I am in the process of trying to come up with a routine using a billet force for S.C.A. medieval events.

My first thought was to have people write down their favorite medieval weapon on a small piece of paper, fold them and drop them in a box. Then I choose a spectator to come up and select one of the slips from the box. I can then take them on an imaginary trip to the armorer and end up selecting the weapon for them that is on the slip they took from the box. I think that there is enough chance that my force item would be one that someone in the audience had selected so that if they all compare notes they won't recognize the force. I will probably just use an Amazebox for the billets.

Anyone have any other ideas for a medieval theme billet force routine?

-Max

As with any routine that depends on forcing information, there are some questions. How large is your audience? My local SCA is under 40 people and events tend to be 25-30 on average. I would avoid what you describe at such an event for fear of too many people asking who wrote down the glaive.

That said, if you have a large enough audience, you can do all sorts of things. Favorite heresies or sins, if you want to do an act based on the Inquisition. Favorite historical kings, favorite SCA kings, favorite elements of a heraldic device. If you were to have 3 colors of paper, you could do a crowd-designed device with a charge, a color, and a background. Or whatever seems best to you. Your helper removes a white, a yellow, and a green paper to show the selections and you can reveal the predicted device on the back of a chair or magically produced from a small container (silk painting lets you put it on something that would fit in a Palmo). Tell the audience to be creative, but keep it medieval.

I actually thought out a performance (never put it together) that was to be all about the place of the Church in the middle ages. Indulgences, a chain escape, a wrist chopper, and one or two other things that I can't remember right now. The SCA provides a fun range of potential silliness and social commentary in magic. Maybe I will have time to get involved again this summer.

-Patrick

Or just a device submission form with a blue chipmunk rampant on a field of argent gyrony or whatever your target is. Have it already in the hands of a herald who will be asked to open the sealed, signed envelope after an audience member assembles the different suggestions.

Patrick

Great suggestions guys, thanks. I would only perform this at feast events which are never under 100 people.

-Max

At feast events I can go from table to table to get slips filled out so that they are quite spread out around the room.

Also my thought of using the favorite period weapon is that if I force something common like the Bow, Sword, or Axe there is bound to be someone who actually wrote that on their slip. I can have fun on the imaginary trip to the Armor shop. Say walking up to the Bow and say that the Bow doesn't feel right for them, because it takes so many years of practice and they don't look like they have that level of commitment and so on, bringing in some comedy elements.

-Max

Sounds like you already have a presentation in mind, then. Have fun with it!

With that many people, I would think the unusual would get more attention than bows, swords, and axes. It would not be all that odd a thing to assume that a person would write bow for favorite weapon. On the other hand, you know at least two people will write "holy handgrenade of Antioch." Just sayin'.

-Patrick