A New Sherwood Strategy

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (JER 29:11 NIV)

I recently posted this notice on the Realms of Adventure (formerly the Shire of Sherwood) Facebook page. I figure I would share it here.

Hello Sherwooders!

I pray that you have remained well over the past year. I certainly miss fighting with you and am eager to do so again. With vaccines rolling out, that day may be coming soon.

I have been thinking about our park recently and have some ideas I’d like to try out. Let me share them with you.

Restart Practices – I will begin running practices again on Sunday afternoons. I don’t have a start date yet, but I’m guessing it will be May or June. Location is TBA. Right now, I’m planning on Sherwood but Robb has another park he’d like us to try. 

New Rules Set – Our contract with Amtgard has expired so I would like to try a different set of rules. I have reviewed the Way of the Sword (WoTS). There are things about them that I like so I want to try them. There are also some things I don’t like, but I plan to make some house rules.

A New Unit – Official WoTS branches are expected to have a historical theme. While I’m not ready to officially join WoTS yet, I would like to lay the groundwork. To that end, Robb and I are developing a historically themed unit. More on this later.

Let’s Have Fun! – the main goal of our group is to have fun, so we want to make it an enjoyable place for all. We want to try new things out and are open to suggestions. Here are some ideas that have been floating around.

• Nerf gun battles – Robb has been inspired to run some dieselpunk games, akin to TankLarp but without tanks. I jotted down ideas for a WoTS variant featuring Nerf guns.
• Monster battles – while WoTS is historically based, they welcome historical fantasy. I have some ideas to stat up monsters for WoTS rules. These games may be good for small groups – one powerful monster vs. a small party of adventurers.
• Return of the Tipsy Tankard – just want to hang out? No problem! We’ll set up an area where you can relax and socialize.

Share Your Ideas! – We are open to experiments. Just share your thoughts with the group

I hope these ideas whet your appetite for a return to the field of battle. See you soon!

All glory to the King!

A New Creation

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." (2 COR 5:17)

And speaking of new creations, welcome to my "new" blog.

Actually, I amalgamated two prior blogs. From 2015 until 2019 I ran a blog called Way of the Wardens, which chronicled my personal LARP experiences and the history of the "realms" that I ran. In late 2019, I started a blog for a new LARP that I proposed. Called "Paladins' Quest," it was intended as a Christian LARP. COVID derailed it, and I have since changed my plans. Therefore, I decided to merge the two blogs together as The Paladin's Path.

How will Paladin's Path be different? I want to highlight the intersection of my faith with my hobby. Many think that Christianity and LARP don't mix; I disagree. As I explain in this prior post, I have found that LARPing as a knightly character has strengthened my faith in Christ. Thus, I see no conflict between LARPing in general and Christianity.

So what should you expect from this blog? Well, it will be a mix of things:

• General LARP stuff, like battle reports, persona advice, and organizational discussion
• General Christian stuff, like holy day reflections, (hopefully) without getting too preachy
• Discussions about how faith and LARP can work together. For example, I am planning a series on the Christian virtues that undergird the code of chivalry, and how they apply to LARP

Anyway, I hope you join me on my journey.

All glory to the King!

"Cheater" Bracers - Take 2

 I previously posted an experiment in "cheater" armor. I made a splinted bracer using cardboard, velcro straps, and paper fasteners.

Poking around the internet, I found a better construction technique. I decided to try it out. Here is the result.

This time, I put the straps on the outside. It makes it easier to strap it tight to the arm.

Another change is that I did not cut out individual splints. Instead, I cut out a single piece of cardboard then scored lines on the back. I was then able to fold the cardboard to shape.

Here it is on my arm. I have it strapped on the inside so that I could take the picture.

This was a very simple way to make a splinted piece of armor. I want to try it with greaves.

"Cheater" Armor

I know, a paladin should never cheat, and actually I am not advocating it. 

However, there are some LARPs that will allow armor that is made of non-period materials (such as aluminum or plastic). I jokingly call this "cheater" armor because it is a lot lighter than the real thing. Even so, I am a big advocate of such armor if it looks good. Here is an example:

In general, I think the game looks better if people wear armor. To this end, I have long pondered how to outfit people in inexpensive, lightweight armor. This leads to some problems.

• You can buy inexpensive armor, but it tends to be metal
• Leather and plastic armor is lightweight, but tends to be more expensive (go figure)

Therefore, I have long pondered how to construct plastic armor. Recently, I have been acquiring a lot of cardboard boxes (thanks to COVID). I decided to use some to experiment with armor templates. If successful, I can move the design to plastic.

