Genuine question: how does one get into archery? Like, good first steps?

I'd also like to know about that, actually. I've been considering trying it for a while.

I've been playing Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty for the past 6 hours and it's genuinely the best game I've played in ages.

For me it was a bit of a childhood desire I finally let come to fruition.

Here are some types of archery you can do

Recreational: Grab a stick and a string, get something soft to absorb impact and go into your back yard and just shoot ****. You can go to your local archery shop and probably get a quick lesson on basic archery such as how to hold, how to draw, how the arrow nocks, etc. From there you can get a wood/fiberglass recurve bow that's going to be ~$130. It's good enough to tromp in the back yard and pretend you're the Green Arrow or Robin Hood or Legolas (we will laugh at you)

Competition: If you want to compete in tournaments and leagues, things get a little bit more complicated...as does your bow. This is the path I've chosen. I've competed in various tournaments and leagues. The style of bow I shoot is called Olympic Recurve. It's a recurve bow with lots of fancy toys on it such as a sight, stabilization, and a clicker. It's the only style of bow allowed in the Olympics (hence the name). However, you can shoot barebow or compound target. Competition format include FITA 1440 (144 total arrows, 10-ring target, 90/70/50/30), FITA 900 (90 arrows, 10-ring target, 60/50/40), Olympic Round (12 arrows, 10 ring, 70). Also indoor tournaments which are 18m/20yds. Tournaments are fun and you meet all kinds of people of different skills. There are local tournaments and tournaments which are USA Archery sanctioned. USA Archery tournaments are where you might find Olympians and Olympic hopefuls (Jake Kaminsky, Brady Ellison, Khatuna Lorig). Archery has no age limit; Ms. Lorig is in her late 30s to early 40s I believe and is a strong Olympic candidate. She also taught Jennifer Lawrence.

Hunting: You want to kill bambi and other cute furry creatures to satiate your manly desires or you're really hungry. Most likely you will use a compound bow with draw weight 50# or higher. Usually 70# is prefered for deer, elk, pig, turkey. Hunting scopes have multiple sight pins for different distances of your prey. I think they are measured 20, 40, 60 yds. Hunting recurves do exist but you have to be pretty strong to hold the entire draw weight. Compound bows have a let off that reduces the hold weight to about 80-85% of draw weight. So a 70# draw feels like 14# at full draw.

Traditional: Trad shooters shoot longbows and wooden arrows and often look like Legolas when they shoot. You'll most likely find trad shooters at Renaissance reenactments. They'll try to use as much period specific materials and craftsmanship as possible. Longbows are literally a bent stick and a string but they can be draw weights of 50#. There is absolutely no vibration reduction so if you're gripping the bow hard (you shouldn't), you will shake. Arrows are made of hard woods such as pine.

Types of Bows

Recurve
Most common "traditional" type of bow out there. It's the only type of bow in which the string touches the bow itself. The limb curves and then recurves away from the archer. This recurving of the limb generates more power with less draw weight. Recurve bows can be a single piece or can be broken down. Limb materials can be solid wood, wood/fiberglass, wood/carbon, or carbon/foam. Carbon/foam is the most springy of the materials and will get that arrow off the string quickly. But it is the most expensive. Serious competitors use carbon/foam.

Compound Bow
Compound bows have a lot of technology in them. The power is not in the limbs of the bow but the cams and string. Also, many compound shooters use a mechanical release aid instead of their fingers (recurve shooters rarely use releases). Draw weight and draw length can be changed on a compound bow (to a point). A compound shooter can start off at 40# and then gradually work up weight whereas recurves have to spend on new limbs to increase in draw weight. Compounds can be dual cam, single cam, or idler wheels. Those with cams have left-off at archer's draw length. A draw weight of 70# becomes 14# at full draw. These bows are expeeeeensive. Most competition compounds are north of $1,000.

Longbow
Basically a bent stick with a string tied to the ends. Simplest bow to make. Longbows have no sight mounts, no stabilization mounts, no rests...wellll...some do. Your thumb acts as the arrow rest. People who shoot longbows are "traditional" shooters. Rarely do they use any modern materials. Trad shooters like the appeal of really old school archery where it was all on the skill of the archer to pinpoint the target.

All that said, what is the best course of action.

Most beginning archery will teach you recurve archery. IMO, it's the best course of action. You learn the basics with a cheap bow which can be translated to a compound bow with slight modifications to account for the mechanical release. Find your local archery shop, a friend who is an archer and likes you well enough to school you, or some archery coaches have group lessons. A longer shot (ha) are schools and universities. You'll go over parts of the bow, how to hold the bow, and how to draw the bow. Some coaches/shops will have sights other won't. You will also learn the most important part about archery is your anchor point. This is absolutely critical for recurves since a mere 1/4 inch changes in your anchor point can mean the difference between a 9 or 8 on the target. Be prepared to suck. I did. Also, be prepared to discover muscles you never thought you had. Most archery coaches will teach the National Training System. This is a system we plucked from the Koreans who are absolutely ridiculously good at archery. US Team coach Kisik Lee adopted this system in which the archer is biomechanically efficient in their draw of the bow.

If you want to switch up to a compound bow, you'll need to learn how to operate a mechanical release as well as use the let-off to your advantage. You can hold all damn day. But the differences are not great. You still release with your back.

End Hijack

That's a lot of good info. Thanks! I'll process it while I drink some tea

A series of games with rapid abandonment due to boredom.
Earlier this fall was in a D&D 5E campaign with my sister but then jobs got too busy.
Poked around in several of the Assassin's Creed, tried Dragon Age Origins for a few hours, poked around in Trove with my wife for a while, tried picking up Planescape: Torment and the Longest Journey again.
Some Borderlands 2 here and there with my older brother and a bit of Tales from the Borderlands.
Debating starting up Styx and seeing if it can make up for the trainwreck that was Thief 4.

stick of truth

God, I used to do archery when I was in highschool. I loved shooting longbows.

On original subject, I'm thinking of putting together a GURPS campaign pretty soon.

And I recently finished playing Metro 2033. I loved every moment of it... minus the fact that it's next to impossible to be stealthy.

Well I have over 300 games in my steam library so I always try to play something new when I get the chance. But rather than playing games, I've been hard at work trying to make them. Since I find that more enjoyable. I picked up an Unreal Engine 4 subscription back in April. I've been developing a 3d platformer since then. I've been planning on making a thread about it when I'm a little further along with adding content.

Awesome, zanardi. Looking forward to that thread.

I look forward to posting it! If anyone is interested I've been doing a live stream on twitch.tv of my development process. It's mostly a joke and I'm just throwing **** at the wall till it sticks, but it's a learning process for me. And I enjoy talking to people about development, unreal engine, or just anything in general. I'm pretty new to streaming so probably slightly socially akward but I'm trying to get out of my shell a bit. I keep it chill and informal. I'll be streaming tonight: http://twitch.tv/wfmoz http://twitter.com/ocgamestudio