Swordcraft

Swordcraft

Swordcraft is Australia's largest medieval battle game and live action roleplaying game.

Location

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Genre

Medieval fantasy

Established

2011

Chapters

11

Credits

Jeffrey Kenneth, Nelson, Phill

Website

Swordcraft website

An Australian battlegame and medieval fantasy LARP organisation, running weekly battle games on Friday nights, and annual week-long roleplaying camp events.

Mission statement

"Our vision is to develop a massive LARPing and battle-gaming community in Victoria and Australia, through a game that is fun to play, regular, welcomes players from different backgrounds and has the potential to grow in scale up to an enormous number of players."

History

From the website: "Since Swordcraft's inception in 2011, we have seen our community grow into Australia's largest Live Action Roleplay and Battle Gaming event, consisting of thousands of players all over Australia. What was once a simple Friday-night biff between friends has slowly grown into a community of diverse, talented and skilled individuals who love to geek out over all things LARP."

The Melbourne chapter is the oldest and largest group. Originally located at Princes Park, Melbourne; now moved to the Western Oval in Parkville, a short walk from its original location.

In 2018, a small splinter group left the Melbourne Swordcraft chapter and formed another organisation named Exodus.

Swordcraft and Weapon Laws

During Swordcraft's establishing years, police presence at events was a common sight. Local police were often called to Princes Park with reports of people in the park with weapons. Although local community and police familiarity with larp as an activity has reduced general alarm over time, with strict Australian and Victorian legal regulations and culture against possession of weapons, these reports are taken seriously and investigated regularly; making legal literacy around weapon law crucial for safe operation of local boffer larps.

Under Victorian law, particularly the Control of Weapons Act 1990 - Section 5AB, it is a criminal offence to possess, use or carry an imitation firearm without an exemption under section 8B or an approval under section 8C; the penalty for which is 240 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years. While most foam weapons and body armour are able to fall under exceptions, and larp-safe bows are a common sight on the field, bandguns in particular have become strictly regulated in order to comply with these laws.

One weapon in particular has been vanishingly rare to nonexistent on the field due to its difficulty in meeting these requirements. Crossbows are considered a prohibited weapon in Victoria. Both due to their appearance and likelihood of being mistaken as a real weapon by police, and their potential to be modified to meet the legal definition of a firearm, they cannot meet the requirements to fall under "imitation" weapon exceptions. As a result crossbows are restricted completely without the bearer being in possession of their own firearms licence, and with appropriate modifications made.

Due to the comprehensive nature of Swordcraft rules, ensuring their players' gear consistently meets local weapon law requirements as well as safety requirements for insurance across all chapters in the country, in the past some other Australian larps have based their own standards for boffer equipment on whether or not it is "Swordcraft legal". 'Swordcraft legal' rules have thus had an influence not just on other larps but also on the popularity and importation of different larp equipment brands within Australia.

Chapters

• Adelaide & Iron Triangle
• Ballarat
• Bendigo
• Brisbane
• Melbourne
• Cairns
• Geelong
• Gippsland
• Mildura
• Newcastle
• Townsville

External links

SC Facebook

SC Instagram