WotC_Rodney: Trap Fun!

[TerraDave]

I started a whole debate on the name...you have seen the examples of truly bad names reiterated above...in any case, it looks like the debate is stopping.

 

[DonTadow]

That's a tad judgmental for the actual information we have on hand.

??? It's a terrible bad name for something that has nothing to do with
1. Wind
2. Circular damage
3. Weather

If i am watching an anime, and I hear someone's going for their tornado strike, i know what to expect. What I don't expect is someone to run up and trip me.

 

[vazanar]

I also think that we can have new and exciting names that may sing more to story than pure description, and that we can create a meaning through the game and their use. D&D has done that in the past and will continue to do it. Those types of names serve as mnemonic devices. You remember the story, you remember what it does. I can tell most of my friends something is a Kobayashi Maru, and they know the hopelessness of the situation we are in. The phrase without the story mean next to nothing (at least in English). In context, the words are concise and evocative, though they mean something entirely different from the loose Japanese translation.

This kind of name-game activity happens at game tables all the time. The game creates and evolves its own parlance constantly. Ask the typical person what a cantrip is, they’ll stare at you blankly. On the individual game group side ask my players what Volo’s Law is, and they will tell you without hesitation. Other D&D players will just stare at you blankly. I don't think the creation of this gaming parlance is avoidable or necessarily undesirable.

I know this is a dead topic, but since its one of the designers I'll say my two cents. I agree names can add to building a story. However, the more story names are in the main rules the less open the rules are to diffrent stories. In this case tornado strike is fine. I think its silly but it wont interfere. Gold Wyvern adept however is a name that wont fit in certain worlds and stories. Yes we can change it, but thats more work for us because it fit in your world. Volo's Law sounds neat, but it means nothing to my group and shouldn't have to.

More on topic, I like the black felt idea. Usually my tiles wind up on top of the battlemat, but it would add to the look. Is the trap insulation painted grey with a chain?

 

[JohnSnow]

??? It's a terrible bad name for something that has nothing to do with
1. Wind
2. Circular damage
3. Weather

If i am watching an anime, and I hear someone's going for their tornado strike, i know what to expect. What I don't expect is someone to run up and trip me.

I know what you mean! I have the same problem with calling a punch "a roundhouse."

I mean, it's not like it actually goes in a circle. And it has nothing to do with houses in the slightest!

And don't get me started on "upper cut." What a stupid name for a punch that usually strikes low and doesn't actually CUT anything!

And what about "Bear Hug?" I mean, what if I just want to grab someone without hugging them in a bearish way?? :\

Are we done yet?

 

[DonTadow]

I know what you mean! I have the same problem with calling a punch "a roundhouse."

I mean, it's not like it actually goes in a circle. And it has nothing to do with houses in the slightest!

And don't get me started on "upper cut." What a stupid name for a punch that usually strikes low and doesn't actually CUT anything!

And what about "Bear Hug?" I mean, what if I just want to grab someone without hugging them in a bearish way?? :\

Are we done yet?

Wow, what a stupid comment. A roundhouse does have something to do with circules. It is a punch that you windup for and arc your arm, when you come around it makes a half circle, as if it's coming around. Thus a round house.

upper cut, a punch that moves up. The cut part comes because a good hit will cut the lip of your opponent. Both are boxing terminology that has existed for some time.
I take it you're not a boxing fan.

 

[hong]

If i am watching an anime, and I hear someone's going for their tornado strike, i know what to expect. What I don't expect is someone to run up and trip me.

Think of it not as "trip", but "knock down".

 

[JohnSnow]

Wow, what a stupid comment. A roundhouse does have something to do with circules. It is a punch that you windup for and arc your arm, when you come around it makes a half circle, as if it's coming around. Thus a round house.

upper cut, a punch that moves up. The cut part comes because a good hit will cut the lip of your opponent. Both are boxing terminology that has existed for some time.
I take it you're not a boxing fan.

*AHEM*

It's called "sarcasm."

And still, a roundhouse has nothing to do with houses. A good "upper cut", while it moves upward, still doesn't "cut" the lip of your opponent, it splits it open. Blunt objects, by definition, don't "cut."

To be truly and properly "descriptive," a "roundhouse" ought to be called a "half circle punch" and an "Upper cut" ought to be called an "upwards reverse punch."

Obviously, in the proper context, they make perfect sense. But in context, things like "long tail guard" (for the record, that's the English translation for a type of longsword guard) make perfect sense. The sword is low and sticks out behind the swordsman like, well, a tail.

What if a "Tornado Strike" is a sweeping blow that hurls someone back? That's reasonably descriptive of the effect of the blow. In your view, would something called "skull-splitting strike" have to split the skull? Or is it enough if it just hits it and dazes the target?

People are getting far, far, too hung up on naming conventions, with little to no justification other than "they don't like it." Not liking it is fine, but that doesn't mean that the decision is "wrong." Evocative names, as many people have shown, have their place, even in the European martial tradition. You're entitled to think they're confusing, or to prefer flavorless mechanical descriptions, but you are NOT entitled to complain on a basis that's incorrect.

How can people not comprehend something this simple?

 

[Klaus]

Re "roundhouse": The punch (or kick, in the case of a roundhouse kick) makes such a wide arc that it is referred to as going "all around the house" (i.e. all over the place). That got shortened to "roundhouse".

Re: Uppercut: you *cut* through your opponet's defense with an upward punch.

 

[hong]

Uppercut? I 'ardly even know 'er. HAR HAR HAR.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Upper cut sounds like something you'd ask for in the butcher's. It is dumb, like 4e.