Would you take a Hit from a Non Airsoft Projectile?

War Machine 539 wrote: »

I will ditch the compound bow idea.

JESUS H!!!!!!!!! :eek: Did you loose your mental facilities or just have no comprehension of what a compound bow can do???? If you said a recurve or a longbow I would say maybe you could lower its power enough to be safe with LARP arrows but a compound? Have you ever used one? Do you have any idea why they were designed???

War Machine 539 wrote: »

IF it could be done safely, would Messrs Stonecold and Dex be happy to see it? Its a big IF but safety seems to be the main issue that is causing the P1ss to rain nicely on my parade!

No i wouldn't, as i said in the beginning i would let it on the site and i wouldnt play on a site where it was allowed, i am all for new ideas but ones that make sense thats all

HOWEVER... if, on the shocking off-chance you've overcome the effects of, well... gravity, and found a way for a knife shaped object made entirely of foam, and nothing else, to be accurately thrown up to 10 yards to score a hit: No. That's what pistols are for.


This isn't a reluctance to experimentation with different things in an airsoft game, this is a willingness to stay within the legal confines, safety confines, game rules and - importantly - the spirit of the game.

War Machine 539 wrote: »

Thanks for the input lads. On the face of OVERWHELMING argument, I will ditch the compound bow idea.However the overall lack of willingness to experiment with other things has shocked me! I wasnt expecting such a heated reaction! On reflection it does seem quite a dangerous thing to try

I think it must be an unfortunate result of what airsoft's had to go through to get safely legally established in this country - people were by necessity very afraid to upset the apple-cart, draw any kind of attention to themselves or the hobby, or take any extra chances at all. The community had to be self-policing because everybody could lose out from one slip.

The result of having to have that attitude seems to be a very conservative mindset that's very reluctant to try anything new, as you're finding. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" is the attitude, which in my opinion leads to stagnation because just because something isn't broken doesn't mean it can't be improved, and improved a lot. People wonder why the game isn't developing much beyond being cheap paintball, and my theory is it's because of this forcibly ingrained attitude of walking a very thin line which any change could upset.

Don't abandon your project because of what you've heard here, this place tends to hit this type of thing pretty hard but that doesn't mean that's correct. Please don't let the nay-saying get you down - hell, even if I thought your idea were bad, I still hate to see enthusiasm get stripped away by negativity.

IF it could be done safely

It can, it is, it does be. People who say otherwise are just straight-up wrong because this is a fact, it's something that really happens. As regards insurance, ask Paul from HRTA, there's been a game running there for months now where airsoft guns, LARP swords and low-powered bows mix freely. Guns are chronoed, LARP weapons are checked and everyone has to wear eye protection (because of the airsoft guns - the LARP stuff is much safer).

I'm surprised to see the realism card being played when I'm seeing precious few attempts at realism elsewhere in the hobby, but even so I can think of scenarios where it'd be dead handy to have low-tech weapons - zombies, time travel, even Rambo. Anyway, the same reason people don't carry a bow in real life would apply in airsoft - people with assault rifles would go through you. It's a kind of self-balancing system - the fact that there's a bow knocking about might be odd, but the combat effectiveness won't be.

Shane i appreciate your passion for larping but at the end of the day i wouldnt go into a skirmish or a milsim game if i knew someone was going to fire a bow and arrow at me or charge at me with a sword or anything else for that matter, i play this game and have a great passion for it seeing someone carrying a compound bow on their back with the intention of using isnt for me and im sure for a lot more than just me. by all means build the bow i aint knocking anyones ideas and good luck finding a site that will allow it to be used

My understanding here, is that LARP bows are just that - designed and used for LARPing, and Shane is saying are good for about 20m. What WarMachine is suggesting is modding a real bow.

There is a big difference here between taking something which is essentialy a toy to a site to be used as a toy, and taking a real weapon and trying to mod it to work as a toy. Even if (and this is a very very big if) this was possible, you would have a huge amount of work to do to convince a site owner to let you use it on their site. And then you would have to convince all the players it is okay too.

I doubt you would get that, so I would suggest you save yourself the hassle and just get dedicated LARP equipment instead.

