[Steppes] Newbie experiences

[shona haskins]

So figure since I am pretty new, I'll bite ;)

My husband and I have been in Amtgard for more than 10 years in the El Paso
and Las Cruces area, and loved it. In truth, never had any thought to the
SCA other than the fact that I had no interest in a group of people that had
nothing better to do than look down their noses at others who don't play the
same game as them. This was often the case in our area, and had experienced
this personally a few times. So that pretty well put us off os SCA, and back
then it didn't really matter.

We moved out to DFW, and found that Amtgard was a different beast than it
was back home. Not in a bad way perse, just different. But save for a few
people, on whole we didn't really care much for the people out here, and
were hardly welcomed at all. It was surprising and frustrating. So we went
on hiatus.

Finally, my husband wanted to get into something again, and we tentatively
decided to check out the SCA practice, as it is less than 5 minutes from our
house.

I can't even tell you how very relieved and surprised we were at our
welcome! We were greeted very warmly, and never even blinked an eye at the
mention of Amtgard....a far cry from the way we were treated in El Paso and
Las Cruces by the SCAdians there.
So with that we decided to give it a try, and we have been active since. The
Steppes are an absolutely wonderful place for us, and in truth, reminds me
of the way my Amtgard chapter ran with great fighting, and comraderie. It is
wonderful.

Events we have been to so far, I have had a couple run-ins with some issues,
mostly due to garb or accessories (because in Amtgard, he with the most
tacky tunic and pants is the winner! *lol*) , or whatnot, but not anything
major. Most of the time I get to run it by a couple select people, and find
that I'm doing just fine.

I figure with the fact that we've been in the SCA little less than a year,
all-in-all, not bad. Just some getting used to things!! =)

-Annwn

-- 
Well behaved women rarely make history.