting a few more bags for larps and wondering how others solve this problem.

So far the belt pouchs seem to rule in fantasy larps, but on the negative side when you have a lot of them and put lotsa stuff inside, they are heavy and press on your waist, plus when you run they bounce heavily with every step.

Bags to carry in hands are handy but they have your hands occupied. Bags on the shoulder should probably be made in a more convenient way than my baby sling in StW, as my shoulders hurted severely after the game. Little handbags that can hang on your wrist are nice in Victorian and 20th century larps (I used one in Flight of Hindenburg and was absolutely charmed) but they need appropriate circumstances, I guess.

Do people use pockets much? Or any other ways? I dunno if anyone carries a knife in the boot, doesn’t seem easy with larp-safe knives :laughing: , but I really wonder how you guys solve this luggage storage problem.

Thanks.

normally i go for belt pouches and pockets, (creeds belt was renowned for being heavier than his armour :stuck_out_tongue:) but recently i have gotten hold of a canvas rucksack (replica ww2 british issue) and painted it black, this has eased my overall load with regards to manageability, though it has allowed me to stock up on more items (thus more wieght).

I had a roman style sling bag to carry my plates etc for eating times for a while but like you said it cut into my shoulder after a while and became a nuisance.

the only thing i haven’t sorted out yet is a IC means of carrying water.

so as it stands one belt pouch for small items that i need to have around a lot.
1 pack for larger stuff and the odds and ends i need occasionally
and a back rig to carry my swords.

boot knives need a proper sheath strapped to the boot if their larp ones as constant walking/running jars them loose, i tried one at mordavia and people were constantly running up to me to hand it back after it fell out.

I have a cream canvas bag which I use for carrying the big items. In StWf it held my bread. To stop it flapping around I put it on over my shoulder and then put my belt around the straps. Keeps it in close to my hip. Other than that it tends to be small bags and pouches.
The only reason I don’t have a rucksack is that I can’t afford a leather one or haven’t seen a suitable cloth one. Ex-WW1 and WW2 canvas bags are good and can be dressed down to suit period, I just wish I had brought a black one before our army surplus store closed in Hamilton, as they were only $15.
My biggest issue is having sumthing to put my weaponry in, since I am not creative enough to make sword frogs etc. My next project will be a over the shoulder sword holder. It really is a good place to put them.

I make everything out of foam (stakes, anvils etc) so you can just screw them up and put them in your pocket. It’s kind of like having a bag of holding :smiley:

OMG, my keyboard nearly wore my drink when i saw this. It’s true isn’t it? In tabletop and online you can fit SO MUCH stuff in a backpack it’s ludicrous. And you can swim while wearing the 4 tonne magical bag of holding also. :smiley:

Back on topic, I have found no easy solution for the spell components required by a mage in SWVH. I had stuff in little string tie pouches on my belt, but any time i needed one, a. i didn’t know WHICH pouch held the spell components i needed, and b. the strings tied themselves in twisty knots with all the running around and i couldn’t open them. that new website of Ryan’s has one possible if you can make that sort of thing, or have some $$$ to spend.

forgottendreams.de/customers … cts_id=448

Pretty sure I want one of these, tho it only solves the problem of the little vials, not the rocks and rice etc you need for some of the others.

I have found a good solution for my stakes in StW, I’ve made one big pouch with three long narrow pockets, so each one holds one stake tightly, they are easy to take out and put back in, and also I can move the pouch around my belt quickly and comfortably:

flickr.com/photos/drrugg/2902222923/
three stakes next to each other

picasaweb.google.com/strangeange … 0199446578
you can see how it hangs on the belt, with a bit of space between the belt loop and the actual stake pocket, so it’s flexible but not swinging around.

So I’m now thinking whether I can make something like that for my Holy Water vials and other stuff :laughing: , but maybe I’m overoptimistic here.

Speaking of carrying a sword on the back - there was a thread on it some time ago: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1828

After much tiral and error, i can safely say larp longswords over the shoulder are a friggin pain unless the scabbard hangs a fair way down, which in turn makes it near impossible to get the sword back in the thing.

The stake pouch was great - I had one of David’s spare canvas ones which held 4 stakes tucked in nicely. I’m glad the pocket idea worked though Lucy!

Spell components, yeah I don’t envy caster-types at all (yet I’m surprisingly keen to try it…), but [color=#0000BF]this style of belt that Derek suggested[/color] would probably be the most functional. The issue would still be remembering which pouch has which, but maybe soem fancy embroidery on the flap could solve that?

Vials are always gonna be an issue, especially if you get other potions on top. Last game I got lucky and Kara’s vials were very different from my own, so the lovely healing potions she diligently kept me stocked with were easily found by feel amongst the holy water. That said, if you can handle that bigger pouch that Kara linked it would be pretty awesome, so long as you remember which potion is which as you get the same thing as the component pouches - though again, some sort of sigil would be fairly spiffy.