The following rules are in place to ensure the safety of our players and Crew during combat. If you intend to engage in combat, you must read through and follow these rules. Anyone who has no intention of engaging in combat should still read the sections on Safety Briefings and Safety Calls, and particularly read through the rules on the Noncom Call.

• Table of Contents

Go To The Safety Briefings

• In the hours prior to Game On at every event, there will be a number of safety briefings covering the safety rules for the game (both combat and roleplay) and any tools available to keep yourself and your fellow players safe.
• You must attend these briefings to ensure that you are up to date on the rules for combat, even if you don’t have any intention of engaging in combat.
• In subsequent events, you can choose to instead attend “refresher” briefings, which will be shorter and more condensed versions of the full safety briefing.
• If and when official video guides are available, those will also be acceptable as initial briefings, though you will still need to take part in a refresher briefing at the start of each event.

By not participating in the safety briefings, you are putting yourself and others at risk. For the Safety of the game’s participants and Crew, we cannot allow anyone into the event if they refuse to participate in the pre-game safety brief.

Use The Safety Calls

• If you see an unsafe situation or area, call out “Caution!” to alert other players to the issue.
• If you or someone near you is physically injured or in need of medical attention, call out “Emergency!” as often and loudly as you need to in order to ensure that any fighting around that individual or individuals immediately stops.
• If you are not comfortable being attacked in a LARP context, familiarize yourself with the Noncom Call, and use it as needed.

Heed The Safety Calls

• If you hear “Caution!”, pay attention to your surroundings and to whatever the person making the call is pointing to or addressing.
• If you hear “Emergency!”, immediately stop what you’re doing and drop to one knee; this is the call for medical emergencies, and until the all-clear is called any combat is suspended, no damage can be dealt, and all timers are paused.
• If you hear a Ref call “Time!”, stop fighting and listen to whatever they are saying; this is the “stop combat so we can move somewhere safer or fix whatever’s wrong” call.
• If someone sticks their arm up in the air and calls “Non-Combat!”, do not attack them; they are not to be directly attacked or touched, though you can gesture at them and call “Dead” to drop them to 0 HP.

Following the safety calls is not optional. They are critical tools to making sure that players stay safe, and that any unsafe situations are dealt with quickly and effectively. Learn them, use them yourself if a situation arises where you need to, and always follow them when you hear them.

The One Second Rule

• You can only take one damage per second from a given enemy.
• You should not try to land more than one blow per second on a given enemy.
• This rule applies regardless of how many weapons you are wielding — even if you have one weapon in each hand, you can still only deal one point of damage per turn to a given target.

We’re playing a game using foam weapons and not actually trying to hurt our opponents. In real combat, just tapping someone with a sword, especially on any kind of armor, wouldn’t do anything; tapping them repeatedly still wouldn’t do anything. Light, rapid-fire attacks aren’t a realistic fighting style — but actually requiring players to smash their opponents with “realistic” force in order for it to count as a hit is a recipe for serious injuries.

Thus, we have the One Second Rule. To simulate how a rapid ratatatatt of strikes is less damaging than a single full swing, when someone strikes you multiple times in rapid succession, you take only one point of damage from that flurry.

The flip side to this is that when you’re attacking someone, you should avoid drumrolling or double-/triple-tapping them. Make your shots count, and try to keep them to single hits. This is less a safety concern and more a problem of bleed — people get frustrated when they get drumrolled, it makes it harder for them to keep track of how many hits they’ve taken, and you get frustrated that they aren’t taking their hits “properly” if you think you’ve hit them three times when in fact it’s only been a single second and they correctly counted it as only one point of damage.

Please note that this rule is not meant to be measured with a stopwatch or mental countdown. It’s meant to encourage players to land single good hits and avoid flurries, and to act as a rule of thumb to help players decide how much damage they’ve taken from a rapid flurry of hits. Focus on making your combat play as cool and cinematic as possible, rather than on winning at all costs, and we’ll all have a more enjoyable experience.

