There are two types of people in the world: those who put people into groups, and those who don't. I'm the second type. But if I DID divide people, I'd break Dagorhir into two basic groups: Sword Jocks and Fantasists.
Sword Jocks are all about the fighting, and only the fighting. Generally the Sword Jock is just as happy wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt and fighting at a large practice as at a battle in garb. Some Sword Jocks own one tunic... others just put armor over their sweats.
Fantasists tend to care more about the flavor of the fight than the fight itself. Fantasists are the people who show up painted blue, wearing elf-ears, or wearing armor all the time not because they feel they need the protection, but because that's what Roman officers did. They're the ones most likely to have enough garb to wear two outfits a day at Ragnarok without going to the cleaners.
These two Dagorhir Philosophies often seem to be in conflict (Field Battles vs. Woods Battles)…but they're really complimentary, not contentious. Dagorhir needs both groups to grow and flourish.
Without the Fantasists, Dagorhir would turn into a martial art. "Battles" would disappear, replaced by hard-fought, large-scale practices. Costumes? Who needs 'em? And Dagorhir would dwindle to a fraction of its size for two primary reasons:
- Most new but unskilled people would face such tough competition that they'd leave after one or two events, tired of getting their hopeless butts kicked by the Elites; and
- Dagorhir would lose its media appeal – a BIG part of the reason we get into the newspapers and on TV is because we dress funny and have people who pretend to be elves.
But without the Sword Jocks, Dagorhir would devolve into a touch-fighting LARP. Without the Sword Jocks, the level of combat skill would drop, possibly replaced by tennis-ball fireballs and character classes. [Shudder.] Without the Sword-Jock Lobby at the Ragnarok War Council, we'd see weapons getting lighter, the rules getting steadily more complex ("Okay, what happens when you throw a Fifth-Level Magic Missile spell at someone who has Class Four Armor on his body but only Class Two Armor on his arms?"), and fewer people would want to play Dagorhir because we'd be Just Geeks (as opposed to Hard-Fighting Geeks).
Sure, there are Sword Jocks who wear exemplary garb, just as there are Fantasists who kick battlefield butt. And Dagorhir needs both Sword Jocks and Fantasists to maintain the dynamic balance which keeps members (and the media!) coming back year after year, keeping our Great Game fun, competitive... and growing.