[HoE] RE: weapons rant

[Number 6 <toadpooka@usa.net>]

Templar Simon wrote:
> 
> <snip rant>
> 
> I have only ever seen the katana used in Japanese style games (L5R,
> Oriental Adventures, etc.) and Shadowrun.

Our experience apparently is quite different here.  I've seen them in every game I know of, and
they're always portrayed as some super-weapon.


> Also, I may be wrong because I don't own any of the Wierd West product
> but I thought that there was a sizeable population of orientals in the
> Great Maze area.  

Well, yes, there's a large Chinese population in the Great Maze.  Kang has seven Samurai on his
payroll in ToT '77, and they carry katanas.  However, figure that the DL world eventually became
somewhat like ours, with a higher technology curve, but still fundamentally similar.  America has a
large Asian influence now; that doesn't mean there are katanas everywhere you look.

> I can go into any gun store, martial arts school, and even my
> local mall has a knife shop that has at least one daisho for sale (not
> the real thing for sure but there nonetheless).

You said it right there: not the real thing.  The point I was trying to make (and maybe wasn't clear
enough on) was that there's nothing stat-wise to separate a machine-made modern 'katana' from a
regular sword.  Maybe many yeas ago, when people had the time to sit around for six months making a
sword, it would be different, but people nowadays have real jobs.

> 
> Templar Simon
> 

-- 
Love,
Joseph Malik