[net.games.frp] Chinese chain-knives

barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold) (06/03/85)

Keywords:

Do any of the people who've posted stuff about Chinese chain weapons with
knives at the end know the Chinese names for these things?  I have to
confess to being somewhat dubious about the authenticity of a weapon
whose main claim to fame is a kung fu film.   I've been basing my articles
on Donn Draeger's historical books on Japanes classic martial arts, Stone's
catalog of weapons, etc.

There was a neato TV series (New Assassins of the Tokaido) which featured
a fellow who swigged down a liquid from a bronze sake flask--and then
blew the stuff out again past a lit candle--resulting in scenes of napalm-
like devastation over a 15 foot radius area.  (Instant Fireball!)  Another
member of the same team was a cute girl who could balance a top on her fan--
or throw one so a nail stuck out of it and it bored right into a man's head.
However, I don't think either of these two weapons is authentic.

I can send some stuff on ninja explosives (carried in eggshells) if anyone's
interested.

--Lee Gold

hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) (06/06/85)

In article <2042@sdcrdcf.UUCP> barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold) writes:
>Keywords:
>
>Do any of the people who've posted stuff about Chinese chain weapons with
>knives at the end know the Chinese names for these things?  I have to
>confess to being somewhat dubious about the authenticity of a weapon
>whose main claim to fame is a kung fu film.   I've been basing my articles
>on Donn Draeger's historical books on Japanes classic martial arts, Stone's
>catalog of weapons, etc.

Sorry, Lee, but I don't know what the thing is called and I can't read
chinese characters.  The device I described, the "flying guillotine",
is a pretty unlikely weapon, but I was telling a friend (who studied
Kung Fu in one of the more exotic variants on Monkey style) and he
told me that his teacher had given the class a rundown of exotic and
downright WIERD weapons, and that one was one of them.  There was also
a "silver death bird" which was a flying knife with boomerang tendencies,
a "three part sword" which FOLDED along a hinge for crying out loud,
and any number of flail variants.  All of them were described as being
hard to use, dangerous for the user, and not really completely worth it.

I want to point out that ninjutsu is not a "classical" art, and any of the
stranger weapons and unlikely techniques could have been lost, or still
clan secrets.   The bladed variant on manrikigusari I mentioned was shown
in the movie version of the life of the gentleman who invented the
"swallow cut" style of swordplay, who was killed by Musashi.  The blade
might have been the invention of the studio, but it was definitely there.

One thing that might be an interesting addition to the Bushido rules
would be a metarule for defining damage done by exotic weapons.  If
the ninja are included, they would tend to use exotic weapons, magic,
stage-magic, explosives, nasty wierd skills...  And the clans each had
their own perverse set of weapons, dirty tricks, etc.

>There was a neato TV series (New Assassins of the Tokaido) which featured
>a fellow who swigged down a liquid from a bronze sake flask--and then
>blew the stuff out again past a lit candle--resulting in scenes of napalm-
>like devastation over a 15 foot radius area.  (Instant Fireball!)  Another
>member of the same team was a cute girl who could balance a top on her fan--
>or throw one so a nail stuck out of it and it bored right into a man's head.
>However, I don't think either of these two weapons is authentic.

I've heard of the "volcano" being used as a weapon even as far back
as ancient Rome.  However, the flying drill doesn't sound like anything
that was ever used.  The physics of it aren't quite believable, not that
it matters for game use.

>I can send some stuff on ninja explosives (carried in eggshells) if anyone's
>interested.
>
>--Lee Gold

Or the super-firecrackers they used or the neat smoke bombs, or the
herbal poisons... They used fugu fish venom too.
Please do post whatever you want on ninja.

Hutch