2014 National Event Merching

Ravioli

Ravioli

Newbie
So seeing the announcement for the 2014 Event and the mention of local merchants got me thinking. What would you (yes you) like to see for sale at the event?
From my other posting in another section one person mentioned pouches and weapons as wanted items but what else? I'm talking to prosthetic guy about the possibility of having an on-site makeup and prosthetic stand.
Please leave a message or send an email to leatherbyd@gmail.com
 
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I'm confused, are you asking your personal skills or are you talking about any rl craft we can think of?
 
You are probably not receiving much input on the topic of what to sell at an event for two reasons:
1) Most people who attend events go there to actually play and immerse themselves in the game, not to purchase goods and items. People generally come ready to play as they would have already acquired the things they need/want for their character before the event starts.
2) The national event is well over a year away

-Ryan
 
Though National events typically do have a merchant or two selling those type of goods in my experiences.
 
I don't know how much business vendors will actually get at the national event, but I think it'll be a decent venue to sell stuff like armor, latex weapons, leather goods (pouches and the like), garb, and any number of other things.

I will probably try to sell some chainmail and/or scalemail goods at the national event, but I'll have to reconcile that with a couple things: I want to spend most of my time playng and not vending, and I play a Dryad. It'll be hard to stay IG and sell metal stuff at the same time.
 
Ok a couple quick responses:
Dr. Chill-1) If the national event is run like other events, then there will down time,lulls,times when your/all quests are over for the day. I don't see how someone dropping by a merchants tent would be out of character or out of story line. Would your character visit a blacksmith, healer, tailor, tavern, or other place when available?
2) Yes the event is a year away and thats the exact reason I'm asking now. It takes time to develop things, make them, or find the resources for it. If I ask now and actually get feedback I will have time to develop a product that you had input into the creation.

Thorador- Having never been to a National Event I figured that asking on the host group's page would be the most advantageous. What kind of things do you normally see?

Kyle- If it ends that I will be merching at you would be more than welcome to consign the item in the shop to help free up your day. Also thank you for leaving ideas, the latex might out of my skill set but certainly low cost durable LARP swords would be within them. I'm looking into making flat blade kits (and yes I would be checking with Lurin to make sure they are legal).

Thanks for the feedback. If you have any more please leave a post, send a message, or drop an email at leatherbyd@gmail.com
 
Honestly, your best bet is making items that cost between 10-100 dollars, since a lot of people will be from out of town, and will be flying in. They need to be able to transport, and have the cash on hand to buy such items. Having a few more expensive items might not be bad, especially as a mood setter. What would be really cool is if you put together a display that looked in game, listed prices in gold and copper, then have a note at the bottom stating that is cash for out of game purposes, then you can have fun roleplaying with folks, and I think that would go a long way with some people. And if you need to talk out of game just pull the person aside and chat with em.
As to what I have seen, all sorts of item, latex, armor, not safe for larp metal weapons, trinkets, other things.
 
Something that I expect would sell extremely well would be simple weapon snaps, frogs and pouches. The kind of item that fits under that $30 blow limit that is cool and potentially usable immediately. I've been to about a dozen evens where I would have dropped $20 from a few weapon snaps/frogs because I forgot mine.
 
Something that I expect would sell extremely well would be simple weapon snaps, frogs and pouches. The kind of item that fits under that $30 blow limit that is cool and potentially usable immediately. I've been to about a dozen evens where I would have dropped $20 from a few weapon snaps/frogs because I forgot mine.
 
Another idea, since it is a three day event, you could offer persolization service for your leather craft. Meaning you can offer to stamp someones character name or other image or the like onto something they buy to make it personal to the person/character. Obviously you would want to have queue and have a point where you can't take anymore, but that might do really well, as people like things that define and bring personality to their character.
 
I should probably list some of the merchants in the cities I know and their wares.
Pipes by Jakes-https://www.etsy.com/shop/pipesbyjake
Knitted goods from Virtuistic-https://www.etsy.com/shop/virtuistic
Knife Blacksmith- http://www.thompsontalon.com/hun.html
Brennos Leatherwork/Swordfrogs- https://www.etsy.com/shop/Brennos
I'm trying to get a markup/prosthetic guy from the theatre circuit to make some basic SFX ear tips, scars, etc for on site effects.
Oops! The Entertainer (a Ren Fest performer) might be able to be contracted for a performance or two- https://www.facebook.com/oopstheentertainer?fref=ts

Concerning payments and accepted currency I'm going to be leaving that up to each merchant for them to decide. For my shop I'd be accepting USD cash and cards for goods. I might have some finished suits for sale or maybe rental. That being said if the game organizers would be interested in having potions, scrolls, maps, or in game items up for sale for gold and copper, that can be discussed. Wheeling and deals with merchants out for your precious loot would be a good game mechanic.

