About the Forge

I larp. I like making things. 

Add the two together & a questionable idea was born!

More accurately Heretik Forge came about from me putting my money where my mouth is following a discussion online. 

My earliest Larp games were Sci-Fi, using the (very) old Worlds of Wonder Lazertag system and equipment based on that system for ranged combat. 

Old WoW Lazertag gear

As the years have gone on, those that made the equipment have moved on, leaving that a very shrinking community – This was brought home to me in quite an obvious way after getting back into Larp in general after a hobby break caused by Real-Life™

I’d been tinkering around, making & repairing the occasional larp weapon, when while sorting out booking to play a Quatermass legacy game ran by Starlore Adventures I agreed to help run the next game. As often happens, one game turned into 2… into 3… etc.

Late 2017 it was decided that we would try running a game that anyone could come along to, as previously it had generally been the same, small community.

This game would be based on Babylon 5. 

The drawback? 

We needed kit. 

A LOT of kit as a lot of the existing community had their own kit, but as well as advertising to the wider larp audience, we wanted a very specific feel to the game and equipment as a lot of the community’s kit was based around airsoft weapon bodies with the electronics built in, which led to a lot of games looking.. well.. not very Sci-fi.

We were going to build PPG’s for people to use.

Looks easy right??

Or as close to it as we could get given the available resources.

While there was information available for making the electronics, it was fairly old having been mostly written in the early nineties, and information on newer iterations of the tech was not easily available. 

So, I also decided that I’d bring as much information as could be found together, as well as essentially re-invent the wheel as information was not hugely forthcoming. 

Additionally I figured I would try and put it in as simple a form as possible, so that anyone who wants to make the equipment – either to bring along to a game, or to make a load to run their own game could do so.

Hoo boy, did I not realize just how big a task I’d set myself.

It helped that I’d been dabbling in microprocessors, using the very user friendly PicAXE processor for Ghostbusters cosplay props– which, while not the most powerful processors available were originally intended for education and teaching, which made them VERY easy to learn with and there is a very strong user community as well for help.

I made dis!

It’s has been quite a journey so far, relearning and learning a lot of things about the electronics.

And now with the initial PPG circuits about to swing into full production for the game in 2019 and the sensors to register the hits prototyped, and almost ready for actual field-testingI felt it was time to start putting the information out there.