Hi Tidus, welcome to California.
I dunno how often any of the BF people check the forums. Like a lot of the other lands, most of the communication happens on their
Facebook group. If you don't book no Faces, I'll post a link to this thread in the group for you.
That said, I can answer two of your questions with certainty: 1, your credits can be transferred from Rivers End. You just need to ask the Prime Minister of BF (Aleera according to my recently collected notes) to claim your credits from RE on the ORK. I'd recommend talking to her once you're able to make it to a park day. 3, all Amtgard groups should be playing V8. There's a copy of the
V8 Rules of Play on the
Important Documents page of this website or on the
Amtgard, Inc. website.
And usually there's loaners available at most parks for those who ask nicely, so I wouldn't worry too much about question #2.