Where to begin

Wondering where to begin? Here's a few hints to get you started.

Who Do You Want to Be Today?

You might like to think about what you are interested in.

Interest Areas

Are you interested in:

• certain activities, like:
  • fighting?
  • cooking?
  • making armour?
  • making clothing
  • making swords or axess
  • woodworking
• a particular culture, such as:
  • Celts
  • Greeks
  • Normans
  • Saxons
  • Romans
  • Rus
  • Vikings
• a particular time, such as:
  • 5th century BC**4th century BC**3rd century BC**2nd century BC**1st century BC**1st century**2nd century**3rd century**4th century**5th century
  • 6th century
  • 7th century
  • 8th century**9th century**10th century**11th century**12th century**13th century**14th century**15th century**16th century**17th century**18th century**19th century**20th century
  • 5th century**5th century

Any of these reasons are good. You might choose a period basely on the fact you fancy the way you'd look in a doublet.

Alright, I've Chosen One of These Interests, What Now?

Well since you've decided one, it's time to decide the others. You may find that you will take up other aspects later on.

Ask Around

Here's where a little bit of research comes in. Look around, in books, online and talk to people about these different times (the category Starting Out at the bottom of this page may help here) and find out where you feel most at home. When listening to others, you will probably find that they will be very keen about their own period so they may seem to very persuasive, but in the end, you need to be comfortable with what your doing.

Waugh! These Guys Aren't Any Fun

If you want to be a Viking and the group you found only does Tudor court-like activities or is a World War II infantry unit, then you will need to seek out other recreationists who are more in tune with the way you think. They are out there. Sometimes they might not be very local, but sometimes that's just they way it is.