What is Garb?
Garb is theoretically the uniform that we play with. It's the set of rules around what you can and cannot wear on any given field. The problem starts with that though, as in many places what passes at one event may fail at another. Some places have a sense of humor about garb, other places are more strict. I still remember, as one of the more extreme examples getting told that shoes are not safety equipment (and thereby immune to garb rules). Garb rules by their nature are designed to establish some amount of uniformity across the field so that when pictures or other media is taken we look like one coherent whole, and the spell of a bunch of brave warriors into broken by that one guy in jeans. The truth is, we are nerds swinging foam weapons. There's a lot to be said for looking and feeling cool but if we try too hard to distance ourselves from that we'll lose our sense of humor and become the very thing we're trying to avoid. The other problem is that in most places what qualifies as garb is "pre-gunpowder history + fantasy" which means that it's unlikely that you'll wind up with a homogeneous look in the first place. Some places focus more on the history aspect and wind up with something resembling homogeneity while other places get the same thing out of playing up the fantasy aspect often by becoming a collective of monsters, (trolls, goblins, bugbears, knolls, orcs, etc). The problem is that when you put them together you have a person in traditional samurai armor fighting a greenskin in rags. That can still look fantastic, but again it breaks the spell of having an semblance of a homogeneous field.
The True Spirit of Garb
From what I can tell the idea behind garb is simply "to look cool". For a number of years I simply didn't get it. I wore minimum passing garb because it was easy to do so. My first pair of "garb" was a pair of overlarge sweat pants I had cut the elastic off of in favor of a rope, and a t-shirt that I'd cut up, both of which came from the nearest salvation army. I think the whole thing wound up costing me less then $20. The thing is that, at that time, it seemed just fine to me since it passed according to the rules. The problem being that I didn't "look cool" I looked like a total scrub. Years later I eventually got better looking garb in the form of a tunic (~$20) and wrap pants (~$30). They were in matte black so that they would pass anywhere. While they looked much better they weren't "me". I had zero investment in them and wearing that as garb so I only wore them when I was required to by rules because I was at an event or some other such thing. Years passed again and now I have the garb that most people know me for, a psychedelic blue/white/black mixture made out of clearly modern print. Arguments can be made in either direction about the technical legality of my garb depending on which field you're in, but as it turns out, it passes most places. I built it largely as a joke to see if I could get away with it, but the truth of the matter is that it's more true to myself, to the character that I wanted to develop, to the character I want to become when I was on the fighting field and that's the thing that has me actually invested in my garb now. A sense of identity, of who I am, of how that kit will be put together from all the little bits and pieces that will go into it. For the first time in 12 years of fighting, I could give a damn about what I'm wearing to the point where I'd invest time and energy in making it look good. ...it's just that for me, that's a creature of the void, whose fabric is all messed up and distorted from cosmic forces. What I've learned from living this way is that in MOST instances what's important isn't the garb you're wearing but a consistent kit that is in line with your character's identity. If it looks good and is cohesive, most people don't care that your garb is bright colors, or that you've got the Sith or Batman logo all throughout your garb.
Back when I still didn't care much what I was wearing I can remember a conversation I had with Black, Ana, Cheesheart and Brian. I had long stated that I didn't think that garb was a necessary component of the game but Black and Cheeseheart were adamant that I wasn't just apathetic about garb, I was actively anti-garb (a position more in line with Brian's arguments). It was then that the following unraveled. Cheeseheart had just spent $500 on armor for that years chaos wars to be in line with the theme of game of thrones (the clever ones of you can figure out when that was now). I had also just spent $500 on garb, but I had done so in order to outfit the (now defunct) unit I ran called the blades. So the issue wasn't that he'd spent any more money on garb then I had, he'd just used it on himself instead of on other people. So him giving me grief for being anti-garb was baseless. What it turns out he wanted was for me to be a garb nazi so that I'd follow suite when he and black gave people grief about their garb, so that I could throw my reputation into the ring when that conversation came up. It didn't happen then and it won't happen now. I firmly believe that garb should be an optional part of the game. It is my opinion that the way to spread garb is to make it easy to acquire, relatively cheap and have it be good looking. Back in college this seemed to work out okay, with the good fighters kicking ass and taking names wearing awesome looking garb. Having everyone shouting about it now just makes me want to get away from the whole thing again. ...but more on that later.
Here Be Restrictions
The rules, as they are presently written (for bel mostly, but it's similar in dag), prohibit:
- 1.3.1. T-shirts that are brightly colored, white, with visible logos, with visible collars, and or visible pockets.
- 1.3.2. Camouflage or military issued cargo pants.
- 1.3.3. Modern jeans of any color.
- 1.3.4. Modern hats.
- 1.3.5. Any fabrics with modern prints.
- 1.3.6. Any realistic weapons.
(you can read more on this here if you so desire).
Most of the time this doesn't come up. It targets largely mundane clothing like t-shirt and jeans ( my go to for fashion) but does so in it's best attempt to legalese the thing without having to be overly specific. Apparently we can't write rules which say "no modern clothing" because I guess that's too vague? Nor apparently do we outlaw t-shirts for our game, only ones that are "brightly colored, white" or have "visible logos, collars or pockets". Technically that means that if you had a t-shirt that was passing and you added a pocket, it is now failing. In spite of this if you have a tunic with a pocket in it, that's just fine.