Here is my first build - a splinted vambrace (bracer). Yeah, it's ugly. Remember that it's a template.

I have made a single-piece plastic bracer before, however it required heating the plastic with a heat gun and then shaping it. I was looking for a design that could be built using simpler techniques.

I borrowed the concept from this page of the Armour Archive. For my test, I used a canvas backing with velcro straps, cardboard splints, and cheap paper fasteners.

Here is a picture of it on my arm.

I learned a few things in the process. Primarily I think it will work better if I have the straps on the outside.

Hallelujah! A Savior is Born!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

            Luke 2: 8-14 (NIV)

 

2020 has been an extremely trying year for the world. In all the turmoil of COVID, politics, job loss, and all the other calamities that have befallen people this year, it is easy to forgot that there is hope. But on this day, we remember the one true hope for humanity - Jesus Christ. He is the savior that God has given us - not some vaccine or politician. The things of this world will ultimately disappoint us, but salvation through Christ is eternal.

On this blessed day, I wish the peace of Christ our Lord upon each and every one of you.

My Faith Story

My church's pastor gave us an assignment this week - take a video where we share our story of how Christ changed us. Well, I don't do video but I like to blog.

Let me begin by telling you about one of my other loves - medieval fantasy. As a boy, I thrilled to the stories of King Arthur and his knights. I remember running around the house with a "sword" may of tinkertoys while listening to the Camelot soundtrack on our stereo (boy, I am really dating myself). In high school, I fell in love with Lord of the Rings, which led me to Dungeons & Dragons. I played extensively during high school and college. As an adult, I turned my back on such "childish" pursuits. Oh, I still role played, but I did it in the guise of "serious" historical study as a Civil War re-enactor.

My love of medieval fantasy re-awakened, however, after I watched the Lord of the Rings movies. I started to read fantasy again and to dabble with tabletop and computer roleplaying games. But most seriously, I took up live action role-playing (LARP), where I dressed up as a knight and engaged in mock combat with fellow LARP enthusiasts.

You may think you know where this is heading. Another "Jesus saved me from the evils of fantasy role playing" you may say. 

Actually no. Christ is far more sophisticated than that. Instead, he used my love of fantasy to draw me closer to him. You see, as I spent time roleplaying a knight, I began to study the history of the institution of knighthood and its code of chivalry, I learned a few surprising things.

• Chivalry = Christian virtue: The code of chivalry is deeply rooted in concepts of Christian virtue. Knights are expected to "do unto the least of these" by using their strength to defend the weak. Furthermore, they were expected to be pure, honorable, upright, humble, etc. In other words, they were expected to be Christian soldiers. Of course, many knights strayed from this path (but haven't we all?).
• Knighthood = Service: The essence of knighthood is service - serve the king, serve his people. In fact, the term "knight" literally means "servant" in Old English.

How did this affect me? I began to think about the idea of serving a king. Twentieth Century Americans are no particularly are not particularly fond of "bending the knee" to a king, but I realized that there is a king to whom we should pledge our fealty. A perfect king - the King of Kings - Jesus Christ. I was filled with a desire to serve Him, and his people. I started getting involved with church and various charities. I wanted to learn more about my King so I began to read His Word - the Bible. I am still traveling the path to knighthood, but as I do, I find that my relationship with Christ is growing stronger.

The Lord Comforts Me

If we listen, the Lord will speak to us. He recently reminded me that. Let me share my story.

I went to the doctor recently due to a health concern. At my appointment, the doctor stated that he believed my condition was not serious. He wanted me to take on more test but was still confident that I would be fine. Just take some pills and I would be good as new (almost). Later that day, he called me back with the test results. I missed the call so he left the message. He sounded rather grave when he asked me to call him back. I was not able to reach him before he left for the night.

That night I was concerned about my health. Why did the doctor call me back? Was it really something far more serious? As I was worrying, I read this passage in the Bible.

He [God] has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us. (2 Cor 1:10)

In this passage, Paul was talking about troubles he experienced, but I knew that God was using this line to speak to me. I immediately felt comforted. For He has delivered me from health issues before, and I felt like He was telling me not to worry about this.

As it turns out, the doctor just had a few questions for me. Once I answered them, he repeated his initial prognosis. I was worrying for nothing, but the Lord took those worries from me.