Random Weapon Generator: Type, Material, Origin and a Quirk

Arm a villain, stock a treasure hoard or hand a new character an heirloom: a real historical weapon with an invented past and no stats.

Random Weapon Generator: Type, Material, Origin and a Quirk: 20 weapons

A kanabō made with rattan, handed down through six generations of one family. Its owner is expected to give it away before growing old.

  • Typekanabō
  • Made withrattan
  • Originhanded down through six generations of one family
  • Quirkits owner is expected to give it away before growing old
Saved
History (0)

Every weapon you make is kept here, newest first, up to the last 20. The list stays in this browser.

    Weapon of the day

     

    1. A fangtian ji made with hardwood, commissioned to settle a debt between two families. It makes its owner look more dangerous than they are.
    2. A sabre made with wrought iron, carried by the door wardens of a royal court. A collector has been trying to buy it for years.
    3. An English longbow made with griffin claw, bought cheap from a soldier heading home. Frost forms on it first on cold mornings.
    4. An ula made with heartwood from a walking tree, left behind at an inn by a guest who never returned. Dogs refuse to walk past it.
    5. A tonfa made with phoenix ash, kept by a village and lent to whoever stands watch. It is famous in one small town and unknown anywhere else.
    6. An estoc made with phoenix ash, bought cheap from a soldier heading home. It smells faintly of pine tar, whatever is done to it.
    7. A khopesh made with meteoric iron, held by whoever is elected captain of a militia. It fits its owner's hand as if measured for it.
    8. An arbalest made with bog iron, submitted as a masterpiece to enter a craft guild. It is illegal to carry in at least one nearby town.
    9. A shamshir made with crystal grown in a wizard's cellar, found under a barn floor, wrapped in oiled cloth. Sailors touch it for luck and soldiers will not.
    10. A sabre made with bog oak, built by a temple workshop for a festival procession. It attracts lightning, or so its owner firmly believes.
    11. A Zweihänder made with amber that has something trapped inside, left to its owner in a will, with no explanation. Somebody out there wants it back.
    12. A stiletto made with heartwood from a walking tree, finished in secret during a siege. It is never quite where its owner left it.
    13. A bardiche made with obsidian, stolen once, returned, and stolen again. It smells faintly of pine tar, whatever is done to it.
    14. A kampilan made with smooth river stone, carried by four generations of the same ferry family. Its likeness is stamped on an old coin still in use.
    15. A boomerang made with wrought iron, carried by the door wardens of a royal court. Every pawnbroker knows whose it was and will not take it.
    16. A gladius made with yew, finished by a smith for her daughter's first campaign. Its owner is expected to tell its story when asked.
    17. A partisan made with bronze, crafted by an old soldier who swore it was the last one. It is always a little warm to the touch.
    18. A francisca made with seasoned ash, crafted by a village smith as a wedding gift. It makes its owner look more dangerous than they are.
    19. A xiphos made with bronze, confiscated at a city gate and sold at auction. Nobody is supposed to step over it.
    20. A mere made with brass, finished by a smith for her daughter's first campaign. It is never quite where its owner left it.

    Next step Draw the world it belongs toGive its owner a personality

    Random Weapon Generator: Type, Material, Origin and a Quirk: how it works

    This random weapon generator is a weapon randomizer with a history attached: a real historical type, a material, an origin and one quirk. All 113 types, from the anelace to the woldo, were checked against Wikipedia, and the full list says what each one is. Nothing is a statistic, so a result fits any rules, or a story with none.

    Roll a weapon, keep the good part

    Press New weapon, then lock a row and reroll the others: keep the bec de corbin and change only how it reached its owner. The sentence says made with, never made of, so a longbow made with bronze has bronze fittings. Print makes a sheet of 20. Number it and roll a twenty-sided die.

    Real types, invented histories

    Every type is a named weapon powered by muscle: no firearms, no siege engines, nothing modern. The full list explains each one, so you can tell a player that a Lucerne hammer is a Swiss polearm about 1.5 m long, or that the flail was real but never common. Seven legend materials are real legends, unicorn horn and dragon bone among them. The other ten are made up and say so.

