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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aaron L" data-source="post: 3595208" data-attributes="member: 926">Because the "OMG katanas are superswords that can cut through gun barrels and marble and became so powerful because they were folded a million times and were so much better than any European swords ever made and should do 2d20 with a 2-20/X4 crit range" contingent on the WotC boards is quite large and vocal, and any time those of us who actually understand anything about swords/medieval arms and armor tried to dispel the Myth of the Katana it caused a rather large argument.  And believe me, the rabid katana worshipers over there simply will NOT let go of their deity quietly, and get pretty darn nasty when the exaltedness of the weapon is denigrated/presented truthfully.  You really don't want to see what happens when we try to explain to them that many European swords were made just as well as katana were and that masterwork bastard sword is an excellent way to represent it in D&D terms, or explain that the katana was elevated to it's sacred position in Japanese culture and it's "cult of the sword" was because of mythology and social class association and the super-traditionalism of feudal Japan, rather than any real properties of the katana as a weapon.  It gets very ugly, very fast.  Trying to explain how pattern welded Viking swords were made with just as much care and beauty and craftsmanship as laminated katana were, and how the swords Viking swords actually were made hundreds of years before the divine katana were, is tantamount to blasphemy to them.  Everything they know about katana they learned from Highlander, and they don't need things like the facts to get in the way of their religion.That combined with the tendency of the WizOs to ban any topic that provokes any kind of conflict at all at the drop of a hat is rather disconcerting.  Sorry for the rant, I'm still suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from old katana threads over there, which were locked and banned without allowing any resolution, thus creating a lot of frustration.  Historical weapon and armor inaccuracies in fantasy games is a pet peeve of mine.  (Oh, how I lay awake at night bemoaning the presentation of shields in D&D!  15 pound solid steel shields?!  Bucklers being unsuited to bashing attacks?!  Gag!!  At least we've moved past the idea that men in full plate were so heavy that they had to be winched onto their horses with cranes, and they gave greatswords a much more realistic weight of 8 pounds rather than the 25 or something that they used to foist on them!)</blockquote>

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