Preparing For Last Chance.

[arontius]

.....This weekend is the Last Chance Marshallate Championships of Dragon's Laire. It'll be the last big camping / outdoor event of the year for myself and TBT. It's coming together, albeit with a few wobbles along the way. But it'll happen, Champions will be named, and we'll make it through the weekend. Oh, boy, though, is it going to be hot!

.....Still struggling with the Ceremonies for the Awards, as well as the Champions themselves. This past year we borrowed liberally from Cedric and Brighid's tenure. But their style doesn't really fit with ours very well. We've never been very comfortable with them. And we've not had the time to put together anything new and comprehensive of our own. Caius recently stepped up and put together a bunch of new Ceremonials, borrowing liberally from the Kingdom examples of the awards we plan on giving out. He's put a lot of work into them. We'll want to expand on them, and polish them a bit. But for Last Chance? Caius is our hero. At least we'll sound half-way decent.

.....Then sometime in the next three months we are determined to sit down and hammer out a complete set of Ceremonials that will be the foundation of the remainder of our time. Tsuruko, Caius and Gabrielle are already on board with getting together to do that.

.....One of the things that TBT and I struggled hard with was the concept of being a Baronial Champion itself. During the tenure of Cedric and Brighid, it was their desire that the Championship itself was THE prize of the competition, that people would strive to want to have this title and that it would be the deciding factor in persuading people to want to enter the competition.

.....I actually agreed with that concept and supported it whole-heartedly. And I still agree with the concept as it fulfills the part of me that subscribes to the Arthurian Romance of the SCA game we play. That people would not put forth their effort for a 'thing'. They would put forth their best effort in the noble pursuit of being the Champion of the Barony.

.....The struggle itself though comes from past history, as well as the desires expressed by a number of combatants with whom TBT and I have spoken. The very first event I shepherded solo was a Candlemas. At that time the Rapier Championship of Dragon's Laire was fought at Candlemas each year. At that event the Barony purchased a nice sword that was given as a prize to the person who 'won' the Championship itself. The sword was made by Jess of Prose and Steel. He charged us somewhere between $150 and $200.

.....I cannot remember how many combatants we had at that Championship, but it was well over twenty. The Championship lasted from 10AM into the mid-afternoon, non-stop.

.....This was my standard since that time of what a 'popular' Championship would look like.

.....Recently, we started asking the question of what it would take to bring in more fighters to the various Championships in the Barony and we were surprised at the number of people who told us that a 'spiffy' prize would bring in more people. Even though I was personally of the opinion that people should compete to want to be the Champion itself, we tried thinking to ourselves, 'What is going to benefit the Barony most, more fighters (with their associated experience, knowledge and sheer numbers) or a strong moral position (that being a 'Champion' of the Barony should be worthy)'.

.....So, we're going to experiment over the next couple of years. TBT and I asked the Finance Committee to budget up to $50 for a prize for each Marshallate at Last Chance. This is not much really. But it is a start. We'll see where it goes. I was actually a little embarrassed to ask for it to be honest, simply because my own opinion has been wrapped around the 'Champion' concept for so long.

.....I'm somewhat curious to know if there is a price tag to how much a Championship is worth. Is $50 (or the equivalent in 'stuff') enough to lure some people into competition? If not, what would be? That thought will impact future bottom lines to events of course, and prizes will have to be budgeted into Financial Estimates. We'll have to consider that aspect soon in order to support Candlemas. I'm glad that Yule doesn't have a competition this year. :-)

.....Talon put forth a compromise this week that I really like, based somewhat and expanded from a proposal first mentioned by Sir Fiach. That being a two-pronged Tournament. If I'm understanding it correctly, it goes something like this. People coming to Last Chance could declare for either the Championship or for the Tourney itself. If they won the Tourney, they would get the prize. If they won the Championship, they would gain the title of Champion. But all would enter the same lists. It is a rather good compromise. There are a number of people who do not want to enter this type of competition simply because they felt they did not have the time to perform the duties of a Champion. With this compromise we still gain the benefit of their experience, and more fighters in the list. This may be the way forward. We'll see how it works this weekend.

.....Although it'll be hard to use this event as a gauge seeing as we didn't have much advertising as to having a 'prize'.

.....I'm also curious to see if a prize is a motivation to those who would enter the competitions for Arts and Sciences, Bardic and Scholar in February.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

Comments

[angharadalbanes.livejournal.com]

I think you've come up with a good compromise. I can't help wondering, though, if one day of gaining from "... the benefit of their experience..." is truly worth the expense. On the other hand, those who only compete in the hopes of notching another championship on their belts aren't benefiting us beyond the day either - but at least we aren't paying for the privilege. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. :-)