The point being that even within this relatively spartan description of the rules by way of prohibited items there are plenty of inconsistencies and ways to cause problems / poke holes in them. But it's not all bad. Prohibiting modern caps so that you don't have baseball caps as part of garb seems sensible as does the prohibition on realistic weapons as those could cause issues with local law enforcement.
Tired Arguments for Garb
As you might imagine, as an outspoken troll of the rules, I have been in my fair share of arguments over garb. My premise has usually been composed of 3 tenants - 1) If we want people to wear garb then we should do so with culture and not the rules, 2) throwing people off the field because of what they are wearing seems foolish and likely to diminish the growth of our sport and 3) having such a thing as min garb either a) means everyone is wearing shitty garb or b) will be built out of rules that require good garb and therefore restrict who can play. The arguments I usually hear in favor of garb are 1) it looks cool, 2) I like garb, 3) it's easy to get, 4) it makes the field as a whole look better, 5) (sometimes) it gets people more into the sport. Let's take a look at each of those in turn.
1) It looks cool + 3) It's easy to get.
The problem here is that you can't have it both ways. The garb that I started out with that only cost me in the vicinity of $20 dollars was extremely easy to get, however it also looked terrible. The nicer looking garb cost me closer to $50, required me to pay someone else to make it since I didn't have the skills to make it myself, and was time consuming to acquire since they had to wait for me to pay them, get my measurements, stitch the fabric together and then deliver it back to me. While it's true that having cheap shitty garb is easy to do, that kind of garb doesn't look good at all. So either you have really shitty awful looking garb or good garb. But what you don't have is a set of garb that's personally fitted to you, in your style, for very little money and very little effort. That having been said if anyone figures out how to make a set of wrap pants + a tunic to my measurements that won't instantly fall apart for less then $20, PLEASE get in touch, because I would be all about that.
2) I like garb and 5) it gets more people into the sport.
While it's certainly true that there are some social groups built around varying degrees of making costuming (see cosplay) you have to first decide what the sport is about. In my eyes it means that the fighting aspect comes first - that's why in Bel we grade for 1) safety, 2) playability and 3) realism - and the costuming is a side thing that can enhance the game. If garb were NOT a rule and a requirement I have no problem with these arguments, as I certainly agree that for SOME people the costuming aspect of belegarth/dagorhir/amptgard attracts a specific segment of the population to the game, both as people who wear the costume and people who smith the costume. However, what's important to realize is that not every cares about the costuming aspect of garb. Some people don't care about it AT ALL and simply want to fight. Trying to convince those people to build/wear an elaborate costume to participate is never going to happen... which then becomes a question of rules. You either let them onto the field in their trashy sweat pants and a cut up t-shirt because it meets the requirements for minimum garb, or you throw those people away because they don't fit with your aesthetic. Personally, I'm all about being an advocate for and growing the sport so when people make suggestions about rules that will drive newcomers away I'm always vexed.
4) It makes the field look better
The field as a whole may look better if people have taken the time to actually put kits together but because of the reasons listed in the last 2 paragraphs I hope it's clear that not everyone is going to put that amount of effort in. In a world in which everyone on the field has awesome looking garb, we have amazing photo shoots. In the real world it's sort of 50/50. Some of the fighters are people who are really involved in costuming and have taken to making really awesome looking garb / kits ... and some people are the scrubs showing up in sweatpants and a t-shirt. The problem being that because minimum garb exists you're going to get people on the field who don't look fantastic in their garb. The question is really just about degree of the disruption to the experience of viewing the field from is that guy wearing a pair of sweat pants, or are they wearing a pair of jeans. Neither of those things looks good, historical, or like high fantasy. Yes, it's jarring in a photo to see that guy who wears mundane clothes, but isn't it also jarring to watch a person painted blue sparring with a samurai in full armor?
In Favor of Awesomeness Not Legality
What I want to promote is the opposite of the culture that we seem to have now. Instead of tearing into people for either not wearing garb or having shitty garb, let's go towards the positive and take the time to acknowledge and build up the people who do have awesome garb. If garb weren't such a cause for contention, strife and aggravation I kind of get the feeling that more people would be in garb. I get the feeling that if we ever removed it as a rule we'd also get more fighters, some of whom would be casual but others of whom would eventually become more invested in the sport. It's been my experience that if you get a group of 20-40 people to show up and check it out, maybe 6 of those people will come out a second time, 4 of them will come out a third time and just one of those 20 will actually stick around long enough to become a regular who is invested in the sport. If we could get just a few more people out of that initial batch to stick around for more then one practice just think of what that could do for numbers. So that's what I'm asking for, that's what I petition and fight for and am stubborn about. I want to see a pro-garb culture instead of an anti-not-garb culture. Can we get rid of garb trolls and replace them with garb advocates? Wouldn't you have more fun if you weren't worried about people giving you shit about your weapons, your clothes, your safety gear? I certainly know I would.
Anyways. Just my 10 cents.
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