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Post by Lobster Hunter on Apr 5, 2011 7:04:52 GMT
I grew up reading stories from Greek mythology, Arthurian legends, that sort of thing and was always fascinated with ye olde things. I played a lot of D&D during high school and started watching old samurai movies when I was around college age. Fast forward almost 20 years. About 4 years ago, after lunch with some co-workers in "little Tokyo", I bought a katana on a whim in a Japanese gift shop. I asked the shopkeeper which was the finest sword in the store. She pointed to the one that was mounted high on the wall behind her and said, "That one. It's folded." That sword became my "office sword". I'd keep it by my desk and use it now and then like scissors. Some time later, my boss wanted to buy a ninjato for one of the directors and asked me if I could help him find one. That's when I started doing some research and discovered SBG and the world of affordable, functional swords. I sent him a link to the Hanwei Practical Ninjato. A few days later, I ordered a Cheness Tenchi from the SBG store. And that was it. I had the sword bug. As it turns out, that first katana I bought in the gift shop was a Masahiro General Sword. NOT folded 1040 carbon steel (I'm guessing, considering how soft the edge is), wire brushed hamon, badly shaped kissaki, plastic samegawa, shoe lacey ito which is now practically falling off the badly cracked tsuka... I still have it. Sentimental value, you see.  This one. www.swordsoftheeast.com/masahirogeneralsword.aspx |
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Post by whitefeathers on Apr 5, 2011 12:46:29 GMT
What started it was a class trip to Midieval Times when i was in junior high. I was then obsessed with swords and knights. My little sister and I would sword fight with sticks in the backyard. Every time I went outside to play I had to carry my "sword" around with me. Then movies and tv. Power rangers, Highlander, Braveheart, Xena, etc. Any movie or tv show that had a main character with a sword I had to watch it. The sword obsession faded when I did my military time. I did buy a wallhanger at one point during my service, the Last Samurai one. I played with it for a couple days and then it sat in the closet for years. it just didnt do it for me. I didnt really know the difference at the time between a real sword and a wallhanger but that one just didnt feel right. The sword thing resurfaced in a big way when I re entered martial arts. When I found out you could buy real swords online, I bought one. When I picked it up for the first time and felt a connection like it was meant to be there in my hands, it was over. I was hooked. I dont know how I went so long without swords
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Zoë
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Post by Zoë on Apr 5, 2011 13:15:27 GMT
A lot of people have mentioned how a sword just "feels right" - and it totally does. My totally non-nerd husband has converted after seeing and holding a real sword for the first time.  I don't think he'll ever play D & D, but the swords that are on order right now we picked out together and it's totally awesome. |
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Zoë
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Post by Zoë on Apr 5, 2011 13:16:43 GMT
Does a shetland pony count?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2011 23:40:23 GMT
I guess so. I know you get trapped in a unicorn through magic. I don't even want to think about how you get inside a Shetland Pony.
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Daniel Dacombe
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Company Representative - Ronin Katana
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Post by Daniel Dacombe on Apr 6, 2011 0:58:49 GMT
Now I'm waiting for Avery to show up again with more stories about Mexico...
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Apr 6, 2011 1:07:48 GMT
I don't want to hear anything about the time Avery saw a donkey show in Tijuana.
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Post by MOK on Apr 6, 2011 21:25:05 GMT
Well, I always loved fantasy literature (the likes of Lewis, le Guin, Howard, Leiber, Tolkien, Dunsany, Wagner, all the real classics... and, I'll confess, Eddings and Weiss & Hickman), which more or less inevitably lead to roleplaying games (RuneQuest, Cyberpunk 2020, but no D&D until I eventually got sucked in by Order of the Stick). Then my gaming group and I all got into martial arts en masse. And then the Internet happened, and I found out there are people out there making real swords, and people studying how to use them for real, and that very neatly tied together all my previous interests - one hobby to bring them all, one hobby to find them, one hobby to rule them all and in the darkness of my little black heart to bind them. And so, here we are.
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Post by MOK on Apr 6, 2011 21:28:26 GMT
FOR PONY!
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Zoë
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Post by Zoë on Apr 7, 2011 12:27:29 GMT
HAHAHAHA that deserves Karma!
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Post by MOK on Apr 7, 2011 20:24:06 GMT
Hey, with that avvie you can't expect to mention ponies in such cultured company and not hear that battle cry. |
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Sean (Shadowhowler)
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Post by Sean (Shadowhowler) on Apr 7, 2011 23:08:33 GMT
Cyberpunk 2020 is one of my all time favorite games... some friends of mine and I had epic good times back in the day playing that game... it seems to have a small but very loyal following as opposed to other RPG's... its hard for me to find guys that have played it. Order of the Stick rules beyond measure...
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Post by MOK on Apr 7, 2011 23:36:54 GMT
That game had attitude. How many RPGs can you think of that have not only mirrorshades and monomonecular katana but cybernetic genitalia right there in the core rules? ("Mr. Studd - all night, every night, and she'll never know.") |
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Sean (Shadowhowler)
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Post by Sean (Shadowhowler) on Apr 8, 2011 2:14:13 GMT
Don't forget the 'Midnight Lady' for the distaff side... Cyberpunk 2020 does have a certain attitude... I recall a section in the 'Running Cyberpunk' part of the book where it talks about never letting your player put their guard down. "Walking by an alley? Mug them. Going to their car to head to the store? The find it stolen (or better yet, GETTING stolen.) They can't handle it? Send them back to that happy game with the magic swords and dancing elves... this is Cyberpunk!" Love it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2011 5:40:46 GMT
Cyberpunk was interesting...Most memerable thing was a gunfight that grew from our group vs a gang to include the store owner whose store got blown up, the cops, and the two corp buildings facing the street. we did good til they brought out the rail gun.
That said I prefered shadowrun to cyberpunk.
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Sean (Shadowhowler)
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Post by Sean (Shadowhowler) on Apr 8, 2011 5:52:25 GMT
Sounds like a 'Friday Night Firefight'...  :shock: :x I just threw up all over my keyboard. I like D&D... and I like Cyberpunk... I do NOT like them together. Much like I enjoy Sweet/Spicy pickles, and I enjoy hot fudge sundaes... but I would not eat a hot fudge sundae with pickles on it. Shadowrun blows goats for pocket change. The end. |
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Post by MOK on Apr 8, 2011 10:18:42 GMT
Sounds like you didn't fight dirty enough.  Heh. One of the best games I ever ran was "Faeries Wear Boots". A combination of the games A Faery's Tale (which is exactly what it says on the tin) and Cyberpunk, inspired by a combination of the movies Labyrinth and Warriors. |
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Sean (Shadowhowler)
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Post by Sean (Shadowhowler) on Apr 8, 2011 17:10:19 GMT
That combination hurts my brain... "Can you DIG it?!?!?" -Glitter falls from the skies- "Weeeeeeeee!!!"
I once freaked my Cyberpunk players out badly by Bringing in a 'Predator' (Al la the movie of the same name)... it took em awhile to figure out what was going on... and after two of the group had been killed and they did figure it out they were screaming 'Sean, your such an a-hole!' it was epic. :twisted:
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I don't think he'll ever play D & D, but the swords that are on order right now we picked out together and it's totally awesome.
:shock: :x 
