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tweekinator posted:Thanks! The side-balancing and points system sounds nice as it seems to allow everyone to participate in the competition. It may have changed over time, as I said previously, I stopped participating in the 90's. Back when I was active though, the groups were typically what we called 'households'. Households are really any sort of grouping together of like minded people into whatever sort of organization that they want to create. They can consider themselves part of whatever level of the organization they want (i.e. they can span multiple baronies and say they are part of the kingdom, or they can be more localized and consider themselves part of a barony, or simply not declare an 'allegiance' per se). Everyone that participates actively, is likely to be a member of the society, which means that they will have a kingdom / barony based on their home address, but that doesn't define how they have to participate. We have 3 baronies in the Phoenix area, but just because I live in the west barony, doesn't mean that I can't call the central, or east barony 'my' barony, based on where I feel at home and want to participate. The only thing that cares where you physically live are the records in the corporate files. Chances are good that any larger mercenary group will have people from multiple baronies. Declaring fealty for the crown is typically only required of the peerages, so everyone playing who isn't a peer, is generally free to go wherever they want, and fight for whoever they want. In some wars, it wasn't terribly uncommon for the crown to actually ask households to switch sides for balancing, regardless of affiliation, since it's no fun if the sides are massively uneven. He probably said it better. 
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Oct 7, 2015 19:00
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Goobers For Guts posted:I don't think Atlantian Thugs pull punches. But each kingdom has it's own 'thing'. Now I want to know what the 'things' for each kingdom
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Oct 7, 2015 19:42
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Dzurlord posted:For instance, at Pennsic there's a meeting during the first week where everyone goes over their troop numbers and some alliances shift a bit so that one side isn't brutally outnumbered because that's just no fun. This was decidedly not the case in the year I went, which I think was around 34? People were saying one of the kings just utterly failed to reach out to the usual allies, so the other king scooped them up. The difference in numbers was a joke. No one was very happy about it--loss of combat opportunity for groups at the back of the flush side, and guaranteed loss of the battle for those on the scarce side. The polearms folk in our group were fine with it, but a lot of sword & board jocks just got to stand out in the sun and dodge tennis-ball tipped arrows for the duration. The Tuchux switched sides and got a cheer for it (possibly the only time people weren't bitching about them for mistakes years past) but that was the only balancing I saw. Battles mostly weren't worth the walk to observe, although the Bridge Battle was okay because it literally narrowed the field to a width that made the numbers matter a little less.
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Oct 7, 2015 22:58
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Pixelante posted:This was decidedly not the case in the year I went, which I think was around 34? People were saying one of the kings just utterly failed to reach out to the usual allies, so the other king scooped them up. Ugh. Yeah, that happens occasionally, but not recently at least? I think people are generally better about it lately. I remember being on the rapier field that year (or around that year, anyway) and just getting stomped in ways that were the opposite of cool heroic stands against high odds. Bah.
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Oct 8, 2015 00:21
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Dzurlord posted:I remember being on the rapier field that year (or around that year, anyway) and just getting stomped in ways that were the opposite of cool heroic stands against high odds. Bah. And that's one of the other things I disliked about the SCA--the disdain towards rapier fighting. The range of treatment I saw it getting ran from total irrelevance to insulting condescension. I figure some of the irrelevance comes from it being a sport that can never end in a throne, since it's heavy fighting for that, but it didn't merit the way I saw and heard it being treated. It seemed just as legit as anything else going on, but they were treated like the nerds in a stereotypical American highschool.
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Oct 8, 2015 00:32
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Pixelante posted:And that's one of the other things I disliked about the SCA--the disdain towards rapier fighting. The range of treatment I saw it getting ran from total irrelevance to insulting condescension. I figure some of the irrelevance comes from it being a sport that can never end in a throne, since it's heavy fighting for that, but it didn't merit the way I saw and heard it being treated. It seemed just as legit as anything else going on, but they were treated like the nerds in a stereotypical American highschool. It varies greatly. I've known a number of folks who were against it because a lot of the rapier canon is very late period if not past period. Calontir took forever to even bother with it, but it always seemed like most of the kingdom was Norse and early Britons anyway.