The No Hit Zones

• Hits to your head, face, neck, groin, hands, and feet deal no damage. This includes anything above the collarbone, past the wrist, or below the ankle.
• Hits to the No Hit Zones that are accompanied by Call effects (including the Impale or Cleave effects from arrows or Force Bolt packets) do not have their normal effect. Melee strikes do not spend any resources that would normally be spent on those calls, but any resources spent on ranged attacks that strike a No Hit Zone are consumed as normal.

Do not intentionally block blows with your head, hands, or feet. This rule is meant as a safety measure and to try to improve the fun of combat. Do not treat these areas as if they’re invulnerable shields.

Though it isn’t required, it is strongly recommended that players of all genders wear a cup to protect their groin from stray hits.

Always check in OOC with someone after you hit them in the head, face, throat, or groin — make sure the player is okay, and if they’re not then either give them space until they recover or escort them to the side of the combat zone.

If you knock the glasses off of your opponent’s face, you must call “Caution! Glasses!” to alert nearby fighters of the hazard, and help your opponent find their eyewear before it gets stepped on.

Lightest Touch They Can Feel

• When you strike an opponent, do your best to pull your blow so that they can just barely feel it.
• The ideal strike is a light “tap” to the skin or armor, just heavy enough to clearly connect but not hard enough to sting (and definitely not hard enough to bruise).

If your opponent is wearing armor, you can hit them a bit harder to make sure they feel the tap — but even if you’re attacking someone in full plate, you should still always avoid striking them full-force.

Don’t Smash Through Resistance

• Blows that make contact with your weapon or shield before hitting you deal no damage.

Always hit someone’s shield and weapon as if it were going to hit your target. Use the lightest touch that they can feel. You never know when someone’s guard may unexpectedly break and you’ll hit the person instead of their block or parry. If you make a habit of swinging hard enough to smash their guard out of the way, you will cause an injury eventually, so don’t ever do it.

Shields Are For Defense, Not Offense

• Never bash, punch, push, or charge with a shield.

No shield charges. Ever. If you charge with your shield in front of you, you must stop yourself before your shield makes contact with an opponent or their shield. Someone’s going to get knocked down and trampled, and if you’re lucky it’ll be you instead of your target. Shield charges may be cinematic as hell but they flatly are not safe in a live combat environment except with special training and preparation, and not everyone on the field is going to have that.

No shield bashing or pushing. Shields can make incidental contact but if they’re in contact for more than a second the aggressor must step back so that their shield is no longer in contact with their opponent’s.

Never make contact with another fighter with your shield. A shield punch or an accidental swing with the edge of your shield can do serious damage to someone, even if the edge is padded.

Use Only Weapons That Have Been Approved

• You can only wield weapons that have been approved by Wheelhouse at weapons-check.
• Never bring real weapons, even something as small as a pocket or dinner knife, through the Godscore Gate onto a skirmish or battle.

At the start of every event you must bring your weapons, shields, and any stiff metal, leather, foam, or plastic armor to Wheelhouse for weapons-check, where they will examine your items to ensure they are safe and approved for play. (Soft cloth or leather armor and most chainmail do not need to be checked, as there’s a minimal chance that they’ll be able to harm another player or their equipment.)

You must bring your items to weapons-check at every event. Just because they’ve been approved once doesn’t mean that they haven’t degraded in the time since and become unsafe.

Never bring live blades into a LARP combat zone. Ever. Passions run high during combat, and if there’s even a 0.01% chance that someone’s going to draw a real knife and shank another player, those odds are too high. Just don’t bring them on a mission.

You can carry a wooden Ritual Stave, a banner on a wooden pole, or a non-LARP-safe ritual Wand with you onto a skirmish or battlefield, but you cannot use them in combat. Keep them away from any other players, and never, under any circumstances, use them to parry or attack.

Punch Weapons Are Not Allowed

• You will never be allowed to wield a weapon that is designed with the blade perpendicular to the handle, to be gripped in the hand and punched with.

