By Erik Hopkins, staff reporter.
For most students, Saturday afternoons are usually an attempt to sleep in late, lounge around the house and do absolutely nothing. But for some Delta students and alumni, Saturday afternoons consist of medieval fashion, realms, and a little thing called Dagorhir, better known as Dag.
Dag is a real life battle game that includes full-contact melee fighting and ranged combat. Dag is not to be confused with larping, or live action roleplaying. In the world of Dag, clothes are known as garb, players are dubbed with new names and are fully equipped with a pair of do-it-yourself weapons like rocks, swords, shields, and more.
“It’s not as nerdy as that movie makes it out to be,” says group leader Sky Freeman. He’s talking about the movie Role Models, where one of the characters is a part of an extremely geeky live action roleplaying group.
“This is closer to combat. It’s like paintball, but Medieval,” says Freeman.
Freeman is one of three leaders of the Midland Dag group, or realm, Eryndor. Included are Dakoda Manning and a man who prefers to only be identified by his Dag name, Nekrosis. Overtime, these three guys took over leadership positions of the realm that debuted in 2006. Currently, there are up to 20 members in Midland’s Dag realm and Freeman says they’re absolutely open to the idea of new members joining in.
According to Dagorhir’s official website, there is a whole “Manual of Arms” that gives players a detailed overview of what entails if they choose to participate in the world of Dag. It includes an overview of the basic rules, the weapons, armor and the way the combat works inside the game.
Delta student Caity Keidel has been participating for over a year. “I think my favorite thing is the community. It’s just a big family,” says Keidel.
She also mentions that she loves the creativity of it. “You get to create your own character, it’s awesome.” Players usually end up hand making their garb and their weapons, however some opt to order their gear from the Internet.
“People don’t usually know how to react to a giant guy aggressively skipping at them with foam weapons,” says group member Anthony Hardy before Sky Freeman jumps in, “But it’s fun. And people see that. You get to meet random people who come up and talk to you to ask about what you’re doing,” says Freeman.
Eryndor meets every Tuesday and Saturday in Downtown Midland at the Tridge and battles from early spring until winter.