Release Date: April 2020
Credits: Written by Kieran Melroe, with major contributions from Chris Dippon, Luke Goodman, Buddy Matthias, Keegan Phillips, Ryan Rutledge, Brett Screechfield, and John Seung.
Credits: Written by Kieran Melroe, with major contributions from Chris Dippon, Luke Goodman, Buddy Matthias, Keegan Phillips, Ryan Rutledge, Brett Screechfield, and John Seung.
Major Changes:
• All rules are on one web page - formatted for smartphones.
• Homemade boffers now have clearly written construction safety requirements.
• Expansion of the Non-Negotiables section.
• Creation of "Heavy Projectile" category, as an intermediary between regular darts and bazookas.
• Bazookas destroy anything, not just shields.
• Shields once again require padding on their edges.
• Banned: Stabbing with non-homemade boffer weapons (had been unofficially banned already).
• Banned: FVJ darts (they had been unofficially banned already).
• Banned: realistic paint-jobs (they had been unofficially banned already).
• FPS-limits are now set by the gametype being played, instead of globally (we had been unofficially doing this already).
• All rules are on one web page - formatted for smartphones.
• Homemade boffers now have clearly written construction safety requirements.
• Expansion of the Non-Negotiables section.
• Creation of "Heavy Projectile" category, as an intermediary between regular darts and bazookas.
• Bazookas destroy anything, not just shields.
• Shields once again require padding on their edges.
• Banned: Stabbing with non-homemade boffer weapons (had been unofficially banned already).
• Banned: FVJ darts (they had been unofficially banned already).
• Banned: realistic paint-jobs (they had been unofficially banned already).
• FPS-limits are now set by the gametype being played, instead of globally (we had been unofficially doing this already).
Philosophy Behind The Bazooka-Rules Changes:
Problem: In v3.0: bazookas only destroyed shields, but not melee weapons. Plus, hits from-a-dart–>to-a-weapon didn't count. These created a perverse incentive for players to create massively-large anime-esque weapons, which were effectively indestructible shields. So in 2018, we added an 8-inch width-limitation on melee weapons, which was not ideal because we were needlessly penalizing player creativity to balance something that ultimately was caused by bad game design.
Change: v4.0 fixes this: Bazookas now destroy anything, while the new "Heavy Projectiles" count as a hit when they hit anything. This change de-incentivizes the creation of needlessly large melee weapons and shield-like blasters, without putting arbitrary limits on player creativity.
Problem: In v3.0: bazookas only destroyed shields, but not melee weapons. Plus, hits from-a-dart–>to-a-weapon didn't count. These created a perverse incentive for players to create massively-large anime-esque weapons, which were effectively indestructible shields. So in 2018, we added an 8-inch width-limitation on melee weapons, which was not ideal because we were needlessly penalizing player creativity to balance something that ultimately was caused by bad game design.
Change: v4.0 fixes this: Bazookas now destroy anything, while the new "Heavy Projectiles" count as a hit when they hit anything. This change de-incentivizes the creation of needlessly large melee weapons and shield-like blasters, without putting arbitrary limits on player creativity.
Philosophy Behind "Heavy Projectiles"
>> Cross-gaming will always be an important part of our nerf wars...
Problem: Culturally speaking, players from boffer-larps and nerf-larps tend to expect that weapon-hits don't count, while players with backgrounds in airsoft and paintball typically expect weapon-hits do count! We needed a way to make all players happy.
Also: Due to player suggestion, in 2018 we had unofficially implemented a system where only mega-darts would "penetrate" shields (but not weapons).
v4.0 Improvement: A 3rd projectile classification: "Heavy Projectile" has been implemented. This solves several game-design challenges at once: It eliminates the need to limit weapon-sizes; it provides a weapon-hits-count standard for larger darts; while also preserving the longstanding nerf tradition of blaster hits not counting. It also provides an easy and affordable way for all players to deal with shields without having to purchase rare/expensive bazooka launchers.
>> Cross-gaming will always be an important part of our nerf wars...
Problem: Culturally speaking, players from boffer-larps and nerf-larps tend to expect that weapon-hits don't count, while players with backgrounds in airsoft and paintball typically expect weapon-hits do count! We needed a way to make all players happy.
Also: Due to player suggestion, in 2018 we had unofficially implemented a system where only mega-darts would "penetrate" shields (but not weapons).
v4.0 Improvement: A 3rd projectile classification: "Heavy Projectile" has been implemented. This solves several game-design challenges at once: It eliminates the need to limit weapon-sizes; it provides a weapon-hits-count standard for larger darts; while also preserving the longstanding nerf tradition of blaster hits not counting. It also provides an easy and affordable way for all players to deal with shields without having to purchase rare/expensive bazooka launchers.
A Shift of Game-Design Perspective:
A major change between v3 and v4 is one of perspective. In v3, combat interactions were governed by both weapon and projectile definitions. In v4: combat interactions are governed solely by projectile definitions. As such, the rules no longer functionally distinguish between shields, blasters, or boffers.
All weapons/shields interact the same way when hit-by-projectiles:
• all weapons/shields block darts;
• all weapon-hits and shield-hits count from Heavy Projectiles;
• and Bazookas destroy anything they hit.
Similarly: while v3 had described what blasters counted as "Bazookas" (necessitating two supplemental rules documents! - now obsolete) v4 simply defines what projectiles count as "Bazookas" (or "Heavy Projectiles").
These little changes massively reduce the word-counts of those sections of the rules, and thus reduces the time it takes us to explain the rules at events.
A major change between v3 and v4 is one of perspective. In v3, combat interactions were governed by both weapon and projectile definitions. In v4: combat interactions are governed solely by projectile definitions. As such, the rules no longer functionally distinguish between shields, blasters, or boffers.
All weapons/shields interact the same way when hit-by-projectiles:
• all weapons/shields block darts;
• all weapon-hits and shield-hits count from Heavy Projectiles;
• and Bazookas destroy anything they hit.
Similarly: while v3 had described what blasters counted as "Bazookas" (necessitating two supplemental rules documents! - now obsolete) v4 simply defines what projectiles count as "Bazookas" (or "Heavy Projectiles").
These little changes massively reduce the word-counts of those sections of the rules, and thus reduces the time it takes us to explain the rules at events.
We hope you enjoy gaming with us under the new and improved rules. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please ask on facebook or contact us here. Qapla'!