I was at a Medieval Time Festival recently. Unlike LARPS, I think these festivals are fun for the whole family. It was amazing to see armor handmade that is identical to EQ and also swords being used, and wood ones sold, including Scimitars and many others used in EQ.
The folks there explain the history of Silk, Swords, and Armor in Medieval times and also the progression of armor, and you also see how the helmets are the same as EQ.
They even gave kids a chance to use 2 hand blunt weapons and fight with Knights in full armor, of course the Knights took a dive everytime.
I think if you are really into EQ, and not just the video game aspect of it, you can learn a lot about the history and see it first hand at these events.
They also are not geeky, just family oriented.
I spoke to a few Knights and I think they belong to some society or club and this is there hobby. They also make the armor themselves
So if you have one near you, I think you and your family would enjoy it.

Everquest - The Druids Grove - Off Topic forum (http://eq.forums.thedruidsgrove.org/forumdisplay.php?f=6)

Well, not Medieval times, but I used to go to Ren faire's. Heh! There's a rather humourous picture of me and a pickle vendor I should post sometime.

I was at a Medieval Time Festival recently. Unlike LARPS, I think these festivals are fun for the whole family. It was amazing to see armor handmade that is identical to EQ and also swords being used, and wood ones sold, including Scimitars and many others used in EQ.
The folks there explain the history of Silk, Swords, and Armor in Medieval times and also the progression of armor, and you also see how the helmets are the same as EQ.
They even gave kids a chance to use 2 hand blunt weapons and fight with Knights in full armor, of course the Knights took a dive everytime.
I think if you are really into EQ, and not just the video game aspect of it, you can learn a lot about the history and see it first hand at these events.
They also are not geeky, just family oriented.
I spoke to a few Knights and I think they belong to some society or club and this is there hobby. They also make the armor themselves
So if you have one near you, I think you and your family would enjoy it.
There are Ren Fairs all over the country. Here in Boston, we have The King Richard's Faire, which runs from Labor Day to Columbus Day. They are generally pretty fun, but expensive. Up here, I know several people through the SCA (Society for Creative Anacronist SCA.ORG) that work there.

If you ever want to see REAL armor and weapons from that era go to Paris. There is an armory there that has an incredible collection of suits of armor, cannons, weapons, etc from lots of different eras. The thing that struck me was how SMALL those suits of armor were for the most part. People were wee back in those days.

They even made suits of armor and swords for their kids (well, the nobles and kings did anyway).

*grin* Actually I think just about anywhere you go in Europe with a museum or historical site has suits of armor. Kind of like seeing various military uniforms here in the US museums.

I always felt sorry for the poor horses. :(

There is a museum in Vienna with numerous floors of medieval armor and weapons. You're right Pan, those suits are tiny. Hobbit warriors of the Middle Ages.

If you ever want to see REAL armor and weapons from that era go to Paris. There is an armory there that has an incredible collection of suits of armor, cannons, weapons, etc from lots of different eras. The thing that struck me was how SMALL those suits of armor were for the most part. People were wee back in those days.

They even made suits of armor and swords for their kids (well, the nobles and kings did anyway).

Or you can skip the French and go visit the fine collections at The Museum of Fine Art www.mfa.org and the Higgin's Armory www.higgins.org.

I still suggest seeing it in person, you get a much better prespective of the size differences.

Oh yes, London Tower has one too, I believe.

The royal armouries were moved from the Tower of London to the Leeds armouries. Still an excellent display though. They've one wonderful display of armour, mostly from the civil war, which runs up the height of the building inside an open staircase. All the armour looks too small for modern men whilst the weapons still seem plenty big enough.

When I was in highschool, the senior trip was to go to the Medieval Times in Dallas. Half the seniors went during the fall semester and half went in the spring semester. Well, just my luck, Dallas has a horrible snow storm (that was a bad winter) and they have to reschedual it, and push it back to Februrary. Even more sucky for me. I was graduating in December because my family was moving. :curse: One of these days I'll get back there. :(

I did go to a Ren Fair near Houston when I was a lot younger with my family. I don't think I could really appreciate it as much as I would know when I was younger. I know they had some neat shows (jousting, jugglers, etc.) but I recall being pretty bored with the whole thing.

Now would be a different matter since a lot of that stuff is really interesting. No clue if they have anything like that near Dayton. I do hear a lot of commercials for tractor pulls and the like though...

I was working at an ISP during high school and one of the ladies there (I think she was a Admin Assistant - ie: secretary) was big into horses and actually participated and was very active in the group that did the Ren Faire jousts. Apparently the group doesn't think very highly of the Medieval Times organization. Supposedly they have a high number of animal injuries, and their riders only go through a barebones 6wk training course - on showmanship and riding, not really horse care. Plus most of their waiting staff are usually high (I had a friend who was into that stuff too, and he said MT was a good place to buy because there were always dealers.)

Kinda popped the mystique about MT for me. Plus their prices were stupidly high so that just cemented the fact that I didn't want to go.

Been to the Medieval Times in NJ...kind of sad to hear how they treat their animals and all, but friend wanted to go for her birthday. It was a good enough time, the food was good, but yes, the prices were high.

I usually hit the Ren Faire in Sterling Forest, NY and find that preferable. At least MT was close to Giants Stadium, which is my holy land.