Those of you who have been shot by a poorly constructed arrow know it can hurt – in a worst-case scenario even injure.
Yes, LARPs can contain a lot of battles, depending on the style of the event.
However, the objective isn’t to hurt or injure others, players are therefore obligated to use foam/latex weapons to secure the safety of others (Some larps do have crazy fights with wooden or steel weapons – look at several Russian larps).
In this article, you’ll learn
- How to craft safe larp arrows at home
- How to make sure your arrows are safe
- Buying good and safe LARP arrows
- How to pick a bow for LARP
The hosts of the event are responsible for everyone’s safety and must keep a set of rules to decrease the fallout of make-believe war. Part of that procedure is the safety check that every player must go through before an event.
During a safety check, the Gamemaster and his crew inspect the participants’ weapons in search of badly constructed gear that could be harmful to others.
Restrictions come in all forms, once you get hit by an arrow or struck with a homemade sword that isn’t “safe” you’ll know why they put so much effort in keeping bad weapons off the field. You can expect to find a load of homemade weapons at LARPs. The LARP culture is broad, including a lot of do-it-yourself-type of skills combined with basic sewing and/or leatherworking skills.
That doesn’t always result in a quiver full of safe arrows though.
Not all LARPers are experts when it comes to making good-looking, safe, usable weapons. These days I purchase most of my gear because I’ve accepted the fact that this has become a hobby that I enjoy doing on a regular basis, telling myself this reduces the anxiety and chest pains I feel whenever I buy new armor.
Before getting here I picked up a couple of crafting skills, one of them being the “art” of making larp safe arrows. There are several methods you can use to achieve this.
You can choose to make most of it from scratch, buy certain parts online or be lazy like me and get a pair of perfect, good-looking arrows online. Guess it isn’t too hard to figure out which option appeals to me, these days at least.
Making arrows that are safe to use in LARPs
If you’re going to make arrows at home, you’ll need this:
- Coin or Bottle Cap
- Duct Tape and/or Athletic tape
- Hobby arrows/Fiberglass arrows – You can either buy them online from Amazon or get them at Walmart, Kmart, or any sporting store near you. Buy a dozen of these and count on at least losing one per game. With a steady hand you might get by without losing any, that wasn’t the case for me (Imagine Legolas played by Michael J. Fox – I was on that level at first)
- Any tool strong enough to remove the tip of the arrow
- Foam – I use camping mats/sleeping pads/seat cushion foam, as recommended by Wikihow and The King of Random.
- Contact cement
Here’s a video showing the steps of the procedure
With over 5 layers of padding, these arrows are very safe to use on the battlefield without causing any harm to your fellow larpers. I was shot over 30 times during our test of the larp arrows without slightest bruise or injury.
The damage an arrow may cause can partly be linked to the amount of padding surrounding the tip, but it’s not the only thing you should consider – the way the material of the arrows shaft works is important too, it is crucial that you avoid using arrows made of wood.
They can and will break during games. Wooden arrows that break on impact will send splinters flying through the air, the projectile itself may be safe but the splinters can end up in another players eye. In an absolute worst case scenario a splinter could lead to someone going blind, but it would be a blessedly rare scenario.
Bonus tip: Make it easier to find your arrows once they have been fired by wrapping colored tape, preferably a color like lime green, orange or red. When landing most arrows will have the big tip bury itself in the grass while the small shaft points upwards, by coloring the shaft or putting reflective material on the top of the shaft you will be able to spot them.
Bonus tip 2#: Wrap a little bit of tape around the shaft of the arrow and write your name on it to keep track of which arrows are yours.
How to test arrows to make sure they are safe
Testing an arrow is the final and most important step of the procedure. First, place the palm of your hand against the padding on the arrow and press it against your palm, adding more pressure over time. If you can put serious amounts of pressure without feeling anything you can continue to shoot a friend in the back with the arrow, using a bow.
If the shot was totally harmless, try shooting your friend in the face while he/she has his/her eyes covered. Given the fact that we’ve added multiple layers of padding, the arrow should not do any harm what so ever. If your arrow doesn’t pass the test, go back and add more padding.
With enough padding, your arrows should be safe enough for your kids to play with.
Buying safe LARP arrows
When my love for crafting started to stagnate, I decided to do the math and came to the conclusion that the time it took for me to gather the material, craft the arrows and test them just wasn’t worth the small amount of money I was saving.
I didn’t need to prove to myself that I could craft my own arrows, neither did I need to prove to my girlfriend that I could provide a perfect set of safe arrows in case of an apocalypse. I was secure in my role as a man, I had reached “total manhood security” – a term I just coined. (In her eyes, the manly part of me dies every single time I dress up as a wizard to LARP – But damn it, give it some perspective – I’m confident enough to dress up as a wizard)
Buying arrows that have been tested and prepared for LARP/Archery tag is a much more comfortable way to go. I’ve tried several different arrows, some seem to break through the padding after 20-30 shots while others are made of the wrong material, causing them to break. The best ones I’ve found that I’m sticking with are these:
- WOArchery’s Safe Tip Arrows – Inside the foam tip there’s a plastic inner part that makes the arrow more durable and safe. The shaft of the arrow is very flexible and can bend without breaking. I took several hits to the back using this bow and survived without bruises or injuries. Click the link to visit the product page on Amazon.
It may seem strange for me to say that I wouldn’t recommend homemade arrows considering the fact that I’ve written a how to post. Well, when it comes to potentially harmful objects in live action role-playing, homemade arrows are without a doubt the most common.
Picking a suitable bow for LARP arrows
Another factor to take into consideration is the bow. It’s imperative that your bow is an appropriate bow for it to be safe to use in LARP. The definition of a safe bow in LARP is a bow with a draw weight around 25lbs, in some cases stretching up to 35lbs. Both regular recurved bows and crossbows must go by this to qualify for safe use in LARP.
The draw weight of a bow determines how hard it can fire projectiles, it’s a way of measuring the strength of the bow. Even with extremely padded arrows a bow that draws more than 30lbs could do some unnecessary damage if fired at someone’s groin, most events have therefore restricted the use of such bows.
How can you tell the draw weight of your bow? Well, If you’re buying a bow the website/store will surely tell you the numbers but what if you’re making a bow at home? To figure this out I will need to introduce another variable: draw length.
The draw length of a bow is the distance between the string and the arrow rest (this is where the arrow lays when you are aiming) when a bow is fully drawn. The draw weight of a bow is measured at 28″ draw length. The length is important because the weight of the draw will change if the fully drawn length changes.
Using a spring scale, you measure the force required for the archer to reach 28″ draw length. That force is the draw weight. Over the years I’ve only experienced two draw length measurings by crew members prior to battle. It’s generally the draw weight they focus on.
Conclusion – If you’re determined on making your own arrows make sure they pass every safety test and check them before and after every LARP to make sure they still work as they should. If you don’t care about making your own, buy a set of arrows that have been tested by the manufacturer.
Good luck.