by John "Gordon" Rescigno
Food, Fun, and Friends were in plenty at Tournaments of the Branch! This is the second time this event has been held, and I was very sad to not make it to the first one from what many people told me last time. I had heard it was a family-friendly event, and I was very glad to bring the baby to her first event even though she didn’t compete in any tournaments. Maybe next year.
This was my first time at the Camelot site, and I was really impressed. Everything was nice and close together, and the elevator made bringing a baby plus an entire camp setup a breeze! Phee had set up a delicious spread of food of sweet, savory, and spicy foods for people to try! I’m not one for spice, but CC tells me that the “radish kimchi and the spicy cucumber salad were delicious!”
The tournaments were split between Knights and Unbelted divisions, which I had never encountered before, but I think it was a great idea that allowed for a more even competition. The combat tournaments featured your standard spread plus a couple of fantastic roleplay-heavy additions like English Longsword (but I think that was just something the Knights agreed on doing) and Epic Swings Great Weapon, where you were judged on style, and dying was the tiebreaker. This ended up being a fantastic display of showmanship and roleplay from all the competitors, with voluntary and immersive physical roleplay abound.
The non-combat tournaments looked great, though I only participated peripherally in the Wealth Reallocation tournament, and in Vesper’s Shoot House, which I want to take another crack at as soon as possible.
I got to go to an event with my family and see more of my family. I wish more people had been able to attend, because this kind of event would only benefit from future growth and members of our community that enjoy getting together, eating, drinking, fighting, and being merry together. If you couldn’t make it this year, please come next year. I’ll see you there.
- Overall Champion
- Knights: Grindin
- Unbelted: Bogen
- Best Encampment: Northern Alliance
- Best (and most consistent) Herald: Tao
- Calligraphy
- Knights: Grindin
- Unbelted: Irri
- Chronicling
- Unbelted: Omri
- Engineering
- Knights: Temorse
- Unbelted: Bogen
- Horseback Archery
- Knights: Grindin
- Unbelted (tie): Margaret & Garen
- Property Reallocation
- Knights: Grindin
- Unbelted: Omri
- Spell Verbal Writing
- Knights: Kaelkatar
- Unbelted: Margaret
- Tactics
- Knights: Kaelkatar
- Unbelted: Garen
- Any Weapon
- Knights: Grindin
- Unbelted: Griffin
- Combat Archery
- Knights: Kaelkatar
- Unbelted: Margaret
- Combat Spellcasting
- Knights: Grindin
- Unbelted: Irri
- Epic Great Weapon
- Knights: Tao
- Unbelted: Ryu
- Florentine
- Knights: Temorse
- Unbelted: Bogen
- Grand Melee
- Knights: Tao
- Unbelted: Griffin
- Knights and Squires
- Tao & Griffin
- Longsword
- Knights: Tao
- Unbelted: Bogen
- Support Spellcasting
- Knights: Grindin
- Unbelted: Irri
- Sword and Shield
- Knights: Temorse
- Unbelted: Fern
- Vesper's Shooting House
- Knights: Grindin
- Unbelted: Garen