Garb Standards

I think that this is too harsh, especially the level 6 requirement of "neutral colored footwear" since I consider footwear to be safety equipment and it's not always possible to find things that work in a specific color. But whatever floats the boat for your park if everyone votes for it at Althing. I tend to go with the standard of not wearing garb, you have to play a peasant as is outlined in the RoP, with some leeway for newer players. This usually means that the person has made an effort to have not obviously modern clothes on, even if it's just dark colored sweatpants and an extra large t-shirt with the collar cut up. The longer a person plays though, the more strict I try to be about calling people out on their lack of garb unless there's a safety concern due to heat or cold.

As someone who helped create this concept, let me add a few things to the discussion. First a little background on me, so people know where I am coming from, I have been playing Amtgard for a little over a year and Dagorhir for over 12 years. In these 12 years I have seen garb standards rise and fall over the years, and I have seen a major push in recent years to improve garb standards in the game. I was approached with the question of "how do we improve garb standards in the game," I came up with the idea of tying garb requirements to level tests. (Actually, my initial idea was to increase LtP to be more integral to the classes functioning as intended, but since that is impossible to playtest, this was a elegant alternative.)

I will break down the reasoning for each level:
Levels 1-3 should be self explanatory, the intent here is to slowly ween new players off the loaner garb pile. We have had a problem with people just borrowing garb for months, not even trying to get their own. By 12 weeks (3 months), it is not unreasonable to expect a basic attempt at garb.

Level 4 (21 weeks), all that is added here is some attempt at leg coverings. This can be as simple as the dark colored sweat pants, the intent here is to keep people out of blue-jeans and athletic shorts.

Level 5 (34 weeks), removal of visible modern clothing, this means no t-shirt collars under tunics. Part of the intent here is to help improve immersion and to increase the appeal of the game.

Level 6 (53 weeks), at this point people have been in the game about a year. What we want to see is more character improvement, and to create a more complete look.

Talking about footwear, the rule from Dag we are borrowing is "1.3.3 – Non-obtrusive footwear (moccasins, earth-tone shoes, boots, sandals, etc.)." I agree completely that they are safety equipment, but that does not mean you can't have non-obtrusive, safe and affordable footwear.
The Image on the left is $20 from walmart and looks a lot better than the one on the right.

Let me use a few images, taken directly from the Dagorhir rules, to help even more.
 
This is what Dagorhir uses as minimum garb, this is the intended garb to, not only pass level 6, but also get LtP. This is all we expect.

This is listed as illegal garb and is what we want to avoid. The intent with this entire endeavor is to help create a more immersive and, to borrow a term from digital gaming, cinematic experience. This is still the least strict garb standards of any of the foam games/larps other than, perhaps, Belegarth.

(Edit: To fix image)

Please note, this is specifically for our group. We meet once a week. Yes, people can travel and level faster, but if they can do that, they can afford to garb up too. If other groups think they should adopt it, good for them. I know there is talk on e-sam about putting something like this into the rule book, but right now it's just that: Talk.

If you look at my response to Gymir, you'll see I address the issue of when this applies. Basically you have to show you HAVE it to level test. After that, you don't have to wear it, though you are encouraged to do so. Basically a "Hey I know you have it, why don't you wear it" kind of peer pressure.

As for people intentionally leveling slowly, that is it's own penalty being that you won't have a 6th level class to pull out when you want it. It does not worry me greatly.

For the shoes, you bring up a valid point. But no where are we talking about any kind of specific design of shoes. Only colors. Also there are ways to make modern shoes appear medieval without sacrificing comfort. I personally am working on a set of spats to go over my combat boots because I don't think they look period enough. It's not hard to make low top leather or even canvas cloth covers to go over shoes.

Fredrik, if this is intended to just be for Caerbannog I would recommend posting it in the Caerbannog sub-forum, instead of general discussion. Based on the forum that it's in and the post you made about it on the Facebook group I assumed that it was meant as a topic of discussion for a rule that would be implemented throughout the Kingdom.

Based on Needle's further explanation of the proposed level 5 and 6 requirements, I think that it's even more harsh than I had first understood it. I think that trying to make it so that no modern clothing is visible is ridiculous. People wear undershirts, jewelry, and other modern clothing all the time and it's never "broken (my) immersion" (which I think is a somewhat stupid idea in the context of Amtgard outside of quests anyways, but that's a whole different topic). I really don't think that this is a big enough issue to make it a widespread requirement.

Paul also makes some very good points about class level having nothing to do with time in the game.

If you're looking for input from outside of your group, let me be the first to say it's a terrible idea.

Maybe it's not what you intend- but this comes off as classist and fairly arrogant. There are so many factors that go into not being able to afford garb and you've clearly not considered most of them. I travel 45 minutes every week to go to park- it costs me nothing since my company members are kind enough to drive me back and forth. I went to Fury with friends and spent very little (mostly kicking in for gas there and back). No, not everyone can afford to uphold an arbitrary standard of garb completion. I have a tunic, leggings, and under dress. That's not likely to change any time soon since I'm on a fixed income.

If it works for your group, great- but I can't see playing in an environment like that personally.

So we discussed this at our Althing this week and had Jondular there who had some interesting ideas for this. As a concept, he is OK with it, but rather than a "punishment" for not meeting these requirements, he suggested a reward for meeting them. Like LTP, but only on a level by level basis. Basically if you meet the level standards with your garb for your sign in class for a given week, you get a single use of a trinket from the rule book. As we start this, we'll provide potion bottles and scroll cards, but eventually we'll ask players to provide their own bottles. The advantage of this is several:
* It looks less "elitist" (though I disagree with this, it's a common thread so it should be considered).
* It is a "carrot" instead of "stick".
* It is a re-occurring thing meaning players are less likely to "dress up" for the level test then blow it off after that. It keeps up the pressure to get the carrot.
* It is completely at our discretion meaning that we are no even skirting the rules by "adding requirements".
* Trinkets are small enough boosts that they will have little effect in game outcomes most of the time.

Thank you Gymir. And especially thank you to Jondular for recommending a better way.