Posted in Issues & Controversies, Other Geekiness, Rules, Weapons, tagged awesome, boffer, boffer combat, boffer weapons, fantasy, fun, gamers, gamming, larp, larp combat, larpers, larping, role playing combat, safety weapons, weapon creation on February 25, 2009|
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Shank, gotcha.
Now here is a point that many LARPers argue. Latex weapons vs. Boffer weapons. Now as a Boffer man, I have a hard time taking the side of latex enthusiasts, but I can give insight.
I would like to state that there is nothing sexual in the conataion of latex weapons. (senter snarky sex joke here). They are casted from rubber and pastic cores, or Fiber glass cores. The weapons themselves look beautiful, and realistic. Charging into battle with them is like fighting with a real sword in the battlefields of old. Carrying one of these isn’t like lugging your arsenal around, it’s like showing art to your “dying” enimies. With these inhand the imersion of the game becomes more complete. Beauty is power on the battlefield.
As a Boffer-man, I find some things off about these weapons. They feel light. Think about training with a Broadsword your whole life then having to always fight a Fencing foil. Swinging these this is quick and easy, and with the cores being made out of these lighter materials the have more whip. To get around the whip problem alot of people have learned to pull their punches. But even with this training, the realistic edges are tapered. After being stung a by couple of hits, your would be attackers run away crying. This may be a plus, I still don’t want to get hit with one.
Even though I have a strong bias against Latex weapons, you could be happy with them. The Rule we all should adhear to in the world of LARPing still stands. “Hit yourself in the face with the weapon as hard as you can. Did it hurt? No? Ok, you can use it.” (Basically, if you can hurt yourself with it, you will hurt others with it.) Take some time and train, learn about the different fighting styles and all about the weapons that are out there. Make good choices depending on the rules of the game and the weapons should be alright in the end.
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