Katars, punch-daggers, and similar weapons are simply too unsafe when wielded in a LARP context. The force of the wielder’s body is transmitted very effectively with these weapons, and few of them have a good thrust-safe construction to prevent blunt-force injury; the combination means that they’re much more likely to cause bruises or serious injury than other weapons.

Thrown Weapons Are The Only Throwing Weapons

• Never throw a weapon that was not designed for throwing and cleared by weapons-check as a Thrown Weapon.

Yes, spears have been thrown throughout history. Unfortunately, they’re not reliably safe in a LARP context, and we don’t allow them. The only acceptable thrown projectiles in this game are coreless foam throwing weapons and spell packets.

No Thrusting Except With Thrust-Safe Spears

• Never thrust with a LARP weapon that has not been specifically cleared for thrusting by weapons-check.

Your sword may have a relatively squishy pointy end, but that still doesn’t mean that it’s safe to poke someone with it! To see why this rule exists, try poking yourself in the eye with a sword or pole-arm from Epic Armoury or Calamacil — they may not cause bleeding if you use one to stab someone in the arm, but they will absolutely poke an eye out or crush a windpipe if they strike the wrong target. The only weapons you’re allowed to thrust with are Spears, which are specifically designed to be thrust-safe and have points that are too large to go into an eye socket.

To be clear, we won’t throw you out for making the occasional little jab with your weapon, especially if it’s very low power or a feint. However, anyone putting their entire weight into a thrust like you would see in HEMA or in rapier fencing, or going for a thrust towards the throat or head, is going to be evicted from the combat and possibly the game. This is a very real safety hazard; please don’t push your luck.

Your Weapon’s Striking Surface Is Its Only Striking Surface

• Never intentionally strike another player with the pommel, guard, shaft, or other part of your weapon that is not specifically intended for striking other players and designed to be LARP-safe.

Yes, many historical fighting manuals include pommel strikes with swords and butt-strikes with polearms or axes. That’s not safe in LARP, and it isn’t allowed in our game.

Armor Safety

• Metal armor must be sturdy enough not to tear and create sharp edges.
• Metal armor must have rounded edges, such that there are no burs or snags that could damage players or their equipment.
• Armor of any sort must not feature any hooked or sharp edges or decorations that might injure or catch on skin, clothing, or weapons.

Accidentally body-checking someone while you’re both wearing clothing is one thing; accidentally hitting them while wearing full-plate poses a real risk of injury, especially if your armor has sharp bits poking off it. Even just having stuff with hooks or burs that could catch on the underbrush or other people’s clothing is problematic. Refs may ask you to bring armor over for inspection, or to remove a piece of armor if they have concerns about its safety. If you’re ever in doubt of whether a piece of armor is acceptable, bring it to Wheelhouse for the armor equivalent of weapons-check.

Flail Safety

• If your flail catches on another character’s body, armor, shield, or weapon, you must immediately let go of the weapon.

If you bring a Flail onto the field, you must be prepared to release it immediately if it becomes tangled on another player or their garb, armor, weapon, or shield. If your weapon wraps around or hooks onto another player or their gear, you must let go of it the instant you notice that it is caught or not rebounding as usual. This is the price you pay for having an unusual weapon that is harder to defend against — it is your job to use it safely and responsibly, and sometimes that may include allowing yourself to be disarmed rather than potentially causing harm to another player.

Always Grip Your Weapon Safely

• If you are wielding a one-handed weapon in combat, you must grip it by the handle. Never grip it by the pommel, crossguard, shaft, or striking surface.
• If you are wielding a two-handed weapon in combat, you must always keep both hands on the weapon at all times. Never strike with it using only one hand.
• If one of your arms is Maimed, you cannot wield a two-handed weapon.
• If you are wielding a two-handed hafted weapon such as a spear or polearm, you must keep your hands at least shoulder-width apart from one another (roughly 18-24 inches). Never bring your hands closer to each other while holding the weapon.
• If you are wielding a two-handed thrust-safe Spear, you must keep your hands at least shoulder-width apart from one another (roughly 18-24 inches), with an overhand grip on both hands so that your thumbs point towards each other. Never bring your hands closer to each other while holding the weapon. If you can, attach or paint markers onto the weapon, marking where to place your hands on it while fighting.

