Impromptu Armor for newbies?

A

Aritizol Devante

Novice
Hiya everyone!

I'll be attending my first event with my friends this weekend in SF, super excited for it. ^.^ I just have a quick question. What are some ways to add some extra Armor points besides being in-genre? We'll be first level, but a few extra hitpoints would ALWAYS help the cause.

I was thinking I could make some bracers by tying (not-too-tight) leather shoelaces around my arms and maybe my shins, and perhaps use some cheap leather belts to forge together a bit of a chestplate and maybe other pieces of armor, but I wanted to ask first before spending.

Thanks!
 
Metal washers sewn into a shirt, big washers work too

For light leather you can get cheap thin pleather at Joanne's and make a tabard, bracers with lace ect

Those are the cheapest ways I can think of for last minute
 
My first set of armor was pleather with brass fasteners (brads) spaced one inch apart. then layer the pleather together to make it of proper thickness. Its a cheap way to make armor. It does not last at all. Mine started to fall apart half way through my first event.
 
Go to a leather shop and buy some rabbit fur (or suede) and leather lace to strap on to yourself. That should suffice for 1pt per location.

Or, get some thicker (10oz or heavier) leather, a leather punch, and some leather lace. Punch some holes in the leather to lace. That will work for 2pt per location.

If you have time, but are strapped for money, you could buy suede, a bunch of rivets, and a bunch of small stainless steel metal plates (18ga or thicker). Rivet the plates to the suede for some 3pt armor per location.

If you have ALOT of time, you could make your own chain mail. That likely won't be ready by this weekend.

If "cheap" means "within a couple hundred dollars", you could contemplate a ringmesh shirt. A ringmesh t-shirt alone is worth approx. 14 armor points (2pt per location on stomach, chest, back (x2) and shoulders).
 
Thanks for the awesome suggestions! The leather lace is definitely something I'll go for, and I'll have tons of ideas to fix something up for next year. ^.^

Any more ideas for some quick belly/chest armor? Maybe I could find some imitation leather plates and sew them up together for some sturdy protection.
 
You can get bags of scrap leather cheap from some craft stores - Hobby Lobby sells 3 pounds bags of leather scraps for something like $8. They're not the highest quality leather, but they're nearly thick enough to count as 2-point armor (some layering or attaching pieces to a backing material would definitely get you to 2 points) and they'll look better than using vinyl or pleather or whatever.
 
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Alavatar said:
Also, this guy sells leather scales that you can lace together easily for some leather scale mail. May not be in time for this weekend, but if you enjoy playing then it could be a project for you to complete by next event.
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That guy has some great customer service too. Definitely worth investigating.

As far as quick and dirty, you could probably wrangle up a pickle barrel, cut out a chest plate glue pleather or vinyl over it to make it look like leather, and maybe pull 2 points out of it for that. The more effort you put into making it look like hard leather rather than fabric glued on plastic, the more likely that is to happen.

Also, duck cloth (or other suitable tough canvas material) large washer, a sewing kit and some time could net up to 3pts as long as you meet the spacing and thickness requirements with the washers.
 
Go to a thrift or secondhand store and look for knee high women's boots made out of pleather or thin leather. Buy a set or two of grommets from your local craft store (the kind that come with a grommet tool that you apply with a hammer). Cut off the "shoe" part of the boots at the ankle with some heavy scissors. Slice the resulting "sleeve" lengthwise and apply grommets. Lace with ribbon, cord, or leather. Ta-da, bracers! You could probably do this for lower leg greaves too if needed.

If you want to make it look more finished, a sewing machine can usually handle the thickness of the leather/pleather/suede. Sew some ribbon over the ends and down the grommetted sides. Use a colored thread and set your sewing machine to one of the pattern stitching if it has that option.
 
I'm looking forward to meeting you, then! See you this weekend!

As far as needed armor goes, if you're planning on replacing this armor with a more permanent solution after this game, I suggest posting in the SF board here or on the Facebook group and see if anyone can loan you some chainmaille for the weekend. If you want some armor to keep for long term, I will second the pennycoat/washers sewn into a coat suggestion.

If you'd like to borrow my ancient pennycoat (padded with pennies sewn into it) for this game, I'll bring it with me. It has holes in the back and it's green, but it will do the job and I'm certain it would fit anyone.
 