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Oct 8, 2015 01:40
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Pixelante posted:And that's one of the other things I disliked about the SCA--the disdain towards rapier fighting. The range of treatment I saw it getting ran from total irrelevance to insulting condescension. I figure some of the irrelevance comes from it being a sport that can never end in a throne, since it's heavy fighting for that, but it didn't merit the way I saw and heard it being treated. It seemed just as legit as anything else going on, but they were treated like the nerds in a stereotypical American highschool. I hear you there, but that is tons better now. Sitting royalty routinely authorizes in rapier and fight in rapier melee war points at Pennsic. There's also a champions tournament at Pennsic that's a war point in itself, too. Oh, and as of May this year, there's a peerage for rapier prowess. So that's also pretty drat awesome. I guess what I'm saying is that it's a ton better fighting with rapiers in the SCA now. (Plus C&T allows for folks to do things like Fiore and Lichtenauer and I.33 and stuff too, so you occasionally see much earlier period stuff happening there.)
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Oct 8, 2015 03:01
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The Locator posted:Oh look, an SCA thread. I'm shocked that there hasn't been one here before (or maybe there has and I just never noticed). I practice singlestick and la canne, both of which use a rather robust rattan stick. It sounds to me like SCAers are just bashing each other.
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Oct 8, 2015 03:25
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Verisimilidude posted:I practice singlestick and la canne, both of which use a rather robust rattan stick. It sounds to me like SCAers are just bashing each other. Well, yeah, they kinda are. But with STYLE. Especially if a fighter chooses florentine. (Two sword and no shield) Which is quite amazing to watch. Most newcomers to events jump at the sounds of a first tourney. As there is quite a loud cacophony of 'Thwacks'
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Oct 8, 2015 16:13
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I never gave a poo poo about tourney fighting. For me it was all about war fighting, like open field, bridge battles, or forest battles like at gww or west/antir. I always fought with polearms or with a shortsword and wardoor at those things and it's just a big rush to fight full speed with a few hundred or a thousand other people all at once. As for mercenary stuff, yeah, I usually just fought for beer and liquor. Sometimes for equipment or something else though, which was always cool. And that's because it was impossible to get my regular unit to leave caid to do anything as a group.
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Oct 8, 2015 18:20
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I'm curious if anyone whose been in the SCA for a while has noticed a drop in attendance in their local group/household/area. I'm a member of Markland, and I basically missed 4 years of events due to not having a car/ride to make events. We've gone from having 20-30 to a side during our events to at best 10-20 (and a lot of those being light archers). I'm wondering if it's a bigger problem since the economic depression, or our own group is just struggling a lot. I like being able to fight as dirty peasant scum, so that's why I've never joined the SCA or been much interested in it. I have a persona, but don't really use it much unless I'm fighting. Plus I'd hate having to buy/get and maintain real equipment.
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Oct 9, 2015 03:38
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I have a friend who is still very active in the society, and my understanding from him is that while the groups around here are healthy, overall they do have a problem with declining population, and increasing average age. Apparently getting youthful types to stick around is a problem these days.
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Oct 9, 2015 03:43
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I suspect the dominant demographic is one that's mostly doing things like putting their career first, raising children, and realizing that heavy fighting isn't as fun as it was with the joints and muscle they had at 25. I bet there's a resurgence when those people hit retirement age.
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Oct 9, 2015 23:18
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The Locator posted:I have a friend who is still very active in the society, and my understanding from him is that while the groups around here are healthy, overall they do have a problem with declining population, and increasing average age. Apparently getting youthful types to stick around is a problem these days. Well, it's a lot of work. Especially when you consider that a lot of the people who would otherwise be down just play WoW now.
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Oct 10, 2015 03:02
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My dad took a break after me and my brother came along and got involved again when I was about 10 or 11. Now he's become old and kinda tubby and has a chronic asthma thing so he's basically quit entirely, but when I was a teenager we went to four or five big events a year. I can see why it happens, kids definitely complicate life.
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Oct 10, 2015 15:39
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It's been a while, SCA thread. What are you guys up to now that event season is in full swing? I'm heralding my first court this upcoming weekend and I'm nervous as gently caress. :|
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May 9, 2016 10:24
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I've got way too many A&S projects going! Metalwork, I need to cut and engrave a bee to bling up a friend's coronet. Also design a pair of coronets for the current landed baron and baroness to have something when they step down next year. And I have some brass cut out to finish shaping into a few dip pens. And finish carving a snowy owl and maybe the local populace badge in wax so I can make some silicone molds for pewter casting. And hammer up 16 more penannular brooches by july for another friend's wedding. Woodwork, I have a new shave horse and lovely adze, I want to make a mess of bowls and spoons. I'd also like to make some chests and some lasts for a few different shoe styles, but that's not actually something I've committed to yet. Leatherwork, I've got a few hides that I need to turn into armor, and I'd like to make another pair of turnshoes for myself, now that I've learned a few things about patterning them. Fiber stuff, I've got another tunic to make (the most lovely camel/wool blend EVER) and I'm spinning up the threads I'm going to turn into tablet woven trim for it. And doing some naalbinding, but that's stuff I do at work when there's nothing going on so it barely counts.
