For anyone who does not know
Basically, a giant ren fair catering to medeival combat reenactment.
After a couple months of building my armor, and going to practice, I finally got to go to my first real event, Great Western War
I participated in some battles, got the snot knocked out of me a couple times, generally had a blast, met alot of fun folk, and had a generally good campout weekend beating people with sticks.
Any questions.
Yup. What’s the difference between a ren fair and a sca event?
SCA events are more targeted at SCA members as opposed to being a shopping and entertainment venue. They are often held a little off the beaten track where Ren Fairs tend to be smaller and held more in town. Some SCA events have minimal if any arrangement for spectators. The event I was at there were a few family types who came in for the afternoon to watch but the area we were in was otherwise closed to the public for camping and such.
Just for comparison, there were something like 2500-3000 participants at the event I was at this last weekend. Most of the ren fairs I have seen are maybe a couple hundred.
SCA events also tend to revolve around combat, there are arts and sciences guilds and many awesome things to learn and do outside of combat, but combat is always the big event.
Nobody changes into jeans after the tourists leave at an SCA event–those aren’t costumes, they’re clothes.
Audience.
People who work Faires do something they love for anyone who will pay and who will play with them.
People who do SCA do it for themselves.
Faire workers think of SCA as masturbation, or at most as a big circle jerk.
SCA thinks of Faire workers as prostitutes, doing for money and/or attention what should be done for its own sake.
There is some rivalry between the two groups - and also some overlap.
Can ya wrangle an invite to the parties without that whole building armor step? I loved paintball back in the day, but I wasn’t gonna build my own gun. Same with something like this…I could see buying/renting suitable equipment and having at ye, varlet, but not playing Oakie the Armorer first. Cuz that’s just too much like work.
Poser 
If you want to play, you are welcome, there is plenty of room for people in arts and sciences, to help out, provide water, help around camp, tie us into our armor, etc. You can still go to the parties.
You can also buy armor. You can actually have a full kit of legal armor for $500-$600 Mine cost me about that including tools to make it all, if I set out to make another set it would probably cost me around $350-$400.
an example
http://darkvictory.com/
here is the exact same helm I wear
http://cgi.ebay.com/MEDIEVAL-FUNCTIONAL-COMBAT-HELMET-SCA-APPROVED-/380276503081?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588a3ef229
you will still need some padding, and a weapon.
My stuff is mostly heavy leather but it served more than admirably under vicious pounding on several occasions.
Nah, just pansies who are afraid to take a hit.
Yeah, garb is kinda a big deal. SCA likes to place alot of emphasis on “looking period”. Nylon dome tents and bright orange plastic ice chests should be hiding behind the canvas pavillions.
We are looking into purchasing some canvas walls and appropriate support poles for just that reason as well as enhancing security and reducing the folks wandering through the camp.
You are a relative newbie to the SCA community, aren’t you, Drachillix?
Something else I was surprised by, between the adrenalin and the armor, you really dont feel much pain at all, most of the soreness to me felt like the aftermath of giving 250% effort for 15 seconds from the order to charge to the killing blow.
Thus the ask the SCA noob. I have spent alot of time with a couple of our knights working on my armor and learning about the traditions and common practices.
I’ll expand: You haven’t gotten too embroiled in the incestuous politics that pervades the SCA, have you?
No but I have heard more than a few stories already about who is getting appointed to what office or made a general of army X because they are the kings buddy despite having no more combat experience than I do. Or screwing someone special in the current heirarchy.
I’m just here to fight
The stories are all true and will become very aggravating for you as you continue within the organization (unless you are one of those who become the King’s buddy, but you have a lot of time to make up to get that far).
Yes, I have experience with this organization. The culinary historians are top-notch in their research and execution. I wish there were a way to be involved with some of those folks without the monstrous headache of the vitriolic atmosphere of brown-nosing and politics.
I don’t have many pleasant things to say about the organization and willl leave it at that. You may like the fighting, but in order to excel, you will have to become a skillful politician or brown-noser.
Well, I don’t plan on being king, nor general of the northern armies. I like the camping, and the camaraderie, and the satisfying crunch a spearman makes as he bounces off my sheild. 
I have an extra chair here somewhere
Look there is room in my tent
From my very basic knowledge of both the SCA (have a friend or two in it. That and this thread is my basic information) and medieval times themselves (haven’t really researched, not my thing, but just going by what I know), isn’t incestuous politics and you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours politics pretty much making it “period accurate”? The 20th (or 21st) century didn’t invent pork barrel politics, if you’re really hard-core about recreation (like I gather the SCA is) than why on earth would you want to reward based on merit rather than the greasing of palms and thus rob someone of the actual medieval experience?
To me, getting all embroiled in the politics would make it no fun. I don’t do this for power and glory beyond what may be earned on the battlefeild. I don’t expect to be knighted anytime soon. In our group 5-6 of the guys have been knighted, but most of them have been around for 15+ years and the fastest one was at like 3.5 years in.
Thanks, but no frigg’n way would I ever put myself back in that arena. Ever. I know from experience that there is no way to participate without the ugliness.
The bold is mine. If it were limited to their medieval experience than I would agree. The sad part is that the pork-barrel politics bleed beyond their weekend experience into their online chat boards and day-to-day existence. The fantasy world they are trying to recreate is not limited to the weekend events but becomes so all-encompassing into their “mundane lives” as to destroy relationships, families, and careers.
Yes, this is an all-encompassing statement and not everyone in the organization is like this, but the majority of those with whom I was involved who were long-lived in the society, generally had/have “issues” with the aforementioned incestuousness.