At a North Oaken War maneuvers very early early in my SCA career, my third event, there was a torch light tournament.

As the name describes it was a tournament to be held in the dark, with only a hint of flickering light from which to determine if that thing coming at your head was a sword or paranoia.

This praticular NOWM was also a wedding celebration complete with a tournament.

Prizes were awarded by the newlyweds, but they took recommendations from those participating.

I remember a lot of flailing around in the dark, I can’t recall if I even won a single fight.

All the same, King Felix recommended me for The Mark of Courage for just jumping in to get him.  Read More »

At a recent fight practice, I asked a local unbelt for a few passes. He responded with something to the effect of, “Okay, but are you just going to hit me a lot to teach me a lesson?”

“Certainly not”, I responded. “I don’t fight to, ‘teach anyone a lesson’, I make an opportunity to learn, for myself as well as my opponents.”

Read More »

I love tournaments, meeting your opponent face to face, and taking part in a mutual kinship of competition. This is one of the few venues in life when both parties can walk away improved. As such I have always loved Crown, it is all of that and a lot more.

We put on our fanciest garb, we hang banners, and get bards to boast funny and over exaggerated things. On the side of list is the biggest inspiration of your life, encouraging and watching the entire enterprise. It is a grand thing in deed.

However,  I’m saddened so few competitors entered the list with a smile, while at Crown. Read More »

A vigil is an important part of the elevation process, and it has many customs and traditions of its own, one of which is the vigil book Read More »

Over the years, the number of people competing in Crown Tournament has gotten a lot smaller compared to days of yore. There could be a number of explanations for this: the disappearance of an Invitational Crown list, the start of the Tournament of Chivalry, and the general addition of a number of other ways an Unbelt can gain word fame without fighting in Crown.

These explanations are not necessarily the causes of a decline in participation, but instead may stem from one common branch. Read More »

When I was Kingdom Youth Officer, I once taught a class on new ways to make Youth Point fun and exciting to all SCA members, not just children. After the class, a fellow caught me leaving the room and wanted to ask a few questions.  He said he was part of some other historic reenactment groups, and nearly every member had a long gray beard.  They just couldn’t get new members to stay.

He wanted to know if I was I seeing this trend in the SCA? What did I think we could do to increase longevity?

Read More »

On the road down to Gulf Wars, we discovered just how much Knights and Masters of Defense have in common, at least in theory. We all know that what works in theory doesn’t always work in application.

To begin, Azriel had just authorized in armored combat a week before Gulf Wars.  This would be her first armored melee event. I’ve only fought in a handful of rapier melees over the last few years, with most being a negative experience. I was worried that Azriel would end up with a similar experience in armor. I thought we would have fun, but I have thousands of ideas.  Only one or two are any good. Maybe this was bad one? This could all end in disaster.
Read More »

The last picture of hero’s before they head off into the unknown, completely unaware of the danger that awaits.

Our adventures began before getting to site.  As we neared the end of our long drive, we had decided to stop for the night about an hour from site. Azriel brought up the directions to a “hotel near us” on google maps, and it was just a short distance off the freeway. We got off on a standard two lane country road. Read More »

What happens when a recently made Knight and Master Of Defense load up and drive for 17 hours to an event? You would think not a lot. We couldn’t have much in common or we wouldn’t be in completely different orders?

Our weapons aren’t the same. The armor is completely different. The sides are different culturally. Worse, there is often a negative viewpoint each side views the other through “How good can they be they don’t: “fight with real swords” / “take a real hit”.” Read More »

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about the SCA is all the little adventures you can find for yourself. Life is chain of moments. It’s up to each of us to seek out them out and hopefully make a chain of them worth remembering.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I was unable to attend Maidens this year, but that is no reason to sit around. I got up Sunday and did my traditional non-event Sunday morning hike, about 12 miles.  Today I found myself thinking that maybe I’ve visited this park too many times or maybe all the parks kinda look the same in January, all scrawny trees and mud. I looked for somewhere new to visit.  

Every town has something amazing hidden in it, often a large number of somethings, if you’re willing to look for them. Read More »