Ross Varn

As event coordinator for Lindenwood University HVZ in St. Charles, MO, I have been seeing a recent upswing in players traveling to each other's games in Missouri. In my opinion, that's awesome. So, to that end, I'm collecting information on Nerf groups within 200 miles of St. Louis, Missouri. I know that leaves a lot of people out, but it's what we need to focus on locally.

This is not meant to be a constantly updated map of Nerf events in the Midwest- I wouldn't be able to keep up with that. Instead, I want it to serve as a contact point for collaboration with other groups in the area.

State of the map before I start adding folks:

[full size google map, with navigation]


If you would like your group to be added to this map, I'd like for it to meet these criteria:

• Regularly scheduled events (this includes semesterly games of HVZ)
• Webpage (website, Meetup, Facebook group, etc.)
• Open to new members
• Within the area of interest for the map (I'll give you a little bit of wiggle room if you're a couple of miles outside of the map, but this is about the most effective size we can keep track of.)

If your group achieves those points, go ahead and post the info for it below, and I'll add it to the map. Hopefully this will lead to new and awesome things for our community. Feel free to hit me up for any information on this, even if you aren't in the Midwest.

Jeez. I'm not even going to say anything on how aggressive you guys are to newcomers, because I know that's necessary in some instances. Anyways. Introductions.

The name's Ross, and I'm one of those people who would rather play than organize games, although he's usually stuck as the organizer because nobody else ever bloody does anything. Having just moved to town, I haven't seen anything concerning Nerf or it's ilk in the area of Charleston, South Carolina, although I heard about one of the high schools running a game of HvZ. As such, I'm going to try my hand at the organization and running of a simple War this month, having a small ~10 HvZ game previously in my old town.

Throw the book at me.

Current plans are to run it in a few weeks, as a three game, without previous permission from the park. Should I get permission? Is that just opening a can of worms that I don't want to deal with?

The kit will be bright blasters, with a ~100 to ~200 dart count. I'll be bringing tape and markers to mark blasters, seeing that I don't expect very many people to show up.

Gamemodes- damn, I don't even know where to start, although half an hour of brainstorming would probably net some entertaining scenarios. What should I aim for here? Are there any conventional gamemodes that aren't CTF or Team Deathmatch?

In any case, I've got a moving box full of nerf darts and an itch to use them, and now I've got the place and ambition to do it. Drop any tips or tricks, advice and recommendations, that you want to my way. This will hopefully be the start to a glorious run of wars. And possibly games that aren't exactly wars, perhaps more... simulation. Not milsim, no... post-apoc settings don't exactly lend themselves to military getups, eh?

Thanks, guys. And hello, by the way.