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A friend and I do not understand the following sentence in the same way:

This motorcycle can bring you and others riding with you to where you need to go in a brief time, no matter how far away or how accessible the area is to land transportation.

First, some context about this quotation. This sentence is taken from a rule book for role-playing game. It explains a game mechanism to make temporal ellipses in the narration of the game. If you have trouble to grasp how a motorcycle can ride on water, just replace the word "motorcycle" with "vehicle" or "ovni", whatever, that's not the point of my question:

I understand that one can ride this motorcycle anywhere as long as it is by land transportation. Thus it cannot reach an island.

My friend understands that one can ride this motorcycle no matter if it is by land transportation. Thus it can reach an island.

For both of us English is not our mother tongue. What is the correct interpretation of the sentence?

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  • I’m more confused about the first two words. What does a motorcycle and driving have to do with “between chapters”, which sounds like something about a book. Where is this taken from?
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 13:42
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    What actual motorcycle can bring you in a brief time to somewhere no matter how far away it is?
    – Arm the good guys in America
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 13:50
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    I interpret as being capable of reaching an island as long as you need to go there. (How you establish need is a different story). But it says no matter how accessible to land transportation We can all agree that an island is not accessible by land transport but according to the description, this does not matter.
    – Jim
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 14:34
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    The fact that there is magic involved is essential here, because the sentence just does not make any sense otherwise. Given that magic is involved, yes, the motorcycle can reach an island. Or indeed, going by the phrasing there, the bottom of the sea, the surface of the moon, or into the rings of Saturn.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 14:55
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    A strict rules-lawyer interpretation of that sentence does not preclude riding it to an island. However, the game may have other rules that do, or may just ignore that specific physical impossibility. If you really care to know, you could try asking on Role-playing Games.
    – Kevin
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 17:29

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I think the last sentence is trying to say 'The motorbike gets you to your destination quickly, no matter how far away the destination is AND no matter how accessible the area of land is to land transportation'.

It sounds like it doesn't matter how far away the destination is or how hard the destination is to get to by normal land transportation, the motorbike will get you and your passengers there quickly. It doesn't specifically mention that the Motorbike is a quick form of land transportation, rather a teleport kind of vehicle.

I would therefore agree with your friend and say it can reach the island. Are there any destinations with water or are they all land based (even on an island)?

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  • The setting is our planet, now, with magic added (from hell and heaven) and celestial beings. The game can make the characters travel all around the world, but you could take a plane (how the bikes take the plane is not really a problem). Both interpretations are coherent with the setting and do not change much the gameplay. It was more a matter of nitpicking on the interpretation of the sentence.
    – A. Hersean
    Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 14:36

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