Pavilion and/or tent purchase

nzLARPS
#1

What are the chances of NZLARPS acquiring a large pavilion for medieval and fantasy games, and/or a large army-style tent for more recent historical, modern and futuristic games?

A good pavilion (or several) that a number of people can walk around inside can make an excellent immersive larp venue and transform an outdoor space. For example, a big canvas tent would have made an excellent venue for The Curse of the Pharoah at Chimera (players could have played in and around it), and a medieval pavilion could be used at numerous medieval and fantasy games in Auckland like Knightshade, Wolfgangs, and doubtless many more to come.

While NZLARPS can’t afford to buy a larp venue, it possibly could afford this sort of temporary venue that can be put up anywhere.

#2

For example, a marquee like this could be used in almost any era, from medieval to futuristic. That one is smaller than I was thinking, but it gets the idea across. It’s $900 new.

#3

If people want to go silly with this, you can look at importing them as well. Poles can be made in NZ…

http://www.pantherprimitives.com/medieval.html
http://www.pasttents.com/medieval/

#4

I concur - SPEND!

#5

Or make your own. I’m currently planning this for after the wedding. with less than 25m of fabric needed at the moment (Pref canvas) then each increment of $4 for the fabric equals $100 in materials (i.e.$12 per m = $300) plus some more materials like rope, buttons, grommets, etc raising the price again.

A 4m wide by 2.5m deep by 3m tall medieval pavilion should come in under $500 if you make one yourself.

Here’s a design link courtesy of the SCA.

#6

Sure, that’s an option. Especially if someone owns a pavilion/tent/marquee that’s suitable for the society’s purposes that a new tent could be modeled off. I think that what we’d get the most use out of is more like a largish temporary structure for standing or sitting inside, rather than a smaller (and perhaps more durable for overnight) structure for sleeping in. So more like a marquee perhaps than a tent. Although if it could be some sort of hybrid that fits both roles that’d be ideal.

Does anyone want to make one for the society?

#7

I made a small geteld (dark age/early medieval period) tent a year ago for re-enactment stuff. This worked really well for a two person tent, and I have seen larger ones, so they can be scaled up. A pavillion is more spacious though.

The canvas for making tents is not too expensive. However other costs like tent poles and paint on waterproofing stuff can really add to the cost. Investing in some heavier and therefore hopefully more waterproof canvas could be a good idea.

Also sewing them is more difficult than you might think, because of the sheer volume of fabric. Heavier canvas could require the hiring of an industrial sewing machine, especially to finish off seams. The seams have to be folded over and sewn down to increase strength and reduce leakage.

I’d be happy to [color=#000080]help [/color]make a tent. But I think putting something like this together would require a big group effort.

#8

I’ve seen a reenactment tent that started off as a standard tent and the owner replaced all the fabric bits with painted canvas. It looks really good, and it saved her having to work out how to do the poles and that.

#9

What would be ideal is a pavilion that could be dressed up in different styles for different periods, to give it flexibility.