08-19-2010, 06:00 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
I added a note about armour-piercing blades to the posts above, accounting for the estoc and stiletto and making it possible to make these in any size.
Here are the stats for a 12" stiletto (built by applying the Armour-Piercing Blade and Thrusting Sword options to a Large Knife) and an estoc with a 40" blade (Longsword with an Armour-Piercing Blade option applied). Code:
TL Weapon Damage Reach Parry Cost Weight ST Notes KNIFE (DX-4, Force Sword-3, Main-Gauche-3, or Shortsword-3) 4 Long Stiletto sw-3 cr C, 1 -1 $160 1 6 [3] or thr-2(2) imp C -1 – – 6 [4,6] MAIN-GAUCHE (DX-5, Jitte/Sai 4, Knife 4, Rapier 3, Saber 3, or Smallsword 3) 4 Long Stiletto sw-3 cr C, 1 0F $160 1 6 [3] or thr-2(2) imp C 0F – – 6 [4,6] TWO-HANDED SWORD (DX-5, Broadsword-4, or Force Sword-4) 3 Long Estoc sw+1 cr 1 0 $2,800 4 9† or thr+1(2) imp 1,2 0 – – 9† [6] Notes: [3] Gives a -1 to skill when used to swing. [4] Gives +1 to skill with a thrust. [6] Reduces the penalty for targeting chinks in armour by -2.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 08-19-2010 at 06:04 PM. |
08-19-2010, 08:08 PM | #22 | |||
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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The difference in cutting between fencing in Fiore dei Liberi's day and fencing in Salvator Fabris' is more about weapons and guard positions than grip (hooking a finger over the crossguard or placing it along the blade is attested a long way back). The stretta (point towards the enemy's chest or head) guards of 17th century rapier require you to raise or lower your point before delivering a cut, and the start point of a cut tends to be more conservative than in 15th century martial arts because of this (the time you spend preparing the cut is a tempo for your opponent to strike you in). Also, 15th century styles accompany most blows with a pace, which makes it easy to put your hips into a strike. Quote:
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature Last edited by Polydamas; 08-19-2010 at 08:13 PM. |
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08-19-2010, 09:33 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
I'd love to see all this in generic form, with names lime short long medium light heavy etc. Cultural weapons and material culture have limits when you remove them from their home setting.
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08-20-2010, 06:20 AM | #24 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
Quote:
The things I explictly added were as generically named as I could, though. A Cut-and-Thrust Sword could be a narrow-bladed broadsword, a normal-sized jian, a short schiavona, a sidesword, etc. There are no built-in cultural factors at all (with a very good reason, since I game in a fantasy world). Similarly, the Heavy Broadsword could be Conan's Father's Sword from the movie, but it could also represent the British 1796 Heavy Cavalry Sword, which actually did weight 4 lbs. without scabbard. Or it could represent any sword balanced for both cutting and thrusting that is heavier than an arming sword without being long enough to quality for Reach 2. The Odachi has an unfortunately cultural name, but really, it represents a scaled-up Katana, so that's understandable. It's a curved blade optimised for the cut. Of course, any culture that made swords similar to the Katana would use the same stats for a two-handed version heavy enough not to be balanced in one hand, in the same way that the Korean jang gum uses Katana stats in GURPS RAW. The Falchions are named in GURPS already. I simply got rid of the Dao, which is simply a Chinese name for the larger varieties of Falchion. There is a note that any heavier cutting sword is a Falchion, regardless of culture. Some of these will have poor points, some will have have earnest attempts at them, if not as effective as a sword meant for both cutting and thrusting. The weapon modifications are already culture-free in their names. Armour-Piercing Blade, Reinforced Blade, Slashing Sword and Thrusting Sword? How could they be less culturally specific? I note some real world examples in the text, if only to help visualise these blades. The Reach categories were at least an attempt to be generic. Clinch, Close, Short, Average, Long and Very Long are generic enough. It was when it came to naming the intermediate steps that I failed to find appropriately generic names and resorted to adapting fencing terms. Tight Range, Wide Range and Long Measure are certainly not perfect and if anyone can give me more descriptive general terms, I'd be grateful. Is there anything specific that you think is too culturally-based and needs a more generic write-up?
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08-20-2010, 08:11 AM | #25 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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But I'm fitting intermediate steps on the weapon tables into the currently existing rules and adding some fiddly details, not reworking the GURPS weapon stat model completely. So if I'm not going to fix the existing damage scores, I have to incorporate them in some semi-logical fashion. With that said, I don't think that most of the weapons that would fit under Edged Rapier are any worse at thrusting than typical arming swords. To the contrary, I think they might be better adapted in many ways. But they still get a -1 thrusting damage relative to the broadsword. That being said, my decision was motivated as much by the desire for every weapon skill to have its own role. Allowing Broadsword skill a higher damage than Rapier skill, even using the same weapons, is good for characterisation, even if there are few real world justifications for it. Just note that if you are going to base thrusting damage on anything from the real world, you'll have to rework all damages completely from scratch. Quote:
One thing I've introduced into my games is the Mobile Parry Perk, which effectively makes the weapon skill you select it for almost a fencing skill. Mobile Parry† Your lighting footwork complements your defensive work. When unencumbered and wielding a balanced melee weapon other than a Fencing weapon, you may add an additional +1 to the Retreat bonus to Parry. You must specialise by melee weapon skill. If you have the Perk Armour Familiarity for the chosen weapon skill, you may benefit from this Perk at Light Encumbrance.
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08-22-2010, 12:31 PM | #26 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
Yes I know that Icelander but If I were going writeup a sword construction system Id do it with generic names and innovation by tech level. Mostly the low tech version of technology in gurps is not very generic. As a result you must Wade through a lot of history and culture to get to the game stats. A generic weapon building system would make an excellent product, IMO.
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08-22-2010, 01:21 PM | #27 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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But I'm too lazy to tease them out when that won't help my game. ;)
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08-22-2010, 03:43 PM | #28 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Spain —Europe
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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Nothing but a trivial joke: I asked "Cabaret Chick" to Google Images and that was the most immediate answer. I understand I'm not being useful to your playtesting needs. But please go on.
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08-22-2010, 08:11 PM | #29 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
While these rules may occasionally refer to that fabled tome and even rely on concepts leaked by authors, it is useful both with and without Cabaret Chicks on Ice. In most cases, this is a deeper layer of details than official GURPS books will go.
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08-22-2010, 08:32 PM | #30 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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If you desire we can consider an addition such as "serious historical" placed between "no" and "style" to have been made.
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Tags |
cabaret chicks on ice, house rules, low-tech, martial arts, weapons |
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