C.A.R.P.S.

hey, does anyone have any good ideas on what to use for pants for my costume? i've got a good tunic and cloak (surprisingly haha) and i've even got shoe covers that look like boots, but i cant find any good types of pants. Please advise?

For cheap-arse pants lots of people use:

- Dark colored medical scrubs
- Japanese style 'hakama' pants
- Go to a second-hand/thrift shop and find something without obvious buttons or new fabrics (like denim) and buy them a size up or two and cinch it well.


Others will have other ideas.

cool, and also do you think itd be cheaper to make a weapon or to just go out and buy one? because i know they have some on like ebay and stuff and i was looking at those and you can get like a decent boffer longsword for like 12 bucks.

Just make certain that the boffer conforms to the CARPS safety standards found in the rulebook before purchasing.

It is probably roughly the same cost. Except you won't have to pay shipping and handling and you can personalize one you make your self. It's a good learning experience in my mind for all LARP'ers!

Well i have a few questions about that as well. First, does it matter if you use PVC vs CPVC? Second, any ideas on a good place to buy materials? Like do you think a Re-Store or something similar would be good?

For a one handed weapon use CPVC (Ideally grade 20 I think), it does make a difference in the weight of your weapon (PVC is heavier so you will attack slower). You will want to use the brown foam that comes in bags of 4 pieces each about 3 feet in length.

I believe you can get all of these things at Menards or Lowes. Last I heard Home Depot did not carry the correct type of foam, although that may vary by location.

As for pants, the easiest thing is a pair of sweatpants. Aside from that Doug's suggestions are all very solid.

-Evan

for weapons I suggest building since it's dirt cheap for starting unless you don't mind dropping around 60-150$ for a weapon..

Go to menards if you have one near you.. Did you know you can get great savings at menards. :p

brown foam is under 4$ for a 4 pack and cpvc or pvc thick wall 12 feet for under 2$ so add some duct tape for 3-4$ and athletic tape for 2-3$ your looking at 4 weapons for under 15$.

Awesome, alright thanks for the suggestions everyone

Most important, make sure the foam is 5/8" thick. Most suppliers have switched to 3/8" which will not be approved.

Okay, and one more thing, can the weapons be more realistic looking or do they need to be round all the way around?

todd suppliers are going back to the thicker wall due to up-surge of people doing their own home repair and insulation. There is a trend going back towards 5/8 and 7/8 insulation due to a little thicker foam can reduce your bills more.

I would just stay away from black foam unless it's special ordered like some of the 7/8 wall foam i have.

For making them look more realistic unless your familiar with working with foam or making a weapon head i.e mace, axe or hammer. I would just keep it simple and at most round tips.

With the up-surge of new players there may need to be a demonstration on how to make weapons.

yeah that demonstration thing sounds nice, maybe put it on youtube or something?

There are several of them on u-tube about how to make larp weapons.

Starting weapon creation vids:

(not bad but this guy goes overboard with safety and uses a few things that are not needed such as caulk and adhesives)
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZSMP5W6iPc
part 2 not a great tape job i would suggest passing up the part 2 video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtGLPOr6rdM



advanced weapon creation vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiE141bjmh4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boI_vLj4 ... ure=fvwrel

So does the first video fit regulation? and if ont using the caulk, could you just go with duct taping the covering to the pvc?