September 09, 2004
Yeah, But What About a Ninja Versus a Pirate?
An article up at the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts goes into excruciating/absorbing detail about who would win in a fight between a Medieval European knight and a Japanese Samurai. It's really quite good, though the author does descend into apologia for the knights. Strangely enough, I was reading through an issue of Dragon Magazine in the library recently, and it looks like the article was reprinted there, seemingly after it appeared on the interweb.
And yes, Dragon Magazine is the official mouthpiece of Dungeon and Dragons (tm). I no longer indulge in that sad and destructive lifestyle, but I still take a sociological interest in its denizens, and hope one day to free them from the bondage of role-playing nerdery.
Plus, dragons (and samurai) are cool.
I'm such a geek *sigh* that I went away to read the article and read the follow up katana v. rapier article. I was a Western style fencer and looked for awhile at studying Kendo until I decided I just liked the Western style better and Kendo would be a poor substitute for me. Thanks for the link!
I took Kendo once, very briefly. It's an extremely structured system (obviously), and I didn't like that about it, but I'm sure pretty much anything where you're swinging around a (real or faux) deadly weapon is inclined towards stricture.
My thing was that I really preferred a point weapon to an edge weapon and I found the footwork and the movements in foil and epee to be more subtle and more beautiful. I post this with the full expectation that a kendo experienced fencer is going to come along and tell me how wrong I am. But, whatever. It's just my opinion, not fact.
Look dude, D&D is still way cool. You're just sad becuase you can't find a good game, and these new 3rd Edition rules confound you.
Be at pease my son. There are many good games left for you.