On Wed, 1 Oct 1997, Co-Sysop wrote:
> There has been a lot of talk lately of the unrealisticness of someone using
> a weapon, a light, a shield and holding an item. Some people wanted to make
> it so you couldn't use more than 2 of those things at once. But I have been
> thinking about it a little bit and has anyone realized that shields (or all
> the ones I have seen) aren't designed to be held in a hand? I might be
> wrong but shields are basically a flat (or curved) board with 2 straps on
> the back. These straps were designed so the shield would be held with the
> arm between the wrist and the elbow (or one strap on the arm, one in the
> palm of the holders hand). So you could still hold something and use a
I've been in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) for about 3 years
now, and from personal experience, if you have a shield in your left
hand, you most certainly are not going to be able to wield a weapon, hold
a torch or do anything else with that hand. There is one strap that sits
in the crook of the elbow and a handle that is gripped by the hand. I
don't think that I've ever seen a shield with a strap for the wrist. It
would just allow the shield to move to much when you want it stationary.
There are, in fact, shields designed to be held in the hand only and not
strapped to the arm. These are generally called punch bucklers or viking
rounds (Depends on the diameter of the shield in question).
There is another kind of 'shield', called a buckler that straps onto the
arm, and leaves the hand free for using a weapon, but I would say that
that kind of shield belongs on the arm slot, not the shield slot.
With this in mind, I coded my MUD so that each player has two hands
available and no more.
John Evans <evansj@hi-line.net>
May the source be with you.
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