To the extent that it is practical, fighting is represented by attempting to touch your opponent with a padded “boffer” weapon. This touch may be dodged or blocked physically by the other player's boffer weapon or shield.

This LARP uses a lightest touch system, meaning that any touch from a weapon no matter how slight is considered a hit. This means there should be no reason to hit someone with a weapon with any more force than a gentle tap. (Use of excessive force will incur a penalty.) Of course, this means two things:

1. Players must be honest and “take your hits”. Yes, it's no fun to be out of action for the duration of a battle, but the sessions would be less fun if there is no risk. LARPs are meant to be challenging for the entire party. Every member contributes, and parties need to figure out how to manage when a member of the party is temporarily incapacitated.
2. If you are hit in combat, you need to roleplay accordingly. Think of the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The line, “'Tis but a scratch.” is only funny because it's obvious that the knight actually just had his arm chopped off.

All physical combat must occur with approved boffer weapons. A player may not touch another player in game except with an approved boffer weapon or a spell packet. Monsters and other NPCs will use boffer weapons for all attacks, including body weapons such as claws.

Hits to the head, neck, throat, hands, or groin are off-target and do not count. (Intentional hits to any of these areas will incur a penalty.) You may not intentionally block a hit with an illegal target.

Each body part has a number of points, which represents the number of hits to that body part that it can take before it is damaged and cannot be used again until healed. The base values shown in the diagram are for a player character with no special skills/abilities and no protections (armor or magic). They are:

• Each arm: base 1 point
• Each leg: base 1 point
• Torso: base 2 points
• Head, neck, groin, hands: off-target (hit does not count)

These hit point values do not include armor or magical protections. Base hit point values are higher for certain character classes including fighters.

When any limb (arm or leg) reaches zero hit points, that limb is rendered useless. For example:

• if one of your arms drops to zero hit points, you must drop that arm to your side and you may not use that arm for any game actions until it is healed. If you are holding an item in that hand (weapon, shield, spell packet, wand, etc.), you may:

  • switch the item to your other hand before dropping the arm
  • hold onto the item, but keep your arm dangling loosely at your side
  • toss the item aside on the ground (making sure it is far enough out of the way that it won't get stepped on or tripped over)
• If you one of your legs drops to zero hit points, you must drop to the knee on the side that was hit.
• If your torso drops to zero hit points, you are unconscious and bleeding out; you will die if you are not stabilized or healed (medically or magically) within 5 minutes of in-game time.

If you are hit in an off-target area and you are OK to continue combat, call “Off target!” and keep fighting.

If you are hit in an off-target area and you need to pause to recover, call “HALT!”. This stops all game action while you and the GMs assess the situation. If you are unsure whether you need to recover, call “HALT!” There is no shame or stigma in pausing the game to make sure you (and everyone else) are OK.