2ed OOC Posts

[Stik]

Hi everybody
I'm having some computer problems at the moment. I may be absent here and there over the next few days.
Stik

[masuro]

Okay. Thank you for the notice.

[Stik]

Pilydor tries to walk backwards away from the crab, he isn't making any attacking moves as long as the creature isn't attacking.

You know what just popped into my head? Crabs can only walk sideways. You keep moving 90 degrees to the direction his legs are pointed, and you'll be home free.

Also, if you should happen to have a giant pair of poultry shears on you, now would be an excellent time to use them.

[masuro]

Well, you could try that strategy.

That picture . . . . I bet that hurts. Ouch.

[Stik]

Stik: Your spear is just a regular spear and thus you are five feet away. I will try to find or create a long spear that can be used 10 feet away from your opponent so you can buy one when you go back to town.

Sorry about that, Masuro. It's real-world experience intruding into the game. You see, I fight spear in the SCA. (That's me on the left in the first photo, with my Eddie VanHalen tribute spear in hand.)





I'm 6' tall. The spear I fight with is exactly 9' long. I'm used to having the advantage of reach when in combat.


That being said, I did a little research. I don't know how useful this will be for you, but this is what the Second Edition Arms & Equipment Guide has to say on the subject of Spears:

Spear
One of man's earliest weapons, dating back to the most primitive of times, the first spears were simply wooden poles or sticks sharpened at one end. When fire was discovered and mastered, spear points were hardened by charring. As man became more adept at using tools, spears were either fitted with a stone head or the point was reinforced with splints of stone or bone.
When man mastered metals, spear heads were made from iron and steel. Having reached this end, weaponers began experimenting with different types of spear heads, thus leading to the development of certain polearm types such as the ranseur.
Spear shafts are usually made from yew or ash, since these woods are both flexible and strong. The shafts range five to eleven feet in length. In melee, spears may be used either one or two handed, with more damage inflicted if used in the latter mode. Spears 10 feet or longer cannot be wielded with one hand.
Though spears are normally used for thrusting, they can also be thrown. Special devices exist for hurling spears. These devices are variously shaped pieces of wood, horn, or bone with hooks, hollows, or grooves meant to house the spear butt. When using one of these throwers, the spear's throwing range is doubled. The cost of a spear thrower is 1 gold piece. The thrower weighs two pounds.
A character wielding a spear gains an attack bonus for high Dexterity and a damage bonus for high Strength.

Spear
One-handed Cost 8sp, Wt 5, Size M, Type P, Speed 6, Dmg S/M 1d6, Lg 1d8
Two-handed Cost 8sp, Wt 5, Size M, Type P, Speed 6, Dmg S/M 1d8+1, Lg 2d6


Long Spear
A long spear is like a normal spear, except that its shaft ranges 12 to 13 feet in length and cannot be thrown.
Orcs and ogres use spears often in battle. They are simple weapons for simple-minded creatures.

"Spears are versatile, since they can be used by footmen and horsemen alike. The former can set their spears into the ground, in hope of impaling a charging enemy. Footmen can use spears as melee weapons or as missile weapons. Horsemen use spears in much the same way as lances.
"As for long spears, unless one is prepared to forego shield protection and use the weapon with two hands, it is not worth selecting over the normal spear. Long spears need room to be wielded properly, they cannot be thrown, their damage is not much better than a normal spear, and they are slower than their smaller bretheren.''
-- Lord Boris Vladimir, Professional Warrior

Spears have existed since the Paleolithic era, some 500,000 years ago. Horsemen of 20,000 BC began using them as missile weapons, complete with the hurling devices explained earlier.
The Greeks were fond of large formations of spearmen in their armies.
The Franks began producing what we know as the spear. These spears had long, leaf-shaped blades and two triangular "wings" set just below the head. These wings prevented the spear from penetrating too far into a victim (and consequently making it harder to pull out), and enabled the spear carrier to parry more easily with his weapon.
In the 14th century, spears used by horsemen evolved into the lance. Long spears in the 15th century developed into the pike.

[masuro]

Very impressive. Both you and the spear. Do you have to use it two handed?

[Stik]

Always two-handed, unless I lose the use of an arm (per SCA combat rules if you are struck in a limb, you lose the use of that limb for the remainder of the battle).
When I first started fighting spear, I figured I'd be lightening my load, seeing as I would not be burdened with a shield. What I didn't count on is that when you fight spear, you're giving up the protection of a shield, and so you are forced to move around a lot more than when fighting sword and shield. It's really tiring.

