No pump-action shotguns? I thought that somewhere in CC there were stats for one of the dual-mode gas-op Benelli shotguns...And don't forget the Street Sweeper! It's break-action, too...Although it's a ganger weapon and mildly stinks.

Personally, I want a made-for-troll break-action double-barrel firing anti-tank rifle slugs...Or just .700 Nitro Express.

I think the RL Spas is a dual-mode, not sure though. We DESERVE a true pump action shotgun! The street sweeper also doesn't really count - It's a muzzle loader. I suppose we'll have to satiate ourselves with Reynen's work.

Oh, and I take back what I said about making a double barreled shotgun in SR. You can't. A break action gun can only have one shot in it(Pg. 74 CC). Later in that paragraph, it says that you can offset these reductions with Improved Ammo Capacity.

Improved Ammo Capacity only applies to Cylinder and Internal magazine. Even the CC rules don't allow a double-barreled shotgun.

Yeah, the Franchi SPAS 12 can be operated as a pump action or a gas-operated autoloader. There's a little button in the fore-end that closes off the gas system, for use with low pressure ammunition that isn't powerful enough to cycle the action.

I'd allow a 2(b) shotgun. Firing both barrels at once would count as a short burst, I suppose.

Popular weapons? Dikoted swords and Cougar fineblade long knives...

Plus great for crowd control. Sucker those gang members to follow you throw a doorway, hall, or other bottleneck then BOOM!. 2 bursts of area effect 13D buckshot is good stuff.

Well most of these choices aren't going to be purely because of coolness factor. Katanas are about the nastiest melee weapons, Shotguns do a lot of damage... That there's game mechanics, not nessecarily coolness factor.

Then-again, it could be argued that katanas were given a higher damage code *because* of their 'coolness factor' with japanese fanboys...

I have always taken the weapon description for katana to be fluff. I have taken anything listed under the Two Weapon Melee Table (Primary or Secondary) to be a single handed weapon.

Moreover, I have also followed the Rules for Using Two-Handed Melee Weapons.

So basically anything that uses Polearms as a skill or has a Reach of 2(or greater) are two handed. Fluff does not a game rule make.

One moment... let me adjust the emphasis on your quote more appropriately....

That's not exactly the hard and fast rule you're trying to make it out to be, is it?

I personally operate on the theory that the katana already has the two-handed Power bonus factored in, and allow use of it one-handed without the extra point of Power. Western bastard swords and other hand-and-a-half blades use the same stats and rules.

That's just my house rules, though... I suspect the nihophile fanboy bonus is the more accurate description of the motivation behind canon. That also explains the bo staff's nonsensical damage bonus, I think.

Nowhere in the SR rules is such as thing as a wakazashi.

As far as I was aware (and someone will probably correct me) but the traditional Samurai primarily used the katana two-handed. The wakazashi is a companion blade, kept on the self for ceremonial purposes and when keeping the katana would be impractical or impolite - such as dinner at your friend's house. The katana would be left at the door and the wakazashi would be kept on the belt (a combination of "just in case" and a semi-religious thing - compare the Kris and the Sikh dagger (the name of which I've forgotten)).

Kinda like checking your heavy pistol at the door of the club whilst keeping the holdout in the boot holster.

Not that I'm a Samurai expert by any means (but the stuff I've picked up is from, what should be, pretty good sources).

(edit: I've just re-read this and is it Wakazashi or Wakizashi? - I've also used the latter but got a sudden crisis of confidence when it came to spelling )

Kirpan
For some it's very practical sharp and carried on the belt, for others will have it unsharpened and concealed in a way that doesn't allow easy access (activists on either side will tell you it's only one of these but it's really a mix).
Jot Singh Khalsa is a fairly famous knifemaker
You can sometimes see a similar attitude in Mormons towards firearms due to persicution early in their history.

Thanks.

I got a thorough grounding in Sikhism during my school days as it was (probably) the second most common religion at my school at the time, so the favourite for comparitive religious studies, but for the life of me I couldn't recall (but it was 15 years ago and I've had a heavy afternoon).

