"LARP safe"?

Community Gear
#1

if you would like to tell if your item is LARP safe, here is a simple way:

[]hold it at a close range
[]hit yourself with it very hard
[]in the head, face, neck, or groin
[]if you don’t end up in hospital
[]pass out
[]yell out in pain
or get a big bruise

then it might be LARP safe,
but please remember that some people are half your size and weight.

photos of the massive bruises on my throat that i got from being shot…

twice (even after saying “dont #ing shoot me again”)…

with a “LARP safe” bow and arrow to come. :imp:

#2

Ouch - sorry to hear that. As someone who has been selling arrows it’s very worrying. :frowning:

Any idea of the range you were at, and or the bow/arrows in question?

The main danger with arrows is it’s harder to judge how hard they will hit (as it’s dependent on range), and to be as precise about where they hit.

#3

Interesting Zanni - a few questions so I can figure out what happend.

What were the arrow types used? IDV (black rounded head + shaft?) Skull Standard - (Zara’s flatnosed arrows) or another home brew varient / different type?

Were the arrows that hit you shot by the same person or different people? (Not asking for a name just pondering if it was 2 X freak accidents or if there is potential safty training needed).

Was the bow under 30lbs at 28" draw?

I am very sorry to hear that you got hurt by arrows - not somthing I want to hear when I am trying to encourage their use in NZ. Please help me to fix any problems so we can move forward in a safer way together with the community to ensure the safty of our members.

#4

Larp archery scares me, but I think the arrows we’re using are about as safe as you can possibly get them for what we do.

I know that when Adam trains archers he teaches a technique called (I think) “plucking” where you only draw the arrow a few inches if people are close.

More than any other weapon, arrows have the potential to go wrong.

#5

[quote=“Derek”]Larp archery scares me, but I think the arrows we’re using are about as safe as you can possibly get them for what we do.

More than any other weapon, arrows have the potential to go wrong.[/quote]

Agreed.

#6

They scare me too.

Good fun for tourneys, but the idea of a fibreglass missle being shot at me really makes me nervous. If the foam head fails for whatever reason, you’ve just shot someone with a real weapon.

And it’s harder to control the aim of the weapon, increasing the chances of headshots.

#7

I think I might have been there, were you crewing, and was it at the Teonn game, at night, at the keep’s side-entrance?
I do think that it were just two freak shots, and not purposefully aimed for the head/throat =/ (Note, I did not shoot the arrows)

#8

I wholly apologize if this was me, I didn’t hear anyone say stop shooting.
I purposely left my bow and arrows out of my arsenal after dinner on both days, as night shots don’t seem as safe as day shots.
I think I only fired in combat during the last battle on Sunday, if this was when you were hurt, then by all means, I am very sorry.

#9

Zanni - as one of the few archers at this game I am saddened this happened.

And I know who was involved Chris, it wasn’t you.

We were all using IDV arrows at this game.

Archery does scare people because it does have it’s own dangers. The IDV arrows are very very specifically manufactured and come with a lot of backing from the manufacturer.

Now I conducted surveys of everyone I could question after they were shot with these arrows and got favourable feedback.

*I questioned the human archery target from the tournament, he seemed happy with the shot to the thigh he took from Derek and it was a cracking shot.
*I questioned Zanni after shooting her in the back at night - sneaky ninja she was - she was fine with this.
*I questioned a guy I shot in the neck in the final combat, he felt it but was uninjured.

Now being shot in the neck is definitely not ideal - I definitely sympathise with you Zanni - however an overzealous sword swing would have done much the same. Please don’t take this as a down playing of what happened to you, it is not.

The point I am making is that this injury is almost certainly an issue with the draw of the bow and the user (and a bit of the chaos of battle). I don’t feel the archer intentionally overdrew or intended to shoot unsafely and I don’t think they would have intentionally continued to shoot an injured person but experience and knowledge may have played a big part in this unfortunate event. And I am sure they are certainly sorry for injuring you.

We really hammer weapon safety home at nzlarps and we have to continue to make sure this happens for archers so that other players can have confidence in those who like playing an archer.

There are definitely techniques like plucking and aiming to legs when close which should be taught and re-iterated at each game. Once everyone understands how they work then we can grow that confidence.

#10

I think one important point of difference is when I hit someone with a sword, I can feel how hard I’ve hit them and I can see exactly where it hits. If I’ve done something wrong, I know it immediately.

With an arrow, I’d have no idea how hard it struck my opponent. And I may not even see it hit if the battle is chaotic and someone comes charging at me.

#11

[quote=“amphigori”]I think one important point of difference is when I hit someone with a sword, I can feel how hard I’ve hit them and I can see exactly where it hits. If I’ve done something wrong, I know it immediately.

With an arrow, I’d have no idea how hard it struck my opponent. And I may not even see it hit if the battle is chaotic and someone comes charging at me.[/quote]

I don’t disagree with this Jackie. But an inexperienced player is more likely to injure with a larp sword than not. Same can be said of an archer… I am no expert but I learned a hell of a lot in one weekend and am fairly confident I can shoot safely in larp combat…

We should definitely drill and drill on bow safety until the level of experience with them in the community grows to a satisfactory level.

#12

Fri night/Saturday morning - compulsory archers’ muster?

#13

I’m really glad you’re getting feedback from people Jared. I think it’s important that this type of thing is done.

#14

Many (UK) Larps have this kinda thing, together with safety checks on weapons/arrows and bows.

Seems a great idea to me, maybe even dress it up as an archery competition, people seemed to really enjoy that.

#15

Great idea. Or we could do it as compulsory archery training like the English did so very many years ago.

#16

I remember at St Wolfgang’s we had to line up at the start of game and present all of our weapons for inspection.

I liked that. It made me feel comfortable that I was being whacked with weapons in acceptible condition.

(And I think an archery contest would be awesome, given I was TOTALLY AMAZING with the bow. Ahem. Just saying… right between the eyes every time!)

#17

Well, weapon testing is not only nice for the recipients, I personally would also like my weapon to be checked, just to be confident that I wont be hurting someone severely with a normal blow.

#18

I’m not sure if it’ll be of any great use in LARP, but I know some airsoft clubs (e.g. Airsoft Auckland) have a ‘bang’ rule, whereby basically if you get too close (I think the standard distance is 10m) to the person you want to shoot at, you don’t and instead call “bang” at them, indicating that you could have shot them but didn’t for the sake of safety.

The two big issues I see with it are, firstly, that in airsoft its generally one-hit-kill rules, as opposed to LARP where everyone usually starts off with multiple hit points; and secondly that in airsoft everyone is using a ranged weapon as their primary weapon, as opposed to LARP where many will be using a melee weapon of some description. Maybe something to consider adapting?

#19

Plucking and shooting legs at close legs are better technique for close range. Those who chose archery need to be very aware of what they are doing given the most effective range is <10m (IMO).

#20

Perhaps, should there be an archers’ muster, each of the archers should take a turn being the target …