Local LARPing groups find fun in the park while acting out fantasy battles. Photo: Tristan Williams.
For those of us who grew up dueling with long cardboard tubes from the center of wrapping paper rolls, our days of swordplay needn’t be over. (My nephew dubbed those tubes “DOOT-da-doos” because they also double as instruments.)
In my mid-life renaissance, I’ve leaned harder into my weirdo ways. I play Dungeons & Dragons weekly with my pack of nerds. I enjoy fantasy video games like Baldur’s Gate. Another endeavor of middle age is finding fun ways to get exercise—emphasis on fun. This combination of nerdy interests and fitness led me to join a local live action role-playing (LARPing) group for a session of foam swordplay. Is that the Horn of Gondor you hear? Nay, ’tis the DOOT-da-doo of Zorn Vongal.
What
Engaging in foam-covered combat with LARPing group Zorn Vongal.
Why
To get exercise while venting some aggression in a gentle battle.
How it went
I worked up a solid sweat whilst having a super fun time.
Zorn Vongal meets for regular practice most Sundays at Darden Towe Park. I turned up at noon and helped unload foam-covered shields and padded weapons of various kinds. During my noob briefing, I learned about different kinds of weapons and the kind of damage they cause. Weapons marked with red tape are effectively armor-piercing, meaning they break shields and penetrate armor for those choosing to wear any. One young kobold (the term the group uses for participating children) showed up in a metal chest plate that he wore until the heat forced him to abandon it. I wielded a shield and a blue- and green-taped foam-covered saber, the colors indicating it could both slash and stab. My first shield pick had a wooden base, which made it heavier. I lasted nearly as long as the kid in the chest plate before abandoning that shield for something lighter.
The word on the battlefield is that Zorn Vongal’s style of LARPing, Boffer, was created by college students who inserted pool cues into pool noodles and fought with them. After I signed the requisite waiver and others arrived, battle commenced.
Different types of weapons and strikes do different degrees of damage. A stab to an arm or leg counted for one point of damage, but you didn’t “lose” the limb. A slash to an appendage meant you had to imagine the limb being severed. In the heat of battle, several people ended up on their knees. It’s all very Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You don’t have much time to laugh about it, though, as someone is always trying to stab you in the back.
Two points of damage equals death. A slash to an unarmored torso is enough to do it, or multiple attacks to limbs. I had optimistically hoped that my martial arts background might help me out. Other than my brain being able to track points from different kinds of hits due to my ol’ sparring days and my level of comfort being hit, my training didn’t help much. I don’t think tae kwon do was intended for medieval battlefield tactics.
The group members fought individually for some battles and broke into subgroups for others. At one point, we broke into two teams. One group had three archers and two other experienced and effective fighters. ’Twas 10 of us against them. In our first attempt, we used a coordinated shield line to attack. The other team thoroughly trounced us; their archers picked us off as we slowly inched toward them and their swift protectors got behind us. On a subsequent attempt, we chose chaos. As the battle began, we charged the archers and got to them before they got a shot off. Victory sure tasted sweet, if only for a time.
