Click on a topic for more information:
•How to join Pentwyvern
•How to fight
•How to make weapons
•How to make garb
•How to make a character
•How to make armor
How to join Pentwyvern
To join Pentwyvern come to our practice at Lakewood park every Friday night from 5:30 - dark. We are currently updating our official members and ranking system, but you can find out more by talking to us in person.
How to fight
The best way to learn how to fight is to come to practice. The videos and articles listed below are a good supplement, but they cannot teach you how to fight nearly as well as practicing with other
people and talking with more experienced fighters.
Getting Started:
Dagorhir Manual of Arms
This is the official rule book for Dagorhir. All weapons, costumes, and battle scenarios must meet the safety standards outlined here.
Starting out as a new person
This guide was created by House Morrigan, a group in Amtgaurd which is a game similar to Dagorhir but with different rules. The general principle is the same and their suggestions for starting out are excellent.
Learning to Fight is an Attitude by Moogie
Training Overview
This guide was created by House Lioness, another group in Amtgaurd.
Collection of Sir Kenneth's Blogs - Common Mistakes of New Fighters
This article is hosted on the Belegarth forums. Belegarth is another fighting game very similar to Dagorhir, so you may need to register for their forums to see the article but they have a lot of useful fighting advice.
Belegarth Forum - Topic: Habits of Highly Effective Fighters
Drills and Training Exercises:
BrennonEH's YouTube Channel
Fighting definitions and drills.
Duke University Part 1
A collection of training videos from the SCA.
DagorhirFighting YouTube Channel
Contains fighting classes and a couple weapon building tutorials.
Belegarth Forum - Topic: Fighting Resources
This is a huge list of fighting articles, videos, etc.
For Women:
This is a full contact sport for both women and men, but many women have trouble dealing with the emotional and mental aspects of fighting. The goal of these links is to help over come these issues. Gender shouldn't keep you off the field, a fighter is a fighter.
How to Encourage Women Fighters by Moogie
House Lionesse Resources
House Lionesse is a household in Amtguard created to encourage and support female fighters. Their articles and links a very useful, especially to isolated fighters without a strong support group.
Sword Maiden
Many articles about fighting, armor, and the philosophy of female SCA fighters. This site has been shutdown but can be accessed using a tool called WayBackMachine, unfortunately some areas of the site will not load with this method.
The Girl's Club is a forum for women of the SCA, but much of their advice applies to what we do. Read their forum and see what works for you emotionally and mentally, and check with a more experience member of Pentwyvern or the Dagorhir rule book to see what will work physically. For example the SCA has required helmets and head shots and we don't, but we all have to deal with being comfortable getting onto the field.
The Girl's Club Forum - Topic: Getting Started
The Girl's Club Forum - The Brain
The Girl's Club Forum - Techniques
How to make weapons
Getting Started:
Choosing your weapons
Also written by a member of Amtguard, but most of their weapon combos carry over into Dagorhir.
Choosing a shield
Written by a member of Amtguard, so please check that the materials and methods you use to build your shield are legal in Dagorhir.
How to build Dagorhir weapons:
Building your first weapon can be difficult even with instructions, so it is best to talk to people who know how to build a safe weapon and ask them to show you how to do it. There are many different opinions on how to build a weapon, but as long as it is safe and passes the rules use whatever methods work best for you.
How to make a blue sword
A step by step animated tutorial.
How to use DAP contact cement
Dagorhir Gear - Weapon Tutorials
This page lists tutorials for building most of the weapon types in our game.
How to make garb
Examples of garb:
Viking / Norse clothing
Sewing tools and resources:
Simplicity, McCalls, Butterick
Popular pattern makers that can be found in most fabric stores. Look on the site to find the pattern you want (usually in the costume section), write down the number, then find it at JoAnns or some other fabric store.
Hand Sewing
How to
sew without a machine. It's less expensive than buying a machine and can take more time, but hand sewing looks more natural medieval groups. It does not usually hold up as well in fighting.
Machine Sewing
How to start sewing with a machine. The initial investment costs more than hand sewing but it is faster and the clothes can hold up better. Always check your manual for how to thread and take care of your machine, each one is different.
Sewing tutorials:
Easy - These are the best items to acquire for a complete first set of garb.
Basic t-tunic
Basic pajama pants (aka garb pants)
Basic belt
Simple pouch tutorial by Reine-haru
Intermediate - These techniques are more difficult, but give a greater variety of garb options and styles.
Dagorhir Gear - Garb
This page lists tutorials for a couple different pieces of garb.
How to sew a gore
Sewing simple pleats by Reine-haru
How to sew a skirt by Reine-haru
Hand embroidery by Reine-haru
Hiding modern shoes
Avanced - These are hard to make but look awesome.
Reversible corset tutorial by Reine-haru
The Renaissance Tailor
Tutorials for pattern drafting various pieces of garb.
Places to buy garb:
Tailored Tunics
Isla is a member of Dagorhir, her garb looks great and is good for fighting.
Goodwill
This is a great place to go for beginner garb. You can get brown/tan/black pants (avoid cargo pockets and modern designs), oversized polo shirts (which can be cut up and laced to look more medieval), skirts, belts, shoes/ boots, and jewelry. Most people keep a set of fighting garb that can get dirty and feast garb that they keep nice for special events.
Linen Garb
General medieval themed clothing.
Punjammies
Indian style pants, the company supports and trains women in India.
Morsca
Fantasy style clothing.
The Pryamid Collection
Fantasy clothing, but not all of it passes as garb so be careful in what you choose.
How to make a character
The amount of detail you put into your character is entirely up to you, all that is required is that you have a name. This means you could come up with only a name and focus on fighting without any kind of story or character, or you could develop a backstory and character traits for yourself and role-play as that character even going as far as to involve other people in your story. There isn't a lot of speaking in character or accents in our group, but we do usually have some kind of story about our character and fight loosely based on that set of traits.
Name generators:
Rinkworks Fantasy Name Generator
Seventh Sanctum Various Name Generators
Writing resources:
Writing a character story, fleshing out your character
Writing a character story, using conflict
Writing a character story, revealing their backstory
How to make armor
In Dagorhir armor gives one extra hit to the area covered. These areas are the torso, left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, and head. Check the official Dagorhir rules for the specific rules relating to building armor and its use.
Examples of armor:
How to make armor:
