Amtgard

It's that game, you know, with the sticks, and the hitting. And supposedly something about a Dream. Hey, someone should write an article on the Dream! Where the heck did that come from, anyway? I bet Roger knows.

History of the Game

On February 12th, 1983 the science fiction club of the local high school responded to an ad placed in their El Paso Newspaper by Peter Le Grue for an event called Attillia The Hun's Birthday Bash. Nashomi's First Three Years page credits the event with 40 people being there, however, Tawnee Darkfalcon was quoted in an interview with House Lionesse as saying "Joella Starwatcher (Mandy Burgin), Ward Truestory (Monica Livingston), and Tawnee Darkfalcon (Michele Ellington) were born in a small strip park in East El Paso. Peter Le Grue (James Harren) was the only other person there--although that first day of Amtgard has become rather like Woodstock."

However, it was from this small day of swinging a short sword and a small axe with a mostly photocopied Dagorhir rulebook, that Amtgard was born. Nashomi lists the first Qualifications as having been on March 23rd of that same year. Tawnee was the first Queen by right of arms and Joella was the first champion by virtue of having placed second in the tourney. The first five monarchs all earned their crowns by right of arms the club voted September 12, 1987, 34 to 23 for election rather than trial by combat to choose the next monarch.

Esoum has been quoted saying that Amtgard spread proportionally to the number of people who left El Paso.

The Rules

Peter Le Grue, also calling himself 'Sir Peter' charged the group a dollar for rule books originally. In the 2.0 Rules the first weapon making instructions are found. As well as information that we would expect to find in our corpora today. For instance. If you became prime minister of Burning Lands and you were not yet a knight, you became one when you stepped down. A Squire was listed under the classes, 'A Squire is a warrior in training under a Paladin Knight or Warrior with fifteen or more battle games of experience.' Healers were not allowed to heal themselves.

At first BL released the rulebooks, up grading them often until 6.0 was released. Then for nearly ten years the game languished, waiting for the promised 6.1 rules. When they were released some cheered and some booed. Everyone looked forward to the next release. April 1, 2005 the 7.0 rulebook was released, and a system to continually update the rule book with errata to be argued and codified every year at Gathering of the Clans.

LARP or Sport?

There is discussion amongst groups that boffer "sports" may or may not be LARPs. Some have said "...Belegarth nor Dagorhir should be considered "LARPs" as they do not allow for magic, classes, or any of the other things that would generally constitute something as one." Others who look at any of the three main boffer "sports" (namely Belegarth, Dagorhir, and Amtgard) tend to see the same thing: People dressed in clothing styles that generally predate the 1600's, swinging items called boffers, and portraying fantasy effects such as dying, and alternative races or personas.

As was mentioned, the one thing that is generally compared is the use of magic and classes. Now while Amtgard has classes, and a complex magic system, the rules of play for the game never actually use the word LARP, and in fact, the word role play (or other forms of it) only appears 3 times across 72 pages. People have argued that classes are similar to positions on a sports team. Other people say that because they are called classes or use abilities that they must be part of a role playing system. Admittedly all three games include a position/class called archer. This position entails extra abilities in both Belegarth and Amtgard (potentially in Dagorhir as well, but this author does not know at this time). In Belegarth, the archer is given the abilities of being able to call shots on people they hit(normally reserved for the position of Marshal) and to launch a projectile that is considered to go through weapons. In Amtgard, there are many abilities, some of which include: The ability to have arrows that go through shields, the ability to destroy weapons, (this author suggests you look at the corresponding rules of play for the full lists).

Also of note, all three games require participants to wear clothing that resembles styles of a medieval fashion. All three include large groups of people who claim to be non-human races and act as such. All three have some sort of ruling government setup within the game that includes things like: knighthood, kings and queens, realms/kingdoms, and "feasts" with a medieval setting.

So which is a LARP and which is not? Where does the sport end, and the larp begin?

Educate yourself

• Learn about Origin of the name Amtgard.
• Read about Amtgard People
• The Knights of Amtgard
• Know about Chapters, Kingdoms, Heraldry
• For godsakes, read the Rulebook.
• And if it's not too much trouble, the Monster Manual
• Amtgard, a (Dysfunctional) Family by JewishJedi
• Sum of its Parts by JewishJedi
• See A comparison of arrow construction
• Amtgard is Not a LARP by Quintus
• The Decline of Amtgard by Jearden
• The Three Games of Amtgard by Jabberwock
• Evolution of a Game by Kurse
• Challenges to the Game