The katana is a two-handed weapon, you can do some stuff with it one handed but it negates all the benefits, incredible speed and cutting power. I take aikijutsu, which has some katana kata, and all the strikes are 2-handed. The Daikatana is a creation of fantasy video games based on the no-dachi, a larger, very rare, and less well-made katana. As mentioned the wakizashi was a ceremonial blade, or used as last-ditch defence when visiting someones home (where you typically left your katana at the door).

The length of a katana varied a bit based on the time period. During the era of the feuding clans katana blades, and their handles, were quite a bit longer. The reach helped you in mass battles and the longer handle gave you more torque on the cut. Later, Tokugawa and beyond, the blade and handle became shorter since a fast draw became more important if ambushed, and there were less wars.

Campbell is right, Musashi is far from revered in many Kenjutsu circles, then and now. The two-sword style was/is considered 'unfair' and disrespectful to the katana. Musashi's use of boken for most of his career came off as contemptuous of his opponents, again was an unfair advantage since it was lighter and therefore faster, and also was much more dangerous than the katana. A katana could cleanly sever a limb, leaving the samurai some years of life or at least a clean kill. Boken shatter bones, almost guaranteeing a slow, lingering death. Musashi was the original 'samurai' min-max munchkin, and was treated like it.

This is all real-life, I don't really know what the intentions were in-game.

This explains much.

Yeah, you're right. Got the two confused there. But that still makes a sword as good as a Katana.

Umm... Okay, point of order here. Specific-case rules always win out over general ones. If a specific example allows you to do something, then you can in that situation, even though a more generalized rule contradicts it. So, you *can* have Imrpoved Ammo Capacity with break action, despite the apparent contradiction. Since a double-barred shotgun isn't inherently broken, I can't see any problem with it-- certainly not in relation to what I could do with shotguns under the CC rules!

But to bring things back on topic-- the weapon I see most used for the "coolness factor" alone is the katana. Most everything else mentioned have excellent uses in many circumstances-- monowhips are good for low-strength characters, Ares Predators are so common as to be unremarkable (and untraceable!), and shotguns are way too versatile to ignore. A close second are machine pistols, which are generally used to spray lead and not much else.

Check your Robert's Rules, there, chief. Section 23 clearly states that a point of order is only in order when the rules of debate have been breached. Had that been a legitimate Point of Order, then Zazen wouldn't have been allowed to make any points until the original Point of Order had been disposed of, but since your dispute was with the content rather than procedural nature of the shotgun argument, it was out of order. Sorry.

As a side note, I'm not really a dick. It's just that when I was in student government in college, I was Parliamentarian, and I was also president of Model United Nations. When other people misuse RR, I damn well let them know it.

I believe my emphasis was appropriate since anything can be designated by a GM to be two handed. A penknife can be two handed, if so designated by a GM. The only in game keywords in that quote were Polearms and Reach of 2.

For the love of god, can you possibly grow up, you insufferable child? Must you jump at any opportunity to start a fight wherever possible? Do you think before you talk, or does this bullshit simply stumble out on its own? Is it within your capacity to please shut the fuck up with your obnoxious, inane drivel?

Exercise some self control and drop the ad hominem bullshit. You are completely fucking out of line, and I have had enough.

That's not entirely correct. The nodachi is not a creation of videogames, as it was originally an anticavalry field weapon. Its use by single individuals as a personal weapon, however, is directly a result of bad videogames and anime. It was not simply a larger, shoddily produced katana.

As for longer tsuka being an issue with iaido, that's really not very true. It varied more because of fashion and personal taste (and, to some degree, need), but shorter tsuka reportedly don't help on drawing, and many iaido practitioners have done and do just fine with tsuka between 12" and 16". If anything, it helps in close quarters, where a longer weapon is a liability. Certainly, in a time period with little field combat, that could be a compelling factor.

As for Musashi, well, in a lot of ways, he was a very similar figure, in terms of philosophy and approach, to Bruce Lee. And both men take a lot of flak, despite being very well respected as revolutionaries.