Weapons

Alliance allows combat with weapons constructed per our safety guidelines. Every weapon must be inspected and approved by a Chapter Weapon Marshal before every event. It is your responsibility to make sure your weapon has been approved before you start playing. If anyone is hurt from your unsafe weapon and you did not get it checked and approved beforehand, you will be held responsible. Any weapon found to be unsafe, at any time, will be rejected and can no longer be used until repaired and inspected again.

Weapon Construction Requirements

The Weapon physrep design specifications are intended to represent the bare minimum safety guidelines for a weapon to pass inspection. Local Marshals may require additional measures be taken to ensure a weapon is safe for Alliance use. It is always best to consult your local Marshals to determine their expectations when you are designing or looking to purchase a new weapon.

Cores

Weapon cores can be made from PVC pipe, fiberglass, graphite, or carbon fiber such as fishing poles or kite spar, at the discretion of each chapter. Light aluminum can be used for Great Weapon cores (except Staff) but never for One Handed Weapons. Heavy aluminum pipe, wood, and metal wire are never acceptable cores.

All weapon cores must be rigid enough so as to not whip when swung quickly. A weapon tip should not bend more than six inches from true when the grip is held level and a moderate weight is applied to the tip. Conversely, all weapons must have some flex to them when contact is made. If the core does not properly flex, then you may be required either to use a smaller diameter pipe or add more padding to ensure that the weapon is safe.

All cores must be padded and unexposed. The only exception is the grip, which may be left unpadded or wrapped in tape, leather or other materials to provide a more comfortable and secure grip. A weapon’s unpadded grip should only extend to parts of the weapon which are never expected to come in contact with opponents.

Striking Surfaces

All weapon striking surfaces must be protected with at least 1/2" thick closed-cell foam. This foam must extend at least 1” beyond the end of the core. One common mistake is using foam of a smaller inner diameter than the core being used, forcing the foam over the core and compacting the foam. The foam should slide easily over the pipe but fit snugly so that the weapon will not rattle if the pipe is shaken. Physreps with a protruding striking surface, such as blunt weapons or polearms, should be properly padded with foam.

Striking and non-striking surfaces of a weapon must be covered by an outer layer to protect them from wear. If using duct tape to cover the foam on a physrep, you should tape lengthwise using 2” wide duct tape with about ¼” overlap. This method will use the least amount of tape while keeping the weapon light and safe. You should not tightly wrap the duct tape around the foam, or in a spiral pattern up the blade. This makes the foam too stiff and adds weight. Keep in mind that it is a weapon and use appropriate prints or colors. You may also cover the padding with just nylon stockings or fabric, securing the nylon with tape at the base, and taping the thrusting tip to the top of the weapon. If applying latex to cover the foam on a physrep, you must ensure the layer is not so thick as to stiffen the weapon or otherwise cause it to become unsafe. Latex coverings can be especially delicate and will be given special attention by Weapon Safety Marshals. Vinyl electrical tape can only be used in non-contact areas of the weapon as decoration or grip.

All weapons intended for thrusting must have a thrusting tip. A thrusting tip consists of at least 2” of open-cell foam padding beyond the end of the foam. A thrusting tip should not be longer than its diameter and should collapse about half of its length when pressure is applied.

Non-Striking Surface

All non-striking surfaces which may come into contact with another player (e.g. the shaft of a Blunt Weapon, cross guards, the flats of sword blades, etc.) must be protected with sufficient closed-cell foam to ensure safety from accidental strikes. If you are unsure what qualifies, it’s always best to stick with a minimum of 1/2" thick foam on all sections of the weapon above the grip.

Cross guards, which must be below the blade or shaft, must be made of either open or closed-cell foam. All protrusions above the cross guard must be made of foam with no core regardless of size.

If a physrep has a weighted pommel, that pommel must be thickly padded since it could potentially physically hurt someone, including the wielder.

 

Weapon Specifics

Blunt Weapons, Axes, One-Handed Spears, and Polearms

These physreps must have a padded striking surface shaped appropriate to the weapon type. The striking surface must be made out of foam and placed over the 1/2" closed-cell foam that covers the core. The striking surface must be noticeably thicker than the rest of the physrep and should squash easily. Everything above the grip area must have at least ½” foam padding. Blunt weapons may never be used to thrust. One Handed Spears can only be used to perform thrusting attacks and can never be thrown. A character hit by any part other than the thrusting tip takes no damage.

Two-Handed Weapons

Two-Handed Weapons must be used with both hands at all times. If you lose the use of one arm, you cannot wield the weapon and will take the damage if you block a blow while the weapon is only held in one hand.

Thrown Weapons

Thrown Weapons can be many different shapes and sizes and must be approved on a case-by-case basis. The physrep cannot contain a core or be internally weighted with hard materials. These weapons can never be used for blocking or melee attacks and must always be thrown. At a minimum, they should be at least 2” long in any one dimension. Thrown Weapons with any single measurement over 24” (61 cm) is considered a “Heavy Thrown Weapon” and will have a base damage of 3 instead of 2.

