The Armour Archive

The sport vs combat thread made me think of a question.

If the game did not include the trappings of the middle ages, would you still fight?

Imagine this; The war is held in a large stadium attached to a convention center hotel,(room service laundry, bars, restaurants, day care) the managment of the group is still selected by combat, knights are still rewarded by accolade for courage, prowess and valor, but the equipment is scientifically designed and optimized for the game. you can buy it from the sporting goods store.
It looks and is modern except maybe for the logo on your jersey and helmet.

Would you still play?

Yep.

you betcha

-Ulrich

Most likely

I might participate occasionally the way I participate in paintball. Without the research aspect there would be limited appeal. You can do modern stick fighting elsewhere right now (Dog Brothers for instance).

If I just wanted to rush around in pads and sticks I'd go back to lacrosse.

I might play, but I think that I would still want my stuff to look period.

I am the kind of guy who wants a classic looking car, but replaces everything on the inside with brand new kick ass stuff so that it looks like a normal car, but can kick the crap out of anything on the road.

I might play with modern gear, but I don't think that it would be half as cool. It would probably be much dorkier than it is already I think.

Now if all the teams had themes, like a mongol team, a knightly team, a team of road warriors, etc I might be able to live with that, but generic sports? Dumb.

As far as pennsic goes, I think we all know the theme... and it aint mongols, japanese, or road warriors.

Alaric

No, because the trappings of the medieval on and off the field are far too intersting to me.

Nope.

The medieval "trappings" are a large part of the attraction, for me, along with the motivation to research, assemble and make practical use of a reasonable-fascimile of period armour.

While our combat conventions are far from "period," the "sport" maintains as much of a medieval flavor as does the rest of the SCA. That's sufficient, for me - otherwise, I'd be in a true reenactment group.

But without even that, I don't see the point. If I wanted to simply hit others with sticks, I could fight shinai...

I might have given it a brief try.

Nope.

I barely even joined the SCA because I felt too many people looked silly 3 years ago. If it was not for my friendship with Winterfell and his lady I would never have gone once and if not for meeting Sir Thomas of Calais who got me a little more interested in fighting I would likely just do Living history and mock the SCA all the time.

For me it’s about the medieval. Living history lets me feel like a medieval soldier, HWMA teaches me fighting like it really was, SCA allows me to experience the craziness of mass combat. Not one group gives me everything.

I like to hit people. I like medieval stuff. Steppe cultures mostly. I'd probably do it but I dunno if it would be as much fun as Tuchus stuff.

No.

It would be too much like football or "American Gladiators" or some such hoo-ha.

Mord.

Probably not,

by taking away the quest for honor part of the game it would escelate to who hits hardest fastest. That is not the game I enjoy playing.

I am not positing the removal of the quest for honor, just the removal of the recreation of middle ages equipment.

Me, I'd definitely still play, hell, I'd play if I had to wear a tutu and bee antennas while I did it. And room service and indoor plumbing at the war would get my wife there.

a tutu and bee antennas

I draw the line at bee antennas. No accounting for bee antennas.

edit: I hate posting something that someone else is posting at the same time. ggggrrrrrrrrrr....



Tu-tu's and bumble bee helms gonna be mandatory saftey gear?
...I'm in.
I should say, I LOVE the period aspect of the SCA...but it ain't why I got sucked into the vortex...I like learning about the period(I find out all the time how lil I know...) but I joined up to fight.
I'm with you Your Grace...If there where teams with themes...all the better. You know, Like the Dragons vs Tigers...or some such.

Absolutly-

Can we get indorsement contracts?

Nope, and I'd turn the TV off when it was on.

The SCAs sanitised fighting is great fun, and lil' 70kg (155lb) me can play, but it's only just mediaeval now.

Nissan Maxima wrote:Me, I'd definitely still play, hell, I'd play if I had to wear a tutu and bee antennas while I did it.

Ya know, if you squint hard enough your rig could be a bumble bee! (joke)
horns = antena, black lacing = stripes

No.

If it were successful I would buy stock in Alchemy Armory.
<img src ="http://www.alchemyarmory.com/dale2.jpg">
(note aside from the fact his stuff is plastic, I think it is pretty neat looking.)

Audiences would get bored.
That being said....
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... 889#495889

No gambeson, no hauberk, no wooden shields - no interest

Can we still drink beer around a campfire the evening after???

The PC answer is to say that I would hate it without the "history" but I've never been known for being PC.

I got into this game to fight at a time when I was on forced hiatus from karate and a buddy of mine was fighting in the SCA. I didn't realize people took the history seriously until later (not like you could tell from watching) and actually I'm not convinced anyone in my local shire back then really was into history? It wasn't until later I got the bug. I love the recreation stuff and get a major kick out of all of it, but if it wasn't there I'd still love hitting people with sticks.

Dog Brothers isn't the same thing, they work a lot harder (train year long) and only do the real stickfighting a couple times a year because otherwise they would be too beat up all the time. Our game is more relaxed and fun and you don't have to be very good and the injuries are very rare.

Gaston

Oh, on a related note: Hockey would be a lot more popular if they wore the outfits from "Strange Brew" instead of the goofy diapers.


Gaston

Gaston de Vieuxchamps wrote:Oh, on a related note: Hockey would be a lot more popular if they wore the outfits from "Strange Brew" instead of the goofy diapers.


Gaston

Gaston,

I have never agreed with you more

Alaric

Would you still play?[/quote]

No, I would buy a team and make Duke Alaric my GM and Sir Vitus my coach. Alaric would be the dreamy master mind in the front office. Sir Vitus could be the firery player/coach that would just hat the best quotes for ESPN. I would also get some cheerleaders in really skimpy phsuedo cote hardies and whimples doing naughty dances to heavy beats. I would also sell bottled Pennsic water for $8 a bottle and call it a sports drink for "real warriors." I would also start a shoe line for Jade, Brannos, Uther, Cuan, Drake and any other big and middle names with "street cred." Finally I would sell a bunch of over priced crappy team merchandise. Oh wait, sounds like my corporate job, never mind.

zero interest

Thats what I do already. The trappings arent nearly as important as the weapons and period techniques, to me.

Ram'sey,

Wow, I COULD be a dreamy master mind. Now I know my life goal!

YiS,

Fancy Pants

I'd be in. I do research because I love history. I do SCA fighting because I love the cameraderie and the rush of a good fight.

I don't play field hockey _now_...

which is basicaly what you described.

It would be nothing but another modern contact sport.

I'd do it, but it wouldn't be the same. Fun sport, but there wouldn't be the "magic" I feel in the field battle at Pennsic. I don't think I'd feel the same determination I do now, to keep fighting as long as I'm physically able.

Unlikely.

I would be more likely to pursue 'classical' Eastern or Western MA.

No.