PENNSIC WAR 37 LAND AGENTS HANDBOOK

1. Glossary of Terms

Land Agent: Harbinger is a period term for this job. This is the person from each and every registered camping group who has agreed to be the person responsible for obtaining and saving land for their friends and fellow campers. There should only be one responsible person for each encampment. This person is responsible for being at Pennsic from Land Grab Day until the end of Pennsic. The Land Agents are the people whom Land Staff will contact if there are any problems. Because you are the Land Agent you cannot arrive at the site, negotiate the land, sign off on the map, set up your stuff, and then leave the site. You must be in residence for the entire Pennsic event. Make sure that you have enough survival gear to last you until the rest of your camp member arrive.

Block: Each section of land that can be camped on at Pennsic has been divided into blocks. The block system reflects geographical locations in terms of Coopers Lake Campground.
The blocks are:

E for East of the Main Gate and South of Dragon Trace,
W for West of the Main Gate and South of Dragon Trace,
N for North of Dragon Trace and East of Currie Rd,
B for next to the Battlefield and North of Dragon Trace.

Land Allotment: This process is done after the Pennsic pre-registration cut off date. The final numbers are tabulated by the Land Staff and the exact square footage for each encampment is determined (No. of Pre-Reg Campers x 250 sq ft). N.B. This year you will not be able to buy extra land. Your group will be allotted 250sq. ft. per pre-registered adult, child, and infant. You cannot pre-register any ghost children and infants. Any abuse of this rule will be dealt with harshly. Once the final determination of Sq. Ft. is made, the Land Staff sits down and goes through the process of finding a place for each group trying to match up the space available and the requests made for particular blocks. In most cases you will find that the group’s first or second choice will be assigned to them.

Pre-Pennsic Negotiations: When the Land Office has finalized the land allocation, the information will be posted on the Pennsic Land Office webpages. The Land Agents will be sent the block assignments and the contact information for the other Land Agents on the block. It is up to the Land Agents to negotiate the exact placement of their encampments within the borders of the assigned blocks. If this is done before all of the Land Agents arrive at Pennsic, Land Grab Day will go much faster.

Seniority: A group who has been camping in the same place for many years will be given first consideration for land allotment. N.B. This applies only to the block assignment and not to a specific location on the block.

Vehicle Passes: Land Agents cannot drive onto the blocks until all of the groups have signed off on an accurate map of the block and the regional land representative or the head land representative signs off on the map as well. Then you may obtain passes to get your vehicles on site to start setting up. The passes must be shown to the Cooper’s staff when you enter the site. The passes must be displayed in your vehicle.

Camp Authorization Card: In your check-in packet there will be a card, which must be posted at the main entrance of your encampment. This is required. Each group will furnish some kind of plastic cover to keep the weather from ruining the card. The card must be placed in an area that is easy for the Land Staff to see and gain access to if needed.

2. What is your job as Land Agent?

You must register your group on the Pennsic Land Office webpage. All Land Agents are required to have web access and a working e-mail account.
You should be in touch with all of the people who are camping with your group, and have contact information for all of them. Inform them of the exact group name you have registered, so they can put it down when they pre-register. Tell them to send you their Pennsic pre-registration numbers (PENN number).
Once the Pennsic pre-registration deadline has been reached, the results are tabulated and each Land Agent receives the final list of exactly who has pre-registered to camp with your group. If there are discrepancies contact the Land Office. These problems should be taken care of immediately. It may be possible that some of the campers registered the group name incorrectly, which is rather easy to fix early. This is hard to accomplish at the time of Land Grab, so if there is a problem of this nature, the sooner you contact the Land Office, the better. Doing so eases the stress level greatly and avoids decapitation.
After the Pre-registration is closed and final group lists are generated, your group gets assigned to a block according to your group’s requests, availability of land, group seniority, etc. Each Land Agent will be given a list of the other Land Agents for the block. Pre-Pennsic negotiations can start for final placement of each camp on the block. If you are camping on the same block and with the same neighbors as last year, this can be a very painless and easy process.
The next step is to arrive at the site on time, Friday evening or at the latest, Saturday morning of Land Grab. Remember to check in at Troll before coming to the barn to check in with Land Staff. There will be tables in the barn for Land Agents to check in upon arrival starting at noon on Friday. There will be a meeting on Saturday morning at 9am at the barn. At that time, any final instructions will be passed from the Land Staff to the Land Agents.
If it is necessary for all the Land Agents of a block to go to the actual block and work out the final map of the block they can walk there to negotiate the camp locations. When everyone has agreed, accurate divisions are marked on official map provided. This official map will then be signed by all the Land Agents, and the map will then be presented to a Land Staff member who will also sign off on it.
The actual set-up of each camp can start.It is your responsibility as Land Agent to mark all of the borders of your encampment. Some people do this with stakes and flags, others by using ropes, some use surveyors tape, or use spray paint to mark the borders. Please, no severed heads unless they have been properly bled out. As long as demarcation is clear, the Land Staff will be happy. There will be spot checks made by the Land Staff once Land Grab itself is over. Members of the Land Staff will be coming out to measure and to check that you have appropriately displayed your Camp Authorization Card.
Once your camp is set up, you can sit back and relax. You must be on premises for the duration of Pennsic. If there are problems or disputes, it is the Land Agent that the Land Staff will be talking with so you cannot set up, then go home, and then come back for the last week.

