Just found out that Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks have recently won the 2008 Game Critics Awards: Game of the Year for Fallout 3. I would rate F3 as one of the best games I’ve played and definitely the best computer RPG.
Well done Bethesda!
Friday 13th of March saw me off to the wilds of Devon once again for the Dumnonni March event. At this point in the story line the army of Balor of the Evil eye have made there way (slaughtering and pillaging any tribes in their way) to the lands where the fort/village of Culhaven stands. This was the last event before the extravaganza that will be Outlore 2009 and grim it was indeed.
My newly made spear was to “appear” in character so I had a sort of foreboding most of the day on the Saturday what had the refs devised to introduce the weapon into the game world? And more or less one thought “please not an honour duel”. An honour duel for those who don’t know is a one on one combat that none are allowed to interfere with. It has to be said my choice of a combat focussed character is not really ideal as I have no real skills in that area apart from what I like to think is a rather good warrior scowl 
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My worst fears came true and I “won” my new spear in combat, thankfully the guy playing my adversary went easy on me and didn’t demolish me in the first few seconds (thanks mate) of the duel. It was an amusing battle with both of us tripping over tussocks of grass, he first and then I in my haste to get to and dispatch a fallen foe.
So with my new spear in hand I was more than ready for the next combat. During which I noticed a rather distressing kink to my spear head. After the battle I examined it and decided the foam must have split at the point where the spear head had joined the shaft. So with some dismay I hid the spear away, not wanting it to get used in combat as it’s safety was compromised.
The refs and crew kept all us players on our toes especially on the Sunday when it felt like the combat lasted all day with wave upon wave of adversaries trying to whittle us down. It was noted at the event “time out” that the usual exuberant cheer was somewhat subdued if not entirely missing. Not because the players had had a bad event but because we were all so exhausted. Once again the refs and crew gave us a fantastic event.
Outlore is going to be something else, an event that I am sure will go down in LARP legends. It is going to be one of the, if not the biggest Dumnonni event so far. The preparations began in May last year and recruiting of players and crew began in, I think it was February this year. It will be the end of an era, as the encumbent Ard ri (high king) comes to the end of his seven year reign. It is the culmination of many years storylines as arch nemesis of the defenders of Culhaven finally arrives intent on laying waste to all who oppose him. A high player character mortality rate is expected by all but the most optimistic, but in terms of the “Story” I think it will be glorious deaths all round.
In the future there will be larpers huddling round their camp fires wistfully talking of the event that was Outlore 2009.
Have had a couple of very busy evenings trying to get the spear finished. Had a mini disaster when gluing the foam on the spear shaft. I was doing this in the garden where I’d been banished because of the fumes. Trouble was, and I’m guessing here, that the cold air was affecting the glue so as I was applying it to the foam it was not sticking and just rolling up into big gluey bogeys! So I had to wait until my partner (bless her pom pom socks) had retired for the evening and I could shut myself in the kitchen with the windows wide open.
To the latexing. Which was about the point when I realised something was missing. The spear was missing a ferrule (at least I think that is the right word). So that was the next step and after it was added I carved a exagerated wood pattern into the spear shaft and then began latexing with a black undercoat. I tend to build this up quickly with a lot of layers as I’ve found in the past that if you leave it too long to dry the new layer doesn’t adhere to the previous layer properly.
With the softer open celled foam you need to build up quite a few layers as the foam does absorb some of the latex. 
You can mitigate this somewhat by covering the foam with a layer of glue, but I found that the glue was disolving the foam a little and so this was not ideal. In the end I used latex thickner to get the latex to a consitency that was not being absorbed too much. This worked fairly well so after it had all dried I started on adding the “bronze” latex to the spear head. I’m pleased with the result. The spear doesn’t look brand new but has a sort of battered appearence which I hope suggest age. 
The photo to the left isn’t great but then it was taken early in the morning b.c. (before coffee!).
The next stage is to add colour to the spear shaft and then seal the whole thing. I’m in for a long night I think, which is ok as I have the day off work tomorrow but do need to get up at a reasonably early hour to get every thing packed for the event this weekend.
The dagger went a bit wrong again as I was cutting the foam, but luckily I was able to re-carve the foam a little to make it fairly decent. The problem is definitely the size of the point of the dagger, it is to thin so keeping it still as you carve is very difficult (you can see a slight “wobble” at the end of the blade in the picture below). 
In the end the person I made it for didn’t like the bronze finish, it is a little on the orange side of bronze. My son however, really likes it
Had the chance to order some more foam recently so was able to continue with the spear. I covered the end of the fibreglass core with two layers of tough cotton to help prevent it pushing through the foam. Then after fixing the head of the spear to the core I covered the core with a layer of foam.
It looks a little on the thin side to me so I think that I’ll add another layer of foam to make the shaft a little thicker.