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May 25, 2016 01:30
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That, uh, that is way too many A&S things going on.
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May 25, 2016 14:28
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It is well known up here that there are Things Wrong With Me. I'm also wanting to dabble in pressblech, because I found out that you can make positives out of a hard wood on the end grain instead of needing to have it cast, and I can So yeah, anyone want to talk A&S?
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May 25, 2016 19:44
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petecas posted:So yeah, anyone want to talk A&S? Heck yeah! I was recently named my Baronies A&S Champion (and didn't die while heralding court, derp derp). I've spent pretty much my whole life being "a maker", and when my husband and I joined the SCA something clicked in my head and... life just kind of got really good. Having a community that supports you and shares knowledge is amazing. As an artist I've come so far in the past four years, it's amazing. I do a lot of embroidery - I had never stitched in my life before SCA. Then I met Goobers For Guts and she taught a small class on the basic stitches at Atlantia's YMIR 2013, and I haven't stopped since. Here are a few of my finished and WIP pieces that haven't been posted here already: Current project, a coif and forehead cloth (currently just the forehead cloth) based on pieces at the V&A Museum   My go-to when trying a new technique is to make these little biscornu pincushions. They aren't /specifically/ period, but they're the perfect size to finish in a day or two, check out the stitching/style, and even if it's sucky you still have a small finished piece that SOMEONE will be glad to get as a gift. My most recent was this little german brickwork one, which I decided I need a tighter weave fabric if I'm going to do again - 22 hardanger isn't tight enough.   I also dabble in a little scribal, but honestly I don't feel like I'm great at it. Which is kind of funny to me because I went to school for illustration, but I guess just trying to get into that mindset of capturing the style is just really hard. This is the most recent scroll I've done.  Based on this image:  I also weave - inkle and card, dabble a little in leatherworking, spin (badly), naalbind, and do various cordmaking stuff (kumi, lucet, whipcord etc). I really want to learn to do bobbin lace but I am the queen of knotting string and I know it would be a loving disaster, so I haven't quite gotten up the bravery to give it a go.
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May 28, 2016 02:03
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I hear you on the supportive community, it's pretty great. It's a lot of fun being exposed to new stuff by lovely people with large garages! In other news, friends of mine have a 7 month old who has some teeth coming in, they made a joke about rawhide chews, I went a little nuts and long story short, The Teething Shield! It's rimmed with rawhide  
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Jun 9, 2016 23:56
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Few questions from a non-SCA larper: 1. Is there much crossover between SCA and LARP? Or do people tend to do one or the other? We see a fair amount of crossover between viking/medieval re-enactment and LARP in the UK (not really having the SCA over here) but the majority of re-enacators really hate larpers and consider them pussies, so I wondered if there was any kind of broad rivalry like that. 2. How are kit standards enforced? Are there people checking and you're literally not allowed to join in if your kit is not up to scratch, or is it more a case of the community policing itself and quietly (or not so quietly) informing someone that their kit is poo poo?
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Jun 10, 2016 12:13
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MikeCrotch posted:2. How are kit standards enforced? Are there people checking and you're literally not allowed to join in if your kit is not up to scratch, or is it more a case of the community policing itself and quietly (or not so quietly) informing someone that their kit is poo poo? If you don't have proper "legal" equipment you won't be allowed on the field, period. To authorize to fight you have to have the full set of equipment and fight a marshal to show that you know what you're doing, as well as pass an equipment check. Also, if, for instance you forget your gauntlets at home for some reason, you won't be allowed to fight because you don't have them. We use rattan weapons that can cause real, serious injury if you aren't wearing full protection - and some people get pretty banged up even through the protections they're required to wear.
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Jun 10, 2016 17:26
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That drat Satyr posted:If you don't have proper "legal" equipment you won't be allowed on the field, period. To authorize to fight you have to have the full set of equipment and fight a marshal to show that you know what you're doing, as well as pass an equipment check. I meant more for soft kit, but that's an interesting insight on the fighting side of things. Thanks!
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Jun 10, 2016 21:31
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I don't know what every area is like, but the written rules are "your best attempt at pre-1600s gear" so there's not really a high bar to entry. I've never seen or heard of anyone putting down gear (although it has to be a thing somewhere if "attack laurels" is such a persistent joke). And as far as the SCA/larp divide, we've had co-op events with the local Amtgard group, and sometimes do gear days with them. Our soft kits are generally better, but that's because we (generally) are older and have jobs, instead of being college kids on ramen budgets.
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Jun 11, 2016 01:12
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