II. How to choose a block

Before you send in your request for a camping area:
1. It is a good idea to talk to the others in your group who have camped before at Cooper’s Lake.
2. Does your group already have a somewhat “traditional” spot? Many groups like to be in the same area year after year. Your group may already have built up seniority in a particular block.
3. Where has your group camped in the past? There may be some areas that your group has camped in and they never want to camp there again.
4. Find out your group’s history in terms of camping at Pennsic. There may be reasons why your group only wants to camp in certain areas of the campground.
You also need to take several other things into account:
1. Is your group a Royal Encampment?
2. Does your group prefer sun or shade?
3. Do you need absolutely flat land or can your group camp on a slight slope?
4. Do you have a lot of fighters and therefore want to be closer to the battlefield?
5. Do you have a lot of shop-a-holics and need to be closer to the merchant areas?
6. Do you want to camp far away from everyone and be in a less developed area?
7. Do you need to be near flush toilets?
8. Do you have shower facilities or will you need to use the existing solar showers?
The list goes on and on. Make sure that you talk to the Pennsic veterans in your camp. They can help you. This is also why you need to know who is camping with you.
You need to have four (4) choices of blocks your group can go on because not everyone will get their first choice and if you do not voice those preferences you will get placed at the discretion of the Land Staff which only sees the numbers not the faces of each group. It is better to think carefully and make four choices that the people in your group can live with.

III. Assignment of groups to the blocks

Now you are assigned to a block and you have a few questions. Why didn't we get our first choice? Your group might be too big for the block you requested, or perhaps your group was the smallest with the least amount of seniority. Perhaps some of the things that you said were necessary are no longer available on the block, like electricity or disabled services which may have been moved. It may be that you are requesting land that you have not camped on before and other groups have requested to return to that land.
The biggest consideration for the Land Staff is group seniority. How long a group has been camping in the same block is the single largest factor to their retaining that block from year to year. If for some reason that group grows or shrinks enormously, it is possible that the Land Office might move them, depending on the seniority of the other block tenants.
Once the final land allotment is made, the assignments are posted on the Pennsic Land Office webpages and the names of all the groups in a given block are made available to the Land Agents on that block. Depending on history, group size, and other factors that we have already discussed, there may or may not be new groups on your block.
Once the final land allotment information is posted the Land Agents can pre-negotiate the divisions of the land. This will help the day of Land Grab go more smoothly for your block. However, the official final map divisions cannot be made up until all of the Land Agents are on the Pennsic site. Remember, all the Land Agents from your block must sign a copy of the map and get that signed by a Land Staff representative on the day of Land Grab.

IV. Arrival at the Pennsic site

1. Early is not better.

The campground is not open before Land Grab. (Friday)
You will not be allowed onto the grounds before noon on Friday.
You will not be allowed to camp anywhere until Friday night and then only on the battlefield.
Facilities are not really available until Friday.
There is a lot of work to be done by a lot of people, on the Pennsic and Cooper’s Staff. The more time they have to prepare without other people underfoot, the better.

2. Where do I sleep Friday night?

After you have checked in at the gate (Troll) you may set up a very temporary camp on the battlefield/parking lot.

3. Official negotiation starts Saturday morning of Land Grab.

All Land Agents must check in with the Land Office which will open promptly at 9:00am (0900 hours for the military types). The check in tables will be open Friday afternoon for those who arrive early. Be sure to check in at the Troll booth first!
Official negotiations within a block should not start until all Land Agents from that block are present.
If you have negotiated ahead of time and have all agreed to a specific block map this step is easy!

4. Be on time!

Since official negotiations cannot start until everyone is there, latecomers make everyone nervous and/or angry.
Do you really want to get your neighbors mad at you before you ask them for the spot on the block that you want? There is very little forgiveness for being late.
The Land Staff cannot, except in the case of extreme emergency, negotiate land for you.

