Notes on the Hoopak

Other Rules

by Simon Lipscomb

The hoopak is that most ubiquitous and distinctive of kender weapons, so much so that it is almost a symbol of the kender race. The cleft stick with a sling pocket, a weapon of many modes and a tool with lots of uses, the hoopak is emblematic of the simple ingenuity of kender.

Construction

Making a hoopak is simple, provided you find a branch of acceptable shape. The shaft of the hoopak is about three-four feet long, and must be as straight as possible. The sling pocket is a simple leather pouch with string or gut stitched through the top and bottom and looped over the forks of the hoopak.

Finding the right sort of wood is important. It must be neither too flexible nor too rigid, or this will hamper the hoopak's functions as staff or sling respectively. The kender are fond of a particular species of oak, known throughout Krynn as "kender oak" since it tends to be found around settlements of the little folk. The kender claim that they do not deliberately cultivate the tree. Kender tales relate that the tree is fond of stories and that is why it is found near them. There does seem to be, however, an almost certain chance that a kender's pouches will contain a "kender acorn" or two.

Modes of Fighting

A hoopak can basically be employed as a missile weapon or as a hafted weapon. However, there are varieties even within these categories.

• Staff sling. The main mode as a missile weapon. A stone is placed in the pouch and given velocity by either an overhead swing of the staff, or with a circular motion. This requires about four feet of head-room to accomplish but gives a stone a range of some one hundred paces and a velocity that can prove deadly.
• Catapult sling. With the foot of the hoopak braced on the ground, a kender places a stone in the pouch and pulls back on the top half. Releasing the tension propels the stone. This method requires little space, unlike the staff sling, but also gives far less power. Most hoopaks have little spring in them and so the stone rarely achieves a range of more than ten paces, and with little power. As such, it is a desperate maneuver. In times of war, kender construct more flexible hoopaks that it is possible to use in this mode with greater effect. Their range is more in the area of thirty paces, and again their speed can be deadly, although the punch is still less than the staff sling mode.
• Quarterstaff. Obviously a long stick can be used in this fashion, and this is the most common method of hoopak use in hand-hand combat. The sling pocket is normally unslung, since this can create air resistance or can become entangled. In this instance, the cleft can be used for sword-catching and breaking maneuvers.
• Spear. The other end of the hoopak to the sling is sometimes sharpened for use as a spear. However, the use as a walking staff is inimical for maintaining a sharp point, and a kender who simply keeps sharpening his hoopak will soon whittle it down to a hand catapult. So, the kender developed a metal spear head that can be fitted or removed as desired (although it sometimes has the disadvantage of coming off inside your enemy). In Goodlund they call this a "cap" whereas in Hylo it is called a "shoe". The expression "to shoe (or cap) one's hoopak" is similar in meaning to the human phrase "to gird one's loins". It implies that it the time for action has come, and is a signal to get on with things.

Other Uses

As well as a weapon, of course, the hoopak is famously a walking staff. It also proves invaluable to the ever-curious kender as a tool for poking and prodding into unreachable places. Those who know kender also know that whirling a hoopak with sling pouch attached produces an eerie moaning sound, used to scare off ignorant foes.

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