No worries, mate. I’m a big nut about historical and cultural weaponry and MArts, and being in the UK I’ve had the fortune to be able to watch displays of various Indian martial arts. I was tickled pink to see the illo. of the fighter wielding a pair of pata-like gauntlet swords on page 239. The pic on page 208 has also inspired me to put together an optional random Drunken Debauchery table to part characters from their hard-earned treasure. Results such as:
40 - I Here Swear! You made a foolish pledge, loudly and in public to do something potentially dangerous. Roll 1d6: 1-2 = Clear Nearest Monster Den/Ruin, 3-4 = Bring Down Local Bandits/Thieves/Thugs, 5-6 = Steal Valuable From Important Local (Roll as in Dangerous Liaison! to determine who).
41 - Just Married! You wake up to find someone claiming to be your new wife/husband! Roll 1d6: 1-2 = Attractive, 3-4 = Average, 5 = Ugly, 6 = Pass the bucket! Judge also secretly rolls 1d6: 1-3 = It’s a con attempt, 4-6 = It’s true.
42 - My Land! You gambled/spent all of your loot and acquired the deeds to something! Roll 1d6: 1-2 = Disreputable Inn, 3 = Nearest Ruin, 4 = Plot of Wildland, 5-6 = Run-Down Farm. Judge secretly rolls 1d6: 1-4 = It’s a fake, 5-6 = It’s legitimate.
43-44 - My Precious! You spent half of your loot on a truly gaudy but otherwise unremarkable item. Roll 1d6: 1 = Armour, 2 = Garment, 3-4 = Jewellery Piece, 5 = Shield, 6 = Weapon. Actual item should be determined by Judge based on amount spent, cost of such items, and the character’s preferences.
It’s a very early draft, but you get the idea.
Colin
Nice!
Knowing my players, I’d get a lot of use out of that.
Regarding “charkam” v. “chakra”, E. Jaiwant Paul, Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India lists the plural of chakram as chakra. I’ve switched to “chakram” for now but I’m quite confused.
Here are the weapons that will appear in the next iteration of the mystic:: The lathi (“stick”) is a type of staff. The chakram (“war ring”) is a type of dart. The trishula (“triple spear”) is a type of pole arm. The cumberjung (“double-ended flail”) is a type of flail. The khanda (“destroyer”) is a type of sword. The chuttuval (“coiling sword”) is a type of whip. The haladie (“double bladed dagger”) is a type of short sword. The bagh nakh (“tiger’s claws”) is a type of dagger. The barcha is a type of spear. The tulwar is a type of short sword.
That said, the names are so foreign to most readers that I might switch them to their English translations.
For example, what would you prefer to see:
Urumi, pair of haladie, pair of bagh nakh, grey robe with hood, leather belt, low boots, backpack, 2 week’s iron rations, 2 doses of giant centipede poison, 10gp
Coiling sword, pair of double-bladed daggers, pair of tiger’s claws, grey robe with hood, leather belt, low boots, backpack, 2 week’s iron rations, 2 doses of giant centipede poison, 10gp
I /much/ prefer the second one.
I’m with demoss. I prefer the second one.
2nd option seems much better to me too. It has the flavour without the cultural disconnect.
The vast majority of your players will not be scholars of foreign martial arts, so whilst the ‘real’ names are historically accurate, evocative and in some cases beautiful, what they are decidedly not is accessible.
You’ve made a great effort to make ACKS accessible, paring back complex concepts where you can, trying to make the rules easy to read, easy to understand, and so on. I’d caution about undermining that with imposing the cognitive load of cultural translation. (Some might say people should broaden their minds, and I do agree, but balance that against desires for commercial success)
Tl;dr - 2nd one is better.
If you’ve got the room, add the cultural names to the weapon descriptions, or even have a table where you can list the different cultural names (e.g. Staff - Lathi - Bo - etc… )
I can see what folks are saying, though if you go with the second approach (coiling sword, et al.) I’d still have a footnote, but have it displaying the actual names of the weapons (khanda, etc.). Basically, a reversal of the current approach.
Having the real world names there (whether in the initial entries or footnotes) is a good thing, in my opinion; when I started gaming, for example, I had no freaking clue what a glaive was, let alone a bohemian ear spoon, but in short order, I learned. These days, where an explanation is a few measly seconds away on Google, broadening your knowledge is faster and easier by several orders of magnitude.
Not having them in there loses a lot of flavour, so one way or the other, they should be present. Furthermore, some of the English names can actually lead to confusion if you don’t have the actual original names present; try a search for “tiger’s claws” for example. At least if you look for “bagh nakh” you’ll actually find the weapon!
Colin
Here’s my current thoughts on presentation.
Notes: The Mystic templates above use weapons drawn from Indian and Chinese martial arts.
•A war ring (or “chakram”) is a sharpened metal hoop 4.5” in diameter. Treat it as a dart for game purposes.
•An elephant trunk blade (or “xiang bi dao”) is a halberd with a single-edged chopping head resembling the trunk of an elephant. Treat it as a pole arm for game purposes.
•A coiling blade (or “chuttuval”) is an edged band of thin steel, 4-5’ in length, flexible enough to be coiled in a tight roll. Treat it as a whip for game purposes.
•A double bladed dagger (or “haladie”) is a dagger with two opposite blades attached to a central handle. Each blade is 6”-9” long. Treat it as a short sword for game purposes.
•A set of tiger’s claws (or “bagh nakh”) includes five curved blades affixed to a glove or handgrip. Threat it as a dagger for game purposes.
•A tulwar is a short, curved blade similar to a scimitar. Treat it as a short sword for game purposes.
NOTE that I included one Chinese weapon, “the elephant trunk blade”. I was not impressed by the names and aesthetics of the Indian polearms I found, while the idea of an elephant-trunk blade totally resonated with me. Since the Mystic is “Somirean” not Indian I have no problem with assuming that the Somireans (who use war elephants) have elephant trunk blades.
Sounds fine to me. By the way, if you want a Hindi translation for flavour, “Elephant Trunk Blade” would be “Haathi Soond Chaku”.
Colin