What Would be the Perfect Realistic-type Tabletop Game?

[Exediron]

Five pounds sounds like a lot. That's not a one-handed weapon. (3 pounds is quite hefty for a sword, too - that's two-handed longsword or fairly heavy rapier territory.)

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All replicas, obviously, but read the reviews. The weights aren't going to be off by very much (and might, in fact, be over).

You aren't going to find one-handed weapons that exceed 3 pounds by a lot, generally. (Unless they were ceremonial, in which case all bets are off.)

It's fairly heavy, I'll grant you, but I own a (modern - no claim that it is historically accurate, but it is functional) sword that weighs in at 4.5 lbs. It's a hand-and-half sword which I use one handed, with a long hilt and a heavy ball on the pommel to bring the balance point all the way down to just above your hand. It swings and spins beautifully because of its balance and doesn't feel its weight at all except when its coming down for a cut. It does of course have a lot of momentum, so you have to use a slightly different technique on recovery.

My point here is that with a good balance, a sword over 3 pounds can definitely be usable one handed - although it is easier the larger you are.

This seems obvious, yeah. Historical accuracy is for settings, not systems.

It does. The reason I mentioned that is that a lot of people seem to be focusing entirely on what armor or weapons actually existed in our history, which I see as irrelevant.

That looks like a completely excessive level of modelling, where you'd get differences between individual weapons (what if my katana has a 29" blade and is 40" overall? Do the numbers change at least 1%?). I've never seen that level of modelling accuracy in any RPG that I can recall.

That's a point, and probably the 1-100 is too much detail for basic weapon modeling. However, the point is to make an RPG more realistic than any extant system - otherwise it's sort of pointless.

The size was just added for flavor, and should probably be a range instead of a single number. I picked what is about average. An extra inch of blade increases reach a bit, decreases speed a bit and makes the weapon more suited for a taller wielder. I was thinking of the statistics (chop, slash, etc.) to reflect more the effect produced by that design of weapon; a slightly longer Katana will still have the same relationship between its slashing and thrusting ability, more or less. It might be better to express it some other way, however.

The proposed level of detail would be something I'd like forward to in a video game. As of now, I have worries as to our ability to create mechanics that will make the suggested distinction more than a minor benefit.

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With a computer to manage the numbers, I think detailing this would be a very worth-while endeavor. For now, I'm unsure about these options being applied in a tabletop game.

This is definitely true. But without a computer to help, I don't really see how you can get an improvement in realism without a corresponding increase in complexity. It's up to the system design to make the system as easy to use as possible, but it can't be as simple as D&D and also properly simulate the real world.

Frankly, I think all the emphasis on combat realism in this thread is a little misplaced. I'd like my game, at least, to incorporate some of the more... liberating aspects of realism- such as NPCs that actually behave like independent agents, rather than puppets of GM railroading, and PC decisions+dice-rolls that actually have consequences, even when it conflicts with "the plot". What mechanics are we going to use to ensure that, exactly?

Although we're talking about combat now, I don't think anyone here intends to focus on it in particular - it's just easier to discuss one element at a time. If everything is discussed all at once, you get ten different discussions going all at once and nobody can make sense of it.

I don't really see NPCs or their behavior as the call of the system. I believe strongly in the separation of mechanics and role-playing, and I don't want my system to dictate the way the characters act or the way the DM runs the game. However, many people don't feel the same way, so it probably does need some discussion. You raise a valid point (at least for less experienced or dedicated role-players) about a lack of social mechanics leading to the players and not the characters taking the lead.