1. Spirit of the fight
These are not real swords. A foam or latex weapon is a fiberglass or carbon-fiber rod wrapped in soft material. The rod is the dangerous part — treat it like you would any rigid core that can bruise or worse if you drive through.
Your opponent's safety comes first. If choosing not to land a blow keeps them safe, take that choice — even if it means you lose the exchange. Consent and control are part of the game.
2. How to strike
2.1. Pull the blow
On impact, bounce off. Pull the blow before the strike so foam compresses without driving the rod into bone. A full swing-through that compresses foam to the core is how people get hurt.
You can put energy into the motion and still role-play a hard attack — the goal at contact is still a controlled bounce, not injury.
2.2. Practice on yourself
Before you fight others, practice striking your own leg with light bounces. If you are hurting yourself, you are going too hard.
2.3. Lightest touch
Coyote Combat is a lightest-touch LARP. The lightest clean contact counts as a hit — including a soft graze on armor. "It didn't hit hard enough" is never a reason to ignore a hit.
Experienced fighters often aim for soft contact on purpose. That is skill and courtesy, not a grazing miss. This is not an ego battle.
Light touch also lets you chain blows — bounce off one location into another — as long as every strike stays controlled.
2.4. Controlled and measured
Know your distance and stay in full control of the weapon before you strike. If you cannot stop the blow or guarantee a safe target, do not throw it. Wild, uncontrolled swings are not allowed.
3. Thrusting
Thrusts are allowed only with weapons approved for thrusting. Marshals decide approval at inspection based on construction and manufacturer guidance — do not assume every foam weapon is thrust-safe. Ask staff if you are unsure.
A thrust drives the rod straight at your opponent. Use lightest touch only — no power. The moment you feel impact coming, pull away. Confirm contact; do not punch through.
4. Hit locations
Legal locations by default: left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, and torso. Headshots are illegal unless your opponent is wearing a full metal helmet.
4.1. Head and forbidden zones
Do not strike the head. Face, neck, and any part of the head are no-hit zones when the opponent has no full metal helmet. Those hits never count, and you must not target them.
- Exception — full metal helmet only: if your opponent is wearing a complete metal helmet (real metal, not plastic or foam that looks like metal), controlled strikes to the helmeted head are legal and use the head's armor points. Never thrust to the head. Soft, padded, leather, or costume helms do not unlock headshots.
- If you strike the head of an opponent without a full metal helmet — even by accident — you are defeated. Apologize, consider yourself out, and leave the fight.
4.2. What a hit does
- Torso (when that location is out of points), or a legal helmeted-head hit that exhausts the head's points: you are defeated for that fight. Collapse or clear the field per the skirmish rules — wait for a healer, or flip your weapon and walk to respawn.
- Arm: that arm is disabled. The weapon must drop to the ground before you pick it up with the other hand. You are not a ninja — you may not toss the weapon to your free hand without it hitting the ground.
- One leg: drop to one knee. You may still fight and may pivot/rotate on the live leg.
- Second leg: both knees down. You can no longer pivot to track someone circling behind you.
A strike to an already-disabled limb transfers to the torso. Dead limbs are not shields.
If you are legged and prefer not to kneel (bad ground, injury, comfort), you may take a death instead and leave the fight.
5. Armor points
Bare locations start at one hit. Armor adds extra hits on the covered location. Accuracy matters — a strike that finds a gap or lands under a plate bypasses armor and counts as a hit to the body underneath.
| Armor | Extra hits | Total on location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unarmored | — | 1 | Base hit to that location |
| Soft armor | +1 | 2 | Padded gambeson, soft leather |
| Medium hard | +2 | 3 | Chain, hard leather, rigid plastic plate |
| Metal plate | +3 | 4 | Real metal plate on that location |
| Full metal helmet | +3 | 4 | Unlocks legal headshots; costume/plastic helms do not |
Armor is marked for the day (wristband or marshal mark) — not memory. Design coverage carefully; gaps get exploited. Shields are indestructible. Anything short of a full metal helm leaves the head illegal to strike.
6. Calling your own hits
You adjudicate your own hits. Your opponent does not get to argue you into the ground mid-fight. If you honestly believe a contact was not a legal hit (for example a pure glance with no real contact), you may decline that one — but never because "it wasn't hard enough."
Keep the fight moving. If someone is not taking hits, keep fighting them cleanly rather than stopping to argue. You may not know their armor count.
Repeated "ego armor" — refusing clear hits — gets reported to a marshal. Marshals will watch that fighter and enforce fair play. Disputes wait until the field clears; they are not settled mid-clash.
Golden rule: if you cannot tell whether a hit landed clean, call it against yourself.
7. Death, healers, and respawn
Skirmish briefings set the exact death loop (collapse in place, healer, Refuge hold, respawn point). Once you begin walking to respawn, you are out of play — you cannot stop halfway to receive a heal. Finish the walk to the marked respawn or Refuge.
For gathering-day structure — preliminary skirmishes, Grand Mêlée, capture tokens, and Refuge timers — see How gathering day runs.
8. Combat archery
Archery is allowed when equipment passes inspection.
- No shots inside 10 feet. Inside that range, break contact or run — do not loose.
- No volleys. Pick a target and know where the shot will land.
- Arrow hits to the head do not count — even against a full metal helmet. Aim torso and limbs — roughly nipples-down — and avoid the head and neck.
9. Weapons and inspection
Every weapon and piece of armor is checked at check-in. No inspection mark, no field. Loaners and rentals go through the same line.
Weapon-specific limits (for example long spears used for thrust only, two-hander handling) are confirmed at inspection and in the morning briefing. Read the rules for the weapons you plan to bring, and ask a marshal before the draft if anything is unclear.
Questions? Join Discord or email info@coyoteforce.com. Event page: Coyote Combat LARP.