[Northkeep] Fwd: Diodanier Tourniment
Alton lePeto
altonscompany at hotmail.com
Fri Sep 19 05:05:30 PDT 2003
>From: "Marc Carlson" <marccarlson20 at hotmail.com>
>Wilhelm is having some problems posting to the list.
>
>>From: FARMING20 at webtv.net
>>To: northkeep-owner at ansteorra.org
While talking to people and making music, I did not at the
>>beginning notce the fighting. It wasnt until some people I had talked
>>to about the honor and chivelry, nobility, ect involved, that they came
>>back saying they sure didnt see anything chivilerious about the fighting
>>they had seen.
Wilhelm, youve been playing this game alot longer than me so you probably
have a better perspective of how things have changed "in-game", but from
what Iv seen from my decade of demos and events is our fighting is more or
less a sport. Thats not a bad thing. It has evolved from a (probably lsd
induced)1967 back yard party where ppl grabbed some broom stick handles and
were having some kicks on a summer afternoon. Over the years it was just
natural that rules would get adopted, methods and weapons would get used and
replaced until you see what we have today. You can see the influences of
70's martial arts craze and the same stuff that germinated alot of other
adventure sports or x game kind of activity. The point Im getting to is
that because it is a sport, if you dont have some idea of the rules the
fighting can look pretty chaotic, especially melees (I remember watching my
first sca melee fighing at Norman Med Fair in 1988, I had no idea of what
was happening, but it looked really fun). Aside from the fact that as a
matter of "rules" the ...degree..ahem.. of chivralic behavior is up to each
individual and there is really a wide gulf of distance between exceptable
and unexceptable behavior in fights. Basically, I cant hit you (in a
tourney format) if don't have a weapon in your hand or strike you from
behind if we we not previously engaged and you turned around. Other than
that, its all pretty much open to individual fighters interpretation. In
the past few years there has been some success at holding tourneys and some
melee events within the rules structure of historical tournaments. These
are probably alot easier for non fighters and folks new to the SCA to follow
from the side line becasue they have alot more structure and sometimes
chivralic behavior is actually part of the rules of that paticular style.
However that said, as a former hospitaler with some success at recruiting
new members, thats an unimportant concern. Doesnt matter one flip at a demo
(demos are for recruiting as well as education) if people understand what
they are seeing. People who want to get involved in heavy fighting do it
cause it looks like something thats fun, same reason that people get
involved in all the other activities. Someone who is really into sewing or
singing is not that concerned with the "rules structure" of the game, thats
part of the draw, doing things you find fun with people who are having fun
at it too.
The most successful demos are the ones where everyone participating are
having fun and not carping about sca politics or complaining about so and
so's non period shoes, etc. (if members out there reading this were not
aware of it, people at demos are hyper aware and hear all that stuff being
said) You at least have to give the illusion or at least convey some sense
of hope to the people watching that this is a bunch of friends who are
having a good time. Live bait and all that. By the way, for some of the
newer members to the barony, Wilhelm is possibly one the most tireless and
successful recruiters Northkeep has. Not to mention all of the long hours
of working in cold and rainy pre and post event activitys like hauling
firewood and other thankless tasks that make a February (or any) event
successful. At demos Wilhelm can always be found working the crowd between
rounds and getting people interested in this fabulous game we all enjoy.
Thank you Wilhelm!
Alton
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