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Garb, “Time Period”, and Atmosphere
Sir Magnus of Narnia:
Cleaned this up a bit. Comments are still welcome.
Garb, “Time Period”, and Atmosphere
Common terms used to describe Dagorhir character and events include garb, time period, and atmosphere, but what do these terms really mean, and why are they so important?
Garb: Garb is the clothing or costumes worn by people during events. Basic garb is required to wear in order to participate in the game. The rules and the local customs dictate what is required. Required garb can be simple or very high quality, but the person is not required to capture a certain look, feel, or time period. Garb for effect describes garb that is worn to achieve a certain look such as a fantasy race, period of history, or a theme. Examples of garb for effect can include units that wear all one color, elf ears, animal masks, and undead costumes. Garb for effect is not required by the rules.
Why is garb required? Dagorhir is game based on medieval/fantasy. Part of maintaining that image includes the players dressing like medieval/fantasy characters. The type and quality of garb will vary from player to player based on resources, experience, and local customs, but all players are required to wear a minimum level of garb determined by the rules of Dagorhir and the local rules of the event they are attending.
Why is garb important? People often ask “why garb is so important to Dagorhir”. Garb is not required for protection, adds to the difficulty of playing, and adds hurdles to new players joining. Consider this. Part of the sales pitch for Dagorhir is the romantic idea that players can step into a world of medieval/fantasy and live by the sword free of the trappings of the modern age. To accomplish this sales pitch Dagorhir groups commonly draw on references like fantasy/medieval movies, books, games, and comics. Chapter fliers and website are rich with these images, and are directed at the demographic of people that find this idea attractive. It’s a natural progression. Dagorhir is a hobby focused on swords, armor, and medieval style combat. The people most likely to seek this sort of hobby are people who have an interest in medieval fantasy movies, books, etc. Who is the easier sale for Dagorhir a random hockey player with no outward interest in medieval/fantasy, or the guy who just sat through nine and half hours of Lord of the Rings movies? Once we attract these people the next goal is to retain them as members. This is best accomplished by meeting the expectations they had when they joined, and that is a medieval fantasy game. If they arrive at their first game and find a group of people in street clothes, they will probably play, some will stay, but a vast majority will wonder where the medieval/fantasy aspect sold to them is. Garb is an important part of closing the sale and retaining members. Not to discount the people who join Dagorhir with no previous interest in medieval/fantasy. Some people are interested in the physical aspect and not much else. This is why Dagorhir garb standards are minimalist. People are required to wear basic garb to maintain the image, but not so much garb that casual players are discouraged. The important thing to remember is the ideal goal of Dagorhir players is to wear enough garb to blend in with the crowd and to steadily improve their garb over time.
What if garb is not important to me? Not every player joins Dagorhir to live the dream of another life. Some players wear the minimum garb required to fight and nothing more. This is part of the game, and will never change. These people are not always “cheating” or “min-max”, garb is just not part of their ideal. This is fine as long as these players understand the must wear enough garb to blend in so they don’t disrupt the medieval/fantasy feel of the game.
Dagorhir and time period: People often discuss garb in terms of “period” or “time period” because a great deal of the available source material comes from historical references such as books. The concept of Time period or “looking period” is often confusing to new players because Dagorhir allows people to portray fantasy style characters. What time period is an elf, a hobbit, or an Orc? People also like to define acceptable periods in terms of available technology such as gun powder, but this is also confusing because the time lines when this technology appears in history are often blurred with commonly accepted time periods for garb. It is best said that Dagorhir does not encompass a certain time period, but instead seeks to achieve a certain ideal setting.
So what is this “ideal” setting? Dagorhir as a whole tends to define the ideal setting as a medieval/fantasy environment with a large allowance for creativity, but with the following parameters.
• Creative interpretation: Creative interpretation is when a player makes cosmetic changes to equipment, weapons, or armor in order to achieve a certain look of effect. For example a player who wants to play a spell caster might decorate a rock with flame colored cloth and call it a fire ball, or an undead character might decorate a shield to look like a wooden coffin lid. Creative interpretation never changes the rules of the game! A rock is a rock even if it looks like a ball of flame. Creative interpretation is acceptable as long as the player does not violate the other exceptions to ideal setting.
• Fantasy Races: Fantasy races are common in Dagorhir, but unlike similar games, playing a character of another race does not grant the player any special abilities or restrict them in any way (limit their ability to fight with certain weapons or grant extra hits in battle for example). Playing a fantasy race does not always mean dressing the part, but players are encouraged to look the part. There are no limits on the different races character can choose to play assuming they do not violate the other exceptions to the ideal setting.
• Historical characters: Historical characters are very common, and typically divided into two categories. Hollywood historical and period historical. Hollywood historical tends to define players that are aiming for a historical theme, but are not 100% accurate. Period historical is the opposite of that and include people who are attempting to accurately represent a certain time period. Some historical characters seem to drift outside of the given exceptions (such as pirates and samurai), but due to popular consensus are accepted.
• Magic: Magic is almost unheard of and is not used actively in play. There are no spells or magic use common to games like Dungeons and Dragons, but some allowance is made for scenario based magic weapons, or abilities like healing. Even in scenarios with magic the effects are limited and often only allow small violations of the rules, such as a spear that hits with the power of a glaive, and so on.
• Mismatches: Mismatches are settings, characters, or themes that have a close relation to medieval/fantasy (magic, fantastic races, swords) but are for one reason or another not accepted as part of the “ideal setting”. Genres such as steam-punk and stories like Harry Potter are good examples of mismatches. Sometimes mismatches can be modified to fit into the ideal setting by removing certain elements that violate the other exceptions.
• Non-European crossovers: People often ask if they can portray characters from cultures that are from the accepted range of time periods, but not from the more commonly accepted European cultures such as Aztec or Native Americans. In general this is accepted as long as the person is making a serious attempt, and does not violate any of the other exceptions to the “ideal setting”.
• Science Fiction: Science fiction elements are universally unaccepted as part of the Dagorhir “ideal setting”. It is true that Ewoks may have existed at the same time as the Normans, but things like this are considered taboo no matter the logic offered.
• Technology level: The highest level of accepted technology is the era prior to common use of ranged gun powder weapons. Gun powder may have existed along side some of the commonly accepted time periods (and even used in war), but its use is not considered “common place” in Dagorhir. The rules make no attempt to allow weapons of this nature. Players may use weapons like this in certain scenarios or as part of their characterization (a small hand weapon that looks like a pistol and is used in hand to hand combat), but it is certainly the exception not the rule.
Atmosphere: Atmosphere describes the pervading mood and environment of a Dagorhir event. Atmosphere is made up of all of the different elements such as garb, characterization, and role-playing. Atmosphere does not require achieving a 100% ideal setting. The goal is to achieve enough “atmosphere” that a player feels they are in a world apart from their own. Some players have no interest in this aspect of the game, and while this accepted, it expected these players will respect other players by not willfully ruining the atmosphere of the game.
Whisper Moonson:
One editorial note: instead of "exception," use "restriction," "parameter," or "expectation." The word "exception" implies that these are things outside of the desired medieval/fantasy environment.
Looks good! I'll save the general copy edit for later.
Sir Magnus of Narnia:
Okay made the change, works for me.
hivemind:
"Hurdles" not "hurtles"
Sir Magnus of Narnia:
Quote from: hivemind on January 28, 2011, 10:47:53 am>>>>"Hurdles" not "hurtles"
<<<<
Thanks. Got it and found another in the process.
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