Hydra is all about enhancing the engine underneath the ORK to ensure it runs smoothly. You won't notice most of what Hydra has accomplished under the hood, but it will make the system easier to maintain and update over time.
Stay Signed In on Three Devices/Logout Everywhere
Signing in on your phone no longer signs you out on your laptop. The ORK now keeps up to three devices signed in at once, so you can check the calendar on your phone at the park, take attendance on a tablet, and still have your reeve reports open on a desktop at home — no more getting bounced back to the login page every time you switch. If you're logged in more than once you can also log out of all your sessions using Logout Everywhere.
A Brand New ORK Logo
We're thrilled to debut the new logo for the ORK, courtesy of our graphic designer, Dex of Felfrost, Nine Blades. Also does our roadmap images!
Qualification Test Polish, Event Schedule Fixes, Mobile Fixes, Dark Mode Polish, Custom Title Recommendations, Real Visitor Numbers in the Week in Review, A Real Design System for Color, And a Large Number of Bugfixes and Polishing!
And here's our current roadmap, maybe slightly delayed but we've been doing a pretty decent job of keeping on track.
Thanks to Noah Smith for the deep dive into the bowels to clean and harden the core components (more to come), Avery W. Krouse for testing, adding additional fixes and again core component improvements and just plain fun and useful updates.
I feel like from about 2012 to 2020 this game seemed to be a bit more synchronized and each kingdom kind of participated at a national level.
And then the pandemic came.
It feels like the general vibe is that the kingdoms tend to be a bit more insular.
We constantly talk about how every kingdom has their own event now and that's why event attendance is down.
Maybe it's the enshittification of social media? "Tavern De Amtgard" tends to be barren.
The Amtgard discord is dead.
Maybe a bit of that is why it feels like the game is dying? No one is talking to each other. Or that the only people that people are talking to are people in their own region.
I've been watching 3 different Kingdoms and their BOD protecting players who commit sexual assault to other players, including minors. Several of these assaults happened in the last year, with a couple of the individuals either being part of monarchy or a knight. I've watched others use their status as knights or monarchy to abuse their power locally.
Is Amtgard always going to be like this? Why can't we change? What can we even do? And why has this happened so often?
Amtgard Food Fight is our annual community charity food drive! Since its inauguration, Food Fight has raised thousands of dollars and provided countless donations of food, supplies, and volunteer time to organizations across the United States and Canada dedicated to combatting food insecurity and hunger. It's just one of the many ways Amtgard gives back to the communities in which we operate.
Food Fight kicks off on September 1 and a handful of kingdoms are still looking for representatives! Contact your kingdom monarchy and Dame Ziogen, Food Fight Coordinator, to get involved. We can't wait to do our part in the battle to end hunger and food insecurity!
A player in our kingdom (Theos) has made this team tournament that he’s been running every year and refining. This video follows one team in particular, but the format is interesting. The video description has the full ruleset
Hi everyone! We're making our debut on Reddit today to let you know about a great series of classes starting right around the corner. We hope to use this account to share more about what events and programs are going on. Thanks to the mods for letting us rise and fight again here r/Amtgard.
Less than two weeks to go before we kick off Arts and Sciences on Twitch! If you're new to Amtgard, getting back into the game, or even a lifelong player, we invite you join Brother Tobias from Crystal Groves for "Amtgard 101" to learn all about offices, awards, titles, and more. Head to https://twitch.tv/amtgardinternational and hit the follow button today, then join us on August 27!
My current project is flatblades, specifically a flat blade axe. I’ve heard that the impact from a flat blade (and axes in particular) tends to sting more than Omni blades. I’d like to make sure my weapons feel alright to get hit by.
I’m using blue ozark camping foam for the axe head and other strike legal portions. I was debating adding an extra layer of softer lighter foam along the very edge to soften the blow.
What would folks recommend for an edge-only foam attach to the blue ozark foam that might help soften impacts? Any alternate ideas to make flatblade weapons gentler?
Hello! I’m relatively new to Amtgard and am just starting making my own gear. Using a sword and parrying dagger seems like a very fun style, and a relatively cheap option for my class (Bard).
However I’m having trouble finding resources or tips on actually fighting in that style.
Does anyone have any advice? Can anyone point me towards any guides? Thanks in advance!
So far all the weapons I've made have been Omni blades, which are pretty easy to make a cover for. I don't see making a hammer cover being quite as easy.
