From: Roderick Robertson, SC1-5, x52936 (ROBERTSON@delphi.intel.com)
Date: Tue 19 Apr 1994 - 06:23:00 EEST
>From: john.hughes@anu.edu.au (John P Hughes)
> - SARTARITE GAMES
>The Irish Celts were very big on Hurling, a no holds-barred form of hockey
>(see the stories of Cu Chulain's youth in the Tain for details). It sounds
>related to the Sartarite 'full-contact golf' mentioned earlier.
Since I'm the one who posted about Shinty (Full Contact/Combat Golf), I figure I should elucidate...
I played this game for several years as a member of a 16th C. Scottish re-creation group here in California. Our rules were pretty simple:
No intentionally striking someone with your caman (stick) No wild swings (at least when someone was near you...)
Play was usually to one or three goals. We played on any-sized field, usually with an out-of-bounds stated (so we wouldn't play through people's booths at Scottish games).
Shinty (camanachd) is the Scottish form of Hurley/Hurling/Viking Stickball/Field Hockey. There are modern leagues in Scotland (I caught a game once on ESPN or some such channel, many more rules than we played with). Early Camans were cut from natural branches with the right angle to the head. The sides of the head were angled (see below), and the head was angled about 75 degrees off the shaft. Caman look something like modern golf clubs (Modern camans are more like hockey sticks).
_
/ \ Head-on view of the Caman head
---
Some differences between Field Hockey and Shinty are that the ball may be 'lifted' with the caman (stick), then swatted like a baseball; and the ball may be carried on the caman while running (Hope this graphic comes out:)
Side view of the caman:
\\ <---- Caman
\\
\\__O_ <-- Ball
\----
v--- Ground
----------------------
Play in Scotland *used* to be much more free-form than even we played it, with no out-of-bounds or time limit, and probably no restriction on hitting people.
Herewith is my version of Shinty for Sartar, known there as Windball or "Whack the Sun" (which really pisses off the Sun worshippers).
Windball
Teams are evenly matched (well-known Windball champion players can be declared to be a two-man or three-man, meaning that the opponent gets one or two extra men for his team). The ball is leather, stuffed with feathers, wool, or wood (it must be heavy enough to be hit at least 15 paces). Political or religious staements can be made by coloring the ball yellow or red.
Windball sticks are wood, about as high as the user's waist, with a sharply angled head at the bottom (like a golf club). The head is about as long as the user's plam and forefinger (in the area of 6-8 inches for most people)
Local rules for Windball may include restrictions on magic, field limits (if any), and number of players on a team. Women are usually required to kilt up their skirts to play (We often lost the ball in someone's skirts when we played). The ball may only be hit with the caman, no hands or feet may be used to hit, kick, or pick up the ball.
Play is continuous, no timeouts. However, a player may drop out and return at any time. Play is to one goal (or more, according to local rules and pre-game negotiation). Each team chooses the goal they will shoot at (some local rules require restrictions on the location of the goal). Goals may be stones or trees (easy) or holes ("sending the sun to the underworld").
If you hit someone with the caman, be prepared for the consequences.
Them's the rules
RQ rules for Windball requires a new skill (Caman, base 15%, med.) as there is no weapon that is used the same. Most of the action with the caman looks like golf (for those log shots), or hockey (for precision passing). Special manueuvers with the caman include lifting the ball (knocking the ball straight up in the air); swinging it like a base-ball bat (to swat the ball after lifting it); and running with the ball balanced on the head of the caman.
Long drives of the ball fly 1D3xSTR feet if lift-and-swatted, or 1/2 that if driven from the ground.
Successfully 'carrying' the ball allows 5/10/20 paces for Success/Special/Critical roll.
Succesful 'lifting' will send the ball about 8 feet straight up in the air, enough to perform a 'swat'. Alternatively, you can send the ball over opposing players or obstructions. Intervening players may attempt to swat the ball as it flies by (with a special or better).
Passing requires a successful Caman roll by both the passer and reciever. The ball may be stolen by an opponent in line with the pass (up to 5 feet on either side of the line) with a successful Caman roll. An opponent may 'strip' the ball from a player with an opposed caman roll (treat like attack/parry rolls).
Camans act like long single-sticks if used to thwack on opponent (or accidently hit a friend...). They can also be used to trip an opponent, or foul another caman to prevent shooting. Body checking is pretty common in the game (tends to resemble Ice hockey that way)
Tripping is Caman opposed by Dex (or running?) rolls; fouling a caman is attack/parry rolls. Fouled camans cannot be used until dis-entangled.
More Games:
Humakti probably play varieties of mumblety-peg, either the one described in Griselda (and in the movie Aliens), where you hold the knife like an ice-pick and try not to cut your outstretched fingers as you stab it between them; or the throwing variety, where you stand a distance apart and throw the knife between each other's feet, moving your feet in each turn. A third version is to hold the knife in various ways (by the tip, by the grip, across your palm, across the back of your hand, etc) and try to make it land point first.
While some here on the list might complain of anachronisms or too Terran a game, a variant of Frisbee that we used to play was Bonnet Toss. Knitted bonnets make good frisbees, and can be thrown safely at people. We used to have distance and accuracy contests. "Frisbee golf" (Throws for accuracy at a number of targets) or "Ultimate frisbee" (sort of like football/rugby with a frisbee) played with a leather or knitted disk seem perfect for Wind worshippers.
So, here is another game:
Weorpan
Weorpan is played in two or more teams. Each team has the same number of players (Like in Windball, exceptional players may be declared to be 'worth' more people). The playing field is round (or as round as it can be), about 10 paces across per player on the larget team. (about 20 paces for a two man team , a hundred paces for a 10-man team) One-on-one games are playe din a 15 pace circle. Wooden posts are placed around the outside, one for each team. One rand (a knitted woolen disk, about one and a half spans across (12 or so inches)) is used, no matter the number of teams. Teams are competing for *Lowest* score. Points are scored against a team when the rand hits their post. The game ends when a team has a specified number of points.
Throw and catch are the main skills here. The Rand will fly 1D4xStr feet, Success/Special/Critical determine *where* it goes. To hit the post requires a special success or better at point-blank range (2 paces), Special out to 10 paces, and critical past that.
Passing is an important part of the game, as is misdirection about the intended target. Fighting is frowned upon.
Local variants include diameter of the circle, composition of the rand (leather or wood are also used, one crazy clan plays with a bronze plate), maximum numbers of players, scoring, etc
Villages that are really into Weorpan often have a Rand made for them, often with the Motion Rune one one side, and Air on the other. Spirals and other circular patterns are popular.
Weorpan can be played by almost anyone and any number of players can take part (even 5 one-man teams, in a 15 pace circle for example). Some villages may have permanent Weorpan rings and Rands, shepherd boys up in the high pastures can form a pick-up game. A knitted rand can be folded up quite handily, and a bonnet (tam o'shanter, flatcap, etc) can be substituted.
Roderick Roderick
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 10 Oct 2003 - 01:33:49 EEST