Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Quite possibly...
...the nerdiest thing I've ever done.
Allow me to explain. This past Sunday I experienced two unique things. One was heatstroke and the other was, and I can't say this enough: stay with me, Dark Hunt.
Also I saw the ‘Dark Knight.’ If you’ve seen it then I have nothing to say that you don’t already know. If you haven’t seen it you really should find an excuse to go. I mean right now, fake a cold, go vomit in the trashcan if you need to I don’t care. Go see the movie.
Now Dark Hunt, hear me out. My fiancé has a friend at work who mentioned this thing he attended every other weekend or so. He really didn't elaborate and I can understand why, this really isn't for everyone. Think medieval reenactment with some, um, fantasy aspects. Ok, really I thought it was super lame when I heard about it. I immediately thought of… well a lot of things. Normally that crowd bothers me on a level that I am somewhat ashamed to admit. ‘That crowd’ being the Live Action Role-Playing community in general.
I’ll apologize, somewhat, for my rudeness. This is a sidetrack but I really want you to understand what I am thinking. Live Action games sound like a brilliant idea. What better way to play a game than by really playing it? Well this idea holds well until you add the human element to it. I have to be honest the game attracts people that bother me the way nails across a chalkboard.
Now my earlier apology had a ‘somewhat’ added to it. I generally like to get along with everyone and I’m under the impression that I behave in a way that reflects that. These ‘LARPers’ make me feel awkward and ill at ease. Think of the comedy movies where there is a really embarrassing moment for the protagonist. I hate those moments because I feel for the character rather than laugh at the situation, this is why I hated ‘Meet the Parents’ and never watched the sequel. SOME of the LARPers make me feel that way. I can’t stand it.
Now all that aside Dark Hunt really didn’t have too many of those people. Even if they were there I didn’t notice them. Here’s why:
I said ‘think medieval reenactment’ and to a degree that is what it was like. People in costumes with armor and there was a small trebuchet there! My friend tossed me a hunter green tabard, I borrowed a length of black cloth for a belt, someone handed me a black shortsword with a graphite body and covered in foam with a black cover over it and then someone handed me a small round shield with a cover that matched my tabard.
I was taught the basics by a guy who was a college lineman. He stood 5 inches taller and probably outweighed me by 60 or so pounds of MUSCLE. This is where I started noticing distinctions. The people here weren’t all in terrible shape. In fact a good deal of them had that lean, hungry look of having spent enough quality time fine tuning their bodies in more ways than running, meaning that they didn’t look gaunt like me but sinewy and strong.
We lined up in a soccer field surrounded by trees. Another group of people lined up on the other side. Someone yelled ‘LAY ON!’ We ran at each other and started beating the crap out of each other with foam swords, spears, shield checking, flails, javelins (I took one to the face by accident) and big two handed swords.
After one side was dead we stood up and did it again. And again. And again. And again. Now I’m leaving out some of the silly details. For starters no head shots, the javelin I took to the face actually didn’t count. The guy throwing it quickly apologized, which was nice. When you hit someone you have to call out what kind of damage it is. Honestly that felt silly and it was but all you did was call out the color of the damage. I.e. normal weapons were white, hit someone with no armor (me) in the chest and they die, hit them in the arm or leg and they can’t use that limb, hit them twice in that limb and they die, black damage kills instantly and so on and so forth.
Aaaaand there were spells… I’ll admit that was lame. However we really didn’t use them too often, which was a relief.
Meanwhile there was roleplaying stuff that was going on. Something that involved castles and the trebuchet but I really didn’t pay any attention to that, it was going on in a different field.
I died a lot but the matches lasted 12 minutes tops and then we were up and fighting again. I was hit in the crotch twice, speared in the chest, flailed, beaten and even shield checked so hard I was thrown backwards and then beaten. I also go to beat people as hard as I wanted with a foam sword and shield check people.
How often do you get to do this? As nerdy and silly as it was I couldn’t wipe the shit-eating-grin off my face the entire time. I laughed as 5 guys dressed as roman centurions shield checked and swatted the shit out of me as one. Ultimately it was a spectacular experience.
I played from 1-430-ish and only took about five water breaks… Needless to say as we were leaving my jaw locked, my hands, face, and feet went numb, I was panting and stopped sweating. I’ve never had heatstroke before. I could move myself without problem but at rest my jaw clenched hard, my hands seemed to claw and my hamstrings pulled in.
With the air conditioning at full blast in my face I hunched in the car and tried to stay awake. I must have made a funny noise because my friend looked over at me and said, “Is this one of those ‘I can puke out the window’ things or is this a ‘lets pull over things’?” I thought about it and mumbled, “Pull over.”
Next thing I know I’m holding a guard rail and puking hot water hard enough to curl me over the rail. Then suddenly I feel normal again as if I had just been on a long run.
So that was my weekend. I am covered in bruises my right arm is slightly sun burnt (my left was holding a shield and thus out of the sun) and I’m sore. But that was an awesome weekend.
