Garb Requirements
Tradition has established certain expectations of what is and is not acceptable for garb.
Minimal garb expectations include a tunic or tabard and medieval style (loose-fit) pants. Otherwise, non-humanoid characters are expected to maintain garb that is not blatently mundane and is fitting to their character. Footwear is preferably period boots or earth tone shoes, however is not considered of great importance. Garb at your first event may be as simple as:
- Black T-shirt
- Tabard (2 yards of cloth with a neck hole)
- Belt
- Sweatpants, scrubs, or dark trousers
At your first event, you will see a tremendous diversity of garb. Aim to go to future events with better garb that defines your character.
Certain things are particularly forbidden: Blue jeans, camo outfits, and live steel(sheathed or not) are not allowed on the field. Anything blatantly mundane and modern (especially sports or brand logos) should be avoided.
In any role playing or battlegaming society, your garb is your first impression. It will define how people respond to you, whether they think you're new or experienced, and even how good of a fighter they anticipate you to be. Dress to impress and show character! It adds to the fun for everyone.
Tips for cheap but acceptable garb
- Tunics. Good Will, Salvation Army, and other thrift stores are your friend. Rowan of Nan Belegorn pioneered the "polo shirt tunic" that is perhaps the simplest garb fix I know. Get a polo shirt from Good Will ($3) then cut off the collar, buttons, and any noticably hemmed edges. Poke some holes where the buttons used to be and string some leather lacing through the collar holes. Wah-lah, instant medieval look!
Polo-Tunic Rowan
- Pants. Many people start with black sweat pants and cut off the bottom elastic. You may also browse your local thrift store for dark hospital scrubs which are lighter weight for warm weather or some casual dark trousers. Another cheap solution is martial arts pants. You can get them in white or black from Century Martial Arts. They're loose, will take a lot of abuse, and look solidly period. Hakama pants are worm by many eastern characters. These can be found by searching google for online martial arts retailers.
- Monsters. Monsterous races within Belegarth tend to wear display particular garb features clarifying their race. A reference guide follows:
- Goblyns cover their elbows & knees (their errogenous zones) and are green
- Night goblyns are a particular nocturnal breed that wear black robes with checkered black & white trim.
- Lizardmen are sleek reptilian-humanoids who don scaled patterns.
- Ogres expose arms to show strength and show their bellies to flaunt weakness
- Bugbears wear an Arm of Marjack on their dominant arm. This keeps the power of their god contained and protected.
- Hobgoblyns are a hodge-podge mutation of other races that may take influences from other monsters.
- Trolls Hat Trolls wear hats, Chaos Trolls are blue, and Mountain Trolls are just plain dumb.
- Kobolds tend to wear exotic, shiny, and colorfully patterned rags and accessories (that they've stolen from pinkies).
- Orcs are a varied race, but most commonly found in Uruk-Hai netting and armor.
- Skavens are elitist rat-folk who don mit-like gauntlets, runes, and fur.
- Gnolls are hyena-folk who wear leather collars.
For a monsterous look, scrapped up earthtones from thrift stores work really well. Look for sweaters, skirts, shirts, ties, and belts you can tatter up and layer all for your first monster garb. In time, the best monster garb is honed to the character and home-made.
- Footwear. A lot of monster and oriental personas tend to go barefoot. For historical personas earthtone boots or mocassins aren't hard to find at a typical department or shoe store. Sandals may apply to middle-eastern personas.
- Feasting Garb For when you want to dress shnazzy for feasts, its probably cheapest to design your own formal garb. Fancy capes, cloaks, and corsets are easily found through online merchants, however they're usually rather expensive. Visit your local fabric store for cool fabric and patterns. You may find ideas in costume/renaissance sections of pattern books. Feasting garb is usually something people don't acquire until after they've been in the community a while so don't sweat not having any at first.
- Examples:
Medieval commoner: Here's Mandragoran sporting cheap but acceptable garb. The top is all Good Will, all under $10: long sleeve shirt, cut-off polo tunic, and leather belt. The pants are black martial arts pants, tied off.
Monsters: This is Eyrtk the swarthy goblin. Ratty, earth tones, and lots of accessories. All thrift-store found.
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