PROTECTIVE GEAR Over all: (We purposely did not call this armor…because we promote the use of Sports Protective Gear, or armor for your/our safety). We don’t care how authentic, fantasy, steam punk, period, or post-apocalyptic your Protective Gear is. We don’t have metal requirements or guideline minimums. We do have some suggestions and a few common sense requirements. PROTECTIVE GEAR /ARMOR doesn’t count, in most combat and will not buy you any additional staying power. Protective Gear that interferes with taking hits is discouraged, and will be given the penalty of no graze calls.
The 3 most important things are that the Protective Gear will not hurt the
- other players
- weapons
- you
Bottom line: no spikes, studs, or sharp edges.
Keep in mind the people who wore armor hurt people for a living. There armor was often offensive as well as defensive. An armored knee or elbow can strike like a hammer, and was used as a weapon. Our weapons cost us time and money so if your Protective Gear damages them we won’t be big fans of your armor. The main point is for you to think about the safety of yourself, others, and the weapons when deciding on Protective Gear. Bottom line no spikes, studs, or Sharp edges.
VC Protective Gear suggestions
To keep this simple we are dividing this into 3 groups:
- Sports gear
Pros – modern sports equipment is very protective, relatively cheap, and easy to get. We highly recommend using it to be safe and reduce the chance of injury.
Cons – most groups will not count it as armor. It will reduce your hit acknowledgment. it’s hot and bulky. The best individual recommendations are catcher kneepads, and helmets. Hockey/ street hockey masks and gloves. Leather Weight belts for kidneys. - Modern fencing gear
Pros – is very protective, and easy to get. You can fence with it.
Cons – most groups will not count it as armor. It will reduce your hit acknowledgment. it’s hot and expensive. - Historical armor
Pros – it is very protective, most groups will count it as armor.
Cons – It will reduce your hit acknowledgment. It’s very hot, very bulky and very expensive. The best individual recommendations are do your homework, and get it fitted.