Wu Jen? What is it?

[Bohandas]

Is the "wu" part of "wu jen" the same "wu" that also translates as "not applicable"

 

[Mannahnin]

Ages later a voice in the wilderness said, "romanticization and fetishization, are the heart and lungs of most fantasy, written, games, or movies"

Ages later, a D&D nerd said, "Gary didn't actually write the book, though his name's on it. François Marcela-Froideval did the first draft, and David "Zeb" Cook did most of the final writing."

And that was back in the days when most of their research would have been through the local library (and probably some interlibrary loan). It was ahead of its time in some ways for 1985, but certainly the scholarship leaves much to be desired when looked at 35+ years later.

 

[Bohandas]

I don't know if this is relevant at all but in Martin Palmer's translation of the book of Chuang Tzu there's a character who appears in two of the stories whose name Martin renders as "Wu Jen" (although it's rendered as "Wuren" in Burton Watson's translation)

 

[MGibster]

And that was back in the days when most of their research would have been through the local library (and probably some interlibrary loan). It was ahead of its time in some ways for 1985, but certainly the scholarship leaves much to be desired when looked at 35+ years later.

Even in 2022, I don't expect scholarly level research for an RPG book. Although it's certainly nice when the author has that level of knowledge.

 

[aramis erak]

Even in 2022, I don't expect scholarly level research for an RPG book. Although it's certainly nice when the author has that level of knowledge.

While doing some research for a class in college, I ordered a book via ILL on medieval currency, which was sent from Lake Geneva Public Library, with EG Gygax in the checkout list on the pocket, due back in early 1973... the price list in shillings is the D&D OE price list in GP...
On the page prior it mentioned that the gold penny (1 dwt of "coin-gold") was worth 10 to 20 silver pennies (1 dwt of coin-silver), depending upon debasement of each.

For reference, coin-gold was often debased with copper and a bit of silver, to about 12 d worth.

So Gygax did research... just not wide nor careful research.

other fun WTF? bits...

shujenka is a corruption of shugenja those who practice shugendō. Shugendō (修験道) Practitioners are called Shugenja (修験者) or Yamabushi (山伏)

I'll note that AD&D OA as released seemed way more Japanese than Chinese, save for the monsters; I expect wu jen to be a corruption of ___ jin.

(D&D 3.X OA is absolutely more Japanese than Chinese, due to also being a port of L5R's setting.)

 

[Davies]

I don't know if this is relevant at all but in Martin Palmer's translation of the book of Chuang Tzu there's a character who appears in two of the stories whose name Martin renders as "Wu Jen" (although it's rendered as "Wuren" in Burton Watson's translation)

Edit: Never mind, that translation only dates from 1996 and can't have been available to Mr. Grubb.