[masuro]

I would be nice to have an SCA here in Korea but with Geomdo (Kendo) gyms all over the place I supppose it isn't necessary.

[Falln]

nice pictures, but to be honnest I've never heared of SCA before. I do know LARP, but I guess SCA needs more fighting skills

[Stik]

I started writing about what the SCA is, and went to wiki to check some facts, but the opening paragraph of wiki's page on SCA says pretty much what I wanted to say, so:

The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is a living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes it as a group devoted to the Middle Ages "as they ought to have been," choosing to "selectively recreate the culture, choosing elements of the culture that interest and attract us". Founded in 1966, the society had about 32,000 members as of 2008.

If you want to see some cool videos, go to youtube and search the words: Pennsic Battle

I'm in here, someplace...:

[masuro]

It's all fun and games until someone loses a head.
Are those lads on the outside of the fort against those few lads inside the fort?

[Stik]

The sides of the fort battle were even, to within about 10%. It's just that the fort wall obscures the men inside.
History has shown that taking a fortification by storm requires that the attacker have about a three-to-one numerical superiority over the defender. To account for this, the fort battle was a "limited resurrection" battle. The attackers, when "killed" were allowed to resurrect twice (so in effect, each attacker has three lives), and the defenders got only one life each.
And when it was over, the attackers and defenders switched sides and fought it again.

[masuro]

Yes, I've heard that ratio before. I also noticed the guy with a ballista standing off to once side. And I think I saw a bolt bouncing off something. That can't tickle.
Was the fort taken?

[Stik]

The fort was taken both times, but the winner was the side which held it the longest.
The "official" time is difficult for the fighters on the field to determine, because there are frequent holds in a battle like this (because they need to remove the "dead" fighters for safety reasons), and the marshals stop the clock during holds.

I was on the side which attacked first. We hit the fort very hard and broke through the defenders in what felt like a fairly short time - about thirty minutes, give or take.
When it was my side's turn to defend, we felt like we had held out much longer, but the marshals didn't tell us the "official" time until our side was down to the last man. As it turned out, we had lasted about ten minutes longer than the enemy had.

[masuro]

I have set up a website called Beoling Net for this campaign. At the moment it only has a price list, information about money, and one sentence describing Beoling, but I plan to update it as I create the campaign. The address is http://beoling.weebly.com.

A few words about money. Asking you to calculate new prices from those found in the Player's Handbook is unreasonable (and irritating even to me) so I have changed the currency system again. Please convert whatever silver pennies you have to gold sceatta and whatever coppers you have to silver pennies. If you have any groats, convert them to coppers. Stik, you will have to adjust for the remainder left on the sword you ordered. It's half the new price found in the website. When you want to buy new equipment, please use the price list I've uploaded to the website. I've added a few items and removed some that can't be found in my campaign like scimitars and peacocks. Many common items are now cheaper than they are in the Player's Handbook. A common labourer in second edition AD&D earns one silver piece a week and I thought it a bit ridiculous that he would have to save for several months to buy something like a belt or a sack. I adjusted other things like food and lodging prices so that a common labourer can now eat and have a roof over his head. Most armour and weapons are still very expensive.
Please have a look at the price lists and tell me if there is something you would like added or if I made a mistake.

If it's possible or I can figure it out, I will try to add a link to the site in my signature.

[Stik]

Looking at the price list for weapons, the only suggestion I'd make (and this is unlikely to come up for my character anyway but...) is to adjust the price of the lances.
I've seen a few lances in my time (having worked with a jousting team on occasion). A lance is essentially a spear. It is longer and heavier, but it is a spear nonetheless. For a light lance to cost sixty times as much as a spear seems wonky.
The same could also be said of the pike (again, not a weapon that my character would ever think of using, so you know I'm not trying to gain any kind of advantage here) and of some of the pole arms.



No, I'm not in this picture. I work as part of the ground crew doing safety and crowd control during the jousting. The horses are huge, like 1,800 lbs, so we need to make sure they stay where they belong and the spectators stay where they belong, too.

[masuro]

Good point about the price of polearms and the lances. They are, I suppose, just large spears for special purposes. I have adjusted the prices somewhat.
Anything else?

[Stik]

Is it my imagination, or has attendance and participation on this campaign dropped severely in the past few days?

[masuro]

It has dropped. I usually wait for everyone to post but perhaps I shouldn't. The momentum drops off.

[Falln]

I have periods with more free time at work and others where I'm I'm unable to reach a computer. Sorry