New to Numina

What to Pack

The community’s own rule for costuming, repeated by veterans to nervous newcomers for years running, is this: if you would wear it to a Renaissance faire, you’re good. Nobody is judging your budget or your sewing skill; making the effort is worth more than hitting some mark of quality. This page is the specific, practical version of that advice — what to actually put in the car.

The costuming floor

If you own nothing yet, the literal minimum is solid-color pants, a solid-color t-shirt, and shoes that are not neon — add a tabard if you can get one, and you already do not stand out. Everything past that is optional and purely because people enjoy it. If you feel underdressed at your first event, you are in very good company; this comes up constantly, and the answer is always the same.

Footwear matters more than the outfit around it. Dark hiking boots, work boots, or even plain black sneakers are fine, especially for your first game or two — the actual construction of the shoe does not matter, only what it looks like. A cheap trick: thrift a pair of boots and drop in an inexpensive insole for comfort. Custom cobbled options exist in this community, but they run a year-plus waitlist, so they are not a first-event purchase.

Where to actually find garb, cheapest first:

• Thrift stores. A plain dress becomes a tunic with a little trim sewn on the hem or neckline — a genuinely common, low-cost way into a look.
• “Deadstock” fabric — search that exact term. It is overstock cloth sold cheap because the original buyer isn’t reordering; people in this community have found nice wool for a few dollars a yard this way.
• Ren faire flea markets and vendor sales, hit or miss but sometimes good for accessories.
• Ask on Discord. Lending and gifting gear — boots, corsets, cloaks, fabric — is a normal, constant practice here, not a last resort. If you need something for your first event, ask before you buy.
• A few specific vendors the community comes back to: Chicken Vicious on Etsy (affordable, machine washable) comes up most often, alongside Holy Clothing, MedievalCollectibles.com, Verillas, Burgschneider, and Fell & Fair.

If you sew, the Singer Heavy Duty line (the 4423 especially, often on sale around Prime Day or Black Friday) is the most-recommended budget machine — mechanical, easy to fix yourself. A rectangular cloak or a simple tunic is a reasonable half-hour beginner project.

Weather layers

You will get warm fighting and cold standing around five minutes later, so bring a bag you can stash and pull layers from all day. Cheap drugstore thermal base layers work fine; avoid synthetic or polyester if you can, since it does not breathe and tends to chafe. For rain, a cloak with a waterproofing spray is the standard answer, and a period-look umbrella or parasol is completely normal and accepted. If the weather turns genuinely dangerous, staff will adjust the schedule to limit time outdoors — you are not expected to just suffer through it, and packing for the worst case is a courtesy to yourself, not a requirement to prove you can take it.

Makeup, if your character needs it

There is no checklist for “how much” makeup a look needs — it is judged by feel. A painted nose, a set of ears, or colored contacts can be enough to convey a beast-touched character; you do not need full prosthetics unless you want them, and choosing a Life-touched Aspect lets you skip makeup entirely if sensory sensitivities make it a bad fit for you. For a first attempt, temporary tattoo paper (it needs an inkjet printer, not a laser one) handles markings, and a decent setting spray keeps face paint alive through a full day. If you catch the bug and want to go further later, alcohol-based brands like EBA, Skin Illustrator, and Kryolan Dermacolor are what experienced players trust to survive sweat and heat — but they are a real step up in cost and effort, worth saving until you know you are sticking around.

One real safety note: if you wear costume fangs, take them out before actual physical combat. A fall or a hit to the face is far more likely to hurt your teeth with them in.

Weapons, armor, and other props

You do not need to solve this before your first event. Every weapon — even a name-brand one — needs its own safety check from a weapons marshal before it sees combat, and loaner gear, including weapons, armor pieces, and even bows, is genuinely available from staff, veterans, and Monster Camp. If you would rather not sort a weapon out yet, say so on Discord and ask what you can borrow. See Weapon Construction once you are ready to build or buy your own.

Everything else worth throwing in the car

A running list of the least glamorous, most repeated packing advice in this community’s history:

• More socks than you think you need. This is, by a wide margin, the most repeated single packing tip anyone will give you.
• A headlamp or flashlight, ideally with a red-light mode — sites are deliberately unlit for immersion, and red light preserves your night vision better than white.
• A sleeping bag rated for the season and a foam sleeping pad; cabin mattresses are thin.
• Deodorant and a reusable water bottle.
• Any medical devices or supplies you actually need. You never have to justify or hide these in-fiction — nobody will treat them as a costuming problem.
• A camp chair, if you plan to spend any time at Monster Camp — see NPCing.

If in doubt about anything — what a site provides, what the weather will do, whether a prop will pass inspection — ask on Discord before you pack. That is what it is there for.