Scarburg Meadhall Discussion Thread

[Nogrod]

Btw. This wil keep us going for ages... Just look at the number of games.

But I think it will be fun anyway.

Originally Posted by lmp

Therefore: everything that Nogrod says is true to a point - so long as we don't adhere to it too rigidly.

Exactly. As you say, this is Middle-Emnet, not continental Europe or British Isles from real history.


Foley: I think I explained the sack-fight somewhere not so long ago. I think it has been quite popular at least in Scandinavia and I'd be surprised if it was not known in other places as well.

If we're going to have a duelling game it should be played with practice swords or wooden ones or something like that.

The task-path was an idea of mine as well and I've speculated of it's contents in a few post lately but as there seems to be little interest to it - even if I think it would be something interesting to write - so we might be skipping it anyway.

I'd say the stone-throwing should be an aiming competition. But why not have the kind of shot-put game as well?


Haha! X'd with lmp...

[Nogrod]

The battle arena: A log that has been hoisted to a meter or 1½ meter high, about. In the beginning the competants stand at the ends of the log facing each other.

The weapons: A big sack filled with straws, hay, whatever light substance (sand is too heavy). Both fighters have one.

The aim of the game: To stay standing on the log and drop the other one down. To not loose your sack.

Additional rules: None. Everyhing's allowed. But as you need to keep your balance and have a medium heavy sack in your hand there's little room for anything else but trying to beat the other one down with your sack or encouraging the other one to swing the sack in a way the momentum of the swing imbalances the opponent enough to bring her/him down with it.

Winning conditions: The first one to touch the ground or to lose her/his sack is the loser.

Additional information: This is a fun game so hurting the opponent is not the aim. Making a full swing will quite obviusly just inbalance yourself. It has been historically something people have done in the market-days and other public festivities. And if I have my history right also females and kids have been playing it. So it's not a competition where we see who's who but where we can laugh together to the ways how people drop from the log or how they try to keep their balance and look funny.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by me #667

How about a competition which would include different tasks to perform? I mean tasks that would require agility, firmness of hand, wit and such. It might even be a game for all (also males and kids) as there might be interesting results. The tasks could be something like climbing to get a required object, pebble-throwing, building from pieces of wood a tower of a required height so that it doesn't collapse, figuring out any sort of puzzles, running/crawling/jumping through a track with different obstacles etc.

Or something like that.

Originally Posted by me #675

With the task-path I mean something like running for a hundred yards then climbing to get an item from the top of a tree or something. Then running again to build a tower from pieces of wood or something and running yet again to build a tent from scratch - and running yet again etc... We could come up with the particular tasks together. And the competants should run in circles somewhat so that the audience might see their performances all the time - and the first to come back after fulfilling all the tasks would be the winner...

Okay. These are my ideas. I could come up with more but what say you? If it feels too complicated or doesn't get any participants we can surely skip it. But let's see if we get good ideas and it starts to sound interesting enough.

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Okay. These are my ideas. I could come up with more but what say you? If it feels too complicated or doesn't get any participants we can surely skip it. But let's see if we get good ideas and it starts to sound interesting enough.

I say that we combine the wheelbarrow racing and the rope climbing with the task-path. I think it would be easier if we have those all added into one game instead of having them sperate.

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Groin

I say that we combine the wheelbarrow racing and the rope climbing with the task-path. I think it would be easier if we have those all added into one game instead of having them sperate.

Maybe we should lump even making a fire into it?

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

Maybe we should lump even making a fire into it?

Yes, I was thinking that once the race is done that all of the things that the people built would have a purpose. The wood could be waiting for the participants, they each build a tower or a teepee in a close circle, and when the the winner lights the fire we have the bonfire that we were thinking about having in the evening.

So we could start off with the players racing their wheelbarrows to the woodpile and loading them into the wheelbarrows to be raced to where the bonfire will be. Once they have enough wood they race over to a tree with a rope tied to it and climb to get a tinder box, and then run back (all this running is making me hungry) to light the fire.

[Gwathagor]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Btw. This wil keep us going for ages... Just look at the number of games.

Maybe we should cut it down. Or, we could just mention the results of some of the games, rather than narrate ALL of them, which would indeed take ages, especially with so many people involved.

How do we decide who wins which game?

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

How do we decide who wins which game?

We'll fight that over in here...



I like Groin's idea of putting the wheelbarrow-race and rope-climbing into the "task-path" (we should indeed come up with a better name for it). And the lighting of fire incorporated into it would be both logical and good.

Any other twists or turns to the game?

One idea relating to this would be that this game could be the last one and the competants should build their fires very near each other (like a meter away from each other) so that when the game is over all the fires could be united and that would be the celebration-fire to sing and drink around for good games and the advancement of the building work.

[Folwren]

I thought the wheelbarrow race was where each person had a partner, one partern got down on the ground in the position as though he were going to do a push up, and then his partner takes his ankles and with his feet thus held, and his hands on the ground, the contestant teams race across a certain distance. Then the partners switch places and everyone races back.

I've played this once - it was fun.

EDIT: Groin, add Javan to the sack-fight.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Groin, add Javan to the sack-fight.

As well as Cnebba and Garmund... and yes, Stigend...