How Combat Works
Combat occurs through the use of foam melee weapons, Rival Nerf Blasters (or off brand equivalent) and bird seed spell packets to represent the weapons and forces of magic and the divine of the world of Mirhanan.
For the safety of everyone involved, our game uses the lightest touch method of LARP combat. Legal areas for contact with a melee weapon are arms (wrist to shoulder), torso, and legs (shin to hip). Hands, head, feet and groin are not considered legal targets and therefore take no damage when hit.
While eye protection is not required, it is strongly suggested. Rival blaster ammunition comes out of the barrel between 85 and 105 feet per second and is small enough that a shot to the eye is going to sting.
With concerns to game balance and simplicity, unless stated by a called effect, all hits, whether from a melee weapon or a nerf blaster, are one point of damage. In a world with technological wonders, ballistic weaves are made cheaply and commonly enough that all garments are considered made from them.
Skill Calls
All skill calls replace basic damage with a specific effect. For instance, if you are struck by the called skill Maim on the arm or leg, you do not lose a point from your health pool, instead that limb is broken and unusable. This applies regardless of how the skill was delivered. Some skills replace basic damage with a higher damage number, such as Slay 5, or Backstab (Stealth 2). If a number without any other qualifier immediately follows a skill call, you lose that many points from your health pool. All actions described below should be performed to the best of your ability.
A list of common skill calls include:
- Disarm – If delivered by a melee weapon, the skill must hit the weapon being disarmed. If it is delivered by a gun or magical effect, the skill can hit any part of the body allowed by the combat and contact rules.
- Knockdown – You must safely and swiftly lay down with your shoulder blades touching the ground and count to five before standing back up. If you are unable to move in this way, you must complete this movement to the best of your ability and count to five before making any other movement or taking any other action.
- Maim – Breaks a limb. A melee weapon must hit the target’s limb to deliver this effect. If delivered by gun or magical effect, the target limb will be specified and the ammo or packet can hit any part of the body allowed by the combat and contact rules.
- Pain – With this effect you must drop to one knee and place both hands on the ground before getting back up. If you are unable to move in this way, you must complete this movement to the best of your ability before making any other movement. Roleplaying being in pain (screaming, grunting or otherwise acknowledging the effect) is strongly suggested for all instances of Pain.
- Push – As the melee skill. Target must take 10 paces, safely, backwards before reengaging.
- Weakness – While under the effects of weakness you cannot attack, defend yourself, carry anything, or cast any spell that is not delivered by touch, and can only walk at a slow pace. If you have lost Health Points, you may regain them in any normal way, however normal Healing effects do not cancel Weakness.
- Venom – Call for a blade strike using a blade venom. Venom will be preceded by an effect such as Weakness. Blade venoms may be resisted as Poisons.
A complete set of calls can be found in the Appendix titled “Lexicon.”
Melee Weapons
For simplicity, Melee Weapon refers to any weapon used for Melee or Stealth skills. Melee weapons can range from 8 to 72 inches, and can be anything from the typical sword, axe, or blunt families found in fantasy LARPs, or more modern takes found in post-apocalypse LARPs such as baseball bats, wrenches, or other improvised weapons.
Weapon lengths can take on importance in regards to certain skills:
- Small/Dagger: 8 to 18 inches
- Short: 19 to 30 inches
- Long: 31 to 46 inches
- Two-Handed/Polearms: 47 to 72 inches
All melee weapons must have a minimum 2 inches of soft collapsible/flexible thrusting tip (staff or other polearms meant to be able to strike from both ends must have a thrusting tip on both ends) and 5/8ths of an inch foam wall around the weapon’s core on all striking surfaces.
All melee weapons must pass a safety inspection during check in at the event. A guide for creating a boffer style weapon is included in the Supplemental Rulebook.
While we are willing to allow latex/foam crafted weapons, we do not currently endorse any particular brand and cannot make a decision on whether or not a weapon will pass safety inspections until we have it in hand at the event.
Regarding latex weapons: Any weapon using a latex paint coating must be sealed with a non-latex sealer for the safety of those with latex allergies. Please see the section on allergies in “Safety First.”
Guns
As stated above, guns are represented by Nerf Rival, or off brand equivalent, blasters. We will not be allowing dart or Hyper style blasters at this time. Unless you have the appropriate skills, only spring fired blasters are allowed.
