Gerhard's Riposte

Gerhard's Riposte is a rapier tournament held at Baroness' Inspiration Tournament, it is specifically for new rapier fighters.

It starts with Gerhard getting some of his rapier kit including his sword stolen. The rapier community responds by collecting funds to buy Gerhard a new sword. I think Gerhard got his own replacement sword at the same time but Gerhard really liked the gift. At the time, fiberglass fencing swords were allowed and were often what newbies would start with. So Gerhard created the riposte with the prize being the sword bought by the fencing community to give those newbie a chance to play with a real steel sword instead of a fiberglass sword. Fiberglass swords were eventually disallowed but newbies still often depend on loaner gear so the prize still works allowing a new fighter to have consistent set of equipment until the next riposte. - Baron James Wolfen