    Tips

    • For a historical game, reroll Made with past the legend group, which is 17 of its 41 lines, and skip the 15 uncanny quirks.
    • Treat the origin as a plot hook: won at dice and never won back means somebody lost it and still wants a rematch.
    • Treasure is better with a cost. Lock a quirk from the catch group, such as somebody out there wants it back.

    Questions and answers

    Can I use it as a weapon randomizer for a new character?

    Yes. Read the Type row alone, or lock the type and reroll its history until it suits the backstory. 113 types times 41 materials times 58 origins times 66 quirks gives 17,735,124 combinations. Within a row, a line that has come up waits until every other line has had its turn. Only the weapon of the day is the same for everyone.

    Does it give damage, range or other stats?

    No. The page is system-neutral: no damage dice, no weights, no prices and no rule text from any game. A quirk is a habit, a reputation or a catch for the owner, never a bonus, so the weapon drops into your own rules or into a story.

    Why are there no guns?

    The list stops where gunpowder starts. Every type is drawn by hand, swung or thrown, which suits fantasy and historical worlds and keeps the page away from anything modern. Nothing here says how to make or use a weapon. For the world it belongs to, try the random setting generator.

    More like this

    Random tool Browse Entertainment

    Type: all 113 weapon types

    Swords 26

    • arming sword The knightly sword of high medieval Europe.
    • claymore The two-handed sword of the Scottish Highlands, about 140 cm long, with forward-sloping quillons.
    • cutlass A short, broad, single-edged sabre: the naval sidearm of the Age of Sail.
    • dao The Chinese sabre, a family with many named forms, from the dadao to the liuyedao.
    • estoc A European sword made for the thrust rather than the cut.
    • falchion One-handed and single-edged, often curving toward the point. Europe, 13th to 16th century.
    • falx A single-edged, curved blade of the Dacians and Thracians, made for one hand or two.
    • gladius The Roman short sword: one-handed, double-edged and made mainly for thrusting.
    • jian The Chinese straight, double-edged sword, first written about in the 7th century BCE.
    • kampilan Single-edged, widening to a cut-off tip, with a carved forked pommel. From the Philippines.
    • katana Curved, slender and single-edged, with a grip for two hands. Worn edge up through the sash.
    • khanda Straight and double-edged, widening toward a blunt tip. From the Indian subcontinent.
    • khopesh A sickle-shaped sword of 50 to 60 cm, bronze and later iron, at its height in New Kingdom Egypt.
    • kilij The Turkish member of the scimitar family.
    • kopis One-handed and single-edged, with a forward-curving blade. Early ones ran to 65 cm, later ones nearer 48.
    • longsword A straight, double-edged European sword with a grip for two hands, in use from about 1350 to 1550.
    • macuahuitl A wooden sword edged with obsidian blades, used across Mesoamerica.
    • rapier Slender, two-edged and sharply pointed, behind a complex guard. Spain and Italy, from about 1540.
    • sabre A curved, single-edged backsword of light cavalry, carried first by hussars.
    • shamshir The curved, single-edged sword of Persia. A talwar curves less.
    • shotel A sword curved almost into a half circle, from the northern Ethiopian Highlands.
    • spatha A one-handed, double-edged long sword of Celts, Germanic peoples and Romans, 50 to 100 cm.
    • tachi A Japanese sword older than the katana, hung from the belt with its edge facing down.
    • talwar A curved, single-edged sabre of the Indian subcontinent with a disc-shaped pommel.
    • xiphos A Greek one-handed, double-edged, straight short sword.
    • Zweihänder A two-handed sword of 16th-century Germany.

