[MUD-Dev] Source data on Crossbow

[Matt Chatterley]

On Fri, 18 Jul 1997 clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:

>    at 08:13 AM, Matt Chatterley <root at mpc.dyn.ml.org> said:
> 
> >Bola (and even nets) are probably very dangerous in the right hands -
> >and a very good way to bring down an opponent while you're chasing
> >him. 
> 
> Read up on the old Roman gladiators.  Look out for the guys with net
> and trident.  They were *quite* effective.

The Roman gladiators were pretty darned effective in any case.. at least
the good (read: surviving) ones. Something of a testament to 'natural
selection' in an albeit brutal context. Weapons which immobilise the
opponent temporarily are often overlooked in mud combat (perhaps because
it doesnt fit the romantic one-on-one-with-swords-clashing notion?)
 
> >Boomerangs? Well.. being hit by 'em would hurt, I imagine. ;)
> 
> The Australian aboriginees had war boomerangs not only hurt, but broke
> arms, legs, necks, and regularly killed with a single blow.  Such
> boomerangs did not return to the thrower however.

Ouch.
 
> >> Chinese used sort of giant Roman Candles early in the gunpowder era.
> 
> >Don't forget, even if you're working pre-gunpowder, you can still use
> >cannons - if you can reason a way that they might have been crafted,
> >and function by magic.
> 
> One of my favourite D&D stories involves a campaign where the resident
> wizard brought along a small sack of pebbles.  The pebbles turned out
> to be magically minaturised/encpasulated objects of various types:

"Uh oh.."

> like a compleat galleon, a house, a castle, huge casks of wine, very
> large boulders, horses, armour, wagons, clothing etc.  The wiz as
> happens died early in the campaign, however not before one of the
> other players had noticed and learned how to "release" the contents of
> the pebbles by crumblinb them.  Later on, when the party was under
> severe attack by a large army they took to slinging the pebbles at the
> enemy.

LOL!
 
>   A band of Orcs runs at you screaming and waving their swords!
>   Bubba throws a small stone at them.
>   The stone turns into a small galleon with all sails set!
>   Crash!  The galleon smashes into the ground!
>   The Orcs are gone.

LOL! I love that one. Makes my tales of paultry screaming stones,
lightning arrows and explosive blow-darts pale in comparison. :)

Regards,
	-Matt Chatterley
	http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html
"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's
	mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." -George Orwell