KyleSchmelz said:
You can get bags of scrap leather cheap from some craft stores - Hobby Lobby sells 3 pounds bags of leather scraps for something like $8. They're not the highest quality leather, but they're nearly thick enough to count as 2-point armor (some layering or attaching pieces to a backing material would definitely get you to 2 points) and they'll look better than using vinyl or pleather or whatever.
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Oooh that's not a bad deal actually! The leather bag scraps I found at Beverley's, our local arts/crafts store was $20 for roughly the same weight, and it was mostly full of leather lace anyways, a bit of a rip-off.

Inaryn said:
That guy has some great customer service too. Definitely worth investigating.

As far as quick and dirty, you could probably wrangle up a pickle barrel, cut out a chest plate glue pleather or vinyl over it to make it look like leather, and maybe pull 2 points out of it for that. The more effort you put into making it look like hard leather rather than fabric glued on plastic, the more likely that is to happen.

Also, duck cloth (or other suitable tough canvas material) large washer, a sewing kit and some time could net up to 3pts as long as you meet the spacing and thickness requirements with the washers.
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Pickle barrels? We have those in San Francisco? xD The only thing I think of when I hear pickle barrel are either those glass jars full of pickels, or those large wooden barrel on medieval ships, do ya have a picture?

That isn't so bad, I could totally do that... Alright, next thing on my list, learn how to sew. It's just too useful for LARPs apparently. xD

meirya said:
Go to a thrift or secondhand store and look for knee high women's boots made out of pleather or thin leather. Buy a set or two of grommets from your local craft store (the kind that come with a grommet tool that you apply with a hammer). Cut off the "shoe" part of the boots at the ankle with some heavy scissors. Slice the resulting "sleeve" lengthwise and apply grommets. Lace with ribbon, cord, or leather. Ta-da, bracers! You could probably do this for lower leg greaves too if needed.

If you want to make it look more finished, a sewing machine can usually handle the thickness of the leather/pleather/suede. Sew some ribbon over the ends and down the grommetted sides. Use a colored thread and set your sewing machine to one of the pattern stitching if it has that option.
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Wow! I never thought of that! And the thrift/secondhand store makes it super super cheap, that's awesome! Thanks Meirya! That's definitely something I gotta try out sometime.

nothingtoseehere said:
I'm looking forward to meeting you, then! See you this weekend!

As far as needed armor goes, if you're planning on replacing this armor with a more permanent solution after this game, I suggest posting in the SF board here or on the Facebook group and see if anyone can loan you some chainmaille for the weekend. If you want some armor to keep for long term, I will second the pennycoat/washers sewn into a coat suggestion.

If you'd like to borrow my ancient pennycoat (padded with pennies sewn into it) for this game, I'll bring it with me. It has holes in the back and it's green, but it will do the job and I'm certain it would fit anyone.
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Awesome, looking forward to see ya too! I'll be the cloaked rogue-ish figure with red trim and the big stick in the crowd. xP

That's a great idea, I'll be sure to put out the post next event! People are so kind in this community. ^.^

I'll be playing as an Adept though, so with the leather lace on four spots and (hopefully) the two extra from being in-genre, that's 16 BP / 20 BP, which isn't bad. I can afford to be a tad squishy since I can compensate with my quarterstaff. :3 Thanks for the offer about that pennycoat though! Mind if you take a picture of it? That sounds absolutely awesome, and such a pun in-itself. XD
 
My coat only counts for 19 points. Here is front and back. The inside has panels of pennies sewn in.
We also have a group for giving away/selling at a discount old LARP garb and gear here.
If you're looking to learn how to sew, we have many locals (myself included) who would be happy to teach you or do a sewing meetup :) LARP is the best time to learn to sew, because if you mess up it just makes it look more authentic!

I'm pretty easy to spot. OOG I'm the 6 foot tall short haired girl, in game I'm a giant walking tarantula. Feel free to come talk to me!
 
nothingtoseehere said:
My coat only counts for 19 points. Here is front and back. The inside has panels of pennies sewn in.
We also have a group for giving away/selling at a discount old LARP garb and gear here.
If you're looking to learn how to sew, we have many locals (myself included) who would be happy to teach you or do a sewing meetup :) LARP is the best time to learn to sew, because if you mess up it just makes it look more authentic!

