[Ansteorra] Role-players

Fri Oct 10 18:36:37 PDT 2014

Where have all the role players gone.By Duchess Willow de Wisp, Lion of Ansteorra When I go to events and look around I see the fighters and the Artist. I see the workers and officers. I see the junior members who have not found their niche. I see all the people and all the roles that have always been present from the beginning of Ansteorra except for one. Where are the role players? In the past Role-players made up about 10% of the populace. They were the young woman who carefully tucked her tunic to show off her legs and walked balancing a jar on her head singing a medieval song. They were the warrior who sat in the corner of the tavern and scowled at people. They were the young fighter on a quest and the lady presenting him with the quest. They were the merchant who checked your coins to make sure they were not clipped. They were the old woman who sat in front of her lean to and wrapped herself in an old blanket and told fortunes, or the Laurel playing the part of a beggar.  They were the Norse man putting all his jewelry on over his amour to “dress” for court, or the Norman knight always wearing his chainmail. They were the swashbuckler challenging everyone with his witty taunts. They were hundreds of people who put in hundreds of hours  studying  medieval and renaissance culture so they could come to events and recreate how people of our time periods would act at a tourney or fair or feast or war. The role-player added a lot of color to our events and they provided a “show” that many people come to medieval groups to see. They provided a background where other people could manifest their dreams of the middle ages. They also taught people by modeling behavior. The role-players willingness to interact with new people allowed the new people to practice and become comfortable with the courtesies of the SCA. We were lucky in Ansteorra to have role-players who were willing to put the time in to make sure that their costumes and behaviors and props were historically correct. They educated people by just walking around as much as classes or articles would. They also had the extra factor that they provide instant feedback. A new member or even an old member could ask the role player questions and get answers right then. The historical role-player served another role in our communities. They were the glue that kept many of interest group linked to other groups. The role player learned things that his character would had learned. The Lady might learn drop spinning or embroidery. She then might go on to learn about plants and herbs or archery because those are things a lady of her time period would know. She might hire or encourage bards to perform pieces from the Romances so she could learn about King Arthur and Emperor Charlemagne. She might go to the gaming guild to learn drafts, backgammon and chess. She would travel around the guilds and workshops in her group and by doing that she was like a bee spreading information about other guilds and activities. People who might be shy about going to another group and not knowing anyone know that she will be there so they won’ t be alone. The role player was having fun learning all these things and their excitement transferred to others. What happened to these people? One of the problems with these people was that they promoted the “higher” ideals of the cultures they portrayed. These ideals often had strict guidelines as to the behavior of Peers and Nobles.  The “ought to beens” of these cultures very clearly defines a “good” king and a “good” knight and a “good” Baron.  The role player by adopting these characters adopted the expectations of their time period. They looked to our Crowns and Nobles and Peers to live to those expectations.  Many of those people felt the expectations were unreasonable. In other kingdoms the Dream was the root, not historical research, of the behavior or the people. Whoever was in charge of the Kingdom-i.e., Crown or political clique, got to define “The Dream”. That meant that if you didn’t want to spend hours listening to other people’s problems or hours interacting with the populace you could define “the Dream” so the proper behavior of the Crown was to get blind drunk and run naked through the camp. No one could say you were a “bad” Crown because in your “Dream” that was what “good” Crowns did. Along with “The Dream” there came the concept of “being Real”. This paradigm started out as good but some people used it to introduce a modern base into our communities. Our group were and are true communities and the values and ideals of our time periods were confining so many people used the concept of “being real” to behave like they did in the modern world. The role player and his harping on courtesy and honor became a real pain and many communities froze those players out. The events were filled with Business like courts and contests and so there was no time for role playing. Where once the Crown and B&B’s used their positions to promote role-playing now they did not have the time for such folly. There was a lessening of promotion of classes on historical cultural behavior. Arts and Crafts were only rewarded if they had paper work with it or was done in traditional teaching setting. Teaching by modeling was ignored. The role-player drifted off into their sub-groups or stopped role-playing. The one who continued were looked at with disapproval, suspicion, and distrust. They were considered as old fashioned. It is interesting to note that some groups did not stop roleplaying and some of them are the healthiest groups in our kingdom. Remember role playing doesn’t have to be extreme to provide the benefits.  Simply by believing in our kingdom and behaving like you really would, as an honorable historical person is enough. Because we have shut the role player out we are not recruiting those kinds of people anymore. I believe that this lost explains some of the our reduction in recruiting. This is what is missing. If we want to increase our numbers we need to find a way to recruit and retain the historical role player. The way to do that is to step away from our modern comfort zone and embrace a period mind set. Try to set a model about how an individual of good birth would behave in a medieval setting. Interact with people and show individuals that they would find a place in our communities if they want to be historical role-players.  Show people that you can be tolerant and understand that the character being displayed may not reflect the individual playing the part. Understand On-stage and Off-stage. Set up forums to talk about role playing and how to deal with problems that sometimes occur. Arrange non-emotional venues to give feedback to role players.  Explain to people that role playing in the SCA is a way to display historical research not fantasy. The only time fantasy is proper is when we are investigating one of the many times people in the middle ages did fantasy, i.e. Round Table Tournaments. As a role player I hope each and every one of you will view role playing as a valued activity in the SCA and Ansteorra and try to make it part of your local group.
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