It would probably also mean you don't risk ruining a perfectly good bow.

evilrobotshane wrote: »

I'm actually far more into airsoft than LARPing (I don't do LARP combat at all), and it's passion for airsoft that's got me involved in this thread. I think it's great that you're happy playing airsoft the way you do and see no need for change, and I've never implied or believed that any current style of airsoft should be discontinued - within the obvious limits, I'd love all parts of the spectrum to be catered for. But part of that spectrum is the drive to push the limits and try new things, and if I apologise I was a bit snippy there, but seeing attempts at that being shot down annoys me on a personal level. I don't get so irritated by people having a go at high rate-of-fire guns or huge magazines, but I think that just makes me human rather than a hypocrite.

i wasnt shooting him down for his idea he asked for a site operators opinion and a players opinion and as both i offered mine, i dont see the need for instruments like that in a game, why would you want them. u can knife kill you can shoot i wouldnt feel confident throwing a knife at someone hoping it would hit the mark and as for insurance (and i would love to find out more info on how larping events affect airsoft insurance you said there that hrta run larping events does insurance need to be changed?)

Stone.cold wrote: »

i dont see the need for instruments like that in a game, why would you want them.

Zombie, post-apocalyptic, time-travel, stealth scenarios - but the question isn't why I'd want them, because at the moment I don't particularly, the question is does somebody want them, and the answer is yes. I guess I see it like the gay marriage thing - if you don't like them, don't have one, but that's not a reason to stop others.

There are other reasons not to allow them, of course, such as not having anybody with the know-how to do a safety check.

Actually I thought of a reason why I'd want them - to see what would happen if G were turned loose behind enemy lines with only a bow and arrows.

i would love to find out more info on how larping events affect airsoft insurance you said there that hrta run larping events does insurance need to be changed?

Can't help you there I'm afraid - like I said LARP in the sense we're talking about here isn't really my thing, so I'm not involved in the organising (except as the go-to guy for airsoft-related questions). It's a combination airsoft\LARP game rather than pure LARP, so maybe that makes some difference. You'd have to ask Paul though.

Let me start by saying I agree with Shane; good to see some pushing of the envelope.

However, and it is quite a big but, the issue with foam/rubber knives is it introduces physical combat. Let's say you try take a knife kill with a knife on an MMA champion, and they (without thinking) react to the attack. They are perfectly right to do so, because you effectively attacked them. It is a serious issue. When I was in the Office Block a while ago, someone took a knife kill on me by grabbing me and I very narrowly stopped myself from elbowing him hard in the ribs. He never should have physically grabbed me. No altercation took place, because I caught myself, and I didn't say anything because I didn't think it pertinent - but I'm just tossing it out there.

With regard to the bow - talk to the LARP-ers, talk to HRTA. See what their opinions are, and move forward from there. That is the logical step. If you can incorporate it, that will be the avenue. If it's a success, it will spread. I can see it being used in games such as a special objective etc - so there is serious potential (as there is in most things).

Throwing knives on the other hand. They would be cool, because you'd be awesome, right? Probably. However your accuracy would be deplorable, and I don't believe you could get a good enough balance between build material and weight for the throw. I'd love to be proven wrong though, I really would.

if someone throws a plastic/rubber knife at me,
ill probably throw my shoe back at them.

Br4tPr1nc3 wrote: »

if someone throws a plastic/rubber knife at me,
ill probably throw my shoe back at them.

I suppose the biggest risk is the fact that some person will throw back a rock of some kind.

Deleted User wrote: »

I think a quite simple solution could be found.

announcement before a game starts says "This game is knife friendly"

People who lamp other people reactively- steer clear of these games.

Announcement before a game "this game is non contact only"

reactive lamp people freindly.

Simples.

If only it were. What do you do if you turn up at a site to hear that they are allowing "thrown knife kills". Some will be happy with that, many more (and going by the comments here, I would say at least half) will not. Are they to sit it out, go home, get their money back?

To throw out at least one answer to this, in my case, not really. I saw some reference in passing on Arnie's to a guy who got a throwing knife kill with a Mars bar, which implies they have throwing knife kills, and numerous people have said to me they wish we had games like those oft-referenced computer-game-based Russian ones, STALKER and Fallout or whatever it is, and I'd assume from looking at them that they combine various imitation weapon solutions.

Naturally I don't see much need for this in a lowest-common-denominator paintball-style skirmish, but I'd be pretty morose if I thought that was all we'd ever manage to play.