ALL WEAPONS MUST PASS A SAFETY INSPECTION EACH EVENT

 

Bring finished, ready-to-use LARP weapons as described in the specifications below.  

Safety inspections are held at events by the Safety Team in the dining hall while Logistics is open Friday 6pm - 11pm. Weapons cannot be inspected between events. Please be prepared if your weapon does not pass.

Approved weapons are marked with a color-coded ribbon for the event. Any weapon without that ribbon cannot be used during the event until it is inspected and approved. 

If you have any questions, or would like to introduce a new weapon, please contact the Safety Team.

 

LOANED WEAPONS 

Galaxy Awaits does not loan or rent weapons, props, and costumes to players. You must bring your own to use for your character. Learn how to make your own weapons! Get started at Plastidip Artists Facebook group.

 

NOT ALLOWED 

Rather than providing a list of allowed weapons and shops, we would like to keep the door open for new stuff! As we inspect items from brands/shops and find those weapons consistently don’t pass, we’ll add that brand/shop here:

• COMBO: no bayonets, or ‘gun-blades’, or taping two weapons together.

• ARROWS: Homemade and Etsy arrows

• BOWS: Compound bows and real crossbows

  • Toy bows and crossbows that are NOT Nerf

• BLASTERS: B3 LARP Store, BoomCo, Nerf Rival, Australian Nerf, disk shooters, and homemade blasters

  • Internal blaster parts in a custom shell

  • Blasters that shoot more than one dart per trigger reset

  • Functional mods of any kind

• AMMO: Nerf Ultra, disks, Rival rounds, homemade ammo, and any other ammo type or brand not listed in Ammo below.

• MELEE: Nerf melee weapons, Hero’s Edge, Calimacil

  • Homemade removable blade weapons.

  • Boffers, duct tape and/or cloth covered weapons.

• SHIELD: Duct tape and/or cloth covered shields 

 

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ARCHERY

• Real Bow & Arrow

  • Bow - real straight bow with a 26 pound pull or less.

  • Arrow - padded LARP arrow only from Calimacil, Palnatoke, Epic Armory, IDV, or Windlass.

  • Fire only one arrow at a time. No multi-shots. 

• Toy Bow / Crossbow

  • Only the Nerf brand is accepted. See Blaster below:

 

BLASTER

Flywheel, spring, battery operated blasters only from Nerf, Air Zone, and Buzz Bee. 

• Must fire one dart per trigger reset.

• Toy, specifically the firing mechanism, must be original, out-of-the-box stock.

• Painted realistic ‘Star Wars’ colors preferred, or minimum black, grey, or white. 

• Cosmetic decorative customizations and add-ons are allowed.

• Accent lighting and audio modifications are allowed. Lighting cannot be blinding.

• Orange safety tip not required.

• Attaching two Nerf blasters with their tactical rails as Hasbro designed is allowed and counts as a single weapon.

 

BLASTER AMMUNITION        

• Nerf, Air Zone, and Buzz Bee brands, and generic made-for-Nerf, are allowed. 

• Allowed Ammo Types: standard darts for Nerf / Air Zone / Buzz Bee, Nerf Accustrike, Nerf N-Strike Mega darts, Nerf Mega XL darts, Nerf N-Strike Elite Missiles, and Nerf Ballistic Balls. 

 

BRAWL WEAPON

A Brawl Skill weapon is a coreless 16 - 20 inch section of ¾ inch pipe foam insulation with ½ inch wall. No core, paint, coverings, or decorations of any kind is allowed. 

 

MELEE WEAPON

• Overall Length: 14 inch minimum, 76 inch maximum. 

• Core: 

  • Weapons up to 40 inches: 3/8 - 1/2 inch graphite, carbon fiber, or fiberglass

  • Weapons 41 to 76 inches: 1/2 inch fiberglass 

  • Electronic Weapons: 1"OD 3/4"ID 1/8" walled polycarbonate clear tube.

• Blade: 10 inch minimum length. Foam must be 2# XLPE or similar, and a minimum 1/2 inch thick on all striking edges. 

  • Electronic Weapons: How to Pad a Removable Blade

• Tip: 2 coreless inches of the same foam and may be pointed.

• Crossguard: coreless EVA foam and may be pointed.

• Handle: 4 inch minimum. Made of any material and permanently attached to the core. 

  • Electronic Weapons: 

    • Store-bought lightsabers with removable blades are allowed. Once the weapon passes Safety, the blade cannot be removed for that event.

    • Batteries and electronics must be located inside the Handle.

• Pommel: Either an end cap or up to a 2 inch handle extension off the core, made of the same material as the Handle. Pointed end is allowed only if made of foam.

• Foams: 2# XLPE, EVA, craft foam, Plastazote, LED EVA, pipe foam insulation, pool noodle, blue camp mat foam.

• Paint: realistic ‘Star Wars’ colors preferred, or minimum black, grey, or white. Plastidip or latex, acrylic paints, and a flexible clear sealant such as Frog Juice, Through the Roof, or Krylon Low Odor Clear Finish.

• Lightsaber colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. White means the weapon is “off”.

 

SHIELD

Shields must be futuristic looking, for example Riot Shield and Personal Combat Shield. 

• Overall Dimensions: 12 to 36 inch diameter, or 12 by 12 inch minimum and 24 by 36 inches maximum. 

• Core: thick corrugated cardboard that doesn’t bend, non-brittle clear acrylic sheet, foam board (double layer), pickle barrel, and plastic from storage bin lids and sleds.

• Edge: foam, matching the thickness of the Core, extending a minimum 1 inch from the edge and wrapping around to the front and back. You can build this up with layers of foam, or one whole piece. Foams include 2# XLPE, EVA, LED EVA, craft foam, Plastazote, pipe foam insulation, pool noodle, blue camp mat. 

  • Electronic Shields: attach the light strip to the edge, then apply the foam.   

• Front: foam is not required unless there are fastener protrusions from the handle.

• Back: You can attach weapon holsters, ammo pouches, and the like. 

  • Electronic Shields: batteries and electronics go here.

• Paint: realistic ‘Star Wars’ colors preferred, or minimum black, grey, or white. Plastidip or latex, acrylic paints, and a flexible clear sealant such as Frog Juice, Through the Roof, or Krylon Low Odor Clear Finish.

 

THROWABLES

Skills, Techniques, and Items that use the Projectile Method are represented by Throwables. Force Lightning, Pyrokenesis, and Thermal Detonators are examples.

• Overall Length: 4 - 20 inches overall length, or 2.5 inch minimum diameter ball. 

• Core: none, but can be weighted with up to 10 pennies.

• Foams: same as Melee Weapon. Softer foam preferred.  

• Paint: same as Melee Weapon.

• Safety: no points and no protrusions smaller than an eye socket.

• Birdseed Packet: instead of a foam Throwable, you may use a Birdseed Packet: 

  • With an 8 inch squared piece of cotton fabric, place  1-2 tablespoons  of  birdseed (without corn or sunflower seed)  into  the  center,  lift  the corners, and seal closed with a rubber band. The packet should be soft and pliable. 

 

AUTOMATED & REMOTE CONTROLLED

You can use remote controlled and automated toys, such as RC buggies or foam dart turrets, that can represent ‘mouse’ Droids and other non-sentient droids. These toys can be mounted with foam dart shooters, cameras, distraction sounds, and the like, but not melee weapons or strobe lights. RC toys must be ground vehicles and approved by Safety Staff before use. NOTE: these do not represent Droids as Player Characters i.e. you would not be allowed to walk around OOG while operating an RC astromech.