What Swords Do

In the world of gaming, most stories are action or adventure stories. Add some more story games like Kagematsu and the situation changes. Still, most RPGs pay attention to fighting rules and no matter how much we argue about it, most of these rules don't exist to present realism, they exist to prolong your character while you make him do something foolhardy.

I was reminded of this the other day when I saw this clip. Behold, a two-handed sword in demonstration (especially watch the boots at 2:55). Note that this clip deliberately shows off the lethality of the weapon.


Swords are terrifying things. In the games I run (supposing they have swords), I've forgotten this and I shouldn't. A single swing of a sword is the difference between life and death and I want to try a game where this is a significant element.