    Daggers and knives 13

    • akinakes A Scythian short sword or dagger, shown in the reliefs at Persepolis.
    • anelace Between a large dagger and a short sword. Civilians in 14th-century England wore it at the girdle.
    • baselard A 14th-century blade between a short sword and a long dagger, popular with civilians.
    • dirk A long dagger. The word is on record from about 1600, and the spelling probably comes from Johnson's 1755 dictionary.
    • kidney dagger A thrusting dagger of the 13th to 18th centuries with two rounded swellings at the guard, which gave it its Victorian name. The forerunner of the Scottish dirk.
    • kris A dagger of Maritime Southeast Asia. Indonesia and Malaysia spell it keris.
    • pesh-kabz An Afghan thrusting knife with a single cutting edge.
    • pugio The Roman legionary dagger: double-edged iron with a blade roughly 7 to 11 inches long.
    • quillon dagger A cross-hilted dagger that returned in the 12th century, often like a miniature sword.
    • rondel dagger A late medieval European thrusting dagger, one of several kinds classed by the shape of the hilt.
    • seax The Germanic hewing knife that took the place of the dagger in the Early Middle Ages.
    • stiletto A thrusting dagger with no cutting edge, from the Renaissance.
    • tantō The Japanese dagger, listed beside the katana among the blades of Japan.

    Axes, maces and clubs 30

    • aklys A Roman club on a leather thong that brought it back to the hand.
    • ball club A rounded head of stone or wood on a wooden handle, made by Plains, Huron and Iroquois peoples.
    • battle axe An axe designed for combat. Many were made for one hand, and larger ones for two.
    • bearded axe A Viking axe whose trailing lower edge could hook the rim of a shield.
    • cudgel A stout stick that medieval peasants carried as both walking staff and weapon.
    • flail A short haft chained to a striking head. Historians once doubted it. It was real, but never common.
    • gada A mallet or blunt mace of the Indian subcontinent.
    • gunstock war club A war club shaped like the butt of a rifle.
    • horseman's axe A one-handed axe made for mounted knights.
    • jitte A Japanese iron rod with a hook, carried by police in the Edo period as a badge of office.
    • kanabō A Japanese club of wood or iron, usually studded or spiked, first used by samurai.
    • keteriya A single-edged battle axe of ancient Sri Lanka with a short handle.
    • knobkerrie A club of southern and eastern Africa with a knob on the end.
    • labrys A double-bladed axe that goes back to Minoan Crete.
    • leangle An Aboriginal Australian club whose hooked head sits almost at right angles to the shaft.
    • mace A metal club with a heavy, sometimes studded head.
    • mere A short, broad-bladed Māori club, usually made of nephrite jade.
    • morning star A shaft with a fixed ball that carries one or more spikes.
    • oslop A very heavy two-handed Russian club, often iron-shod: the cheapest weapon an infantryman could get.
    • panabas An axe of 60 to 120 cm from the Moro and Lumad peoples of Mindanao.
    • parashu An Indian battle axe, usually 90 to 150 cm long.
    • quarterstaff A hardwood shaft 6 to 9 feet long, sometimes tipped with metal. Prominent in early modern England.
    • sagaris A single or double-bitted axe that the Greeks linked with the Amazons of myth.
    • shillelagh An Irish cudgel cut from a stout, knotty stick with a large knob on the end.
    • tabarzin The Persian saddle axe: one or two crescent blades on a thin metal handle.
    • tomahawk A one-handed axe of many Native North American peoples. The word is Powhatan. Heads were stone, bone or antler before iron arrived.
    • tonfa A club of Okinawan origin with a second handle set at right angles to the shaft.
    • totokia A spiked club from Fiji.
    • waddy A heavy hardwood club of Aboriginal Australia.
    • war hammer A hammer head, often backed by a spike, on a haft from 60 cm up to polearm length.

