Real-World Weapon Roster - Add yours

[RangerWickett]

I'd like to get a listing of as many types of weapons of the real world as possible, with as many names as possible. My history-fu is weak, so I want your help. Could you post a few weapons, including name, general description, culture, and any other trivia you can think of?

If possible, I want to get a nice roster from every major culture, and a lot of more obscure ones. A bit of organization will go a long way, so if you could, format your posts as follows:

Weapon Name. Continent > Nation > Culture > Era (feel free to exclude some of these).
General description of what the weapon is, and perhaps how it's used. Maybe include a mention of any famous instances of the weapon in books, movies, or legends.
Stats - Whatever weapon you think best represents it, or new rules if you need them.


For example:

Foil. Europe > Modern.
This is a practice sword used in competitions. It is non-lethal, and the goal is to simply touch your foe, not hurt him. The weapon usually has a bell guard, and comes with two primary types of hilts - the French grip, which is slightly curved and held underhand; and the pistol grip, which is held like a pistol.
Stats - d2 nonlethal damage, martial melee weapon, crit 20/x2. Cannot harm creatures with an armor bonus of +1 or higher, or a natural armor bonus of +3 or higher.


Of course, feel free to abridge that. I mean, you can say: "Estoc - a type of sword that is basically X, but it's from country Y, and is slightly different in Z way."

 

[Corsair]

Club (aka: bat, baton, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, business, conk buster, convincer, cosh, cudgel, hickory, mace, mallet, nightstick, persuader, rosewood, sap, shill, shillelagh, stick swatter, truncheon) > Any > Any > Any > Any

Throughout history, there is nothing as simple and elegant, as a big stick.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Just a quick warning... Take any information you get with a grain of salt.

I'm not saying people here will deliberately mislead you. But the simple fact is, historical sources don't always agree on what a weapon is called, or what culture it comes from. You'll find two or three different swords, all from Scotland and all called "claymores" that are radically different in appearance and function. The falcata (sp?) has been attributed to both Rome and Spain. And don't even try to get multiple historical sources to agree on names for many of the pole-arms out there.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

But the simple fact is, historical sources don't always agree on what a weapon is called, or what culture it comes from. You'll find two or three different swords, all from Scotland and all called "claymores" that are radically different in appearance and function. The falcata (sp?) has been attributed to both Rome and Spain. And don't even try to get multiple historical sources to agree on names for many of the pole-arms out there.

This takes me back to first edition, with its bill, glaive, glaive guisarme etc. all of which are basically ‘extremely long wooden pole with sharp edge, and/or point attached to one end.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

What period do you want? You could literally fill reams with the modern weapons I work with on a daily basis.

 

[jdrakeh]

What period do you want? You could literally fill reams with the modern weapons I work with on a daily basis.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking - as a shotgun collector, for instance, I could probably fill up at least three pages with different makes and models of shotguns (from the single-shot, breach-loading, .410 Harrington & Richardson Handygun to the widely sought after Belgium Browning Auto-12 sem-automatic shotgun) to say nothing of the dozens of diffferent loads available (from low-brass, lead, bird shot and high-brass, steel, geese shot, to custom ground flechette shells, glazer slugs, or even sandbags). And shotguns are among the less varied arrays of firearms.

 

[Tarangil]

Gaqivuq North America>Arctic Canada> Inuit (eskimo) > Neolithic to modern.


Yes it is still used. It's about 6'-8' long usually made out of bone, wood, and sinew. Metal is used in more modern ones. On a good strike it could seize and hold size S and smaller. Kind of like a Trident with Barbs to stop the withdraw of the weapon when struck.

Ulu North America>Arctic Canada> Inuit (eskimo) > Neolithic to modern.

Move over Punching Daggers, these are the same but for Slashing purposes. Actually they're a very good utility tool for cutting and skinning (A good Barbarians or Rangers choice) If you've ever handled one, they fit wickedly in the hand and even when dull, their crescent shape cutst through muscle and even bone very easily.

 

[Janx]

It'll take forever to fully describe all the weapons, heck, even the ones I own:

Oriental stuff:
Katana - japanese long sword
Bo - 6' long stick
Jo - 3' long stick
Escrima - 28" long stick
Tonfa - 18" stick with handle on the side
Sais - slender pointed weapon, with 2 wide prongs, length, 18" approx.
Throwing Stars
Boken - wooden katana, used for practice

European stuff:
Long sword (3' blade, one handed grip)
Short Sword (2' blade, one handed grip)
Flamberge (flame blade, curvy edge like a Kriss)
Dagger (less than 1' long, one handed grip)
Morning Star - wooden handle, chain connecting a heavy weighted spiked ball
Crossbow
Long bow
compound bow

American Stuff:
Smith & Wesson .38 revolver
Ranger .22 long rifle, single shot, bolt action
various folding pocket knives in locking, and non-locking variety

All I've done is list a bunch of items lying around my house. The guy who listed club for instance, lumped a lot of stuff in there. The weapon name leads to a usage style. Saying a 3' stick is a club is not the same as saying a 3' stick is a Jo. The way you use a club in entirely different from the way you use a Jo.

Janx

 

[interwyrm]

mercurial greatsword, gyrspike, spiked chain...
oh wait, real weapons?
Sorey.

 

[IcyCool]

Jambiya (or, alternatively, Jamibya)
A short, curved knife of Arabic origin. They are usually ornamental but have been used as weapons. (Essentially a dagger.)