‘Boffer’ is a term I picked up at a convention for a mock padded weapon, usually made out of PVC pipes, padding/pipe insulation, and lots of duct tape. They’re used in mock swordfights and such. At the games I went to, you took a ‘loaner’ boffer, or your own if the organizers approved it was safe, and dueled with other people. If you got hit in the arm/leg, you couldn’t use it, and a hit to the torso was a kill. It was great fun and was interesting to see there was much more dodging involved than bocking/parrying. There was also a great variety of boffer weapons- mock swords, daggers, mauls, katanas, spears, Katars, among others. It really made me interested in the concept of getting a lot of people together, finding an open field, and having some huge medieval style of battle between them.
Do they make boffer umbrellas?
Because that’s my only proficient weapon. I’d gladly oblige if you’d like me to smack you over the head with it, though.
(Would that count as a kill, or can you just not use it anymore?)
I hope I wasn’t the only doper to think that “Boffer” and “Fluffer” were closely related terms…and that Incubus had an interesting career change.
Oof. For a second I was having flashbacks to my Navy buffing days…
Hee hee…I saw “boffer” and opened the thread hoping you meant boffer weapons, and not some strange perversion of which I was not yer aware.
The boffers I’ve used are just the PVC insulation, bound together with duct tape. Leaving the actual pipe in it is good for realism (particularly when you’re mucking around in two-handed sword or quarterstaff territory), but the times I’ve used them it’s always been with kids under 12. With the insulation alone you get a stable enough weapon to hold its shape, but the 6-year-old who wanders into the fray won’t get knocked on his or her delicate backside.
Actually, I have and rather nicely. I was at an SCA 12th night celebration where they had a boffers tourney. I was a novice fencer, and the rules were anyone who was an authorized fencer could only use their off-hand. Since I hadn’t authorized yet, I wasn’t under that restriction. In the first round, I managed to kill my opponent. The second round, smarts took over, and, instead of killing my opponent, who was an authorized fighter, I simply sniped and took out the only hand he could use to use a weapon.
Ahhh, memories!
CJ