Martial Arts: Silly Weapons
Realistic "martial-arts weapons" can be inefficient, overly complex, and/or hopelessly specialized. Cinematic ones are often all of those things and silly, too! They’re still terrifyingly effective in their native setting, though. Below are some fictional examples. Cost, weight, and other details are deliberately left vague. Such factors seem quite irrelevant to the cinematic schoolgirls and old men who wield these weapons.
Buzzsaw Ball-and-Chain: This schoolyard classic combines the benefits of a heavy kusari and a giant morningstar! Now with spring-loaded saw blades in the ball. (The chain strikes with Kusari skill for thrust+3 crushing. The ball uses Two-Handed Flail skill for swing+4 crushing. Popping the blades takes a Ready maneuver but makes damage cutting. Reach 1-4*.)
Decapitating Hood: There's nothing quite like a chain that ends in a metal bell full of whirling blades. Catch your enemy's head in it to decapitate him. Fling the severed head at his friends to send an unmistakable message. True masters will want two! (Decapitating Hood is a unique DX/Very Hard skill. Roll at -5 to drop the bell over an opponent's head. It inflicts 5d cutting damage per second to the neck until the victim dies of decapitation. Expelling the head gives +5 to Intimidation. Ejecting a head or readying the weapon after a throw requires a Ready maneuver. Reach 1-10.)
Doom Pincers: What's better than a heavy gauntlet fitted with razorsharp shears? One with a powerful clockwork engine, of course! (The blades can strike as a regular shortsword or grapple at -2 to grappling skill. Grappled foes take 2d cutting damage per second to the grappled body part. Reach C, 1.)
Sword-Chuks: Two swords linked pommel-to-pommel with a chain let you use slick nunchaku moves to slice and dice enemies. Yes, these are full-length swords – and that means superior reach! (Treat exactly as a nunchaku except that damage is cutting and reach is 1, 2.)
Whip-Blade: This sword is actually five blades linked end-to-end by a chain. A clever mechanism hidden in the handle lets you pull the sections together into a chopping blade or loosen them to create a deadly metal whip. (Functions as a regular falchion, wielded with the Shortsword skill, or as a two-yard whip that inflicts cutting damage, which uses the Whip skill. Changing modes requires a Ready maneuver.)