I'm pretty easy to spot. OOG I'm the 6 foot tall short haired girl, in game I'm a giant walking tarantula. Feel free to come talk to me!
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Wow, that looks really, really good actually, I'm surprised. o.o I love how you say "ONLY 19 points". That's more than 3x my starting health! XD I might take ya up on that offer after all, or maybe offer it to my Fighter friends, they're lacking pretty good in armor too. How'd ya make it?

Oooh~ the terrifying, screaming, run-for-the-hills tarantula? Or the adorable, furry, eight-legged-hug tarantula?
 
I'll leave the adorableness up to you to decide in game :D

I am sincerely trying to give that coat away (my gear bin has evolved past it) so if you or any of your friends want it you are more than welcome to it.
As for how I made it, fabric stores sell that pre-quilted fabric. It's not the best out there, but it looks acceptable. I sewed a fairly simple gambeson out of it and then made pouches of quilted fabric with pennies in each of the quilts, and sewed them to the inside. It's what some of the people above are talking about when they refer to sewing washers into fabric. I'd be more than happy to show you how it's done at game- it's a little difficult to describe in words only.
 
nothingtoseehere said:
I'll leave the adorableness up to you to decide in game :D

I am sincerely trying to give that coat away (my gear bin has evolved past it) so if you or any of your friends want it you are more than welcome to it.
As for how I made it, fabric stores sell that pre-quilted fabric. It's not the best out there, but it looks acceptable. I sewed a fairly simple gambeson out of it and then made pouches of quilted fabric with pennies in each of the quilts, and sewed them to the inside. It's what some of the people above are talking about when they refer to sewing washers into fabric. I'd be more than happy to show you how it's done at game- it's a little difficult to describe in words only.
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Hello! I'm one of the Fighter friends that Aritizol mentioned. The armor looks pretty good, but the other might need it more. I already have a gambeson and studded vambraces. However, I feel I am in dire need of a decent hat. Do you, or anyone else have a hat they need to be rid of?
 
Mods, since this is becoming very San Francisco-specific, feel free to move it to our section on the forum.

Charles Ell said:
Do you, or anyone else have a hat they need to be rid of?
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Hello to you as well!
I think (think) I may still have a ren-faire hat. You'd be welcome to borrow it for the event if I can find it but I'd need it back. Failing that, my trunk has a wide selection of headwraps that my tarantula wears and I'd be happy to show you how to tie them to best hat-like effect. I don't know of anyone that is looking to give one away (the Facebook group posted in my above post is where to ask, along with the Alliance SF facebook group), but we do have local commission artists who would probably make you one for a reasonable price (probably not to be finished until after this weekend's event). Monster camp is also usually reasonably open to letting new players borrow essentials for their first game (though obviously staff needs to okay that).
 
Pickle barrels are just big like 5 gallon barrels. You can sometimes get them by hitting up a Burger King and just asking.
 
nothingtoseehere said:
Mods, since this is becoming very San Francisco-specific, feel free to move it to our section on the forum.



Hello to you as well!
I think (think) I may still have a ren-faire hat. You'd be welcome to borrow it for the event if I can find it but I'd need it back. Failing that, my trunk has a wide selection of headwraps that my tarantula wears and I'd be happy to show you how to tie them to best hat-like effect. I don't know of anyone that is looking to give one away (the Facebook group posted in my above post is where to ask, along with the Alliance SF facebook group), but we do have local commission artists who would probably make you one for a reasonable price (probably not to be finished until after this weekend's event). Monster camp is also usually reasonably open to letting new players borrow essentials for their first game (though obviously staff needs to okay that).
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Okay! Thank you for the help!
 
Just put together a small prototype of my "bracers", which essentially is just leather lace. I didnt pick up the rabbit fur because Im aiming for a low profile type of armor and that I ran out of cash. x.x

Do you guys think this could net a point of armor? Constrictions definately on my mind, but with good padding, caution, or maybe even gluing/sewing it onto the shirt will alleviate it.

http://i.imgur.com/XGJuxrx.jpg
 
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