Hey all,
Does anyone happen to have any advice/useful links/good videos to watch on making your own weapons and/or shields for Empire?
I’d been cobbling things together for my first character when my dad, who is very much a do-it-yourself person suggested making the weaponry ourselves, until we realised the wiki page isn’t particularly helpful and there are loads of confusing contradictions between what I’ve found on the matter, so we decided it would just be easier to ask for help here.
If anyone knows what I’m looking for I’d love to hear from you.
Many thanks,
Bowen.
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I would really advise against making your own LARP weapons if you’ve never LARPed before. It’s expensive, time consuming and you’re not likely to get it right first time. The worst case scenario is you could injure someone with a badly made weapon. The more likely scenario is you will end up with your weapon failing weapons check and you won’t be able to use it.
Honestly if you’ve never LARPed before I’d advise coming to an event, buying a cheap weapon and getting a feel for it. If you’re really still interested in making weapons, ask a vendor for advice.
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Just a note: Making weapons is expensive so if you are trying to save money it’s actually better to buy one from one of the established makers. Buying all the materials for your first creation will cost more than buying a finished article.
if you’re doing it to explore the crafting possibilities then expense may not matter so much, but it isn’t easy to make things that will pass weapons check and be safe to use first time.
When looking for instructions avoid anything labelled ‘boffer’ or using gaffa tape as those will be for american larps and are not OK here.
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Shields are less of an issue as there are no solid cores,
this is a useful thread as it states the type of foam used. Weapons are best bought in field as you can get a feel for weight and such.
If you want to power through and make weapons as a hobby over the winter try shields first as there is less chance to hurt someone.
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Thanks for the advice; I hadn’t realised how difficult and expensive weapon making was so I’ll take what you’ve said and just buy a made one.
It is definitely something you can learn to do, but there is an amount of skill and specific knowledge and high chance of failure while learning with out knowing until your in the field.
The great thing about buying a weapon at the event is you can have an experimental swing with a whole range of swords, axes and maces before you buy. You’ll be surprised how many different weights and styles there are.
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a friend of mine had lucky number 7, that was the 7th knife he had made and the first that wasnt rubbish
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Shields are pretty easy to make…I will do a guide one day. I have recently found these online. which seems like a cheap easy base for a good sized shield
I would probably sand the texture off and stick 2 layers together with the textured side in. That should give you 2 nice flat surfaces on the outside to work with.
Sanding foam can be tricky but the basics I follow are, Sand it. Then hit it with a heat gun which will cause all the rough bits to melt then you can sand them off by hand using something like a sanding sponge. Repeat that process.
https://mmamats.co.uk/product/essential-20mm-mma-jigsaw-mats-black/
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