Allow me to explain. This past Sunday I experienced two unique things. One was heatstroke and the other was, and I can't say this enough: stay with me, Dark Hunt.
Also I saw the ‘Dark Knight.’ If you’ve seen it then I have nothing to say that you don’t already know. If you haven’t seen it you really should find an excuse to go. I mean right now, fake a cold, go vomit in the trashcan if you need to I don’t care. Go see the movie.
Now Dark Hunt, hear me out. My fiancé has a friend at work who mentioned this thing he attended every other weekend or so. He really didn't elaborate and I can understand why, this really isn't for everyone. Think medieval reenactment with some, um, fantasy aspects. Ok, really I thought it was super lame when I heard about it. I immediately thought of… well a lot of things. Normally that crowd bothers me on a level that I am somewhat ashamed to admit. ‘That crowd’ being the Live Action Role-Playing community in general.
I’ll apologize, somewhat, for my rudeness. This is a sidetrack but I really want you to understand what I am thinking. Live Action games sound like a brilliant idea. What better way to play a game than by really playing it? Well this idea holds well until you add the human element to it. I have to be honest the game attracts people that bother me the way nails across a chalkboard.
Now my earlier apology had a ‘somewhat’ added to it. I generally like to get along with everyone and I’m under the impression that I behave in a way that reflects that. These ‘LARPers’ make me feel awkward and ill at ease. Think of the comedy movies where there is a really embarrassing moment for the protagonist. I hate those moments because I feel for the character rather than laugh at the situation, this is why I hated ‘Meet the Parents’ and never watched the sequel. SOME of the LARPers make me feel that way. I can’t stand it.
Now all that aside Dark Hunt really didn’t have too many of those people. Even if they were there I didn’t notice them. Here’s why:
I said ‘think medieval reenactment’ and to a degree that is what it was like. People in costumes with armor and there was a small trebuchet there! My friend tossed me a hunter green tabard, I borrowed a length of black cloth for a belt, someone handed me a black shortsword with a graphite body and covered in foam with a black cover over it and then someone handed me a small round shield with a cover that matched my tabard.
I was taught the basics by a guy who was a college lineman. He stood 5 inches taller and probably outweighed me by 60 or so pounds of MUSCLE. This is where I started noticing distinctions. The people here weren’t all in terrible shape. In fact a good deal of them had that lean, hungry look of having spent enough quality time fine tuning their bodies in more ways than running, meaning that they didn’t look gaunt like me but sinewy and strong.
We lined up in a soccer field surrounded by trees. Another group of people lined up on the other side. Someone yelled ‘LAY ON!’ We ran at each other and started beating the crap out of each other with foam swords, spears, shield checking, flails, javelins (I took one to the face by accident) and big two handed swords.
After one side was dead we stood up and did it again. And again. And again. And again. Now I’m leaving out some of the silly details. For starters no head shots, the javelin I took to the face actually didn’t count. The guy throwing it quickly apologized, which was nice. When you hit someone you have to call out what kind of damage it is. Honestly that felt silly and it was but all you did was call out the color of the damage. I.e. normal weapons were white, hit someone with no armor (me) in the chest and they die, hit them in the arm or leg and they can’t use that limb, hit them twice in that limb and they die, black damage kills instantly and so on and so forth.
Aaaaand there were spells… I’ll admit that was lame. However we really didn’t use them too often, which was a relief.
Meanwhile there was roleplaying stuff that was going on. Something that involved castles and the trebuchet but I really didn’t pay any attention to that, it was going on in a different field.
I died a lot but the matches lasted 12 minutes tops and then we were up and fighting again. I was hit in the crotch twice, speared in the chest, flailed, beaten and even shield checked so hard I was thrown backwards and then beaten. I also go to beat people as hard as I wanted with a foam sword and shield check people.
How often do you get to do this? As nerdy and silly as it was I couldn’t wipe the shit-eating-grin off my face the entire time. I laughed as 5 guys dressed as roman centurions shield checked and swatted the shit out of me as one. Ultimately it was a spectacular experience.
I played from 1-430-ish and only took about five water breaks… Needless to say as we were leaving my jaw locked, my hands, face, and feet went numb, I was panting and stopped sweating. I’ve never had heatstroke before. I could move myself without problem but at rest my jaw clenched hard, my hands seemed to claw and my hamstrings pulled in.
With the air conditioning at full blast in my face I hunched in the car and tried to stay awake. I must have made a funny noise because my friend looked over at me and said, “Is this one of those ‘I can puke out the window’ things or is this a ‘lets pull over things’?” I thought about it and mumbled, “Pull over.”
Next thing I know I’m holding a guard rail and puking hot water hard enough to curl me over the rail. Then suddenly I feel normal again as if I had just been on a long run.
So that was my weekend. I am covered in bruises my right arm is slightly sun burnt (my left was holding a shield and thus out of the sun) and I’m sore. But that was an awesome weekend.
Labels: dark hunt, dark knight, heatstroke