Staff

Staves may only be handled in the middle 3 feet on the grip. The grip should be marked off so it is easily identifiable. Staves in Alliance cannot be used to trip, hook, physically-disarm, etc., for safety reasons. Staves may never be used to thrust. Padding may be required on the grip section of the staff depending on how it is designed. Staves require Two hands to attack, but you may block with one hand.

Archery

Archery attacks are represented with packets. When using a Bow or Crossbow, the weapon must be pointed in the direction of the intended target. The packet must be touched to the Bow or Crossbow and then pulled away from the weapon toward the player’s body until it is thrown. The archer must finish the verbal before throwing the packet and must throw the packet immediately after finishing the verbal. Shields and Weapons will block an archery attack if the verbal does not include the Strike keyword.

Both Bows and Crossbows are considered Two-Handed Weapons when attacking (both hands must be free). Neither may be used for melee attacks.

The only items required to use the Archery skill are a physrep and packets. You may also wear a quiver, but this is not required.

Bows are made of a curved physrep and padded like a regular weapon. No string is attached. A Bow physrep is not required to have thrusting tips on its ends. The length of a Bow physrep is measured along the entire length of its curve. The grip of the Bow must be in the Bow’s center and the Bow may only ever be used while holding the grip. The Bow can be used with one hand to block attacks.

Crossbows must be made of closed-cell foam. The stock/ barrel may have an approved core but the limbs can not. No string is attached. A Crossbow cannot be used for blocking. It is considered a 2-handed weapon for attacking purposes; in other words, both hands and both arms must be utilized to use a crossbow. In our game, the crossbow is meant to be a lighter, more portable counterpart to the bow.

Shields

Shields are strictly for defense. Shields cannot be used to push or strike an opponent or to intentionally trap a weapon so it cannot be safely pulled back to swing again. Regardless of size or how it is wielded, using a Shield always requires one hand.

Any Targeted attack that does not include the Strike keyword that lands on a Shield is defended, but attacks with the Strike keyword “travel” through Shields and affect the wielder. Shields will not protect the owner from any kind of Trap.

Shields can be used in conjunction with the Parry and Intercept skill, but are not affected by targeted Effects that specify a “weapon.”

Shield physreps can be made of almost any strong, rigid material such as plastic, wood, aluminum, sturdy foam, etc. There is no upper or lower boundary on the size of shields. Safety is the primary consideration when constructing a shield. All edges of the shield must be padded with at least ½” thick closed-cell foam unless the shield is made entirely of rigid foam. Uncovered bolts or protrusions are not allowed.

Claws

Claws must be primarily red. While small decorations of other colors are allowed, all claws must be easily recognizable as red from a distance. Other weapons may not use red as their predominant color. Character Claws must be 28” to 36” long, while Monster Claws may be longer.

Boulders

Boulders, and similar gargantuan Heavy Thrown Weapons, may only be lifted by creatures with Monster Strength and the skill Thrown Weapon. Boulders are usually represented by garbage bags full of wrinkled paper or open-cell foam and will be tagged appropriately.

Packets

Spells, Alchemy Globes, Tinkering Globes, Archery arrows, and most ranged attacks are represented by packets. Packets are constructed with bird seed and fabric. The bird seed must be small and round without sharp edges (e.g. millet); local chapters may have further requirements or restrictions. Packets should be relatively squishy and around 1”-1.5” in diameter. Packets that are too large, overly tight, or made with restricted contents are illegal and will be confiscated by a Marshal.

Packets are made out of a fabric square roughly 5” to 7” per side, with 1 to 2 tablespoons of bird seed in the center, gathered together around the bird seed and either bound closed with a rubber band or sewn shut. You can personalize packets by using distinctive cloth or writing on the packets.

Packets are visible in-game but are not in-game items and cannot be Disarmed, Broken, or Shattered. Spell and Channeling packets held in the hand are seen in-game as opaque colored energy, though they produce no useful light. Alchemy and Tinkering Globes appear as vials of swirling chemicals.

You cannot carry more packets in your hand than you have spells in memory, spells stored in magic items, or Alchemy and Tinkering tags you have on your person. However, you can carry as many packets in your pouches or pockets as you wish.

Broken Physreps

If your weapon physrep physically breaks during an event, then your weapon is destroyed in-game as well. You cannot call a Hold or Time out to go get another physrep, and you must later turn over the Weapon Tag to a Marshal. If the weapon was magical, then a Time Out can be called to replace the physrep if another is immediately available.

NPC Weapons

Most NPC weapons will not be tagged and have no ingame value. In general, monsters can be thought of as using particularly crude and low-quality weapons that an Adventurer would break with constant use. If you Disarm a weapon or shield from an NPC during a battle, you can pick it up and use it for the duration of that battle even if there is no Weapon Tag attached, but once the battle is completed, you must return the physrep to the NPC. Sometimes you can find NPC weapons that can be taken as treasure. You must take the Tag and leave the physrep with the NPC and then provide your own physrep if you wish to use it.

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 *Measured along length of curve