Dagorhir: Starting the Journey

Below are suggestions on how to make a new Dagorhir Chapter successful. These suggestions are the culmination of years of experience starting Dagorhir Chapters throughout the country. Or rather, the world! We now have a chapter in Brazil, so Dagorhir is officially international! With a little local publicity, you and your friends can have amazing adventures and action packed weekends.

Contact the nearest existing Dagorhir Chapter; they will most likely be your best resource, having had once been in the position that you are in now.

Get the core group of founding members together on the same page. Everyone needs to agree on rules interpretations, armor and weapons standards, the name of the Chapter, where battles will take place etc. There should be total agreement, as any dissention would make new recruits uneasy.

Have a set schedule. Same place, same time, same day........every week/other week/first Sunday/ etc.. And make sure there is someone there every time. Nothing is more discouraging than a potential member showing and finding the site empty. I cannot tell you how many times I sat at the park waiting for people to show only to leave after an hour meeting nobody. Or having one person show who had nothing and was just interested in checking it out. It is hard and boring work at first, but at least I got some fresh air! Now though almost the whole town knows where and when we meet, just because someone is there EVERY week.

Provide costumes and weapons. Get people involved, but make sure they are up to Dagorhir standards. Have extra tunics available so that new members can have some passable garb. Same with weapons. It also insures that the weapons are safe. Make these items available for sale at a reasonable charge and have sewing and weapon making parties. Getting together to gear up is educational and good for social interaction.

If you are a student, use this to your advantage. If you are woman, use that to your advantage. Find someone to fight with and do it in a public place (the quad of a school or a well visited park). Do not be afraid of ridicule. Plug yourself shamelessly in the local paper. If there is a university close, use their paper (they will usually let you post for minimal charge if not free). Become an official school organization, that will get you free web space and access to some other school resources. The key to starting anything like this is leadership skill. You have to present a powerful presence that is both respected and well liked. You have to be a politician and a mediator. MOST of all do not be discouraged if it starts out slow. Building a group takes time, hard work and most of all LUCK.

Split up the veterans and founders. After this group of founders comes together, split them apart. They need to build several units, not an unbeatable clique. If you have to split people up to make the combat more even at first, do it. While veterans realize that warfare is never an even match-up, new players need to have the feeling that there is a chance of victory.

Beat it in to the skulls of your members that the phone works both ways!! One of the biggest complaints I hear is "I don't know when we have a battle". These are the same people who don't know how to call their friends to get some information. (i.e. put together a directory that every one can have).

Get to large regional events as often as possible with as many people as possible. If you happen to be near a current Dagorhir group try to have some visits back and forth. Fighters coming to visit the new group add size and get more interest, new members going to established groups learn more very quickly.

Differentiate yourself from local SCA and LARP groups. Make it totally clear that this is a Dagorhir group. This means having a set of rules and sticking to them, not letting new members try to "add" things to make the game more like what they are used to.

The bottom line is to keep trying and keep brainstorming for new ideas. You never know if the person you are talking to has friends, kids or relatives who would like to try Dagorhir. In other words, you have to sell, sell, sell.

Most importantly, be prepared to run an organized event in a professional manner. Here are some tips on How to run a Dagorhir Battle!

Where and how to recruit people:

Get in contact with your local community radio station (probably commercial free format, but maybe not) you can get them to read a short informational message called a PSA (public service announcement) for free. They'll probably broadcast it once or twice a day at odd times. They are used to these sort of requests so don't be afraid to ask! They do them as part of some community service government requirement or something. Call during regular work hours and ask for the Program Director. They'll require you to write a short paragraph about what you are doing and they'll want a contact name and phone number that they can broadcast. If it is for a specific event, they'll want it weeks in advance. When you talk to them, emphasize that this is a "local community" thing, not a commercial money making event! Work out in advance what you want to say about Dagorhir so that you sound convincing and professional. Whether you are talking to a person who walked up to a practice in the park or to a reporter or radio DJ, you need to know in advance what you want to say to this person. Make sure that all of your members know what to say too, including practicing standard answers to questions like "what is Dagorhir?", "what do you do?", "is it safe?" and "it's kind of weird, isn't it?".

Find people with similar interests at Gaming, fantasy, or similar clubs on college campuses, and hand out flyers. Renaissance Fairs and Conventions are also a great place to meet people who may be interested.

Another great resource is your theatre group. They always have people doing some sort of costuming, and may be able to get you access to sewing machines.

Suggestions for propaganda to expand your Chapter:

Get some really sharp propaganda. In the long run this will be one of your best weapons. Put together a flyer with contact info. , a set battle schedule. Now crank out that flyer like water, pass one or two to every person that asks you what the hell are you doing with that stick?. Make sure that your current members have several copies to give to their friend. Ask to leave them in game stores, comic shops, college campus, etc., etc., etc. We even have a few posters coming out with this sort of info.

Make some posters and put them up in hobby shops, gaming stores, comic-book stores, and used bookshops. Make flyers with general information about Dagorhir, Practice and Event information and a contact number to give out a events, clubs, etc. You should also include the www.Dagorhir.com website on the flyers and your e-mail address.

Try to get a public service announcement at a college or public radio station. Local newspapers and radio stations often have "community announcements" or activity sections. If any of your members attend local schools or colleges, the school newspapers are usually desperate for any kind of interesting articles.

Once you have a few folks costumed and fighting, get a local paper to come out and do an article on you guys (or a cable news show, etc.). Dagorhir can make a great visual image for TV too, like on the old "PM Magazine" or that nice article in the Akron paper about the Kingdom of Avalon. Local/regional radio shows also are looking for "content" (see Graymael's and my threads about "Aratari on the Air")

If a movie with a medieval or fantasy theme is coming out, or showing at a revival theater, go in costume. Give out flyers outside the show to anyone who asks about your costumes. Talk to the theater owners, they may be willing to work something out in return for you adding some buzz to a movie opening.

March in parades, offer to do demonstrations at County Fairs, Carnivals, or in Park festivals. Check on the rules with the organizers well in advance, and then work on weapons and costumes to make a good impression.

If a negative article comes out about your group, D+D, fantasy, or something similar, try to get the paper or station to interview you or your group about it. The publicity is good, and it gives you a chance to correct them.

Questions or Comments? Post them on the Dagorhir Bulletin Board!