Re: Just to argue against myself...

From: Thom Baguley <t.s.baguley_at_...>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 14:02:27 +0100

> From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_...>
>
>Mikko Rintasaari:
>> I'm a fair hand with a broadsword myself, as well as a decently
>> competent martial artist. Yet when I started fencing, For a long time my
>> earlier swordfighting experience didn't seem to help at all. I could
>> parry instinctively much better than the other novices, but I had to
>> learn how to attack and how to move all over again.
>
>... One might argue that fencing is, if not entirely outside the
>domain of "close combat", then certainly, pushing the envelope.

My experience of fencing is that basic moves, distance, reach and so on are similar between weapons of a certain type (e.g., parrying with a sabre has considerable similarity with a broadsword, mace or axe). However, fencing is also contaminated with lots of sport conventions and competition tricks.

The difficulty of transferring knowledge from one field to another is, if you want to simulate it, better done by either i) increasing the subskill cost, ii) requiring training/practice to be roleplayed (or both). The latter is, I believe, already explicitly mentioned in the rules (though not required).

Thom