SCA in T2K

[Legbreaker]

Somebody who can't stick with a single job at a time and stay focused Yeah, that's getting my vote!

[Rainbow Six]

Never having heard of said Society, the first time I looked at this post I misread it and thought it was refering to the Society for Creative Anarchism...

[WallShadow]

Never having heard of said Society, the first time I looked at this post I misread it and thought it was refering to the Society for Creative Anarchism...

It stands for that, too.

Odd how the skill sets mix up in the SCA: you might have Chemical Engineers who love brewing and calligraphy, bureaucrats that can whip up an incredible meal over a campfire, computer geeks that are accomplished blacksmiths, and that hirsute loinclothed barbarian might just be a cybernetics professor at a major university....

[ArmySGT.]

Good points, but these are mainly areas the average PC wouldn't be particularly interested in - they just aren't FUN to roleplay.

Some of those areas could be covered with existing skills - Machinist or Metallurgy for example might cover for Blacksmithing.

I think they make as PMulcahy said "A set of Secondary Skills".

"How we gonna eat" Private 1
"I dunno" Private 2
"We go into a village see, we protect the village with our guns, and the villagers feed us" Young Sergeant
"Sounds to much like extortion, what else" Lieutenant
"I can make fish nets." Specialist.
"Made them all the time before the war"

"Gasps"

[Cpl. Kalkwarf]

Having had some experience them back in the day. They are just like the rest of us. Personality wise. Some more hard corps then the others.

I don't know if they would be off much if any better then the rest. Some of them come off as medieval versions of the 80s gun toting survivalist. Yes some of them are really knowledgeable in near forgotten arts.

Though if one of the more enthusiastic of them shows up with their crew and come off as lords of the area and tries imposing them selves as rulers of the common folk...... well, lets just say I would go "Medieval" on them.

If they show up and are more congenial then yeah I would work with them. And actually support them.

[bobcat]

i have heard a few interesting stories about the SCA during the cold war.

for example an aircraft carrier was being followed by a russian sub. having been ordered not to attack the sub (some admiral was afraid it might start a war) the captain figured he could still screw with the commies a bit. since he had a large number of sailors actively in the SCA he called them all to fighter practice on the flight deck.

from what i hear the navy is heavy with SCA members so it would be an interesting twist in games. for example a navy nuclear engineer thats deadly with a longbow and can make his own arrows or a navy seal that weaves baskets for holding gear or making traps.

[HorseSoldier]

I can't think of any SCA members I've served with, but have known a good number of guys who did American Civil War or other era reenactment. Not sure if those hobbies provide significant skills, though -- although guys who do cavalry reenactment probably gravitated towards new horse Cav units pretty hard.

[weswood]

I've known some Air Force types who were in the SCA. Which now that I think about it is kind of wierd. Members of one of our most technical services playing with swords.

Someone from Cowboy Action Shooting, or Single Action Shooting as it's also known would be interesting. There's a 13-14 year old kid I've seen clips of who can shoot out 10 rounds from 2 revolvers in about 3 seconds. And hit the targets.

[Olefin]

Being an SCA member would definitely benefit you in hand to hand combat with medieval type weapons.

Anybody can pick up a sword but very few people know how to use them properly. An SCA member who really knows how to use a sword, in close in combat against people who have similar weapons, is going to very likely be the one that is still standing.

And obviously being an archer with either the bow or the crossbow gives a huge advantage in being able to actually hit someone with either as opposed to the guy who picks up a bow and thinks he is Robin Hood with no training.

In my campaign my GM took those skills into account - the member we had who was an Apache Indian in real life was very skilled with a thrown hand axe and the bow - so his player was also given those bonuses. And the ability to kill silently with a bow saved our butts several times, let alone save ammo when we went hunting.

My character was basically me - and in the SCA I was damn good with a sword and a quarterstaff - so that carried over into the game, where eventually in Poland I picked up a decent longsword. My GM allowed my character to have the same expertise I had in the longsword - and as a result in several hand to hand encounters (and we had them for sure) that expertise paid off.

The idea of a RenFair kind of community where an SCA group has banded together to use their skills to survive would be a terrific idea for a campaign. Especially considering such a village most likely would have a blacksmith and a bower/fletcher as well.

As for those who think medieval type weapons or training wouldnt be useful - read the High Crusade sometime to get an idea of how a modern armed force could be engaged using such weapons if they can get in close.

As for Civil War and other re-enactors - in Challenge magazine there was an article that mentioned how in NJ a cavalry unit of Civil War re-enactors who are using period weapons and uniforms are part of the State National Guard forces under the Governor in 2001.

And WWII re-enactors would be in the best shape of all - like I mentioned in another post imagine the marauding gang of bikers who come into town to get their butts kicked by the old codger who takes them on with his lovingly maintained and fully armed WWII Stuart tank. Be fun to see the look on a bunch of players when the troops they run into arent equipped with M-16's but instead with German SMG and uniforms from WWII.

[bobcat]

mean time i have recently heard a rumor im gonna need to test in the near future. allegedly certain grades of steel scale and chain armor can withstand small arms fire. naturally i want to test this because if it works i could easily incorporate it into a game(not that i wanna wear something heavier than an IBA unless theres no other option)

[HorseSoldier]

I wouldn't bet much on plate or mail against modern rifle rounds, at least not at practical weights to wear. It's not worth the sacrifice of mobility, unless there is a sketchy flaw in game mechanics.

[Legbreaker]

Chain might stop a bullet, but being as flexible as it is, the wearer is still going to cop a huge amount of hurt. Depending on the round, etc, the chain might even be forced into the body with nearly as much effect as the unimpeded bullet and I imagine the would would certainly at least look a lot nastier!

[Olefin]

Some armor might be useful against shotgun rounds (bird shot for instance). Now if you have defective hand loaded ammo that reduces its power and penetration thats another thing - but thats a might risky bet to be making that you are lucky enough to face guys who have bad ammo.

Now on the other hand if you can combine modern ballistic SWAT type armor with SCA type armor you may have a chance against bullets.