V. Official Negotiation

This process can start once the Land Agents for the block are all present! So you can go out to the property, take whatever measurements you need, make whatever adjustments you need to fit all the groups onto the block. If for some reason, a Land Agent is late, you must leave space for the absentees, and be sure to talk to a regional land representative.
Please, remember that all Land Agents are equal. Whatever titles or honors someone has earned in the Society does not give them any special consideration. Every Land Agent has the right and the responsibility to a fair and equitable land distribution. Whether your group is a Barony, a Shire, a Principality, or a household makes no difference. Each person in a group gets 250 Sq. Ft. No one should be expected or required to pay in goods, services, or money for their spot on the block. If anyone tells you, “To get the spot you want, you must buy me something, pay me something, or do something for me,” they are wrong. The word for that is EXTORTION and it will not be tolerated. If this happens to you we request that you contact the Land Staff immediately!
1. Royal Encampments have first priority on the block. Royal Encampments only get the land allotted to them, no more.
2. Keeping the previous in mind, try to allow those groups with lots of seniority to have their “traditional” spot on the block. Will the extra few feet someone has to walk up or down a road really make that much difference? There is no reason that we cannot all get along and be happy for our sojourn into the Current Middle Ages.
Your groups’ rights include:
1. All of the land allotted to the group.
2. Clear access from your encampment to a main road with at least one road that borders your block
3. Your group is not required to give up any of its square footage.
With our new maps and the work of the professional cartographers who made them, the square footage of the blocks should be the most accurate to date, so everyone assigned to a block should fit comfortably on that block. Make sure that you clearly mark the borders of your encampment to prevent disputes.
1. Regional land representatives will be available for disputes on the day of Land Grab.
2. If, for any reason, the Land Agents do not seem to be able to come to agreement do not hesitate to call on one of the Land Staff representatives to help with the problem. Make sure the representative have already had their morning nourishment; especially if they are coffee drinkers.

VI. Making the block map and getting it signed

1. The New Pennsic Site Map

Each of the Land Agents will have a copy of this map! In addition, there will be a copy of the map on the Pennsic information web page. When each Land Agent checks in, the packet you will get will contain a hard copy of this map.

2. Preparing Your Block Map

Make sure that each Land Agent signs both SCA and Mundane name on the official copy of the map to be turned in to the Land Office.

In the event of any extra unassigned space, please make sure that you verbally notify the regional land representatives as well as marking it on the official map. This can be very helpful to the Land Office. In the event that land is not needed, the Land Office may be willing to give it back to the groups on the block, so please be honest. Remember, the Land Staff will be checking your camp dimensions in the days after Land Grab. It is better for you and your groups to tell us about extra land, than for a Land Staff representative to find out you have it.

If a groups’ Land Agent does not show up, please contact the Land Office either at the main tables in the Barn or find the regional land representative. The Land Staff will then help with the finalization of your block map.

3. Finishing the Process

Once the map is signed by all of the block Land Agents:

Get authorization from the regional land representative by showing them the signed map and showing them the layout of the block. The regional land representative for the block will then also sign the map.
Take your map to the main Land Office tables and turn it in to get vehicle passes. No map=no passes, no passes=no entry, no argument!

VII. Once you are on your block

1. Post the Camp Authorization Card.

It is your responsibility as Land Agent to post the card prominently near the main entrance of the camp.

2. Mark the boundaries of your camp clearly.

This can save you from discrepancies with neighbors and make sure that when the Land Office surveys your camp it is correct.

VIII. Now that am I done, what do I do?

1. Stay on your land.

Be available for the Land Staff because they will be visiting and checking borders.

2. Keep your land safe.

Do not let your neighbors encroach on your property.
Make sure that your campers do not encroach on your neighbors.
If a neighboring group is encroaching on your land contact the Land Staff.

3. You're the Land Agent and therefore in charge of the land

The Land Staff will talk to you if there is a problem.
You signed off on a map and we will hold you to that signature.
People who do not co-operate or break the rules may have action taken against them, up to and including removal from the property. This may jeopardize the groups’ ability to camp on that block again. Please, be courteous.

We hope that this booklet will help you with your job. If you have any questions, please contact a member of the Land Staff. We are all aware of the changes that have been made whereas your friend who camped at Pennsic or on your block a couple of years ago may not. We are more than happy to assist you in any way we can.

A Handbook for Pennsic Land Agents

I. So, you are the Land Agent