Sinew

Play Vocabulary

Sinew (SINW, SIN, SNW) is the mastery of controlled movement and balance - it represents a measure of hand-eye coordination, dexterity, agility, and of quick reflexes. This ability affects activities such as aiming and swinging a sword (or a golf-club), operating a complex locking mechanism, or the characters ability to quickly get out of the way of a canyon rock-fall.

It is a general rule of thumb that smaller, lighter creatures (such as the mouse, snake or monkey) are more dextrous than large hulking ones (such as the rhino or elephant). Thus the larger and heavier, slower-moving creatures would have an appropriately lower Sinew value than a nimble little hunter.

An elephant or large dinosaur might have a Sinew score of 1, while an uncannily-skilled tree-leaping lemur monkey might have a Sinew of 7 or 8. In terms of aquatic creatures, a not-quite-full-grown great white shark might display a Sinew score of 1 or 2 or at most 3, while an octopus might have a score of 5 or 6 or even greater.

These examples above presume, of course, that we are attempting to measure or abstract the vital statistics of earthly creatures, as per our everyday expectations, but in Fairyland, things are curious and unexpected, and the name of a creature itself (in the language of the traveller, moreover) is what informs it's manifestation. A tiger in Fairyland might not be the great beast you know from the mortal world.

See also:

• Agility Roll & Agility
• Character Statistics
• Rules