Premade larp bandages

In Larp, people die.

Except they usually don't want to, and sometimes only end up wounded.
Usually that means you need to take care of the wounds, bandage the guy and send him back to get killed properly this time.


 Naturally you need some bandages ready. And its best if they look the job. Here we discuss how to make quick simple ready to use bandages. All you need is long stripes of cloth and some bloody red paint.

After that you simply put some bloody stains on most of the cloth strip. These were made from an old T-shirt so, yeah you can recycle again.


They look quite well, and you can make them as big as you want. One thing to remember - leave about 20-30 from one end clean of blood stains. When you roll up your bandages you will start from the stained end first, and wrap them in the clean end - thus they will look fresh when you pull them out from the medicine bag.

How to make cheap and replaceable seals and purity seals

A wax sealed letter is cool, besides you will always know if someone has been reading your private correspondence in LARP. Plenty of people love the staple of both Warhammer universes - the purity seal.

You can always use actual wax and a candle, however those might not always be available, especially out in the field. Besides, unlike cosplay, in larp you can on occasion expect your kit to be damaged, lost or even gifted away. This means that a cheap, easy to make and recycle alternative would be nice.

I recently tried and had no problems using something much simpler - common red playdoh.

Unlike wax seals - you don't need fire, and it can be recycled at any time - just reshape it and stamp it again. Wax on the other hand is harder to reshape and remove.

A simple example piece which i stuck on my wardrobe.

Setting up a common armoury or newbie stash or however you call it.

At a certain point, I should say above a certain number of people - a larp group grows beyond the point where you know everybody and can pay attention to everybody. There would also be a sort of population boom - the bigger it is, the more folks will start coming.

Now what I'm going to argue about is the benefits of setting up a common armory with spare kits for the new guys. Lets be reasonable most of them start with nothing. You don't want folks with jeans and T-shirts and we've grown beyond the point where everybody is everyone's friend who'd teach him how to craft his stuff. Not to mention there are a lot more new guys so time and money and effort becomes an issue. A lot of groups have loaner kits - just a sword and(maybe) a tabard or tunic. I'll argue about taking this a bit further. Let's talk about setting a common armory.

  And by Armory, I don't mean just clothes and some weapons - I mean everything! Weapons, clothes, armor, shields and basic equipment. Here in Sofia, I keep the main common armory and it occupies much of the attic. Yes yes, the person dealing with it will need space. He will also need some help, at least in the start - be it with extra hands or money or old equipment nobody needs(for now). 

What are the cons? Well, its time consuming and definitely a resource drain. Often the task is not appreciated by others as well. Keep in mind to always remind people that you are not a charity or a given benefit.


What are the benefits now? They come three-fold.

1st - much less immersion breaking jeans and T-shirts in games.Even new guys will be able to blend in easily and play without gear related limitations from the start.
2nd - the above mentioned fact will keep a lot of people in the hobby, that would otherwise just give up and go before they pick up the basics. By allowing them to try out stuff for free - they can decide exactly what they want to play and how to equip themselves.
3rd The extra gear does not have to be newbie only. For example the tolkien game from the previous post.

By providing equipment from the common armoury - I made sure that the Gondorian tower guard actually looked like god damn Tower Guard from Minas Tirith.

Our orcs(plenty of first timers among them) looked like proper orcs! Yes I used up a lot of scrap leather and canvas and bones but its ok.

If necessary I could have equipped a few more gents. The point is that the spare kit does not have to be junk. It can be good quality stuff that can be used by game organizers when they need to give a faction the look that it requires so that they are believable.

One thing I don't advice is giving away consumable items arrows - arrows are lost way too easy by inexperienced archers.

How to make a larp spear shoulder strap(works for all polearms)

So, assuming you got a spear or a polearm of some sorts, now comes the question, how to carry it? Swords, knives, maces and sharp sticks are easy - you can tuck them in your belt if have nothing else. A polearm though, is a different deal, and carrying it in your hands all day is not the best option.

So, I'm going to show you how to make a very easy and simple shoulder strap for your larp spears that takes only a few minutes to make.

For this we are going to use some rope, a leftover used duct tape roll, and as tools the scissors and a mini drill(though you can improvise with any of the tools/materials - I'm simply showing you the design)

 First things first - make some holes in the duct tape roll. The roll is made from very hard cardboard, and its juuust a bit bigger than the F-32 pipe which I use in most of my large weapons. A loose fit is important - the duct tape roll will act as a cup in our strap

 After we drilled 4 holes in it, its time to cut out two pieces of the rope.

 One should be big enough - roughly twice the size of a rifle strap, the other small since its only used to block the cup.

 Next insert the rope and tie knots at the end to keep it in place.

 Voila - that's it! Your boffer spear strap is done. That's it! Nothing more to it. So, how it works now...

 I'm testing it with the same boffer spear I made for the larp spear guide.  First we pass the loop through the spear shaft, then we fit the end of the shaft in the cup and just lift...

 There you go, its ready for carrying on your shoulder now. Now your hands can be free during long marches.

 It can work with other polearms too, and if you make a cup that can fit the blade - with great swords as well. Unstrapping it is a mere matter of shaking the cup off. This is another reason why I used such cheap materials - it is possible to lose your spear strap by accident. If you are careful, or tie the strap as part of your armor, feel free to use more expensive stuff - namely leather.