I'm treating merching at this event like any other in terms of display and garb. They would be expected to have a ''period'' merchant booth and ''period'' garb. While that maybe a simple as a canvas tarp strung between a couple pole, it wouldn't look out of place. We don't like it when pic's are ruined by non fitting items either.
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Question on the swords used in Alliance: Is it the striking edge or the whole weapon that needs min 5/8" closed cell padding?
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The leading edge would have 3/4" closed cell foam.
 
That being said if the game organizers would be interested in having potions, scrolls, maps, or in game items up for sale for gold and copper, that can be discussed. Wheeling and deals with merchants out for your precious loot would be a good game mechanic.
Click to expand...

As per the game rules, you'd either have to NPC the event, or have a merchant PC with those skills and those items already in-game (not likely for a new PC). I would recommend selling your wares before game-on or in the slower times (mornings/late night), and actually playing the game the rest of the time. Otherwise, you're going to be a very bored "merchant" for 3 days.
 
If you are looking to get a jump on your armor for the 2014 event you might want to look into this. Scrap Works is now offering a listing for bulk order scales. What is in a bulk order? 2,000 scales (weighing in around 45lb) ready to made into awesome armor. It will put you back $540+shipping but should be enough to armor up 5-8 fighters. You do the math but that is amazing savings. Still not convinced? Well there is now the paypal financing plan available, Buy now, pay off the purchase in installments, and if you pay it off within 6 months then there are no fees.
Be advised its going to take me around 2 weeks to fill this order and if you want to save on shipping we can arrange pickup in Eagan.
http://www.scrapworksarmory.com/bulk-order.html

I also plan on having one box this in the booth for interested parties.
 
Please remember that the purpose of this thread was to discuss the idea of selling goods at the national event and not outright advertising for sales themselves. Future discussion of sales should be directed to the marketplace section of the forum.
 
While latex weapons may be out of your range of skills, you would look into Plasti-dip weapons. Also, bringing materials to fix things or make things on sight would be cool. The customer would not only get a custom something or other, but it would give you something to do while people are playing. If your looking at putting together flat blade kits, use 2lb microcell foam and bevel out a grove in it for the core. If you can find a way to make nice thrusting tips that are stable for a flat blade that would be amazing.
 
Mmmm...Plastic dip is an possibility. Not as much specialty equipment for that. Not sure the possibility of doing it at the event because it needs 20-30 minutes between coats and a 12 hour final dry time.
I'm still wondering if that mockup I did a couple posts back is a legal design or if I need to go thicker and stab tips need to be open cell foam, yes? I use close cell evlite in my dag/bel sword and glaive stabbing tips, they haven't broken on me yet.
 
Stab tips in Alliance need to be open cell - we don't hit anywhere near as hard as in something like Dag. We're basically playing weapon tag.

Edit - I'm not a weapon marshal, so my word on this doesn't mean that much, but if you make it out of appropriate foam (something comparable to pipe insulation), that design should be just fine. I intend to make a flatblade in roughly the same style some time in the near future.
 
It would be 2lb cross link poly foam body. Reason I ask about the stabbing tip is because Dag/Bel stabs hard and the evlite is suitable protection against injury/danger contained there in. It lasts longer,lower profile and doesn't fold over as easily, but that isn't for me to get into here. I'll do some experiments this summer with open cell.
Thanks for the input
 
Belive me, I hate out staby tips in Alliance. If it was up to me we would change to something like in Dag but I don't make the rules, so I follow them... If you put two inches of open cell foam (seat cushion stuff) on the tip of the weapons, with the closed cell form an inch to an inch and a half over the tip of the core, then the weapon will most likely pass. When checking, if you can feel the tip of the core, then it fails. When I build with Pipe foam, I measure the core to be 4" less then the length if I am not using a waylay tip, 6" less if I am using a waylay tip. I cut the foam down so that it sticks 1" past the core, then cap the core with a piece of closed cell foam that ends up sticking out a slight bit past the rest of the foam. At this point I tape my weapon. I add the staby tip or mace head or what have you then. This allows you to replace old stab tips without removing all the tape. That said, I now use only cloth coverings when building so its a bit easier as it is. I would build a couple tryal weapons and bring them to an event some time and see if they pass and if not, what you need to change. I would also highly recommend coming out to a game anyways and playing with us. When you see your sticks in action you might think of better ways to work things.
 
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