Loaner weapon contest

[Vors Nymphkilla]

Today Akuragano approached the admins with what I consider to be a clever way of refilling our loaner bag. As most of you know, ITS EMPTY. All of our old loaners are broken and really arent worth using, so we need new ones for when new fighters want to try the sport. Of course building weapons, especially shields, can be quite expensive. The plan is to have something of a weapons building contest. People can build weapons to strict quidelines and whoever makes the best product will recieve a prize of some sort (Akuragano recommended the realm buying a few Edhellen products for prizes). All weapons built will become the property of the general realm to be used by anyone. The weapons will be made in a way that distinguishes them as loaners so people don't walk off with them or mistake them for personal weapons. Being that this should create an excess of loaners beyond what we need for the loaner bag, we could keep the less great weapons for loaner and give away the best weapons as prizes at events.

Weapons will generally all be made in the same way we make all of our personal gear. If an entered weapon does not pass, it does not get considered in the contest. Weapons will be graded in the categories of Green only (spears, daggers, javelins, etc), blues (with or without green), reds (with or without stabby), and shields (punch, strap, and blucklers)

Weapon Covers- black tube socks/ stockings
* use bright colored duct tape such as yellow, hot pink, lime green etc to further denote them as loaners.

Shields- covered with some fabric that will be easily denoted as loaner only.

Give us some feedback on how said contest can be improved.

[Swordbrother Nova]

We should probably find a different award, no sense giving an edhellen weapon to someone who knows how to make their own nice enough already (I mean that person won the contest) What about feast gear or maybe some garb?

We do need more loaners though! I like this.

[eoin]

Technically weapons having neon colors on them fail. But it's a great idea.

[Swordbrother Nova]

I wouldn't think that the loaners would go to events, so we wouldn't have to worry about that too much. Though you are right.

[Izad]

yeah Neon's and Flouresants on weapons are supposed to fail but for loaners i dont think it really matters. it would make them ugly enough that people wouldnt want to take them home. And i like Novas idea. Cause plus, edhellen is expensive shit.

[Mulesak(Paragon)]

What's a "conest"?
hehe...
award, Id go the pride route, make some kinda badge that the winner can include on his/her garb and like no more than a $50 gift card for somewhere local.....

[Vors Nymphkilla]

thanks for catching that, i fixed it to say "contest"

yeah, i mean like if we can get ahold of one of those really nice plastidip weapons as a prize or something. Though something like a cloak would make a great prize for the winner.
the point of the neon is so that the weapons are obviously loaner, and they will likely never go to an event.
does anyone have objection to using the weapons that wins as event prizes? akuragano said to keep the best stuff in the bag and the less great stuff as prizes. but thats not much of a prize for event goers. also, if i made something really nice, i wouldnt want a first timer using it and possibly breaking it. id rather the best stuff go to someone who knows how to take care of a weapon. OOH Idea: at events have an auction for the best stuff or a raffle or something that gets the realm some money.

[eoin]

I understand the loaners probably would not go to events but if we are going to use the best of the best as prizes it might be nice if they could atleast pass off of the home field.

[Vors Nymphkilla]

good point. i meant we change the coverings and such so they look better THEN give them away/sell them

[Mercaine]

The realm has just around 400 dollars.
the good core is about 2.00 per 5 feet, enough for two 2.5' or 30" swords, far longer than most people need.
One roll of foam is $7 at a high estimate
A roll of carpet tape costs $4
Duct Tape Name Brand is $3
and A roll of electrical tape is $1.5
If you can get 12 strips from one roll of foam that makes four swords = $8.00 worth of core. The Maybe you want two rolls of carpet tape but at a conservative estimate you can create four swords for around 24-25 dollars.

Sock covers from the dollar store run $1 for two.

I'm not saying what we should do, but i'm saying if you want results quickly and in a cost efficient way one of the admins should buckle down and make some weapons. Unless you anticipate a lot of weapons being made for the contest a $50 dollar gift card to somewhere is not cost effective.

Just saying from past experience. Slow down before you start planning on spending money.

[Swordbrother Nova]

On that note I found a set of feast gear for ~$20 on a website that I get a discount on, when things get a bit more settled perhaps we can get the fine details hammered out on this idea and set it into motion.

[Haze]

I'm down either way, either building some using realm funds or for a contest.

[Vors Nymphkilla]

theres a few ways to handle price of materials, btw merc, thanks for giving us the cost estimates. i always forget how much things cost.
* everyone who wants to enter the contest chips in a certain amount of money to buy a bunch of materials, everyone involved takes from the community materials.
*everyone buys their own materials and does with it as they see fit
* enter in groups so 2-3 people make their weapons out of the same gear but they collectively pay for their materials

if anyone else has a way we could do this, please post it.

i think its best just to have people buy their own stuff like we normally do and keep what materials they dont use on contest entry weapons.

if the realm decides to do this contest and include reds and spears, this may be a good time to ACTUALLY have a bunch of people order band shoppe pole instead of just saying we will.

i think we should figure out how many people would be interested in doing this contest idea at all before we decide what prizes will be, cause if there are only 3-5 people making 1-2 weapons each, we dont need much of a prize.

Shields: by far more expensive than blues. i think there should be a better prize for shield building, one that is proportional to the cost and effort it takes to make a quality shield

I think for reds, if we include them in the contest, we'll just make minimum dimension weapons. long weapons cost alot and i personally dont want to put a 7 foot weapon in inexperienced hands. if a weapon is close to 4 feet, sturdy pvc and/or 1/2" fiberglass makes a solid weapon that doesnt flex a whole lot. and a shorter weapon cuts down cost of materials a bit.

more ideas?

[Swordbrother Nova]

I don't think we should make anything other than blues. If we make a bunch of different weapons some new fighters won't be inclined to use/make their own equipment. If we make loaner shields the straps become a problem of whether or not they fit, and punch shields are difficult for beginners to use very often, bucklers are really the only loaner shields I think make sense to have. I also see loaner reds as a problem. We all know that a new fighter gets that gleam in their eye and wants to go straight for a red weapon when they see one. It's just so bad ass! Then they try to do all sorts of crazy things with it like over head swings and exhibit all around poor weapon control and unsafe fighting. (That's what the red class is for I know)

I'm really not trying to be a party pooper, I swear. It's just blue weapons are the most common weapon in this game. You'll use it for a side arm, your main weapon(s), and in most trials/contests/tourneys you would use a blue weapon. I understand that not having all the other weapon types at the ready for use by anyone may hinder some folks from trying to learn to use it, but if they can ask to borrow a spear or red from someone then they can also get a quick lesson from them on how to use it perhaps, which would be very healthy for the realm for safety and fighting skills.

[Mercaine]

You should really only focus on blues. I actually wanted to come back on today and say a contest is a good idea, the only thing to consider is participation vs prize. I think a $50 dollar gift card would be a bit too much. Maybe entrance fee to gates or free pass to winter event? Think something like that.
When it comes to cost a free winter event ticket is way easier for the group to adjust to. and that would be something like a 12-15 dollar prize.