This past week, I had the pleasure of being a part of a LARP – live action role play. Basically, a bunch of people dress up as medieval characters and play games that involve hitting each other with foam weapons. The games include capture the flag, battle royale, or black knight. It was intriguing to watch. Experienced players would take charge and give orders on where their team should hold or how they should advance.
When it comes down to it, it’s a game of honor. You have to be honest about where you get hit, how many hits you take, and honor in the fight itself. No dirty shots. No blindsiding.
I think what intrigued me the most was watching this honor. Two instances happened in these battle games. I’ll describe both and you can tell me who you think has more honor.
The first instance was between a spearman and a swordsman. They’re both trying to help their teams advance. The spearman lands a direct hit in the swordsman’s chest. Though he had leather armor on, the swordsman falls back, grasping his chest. The game stops when players realize he could be injured. The hit knocked the breath out of the swordsman. He and spearman step to the side and the game continues without them. They discuss what happened. The spearman apologizes for the hard hit and it’s discovered that his weapon, though approved, had broken down in the fight that the tip was no longer cushioned. The weapon was removed from gameplay and both warriors returned to their designated teams to fight on. Not another word was spoken of the matter.
Now, the next instance.
You’ve got a greatswordsman versus a black knight. Both are skilled warriors. Experienced players. The black knight has a tactic of rushing into his opponent’s personal space to swing his sword at their back to take them out before his opponent can land a hit in him. The greatswordsman immobilizes his opponents with by grappling them. When these two face each other on the battlefield it’s a collision with following momentum. The black knight gets grappled, but whacks his sword several times on the greatswordsman’s back. The greatswordsman concedes and attempts to let go, but the hilt of his sword bloodies the black knight’s lip. The greatswordsman doesn’t know this occurred.
The game ends. The black knight seeks out the greatswordsman and scolds him for his bloodied lip. The greatswordsman apologizes and explains his point of view of what happened. Yet, the black knight continues to scold him. He brings the referees into the matter. While the referees take the greatswordsman aside to talk it out, the black knight goes to the other players taking a water break. He shows off his split lip and points at the greatswordsman. In his pacing, he tells the tales of their clash and spins his words so the others would believe the greatswordsman injured him on purpose. He speaks nothing of the apology and boasts that he only wants to fight the greatswordsman again, vengeance claiming his tone.
To me, watching these fights was like watching something out a movie. You had action, a goal, conflict, pride, motives, drama, etc.
So, what do you think? Out of these two instances, who had the most honor? The swordsman who got the wind knocked out of him, or the black knight with the bloodied lip? In my opinion, it was the swordsman who got the wind knocked out of him who had more honor. He was injured, but he talked it out with the spearman, figured out what was wrong, and moved on. The matter was closed.
The black knight, on the other hand, went after the greatswordsman with a blaming finger. Instead of working it out man to man, he made sure others knew what the greatswordsman did and he turned those others against the greatswordsman. To play the LARP games, you have to sign a waiver saying if you get injured you’re not going to sue anyone because of it. Weapons and rules are designed so that no one should get hurt, but a mock battle is still a battle. If you’re going to fight, you need to be prepared to get hurt. And, in my opinion, in a battle of make believe, you should never assume someone comes at you with malicious intent.
In a game that depends on honor, that honor should carry beyond the game and into how you treat your fellow players. I may not be very good at these LARP battles myself, but watching the pride among warriors has my interest. I may go again just to gage their honor.
I hope this post helps you give a new perspective and gets you thinking a little bit more about the honor you hold.
nikki diekemper 