In the interest of safety, you may not fire your blaster at someone closer than 5 feet away from you.
At minimum, the blasters should be painted to cover up/obscure any logos – the exception being the safety orange face plate and barrel. While various state laws may only require the orange tip for transporting/selling toy guns, it is always better to be safe.
For those with the skill and desire, other modifications may be made to the blaster aesthetics. Adding a t-handle or other cocking assist modification is also acceptable. We will not be allowing any modifications to the internal workings of the blaster, this includes – but not limited to – spring, o-ring, barrel, flywheel, or motor replacements.
All blasters will be checked with a chronometer during check in, and they may be rechecked during the event.
Ammunition
All ammo at Sustainable Collapse is represented by Nerf’s Rival Ammo, and it exists in two states throughout the game. Ammo that you start the game with, loot, and craft is considered live ammo until it is fired out of a gun. Once live ammo has been fired out of a gun, it becomes a spent casing. Spent casings are unable to be fired out of a gun and require skills to convert the spent casings back into live ammo. Spent casings can only be carried in a casings bag.
A casings bag is where you can store spent casings until you can make it to the bullet press, and is represented by a small pouch on your belt, commonly referred to as a “dump pouch.” If you do not have a belt, the casings bag must still be visibly on your person, not inside a pocket or other larger bag. The casings bag is considered to be out of game, if you are looted, state “prop” to signify this. Only spent casings may be placed in a casings bag.
The spent casings may be combined with lead slugs and gunpowder (both of which can be crafted in-game) to make live ammo. The required recipes can be learned in-game from someone who knows them, or through research, if you have the appropriate crafting skills.
With the skill Guns Class 1, Guns Class 2, or Unload you may safely remove live ammo from a gun your character does not own.
Important Note: All ammo, whether live or spent casings, must be turned in at the end of the event.
How Healing Works
Wounds are taken during combat in the form of reduction to your health pool, a broken limb, or any number of debuff effects. In a world where the miraculous walks hand in hand with science, it should be no surprise that Mirhanan has many approaches to healing. Each method has its benefits and drawbacks with the intent of giving each its own unique flavor.
Some of these methods require components, such as plants or bandages. Some of them require nothing more than a spell packet and a moment of concentration. All of them require that the person receiving the healing be within touching distance of the person performing it.
As noted by our no contact rule, you may not apply a bandage or touch someone without consent. If the person receiving the healing does not wish to be touched, in the cases where a bandage is necessary, they may apply the bandage themselves. In the same vein, a healing spell should be cast with a held spell-packet rather than direct physical touch unless there is express consent. “Heat of battle” is not an acceptable excuse to touch someone without their permission.
Medical
Great knowledge on the workings of the body and pharmaceuticals were passed on to us from the lost world of Janeth Prime. After the Accords were made and peace had begun, one of the first schools founded was for the medical arts.
Science-based healing skills take time, almost unbearably slow compared to the instant healing available to those wielding divine grace, yet are more comprehensive and able to restore more health. With two minutes and a suture or two, skilled medical practitioners can have you feeling ready to take on the world… again.
Combining their skills with the right pharmaceuticals there is nothing short of death that they can’t cure.
It is important to note that while anyone can use pharmaceuticals, their potency can be increased greatly by a trained medical practitioner.
Divine and Magical
While Janeth Prime once had religions of its own, it wasn’t until Mirhanan that its people felt the direct connection to the Divine as known innately to those born of Thislan. While the connection to the miraculous isn’t as strong in this new world, those who follow some paths of the Divine are able to provide a measure of aid in times of need. With the right prayer, one of the devout can patch you up quickly enough to get to the medics… or right back into the thick of the fight.
The magic of Mirhanan is not the same as it was on Thislan, and some traces to things known before only on Janeth Prime. It is rare for any magic to heal, though some spells may keep you on this side of the Black Path long enough for a medic or one of the devout to reach you.
Survival
Deep in the Wastelands it can be hard to come across trained medical help or one of the devout. Those hardy enough to survive in the wastes have learned how to use everything that grows there to keep themselves alive. With the use of plant components, bandages, and the occasional stout length of wood, survivalists can keep themselves alive and on the move long enough to find a healer to tend to their wounds. Through near constant exposure their bodies have developed a tolerance to the harsh environment they live in.