First I want to say that I love the 2nd Edition of TOR. As with all alpha versions of course there’s a couple of issues to iron out. The Live Stream with Francesco and Martin yesterday took care of several important issues.
I just have one very small thing to nitpick at on page 48. Here we find beautiful drawings of examples of most arms. However the two Swords depicted (Sword and Long Sword) are drawn in an odd way. The bases of the blades, the ”ricasso”, are extremely broad compare to the rest of the blade.
When you wield a sword you don’t want all power stay in your hand and the base of the sword/ricasso. You want the force of the swing to hit with maximum power at the opponents body (or sword/sheild) in order to wear down and tire out the opponent (Imagine a carpenters hammer. Where is the weight of the hammer located? At the head that hits the nail). The swords at p.48 has a backward balance. Almost all force in a blow stay at the hand and the base/ricasso of the sword, and almost none of the force will hit the opponent.
Consider how swords through the ages have been designed, regardless culture or time period. Every Swordsman wants a weapon that is effective. They don’t want something that looks different but gives them a disadvantage. The two swords depicted on p.48 is not swords made for battle, but for ceremonial purpose in a religious context (swords have had a very important roll in religious context, over all times and cultures). The swords resembles much to the fantastic design of ritual swords from Edo region in Nigeria and likewise ritual swords. Swords with two or three blades, ya even four blades. They look very cool but are totally useless to use in a battle.
A person using the swords on p.48 would lose every time against an equally good opponent.
I understand the artist wants to create something with a personal touch. On the other hand, art undeniably establish connotations to our imaginations. In this case of how the swords a Player-hero carry will look like, and function. In other words, it’s fair to say that the artists, on both good and bad, has a responsibility for how the players imagine the fantasy world and the gear in it. And it get especially important when the function of a weapon more or less is lost. It's like adding horns to a Viking helmet.
This of course has no impact on TOR as a game. It will only have an impact on our imaginations, for some more, for other less, or not at all. In other words, it would be nice if this particular art could be altered. If not, let it be. I personally can live with it since it won’t effect the game mechanisms.