Information for New Players

The easy way to start playing Amtgard in San Luis Obispo is just to show up. If you feel like being prepared, or are under 18, please bring all relevant waivers with you to the field - we don't anticipate any serious injury, but it's nice to have a little security blanket/paper. We have loaner equipment available for our new players - and even for some experienced players who have forgotten to bring their own. This is a game that is free to play - you won't be required to give us a dime to enjoy your experiences on field. All you'll need to be aware of is the absolute basics of the rules, and these will be explained to you on site.

Basic Combat Rules

If, however, you wish to be an informed sort of newbie, you can read on to learn the basic system by which we operate. First of all, you will be responsible for calling your own shots while on the Amtgard field, unless a reeve steps in. If you think you have been hit, go ahead and take the loss: It's not going to cost you anything important in the long run, and people will like you more if you're honest.

Let's start at the top. Hits to the head and neck above the collarbone do not count, and intentional strikes to the head may result in a ban from the field.

Heading down from there, we come to the torso. A hit to the torso will kill you - this means shoulders, chest, back, and butt. When you are dead, say so loudly, lift your weapon over your head, and walk clear of combat.

With the arms, we start to get to the slightly more complicated section. A hit to an arm kills that arm, and a second hit to a dead arm will kill you. Blows to a hand holding a weapon do not count. The break between 'shoulder' and 'arm' is generally held to be about where the seam of a t-shirt would be.

A hit to a leg kills the leg. When you lose a leg, drop to the ground, with the knee of your dead leg on the ground. Any further motion can't be powered by the dead leg, but any further blows to the dead leg have no effect. Blows to a foot that is on the ground do not count.

Please refer to the diagram below or the rulebook if you are unclear about any of these points.

Simple Battlegames

Once you are familiar with the basic rules, there are a few other things to be aware of. First of all, there are several simple battlegames that may be played with just the rules mentioned above. Our usual warm-up game, for example, is "kill your killer," also called "chaos rez." This game starts with a free-for-all. When you are killed, step out of the path of combat and wait for the person who killed you to die, at which point you return to the game by calling "alive!" loudly. Wounds regenerate in thirty seconds, with at least the last 10 seconds counted out loud. If, for example, Baron Deimos killed you, you would wait out of play until he was killed in turn.

Once we have grown tired of Deimos laying waste to the kill-your-killer field, we move on to something else. Another usual favorite is ditching, a fast-paced team game. Two approximtely equal teams are formed, and proceed to fight each other. When you die, look around to check for other dead members of your team. It's important to try to keep track, as the first person to die on the team that eventually wins moves over to the other side - at which point a new round begins. The continues until we're bored to too tired to move.

Class Games

At some point, there will be a class game. These are vastly more complicated affairs, as armor, shield-breaking weapons, and magic can all play a part. In short, each week on the sign-in sheet, you will mark a class that you wish to play. When you have accumulated 13 credits (13 weeks of play), you will reach level 2, and for each 12 credits after that, you will gain one additional level. There are 14 classes, each with abilities gained on levels 1 through 6. During a class game, everybody will choose a class to play, which could be anywhere in this level range. These classes are detailed in the rulebook.

Don't worry too much about which class you want to play at first - feel free to experiment a bit. Around the time you have enough credits to actually achieve second level in a class, we'll try to get you to settle on one, and we'll even consolidate your credits for you.

Once each players has selected a class, a variety of games might be played. The simplest of these is a shatter battle, in which everybody plays until they have exhausted the supply of lives available to their class. Another that is popular locally is Warlord. This is a 'cycling' game - you can't run out of lives, but every time you run through your life count, all your per-game abilities and spells refresh. The gameplay is fairly simple, and we often play this without classes as well: When you die, you return to play in thirty seconds, but you are now taking orders from the person that killed you until they, in turn, die. For example, if one of our regular visitors, Sir Keluric, killed you, you would wait out of the path of combat for thirty seconds (with the last 10 counted out loud), and then call "alive for Sir Keluric" or, if you didn't know his name, "alive for the guy in the blue tunic" or something similar. If you then killed... say... Lady Faye, she would return in thirty seconds to fight for Sir Keluric alongside you. If some dastardly fiend like Krom then managed to break through your determined defense and slay Sir Keluric, both you and Lady Faye would be free players once again.

There are many other things you may run into the field, so there are just three more extremely important rules to go over. First, don't be afraid to ask questions. Most of our players are are friendly and helpful, and there's always the monarchy - they're pretty much obliged to help you out with whatever you need.

As your Amtgard career progresses, you may be interested in making your own garb, weapons, or other equipment. You may be interested in holding office, or getting involved with Westmarch, the conglomerate government that has been formed to run Amtgard in California. Ask around, and you'll find information and a plethora of activities beyond merely fighting. It's all pretty much optional, but it's a whole lot of fun.

See you on the field!