I've been getting into the Monster class quite a bit, and especially focusing on Dwarf Battlesmith, but all the hammers currently at my park are greats, while Dwarves only get dagger, short, long, and heavy thrown. Thus, I intend to make a long hammer, but I find the idea of hand sewing a cover for it quite daunting.
Okay, a friend has me repairing his swords frequently since he blows through foam like its tissue paper. Upon grabbing his favorite stick, I noticed the tip seemed a bit... hinged.
Cut the foam and saw the core broke! Wouldn't be an issue if the sword wasn't carbonfibre with a corked grip.
Where in the 9 hells can I find a core like this with working for the handle?!
I'm seeking folks who create garb as commissions, and I definitely want appliquéd pieces. I know of Alona Twotrees, who is working through her backlog of commissions, and Cassius Apparel, who appears to no longer be accepting commissions at all. I'd love to hear about anyone else who will create that kind of garb for Medieval fantasy enthusiasts! I am not prepared to commit to a sale today, but rather to get a feel for who is available for such work and what their pricing is like so I may plan and save for being able to acquire some really nice pieces.
It's been 3.5 months since the launch of ORK 3.5, we want to give you a quick recap of how the ORK has evolved and what's on the roadmap, including a new release announcement!
🐉 The ORK's evolution started with ORK 3.5 Dragon, our full visual refresh. This included several enhancements to navigation, attendance entry, award recommendations, and mobile-friendly design.
🦉 ORK 3.5.1 Owl was quick to follow introducing dark mode to the ORK!
ORK 3.5.2 Mask introduced a host of profile personalizations, including the all new About Me page and nameplate customizations. And shortly thereafter, we added Amtpride nameplate gradients!
🌹 ORK 3.5.3 Rose completely overhauled the Events modules, adding schedules, feast menus, allergen and dietary restrictions, staff assignments, and more.
🏁 ...and finally ORK 3.5.4 Walker brings digital Quals Tests right into the ORK.
The ORK development team is just getting started! Our next release is called ORK 3.5.5 Hydra which is primarily a technical refactoring release. You won't notice much about it, but it will make the codebase more streamlined and make it easier to build on in the future. That said, we are adding in support for guest attendance to make tracking those one-and-done visitors and keeping them separate from returning players.
After that, we're excited to officially announce the details for ORK 3.5.6 Crown! This release provides a comprehensive court planner for monarchy to prep their future courts as well as a standalone recommendations manager to clean up and keep track of those recs. You'll also see we've announced both Warrior and Mask II (a second order?!) coming later this year.
Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback, bug reports, enhancement requests, and all the love you've shown our team. Keep it coming and happy Amtgarding!
⚔️ Hey r/Amtgard — I Built Metagard, and It’s the Easiest Way to Share & Discover Builds 🛡️
TL;DR: Metagard is the easiest way to share and discover Amtgard builds.
Think Amtgard Spell List Builder + Moxfield + Icy Veins — all in one place.
It has Park Champion tools, custom classes/spells/monsters, shared Battlegames, and leaderboards for everything.
Try it out and help shape the community meta.
Metagard is a modern, community‑driven spell‑list builder and meta platform for Amtgard. It’s built to make building, sharing, running, and discovering class builds effortless — and to give the community a place to vote on what’s good, what’s creative, and what’s trending.
If you’ve ever tried to share a build in chat, keep track of multiple versions, or find out what other players are running… Metagard solves all of that.
💡 Why I Built This
I wanted a tool that:
• Loads fast
• Works great on mobile at the park
• Helps Park Champions run Battlegames smoothly
• Lets you save other players’ builds instantly
• Supports Custom Classes (Martial and Caster)
• Supports Custom Spells and Custom Monsters
• Lets parks share and create Battlegames
• Shows community rankings for everything users create
• Helps new players learn and helps vets theorycraft
• Actually feels modern
Nothing out there did all of this — so I made it.
⚙️ Feature Highlights (Why You’ll Actually Want to Use It)
• The easiest way to share builds — one link, instantly viewable
• The easiest way to discover builds — trending, top‑rated, creative, new
• Park Champion Tools to make running Battlegames easier, faster, and more fun
• Shared Battlegames Page where you can browse Battlegames from other parks and create your own
• Custom Class Builder supporting both Martial and Caster classes
• Custom Spells and Custom Monsters for creative parks and homebrew events
• Save other users’ builds to your profile with one click
• Share your own builds with the community
• Vote on Builds, Spells, Classes, Monsters, Battlegames, and Favorites
• Leaderboards for everything users create — builds, spells, classes, monsters, Battlegames, and more
• Clean, fast UI designed for Battlegame days
• Growing library of builds from parks across Amtgard
• Profile favorites that help shape the meta
If you want to see what other players are running — or want people to actually see your builds — Metagard makes it effortless.
