Foam Weapon Bonus

Updated: August 1, 2014

Version: 1.1

Authors: Jason Mote and Jerry Boyd

Effective Dates: August 1, 2014 through December 31, 2015. This is an optional playtest for Local NERO Chapters and is not mandatory.

Forward: This playtest is an attempt to incentivize better looking weapons and costuming. Latex and Plastidip weapons have already been in use prior to this playtest. NERO has been asking players and staff to go to the “next level” of theatrical costuming for many years. This playtest alone will not address this, but it will hopefully start to drive movement forward.

Objective: Latex weapons are great looking visual representations of weapons and help to add additional quality to a player’s costuming. Coupled with a player’s costume, the result is an overall increase in the game atmosphere for all players and deeper immersion in the game.

Requirements: Players are required to be in full costume before they may benefit from the playtest. The costume must be good enough to
be awarded the Costume Bonus (NERO Rulebook 9th Ed. pp. 105-106). Simply owning a Latex or Plaistdip weapon is not sufficient to get the weapon bonus.

Summary: Latex weapons gain a costume bonus, similar to the costume bonus afforded for armor points. The Weapon Costume
Bonus increases the base damage of the weapon. The increase in damage is determined by the weapon type:

  • Small Weapons & Throwing Daggers : +1 Base damage (base 2 instead of base 1)
  • Short/Long One-Handed Weapons & Staff : +1 Base damage (base 3 instead of base 2)
  • Bow/Crossbow : +2 Base damage is applied to the Arrow (base 5 instead of base 3)
  • Two-Handed Weapons : +2 Base damage (base 5 instead of base 3)

All manufactured Latex Weapons must conform to TOTAL LENGTH requirements as listed on Table 7-7 of the NERO Rulebook 9th Ed. (p. 108). All weapons must be approved and pass the safety inspection at each event where they are used.

Plastidip Inclusion: Players may also choose to construct Plastidip sculpted style weapons. These weapons must meet the following conditions
to qualify in this playtest:

  • Must follow the NERO rules for Weapon Construction (NERO Rulebook 9th Ed pp. 107-109)
  • High Quality and good construction
  • Must look great and be in-period
  • Must follow all weapon safety rules

Exclusions: “Boffer” style weapons are excluded from this playtest. This includes any weapon constructed with duct tape or kite tape, “ultra-light” boffer weapons, as well as “Flatblade” boffer weapons. Javelins are also excluded from this playtest. There are no known safe Javelins crafted of Latex or Plastidip.

Playtest Challenges: A list of “NERO Approved Latex Weapons” is currently under development. In addition, a policy which outlines the standard methods for how to construct NERO safe P lastidip weapons is currently under development.