Weapons. In the popular dragon games, the only reason to pick one over the other is either because of it’s damage dice or you’re trying to be super thematic.

But it could be more interesting.

Weapons technology has largely been a race to kill someone in the most effective way. During the era where most of our dragon games are set, that largely meant producing them for armies fighting in open fields.

I’m pulling this completely out of my ass, but let’s think about lances. When I think about whose using them, it’s either knights in a tournament or lines of cavalry.

In the first example, it’s two people who have a vested interest in riding right towards each other. In the second, it’s many horses hemmed in-between other horses – it can only go forward.

An adventurer in our dragon games is much more likely to be involved in a skirmish than a war. There’s no rank and file. If two people are riding at each other with lances, what’s to stop one from… well, turning? They’re not hemmed in and they likely don’t want to get poked with the pointy end.

Spears were a great battlefield weapon. Stabbing something from as far away as possible is always a good tactic. Ask anyone whose ever fought – reach counts for a lot.

But then we have our adventurers, who are very likely to be going into cramped dungeons. Is the spear really the best weapon for that? Not a lot of room to maneuver.

Hell, if they’re in a crawlspace, are they going to be swinging a long sword? Even inside a small room, that might be a bit much. The person with the shortsword might have the advantage.

Range isn’t the only thing that matters – timing, strength, and stamina are all important in a fight. Last night, I was doing decently well sparring someone less than half my age for a while. They were fast and aggressive, but I could use my kicks to keep them back. They had the stamina advantage, however, and I got tired. Those legs got heavy. Reach didn’t mean nothing if I couldn’t get them up long enough.

Now, we don’t want to model all of this is our dragon games. I’m a believer that fun is more important than accurate simulation. I have started to give characters penalties for using big weapons in small spaces, however. A simple -5 or disadvantage does wonders. Suddenly, everyone is carrying a dagger.

Oh… and let’s not even talk about friendly fire.