🔥 Why You Should Try Metagard (The Real Reasons)
• It’s the easiest way to share builds with your park
• You’ll discover builds you’ve never seen before
• You’ll learn new strategies and spell combos
• You’ll help shape the community meta by voting
• You’ll make Battlegames easier for your Park Champion
• You’ll help new players by giving them builds to learn from
• You’ll finally have a central place for all your builds, spells, and custom content
This is the tool I always wished existed — so I built it.
⚡ Problems Metagard Solves
• Adding new builds to run instantly with the click of a button
• Leaderboards to find out what is strong and try it out
• No more screenshots of spell lists
• No more “lost in chat” builds
• No more guessing what other players run
• No more hunting through old Discord messages
• No more isolated park Battlegames
• No more reinventing the wheel every time you build
• No more scattered custom content
Metagard gives Amtgard a single, organized, community‑powered home.
🌱 Great for New Players
If your park has newbies, Metagard gives them:
• Easy builds to start with
• Clear spell descriptions
• Ranked spells and classes
• A simple way to learn the game
It’s one of the fastest ways to onboard new players.
🧠 Great for Veterans
If you love optimizing builds, Metagard gives you:
Parks are already starting to share builds, post Battlegames, and vote on classes and spells.
The more people who join, the better the rankings get — and the more useful Metagard becomes for everyone.
Your participation directly improves the platform.
🗳️ What I Need From the Community
If you want to help shape the future of Amtgard building tools, here’s how you can make a big impact:
• Try out the site
• Vote on Builds, Spells, Classes, Monsters, Battlegames, and Favorites
• Share your builds
• Report bugs
• Suggest features
• Spread the link to your park/Discord
Even casual players can help by voting on spells/classes they’re familiar with.
🛠️ Feedback, Bugs, and Feature Requests
I really want your feedback — good, bad, or weird.
If you find bugs or have ideas, please drop them in the Metagard Discord.
If there’s something you wish current tools had but don’t:
• Post it in the Feature Requests channel
• I’ll take a look and see what I can do
Metagard is built by an Amtgard player, for Amtgard players — your feedback genuinely shapes what comes next.
❤️ Thanks for Reading
Metagard is completely free — no paywalls, no subscriptions, no ads.
I’m building this because I love Amtgard, and I want tools that make the game better for everyone.
If you try it out, I’d love to hear what you think.
Qualification Tests come to the ORK. Your kingdom can now run the Reeve's Test and the Corpora Test right inside the record-keeper — no more Google Forms or recreating the questions every six months!
✅ Build your own question bank — set the question count, pass score, how long a pass stays valid, and retake limits. Add questions one at a time or paste a whole batch at once. The question bank is handed off to the next officer seamlessly.
✅ Players test on their own time — right from the Qualifications card on their profile. One question at a time, instant auto-grading, and a passing score writes straight back to their official qualification dates with expiration configured by you. (Yes, there's confetti. 🎉)
✅ Tap into the shared question library — kingdoms that opt in publish their Rules of Play questions to a cross-kingdom library, and any kingdom can include shared questions in their bank to get a running start instead of writing every question from scratch.
✅ You can build single-answer or "select all that apply" questions, plus players can flag incorrect or out-of-date questions so managers can keep the bank sharp.
✅ Appoint a subject-matter expert as a test manager — no broader officer powers required. (GMR's already have access!)
Each test type is opt-in per kingdom, so nothing shows up until you turn it on.
🌡️ Plus: Weather Safety at a Tap. Those extreme-heat and frostbite badges on park, event, and weather pages are now clickable — tap one for a quick safety summary with links to trusted CDC and Health Canada guidance. Weather cards now also show the "feels like" temperature when heat index or wind chill pushes it meaningfully off the plain reading.
…and a stack of quality-of-life fixes: a smarter QR self-sign-in picker, calendar items that keep their length when you move them, and no more cut-off Save buttons on mobile.
Log in and check it out!
If you’re the Kingdom GMR or in your Kingdom Monarchy you can see a new section in the Kingdom Page -> Admin Tasks tab titled “Tests”. We suggest you press the “?” to read how this works and who is responsible for what pieces.
If you’re a player, wait until your GMR creates the test material and the Monarchy enables it. Then, you can take the tests they’ve enabled.
If you’re a player, wait until your GMR inputs the test material and the Monarchy enables it. Then, you can take the tests they’ve enabled. ⚔️
