Weapon Specifications

[Dr.Elden]

[Jacob]

[Zedulon]

1) Thank you Jacob for strictly enforcing safety rules. That's the #1 most important thing in my book.

2) As you can see, everyone has their own opinions and practices regarding weapon construction. Really, the only way to be safe is to look at weapons in person and get experience with them.

And the only way to be sure that your weapons are safe is to constantly inspect them for safety. A weapon can get damaged at any time. You need to check it often, several times during an event. In LE, I'd recommend checking each of your weapons every time you reset.

3) Regarding thrusting: Well-built weapons can be safely used for thrusting. The important part isn't the open-cell foam squishy tip. That tends to break down over time, so with a used weapon, it provides little protection. Also, being open-cell foam, a core can rip through it fairly easily.

The important part of building a thrust-safe weapon is the closed-cell foam plug. The outer 5/8" pipe foam insulation should extend 2" past the tip of the core. A 2" piece of closed-cell foam should be inserted as a plug into that gap and taped securely in place. Underneath that piece, the tip of the core needs to be covered so the plug can't get pushed down into the pipe. Lastly, a disk of closed-cell foam should be firmly taped over the tip of the whole thing (plug and 5/8" foam) so the plug / core can't push out past the 5/8" covering foam.

4) As for how fast a weapon breaks down, that depends on how much you use it. I know players who attend fight practice 3-4 days a week and event 3-4 weekends a month. Obviously their stuff breaks down faster than someone who hits 6 weekend events a year.

5) 5/8" foam can be hard to find. I recommend ordering it from DoItBest hardware

They will ship free to a local hardware store in their network (which is huge, there will be one close to you), or can ship to you direct.

[JJMarika]

[Thomas Cribb]

[Jonah]

From what I've observed, different people have vastly different opinions on what "safe" is in a boffer game. Most people I know who do boffer games do either Accelerant or Realms. The Accelerant players think the Realms rules are unsafe because they do not require open cell foam tips on weapons, allow head shots with melee weapons (but not ranged weapons), allow really short daggers to be swung in combat, allow weapon trapping/catching with crossguards, and use real bows with boffer arrows. Conversely, the Realms players think the Accelerant rules are unsafe because they allow head/face shots with ranged weapons (packets), don't require a disk cap on the core, allow graphite cores, only require the closed cell foam to go 1" past the core, and let one handers go to 3'10.

So, different people have different opinions on what is safe. Arguing against the core Accelerant rules here is silly - this is Accelerant, and the core rules will be used. If you're coming from another game with another idea of what is safe, that's fine, but please follow the rules for safety listed in the rulebook. These were not written by the Lost Eidolons team. These are core safety rules decided upon by the writers/maintainers of Accelerant.

[Thomas Cribb]

I dont think people are arguing against the rules for making weapons, we're just discussing what types of weapons we prefer, its not a big deal, I will always prefer ultra light boffers because I larp like its a sport, its paintball with foam swords for the people I know, if they had shields here I would have a sword and shield but they dont so I have a toy gun.

Some people prefer latex because they like the looks and the more realistic aspect... I assume, I dont know why they like them personally, i'm just guessing.

[Zedulon]

I'm from Realms - this is my first real Accelerant game.

Squishy tips (open cell foam) have pros and cons. The biggest problem is that the open cell foam breaks down quickly. Since a lot of Realms players play 4 days a week during the summer (counting weapons practice) durability is a major concern. Another problem is that people tend to use low-density foam to save weight. Which means that the squishy tip provides negligible padding - it will just collapse completely on a thrust. So most of the shorter Realms weapons just have a 2" thrusting tip (closed-cell foam) without any squishy foam. Personally, I'd like to see more squishy foam used, but only if it's the high-density open-cell foam that provides better padding and lasts longer.

Obviously, I don't have a problem with head shots. I do have a problem with people aiming nerf guns at my face. There's just no reason whatsoever to encourage that, and it's just going to result in people getting shot in the eye. Since Accelerant rules permit eyeball shots with nerf darts, it just encourages people to aim for the upper chest, since a high shot to the face will still count. People should be aiming mid-torso for safety, the rules should encourage that. Personally, if someone aims high chest on me at close range and hits me in the face, I'm not taking it, because they're not giving me the courtesy of playing safely and aiming center torso.

EDIT: Then again, I'm going to be wearing a paintball mask in LE... Which does make me feel a lot better about the stupid nerf-dart-to-the-eye rules.

[Thomas Cribb]

[Zedulon]