How you hold your weapon plays a large part in how safely you can fight with it. Don’t fight while holding your weapon in a place it wasn’t meant to be held.

No Grappling Or Fist-Fighting

• Never grab a person’s body, clothing, armor, or weapon with your hand.
• Never grapple, trip, or make bodily contact with another person while in combat.
• If you wish to stage a mock-brawl in town, you must get a Referee to okay the fight and supervise it.

Yes, medieval combat absolutely included punches, grappling, and brawling. It’s not safe in a LARP context, even when dealing with experienced martial artists, so we don’t allow it. Your body should never make contact with another player’s body during combat. If it does, immediately check that they’re okay.

This also fits in with the roleplaying rules concerning touch: never grab another player’s body or anything attached to their body with your hand unless you have clear consent to do so. This is true outside of combat, but it’s especially true in combat, when passions are high and you may be overreacting or misunderstanding things. Try not to touch anyone during combat, even your allies.

If you want to stage a fist-fight, wrestling match, or brawl, you may do so, but it needs to be outside of any combat environment (i.e. in town) and you need to get a Ref to okay the fight and supervise it as it happens. Their job is to ensure that all participants are not only enthusiastically consenting but also completely sober and aware of the safety measures necessary for the scene to take place, as well as to call it to a halt if and when anything unsafe starts to happen. Any staged brawl must be done entirely with stage combat — never make actual contact when striking your “opponent,” over-react to your opponent’s strikes so that it looks like you got hit, etc.

No Trapping Or Grabbing Weapons

• Never use your hands or a weapon to grab or trap another player’s weapon or shield.
• If your weapon ever becomes entangled with another player’s weapon, call Caution!, pause your personal combat to untangle them, and then resume.

It can be tempting to use the flanges on a mace or the beard of an axe to try to manipulate your opponent’s weapon or shield, opening them up for an attack or just keeping them from striking you. Don’t do it, no matter how tempting it might be. We all spend a lot of money on our LARP equipment, and latex and foam are just not as durable as wood and steel; if you put a lot of force on them at the end of a long lever-arm then something’s going to give, and someone’s going be be very unhappy about their damaged stuff — maybe even you.

Never Parry Arrows

• Never parry or attempt to catch an arrow or crossbow bolt. You may block them with a shield or buckler, or dodge them, but never use your hand or a weapon to try to catch or deflect them.

LARP arrows are relatively safe when they hit someone head-on. However, their fletching and nock are not safe, especially if they’re spinning around after being deflected by a weapon. Yes, it’s incredibly bad-ass to be able to knock an arrow out of the air with your sword, or even to catch one if you’re wearing a glove and are fast enough. It’s a lot less bad-ass when, after your parry it, it spins away from you and the fletching slices open someone’s face. Use a shield to block, or just dodge it. Never parry an arrow.

Never Fight While Under The Influence

• If you’re under the influence of real-world drugs or alcohol, you are not allowed to enter into combat or go on a skirmish or battle.
• In-character effects such as from Tonics are fine, however, as they don’t affect you-the-player’s ability to make judgements or fight safely.

We hope that the reasoning for this rule is self-explanatory, but just in case: If you’re inebriated or high, your ability to judge what is safe is impaired. It’s not guaranteed that you’re going to hurt someone (or yourself) if you engage in combat, but the likelihood goes up significantly, and so it isn’t allowed, under any circumstances. Wait at least an hour, preferably two, after your last drink of alcohol before you go on a skirmish or battle. Don’t depend on how sober you feel; you must give your body time to detox before you engage in combat, no matter how well you handle your booze.