Treehugger

Treehugger is a game that originated in Silverwater (Neverwinter), created by Tonbo, Olok Blackstar and Roger Shrubstaff. It is one of many Non-class games found in Amtgard, meaning that standard Amtgard classes are not used.

The standard game of Treehugger involves two teams, two trees (which are the Base for each team), and a Nirvana about equidistant from the two. None of this should be very far apart, 50 yards between the bases is about the maximum. Everything should be in earshot of each base, including Nirvana.

Classes: None. Players may use any melee weapons or shields, but no projectiles or armor (e.g., basically Ditch rules).

Lives: All players have unlimited lives. Upon dying they go to Nirvana and count to 50, then call alive as soon as they depart the immediate vicinity of Nirvana. Watch out for people coming alive just behind you as you do this!

The goal of Treehugger is to get one of your team to the enemy's tree, have him or her place both hands on the tree, and count to 100. This must be a 100 count, as in 100 seconds (Reeves should monitor for fast counting). The count must be loud so it can be heard to the enemy base and nirvana. While counting, a player may not hold any weapons in hand. Contact with the tree must be maintained, though a player can slide around a tree in an effort to avoid a shot if they can do this without letting go. If a count is broken, it must be restarted at one. Players cannot trade off the counting without resetting it. A player cannot count if he or she has a wounded arm, though they may with a wounded leg.

It is very possible to have a count going at each tree. If this happens the one that finishes first wins. If it is a tie... well, its a tie, though this has never happened.

This produces a fast-paced game that provides a challenge to win, even if the sides are somewhat unbalanced. Usually teams are not picked, but just counted off to split the participants into equal numbers. If it is overwhelmingly unbalanced then that team will win and you can adjust the teams accordingly.

Strategy: Some advocate splitting the team, with attackers and defenders, others advocate keeping the force together, either to attack (and coming back as needed) or to stay back and defend (especially if the other team splits their forces). When one team gets a counter with defenders entrenched, often teams try to mount an assalt that peels off the attackers in an attempt to open a lane for someone to dash through just enough to force the count to reset. Because the death count is half the tree count, you can usually have two attempts at breaking the count (e.g., try, fail and die, come back, try again).