Ah the Kitchen Sink Setting. One of my novice players for the upcoming
GURPS campaign picked up a naginata and a couple of shurikens. Which led
to a discussion of why he could have such exotic weapons in the western
european style mileau of Nomar. I told him that thanks to the
fad for all thing Japanese that started in the early 80s, at least in my
area, that I carved out a section of the Majestic Wilderland to place a
culture that is an analogue of medieval Japan.
There are differences for example the "emperor", known as the Imperial
Prince, is viewed as the Son of Mitra rather than the Son of Amaterasu.
But all the familiar 80s stereotypes are there, the weapons, the martial
arts, the feudal hierarchy, the code of Bushido, etc. And
geographically it wasn't even that far from Nomar so it was plausible
that the character has the exotic weapons.
Not entirely germane but back in the 2e days of GURPS I remember being flabberghasted that a katana had different stats than a bastard sword, and a naginata was not identical to a glaive. Not quite as bad as AD&D 1e/2e but silly. Don't get why everyone thought Japenese = just plain better when it came to weapons...part of the same fad I guess
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