    Spears and pole weapons 28

    • bardiche A cleaver-like blade over 60 cm long on a shaft rarely over 5 feet. Linked with Russia's streltsy.
    • bec de corbin A pole hammer about as long as the Lucerne hammer, which may descend from it.
    • bill An English infantry polearm adapted from the billhook, a farm cutting tool.
    • corseque A three-bladed head with side wings. Europe, 16th and 17th centuries.
    • dagger-axe A dagger-shaped bronze blade set at right angles to the shaft. China, Shang to Han.
    • Dane axe A long-hafted Viking axe with a heavy, crescent-shaped head.
    • fangtian ji A Chinese spear tip with crescent blades on both sides, from the Song dynasty.
    • fauchard A pole weapon with a curved blade whose edge is on the convex side.
    • glaive A single-edged blade shaped like a kitchen knife, socketed onto a pole.
    • guandao A Chinese pole weapon with a heavy, deeply curved blade like that of a dao.
    • guisarme A pruning hook turned pole weapon, later given a small reverse spike.
    • halberd An axe blade topped with a spike, with a hook on the back. Famously Swiss.
    • ji A Chinese dagger-axe combined with a spear.
    • lance The long spear of cavalry, built to be couched under the arm and never thrown.
    • Lucerne hammer A Swiss polearm about 1.5 m long: a four-pronged hammer, a rear beak and a long top spike.
    • naginata A Japanese pole weapon: a curved blade with a guard, mounted on the pole by its tang.
    • ngao A Thai pole weapon with a curved blade and a hook for commanding an elephant.
    • partisan A sword-like spearhead with side projections on a long shaft. Europe, 16th to 18th century.
    • pike A thrusting spear 3 to 7 m long on an ash shaft, carried by Swiss and Landsknecht foot soldiers.
    • podao A Chinese pole weapon with a lighter blade than the guandao and a ring at the end.
    • poleaxe The pole weapon of European men-at-arms: an axe blade, a back spike and a hammer in some mix.
    • sarissa The Macedonian pike of antiquity.
    • sparth axe A long axe of Ireland and western Scotland, carried by the galloglass.
    • swordstaff A Swedish pole weapon: a two-edged sword blade on a staff.
    • trident A three-pronged fishing spear. The Roman net fighter, the retiarius, carried one in the arena.
    • voulge A pole weapon of France and Burgundy with a blade that tapers to a sharp point.
    • woldo The Korean variation on the Chinese guandao.
    • yari The Japanese spear of samurai and ashigaru. Heads may be cross-shaped or leaf-shaped.

    Bows and thrown weapons 16

    • arbalest A heavy European crossbow that needed a windlass to draw it.
    • assegai A light throwing spear used across Africa, best known from the Zulu and Xhosa. Shaka's short iklwa was made for stabbing instead.
    • atlatl A spear-thrower: a shaft with a spur for the butt of a dart. The Dharug word in Australia is woomera.
    • boomerang Flat, wooden and built from airfoil-shaped arms. The non-returning kylie was the hunting kind.
    • chakram A flat ring with a sharpened outer edge, 12 to 30 cm across, from the Indian subcontinent.
    • crossbow A bow, called the prod, set across a stock called the tiller. It shoots bolts, also called quarrels.
    • English longbow A yew self bow about 6 ft long, dominant in England and Wales from about 1250 to 1450.
    • francisca A throwing axe: an axe made to leave the hand.
    • javelin A light spear built mainly for throwing by hand.
    • Mongol bow A recurved composite bow: bamboo core, horn belly and sinew back, held with animal glue.
    • pilum The Roman heavy javelin, about two meters long, with an iron shank and a pyramidal head.
    • rungu A wooden throwing club of the Maasai.
    • throwing knife A knife made to be thrown. Wikipedia files it beside the kunai and the shuriken.
    • ula A throwing club from Fiji.
    • worraga An Aboriginal Australian club that flies like a boomerang.
    • yumi The asymmetrical Japanese bow, over 2 m tall, gripped about two thirds of the way down.

    How this list was compiled: Real historical weapon types, with a line on each in our own words. The tool builds one weapon from four rows (type, material, origin, quirk) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other three. Nothing on the page is a game statistic, and nothing says how to make or use a weapon. Rules for this row: a real, named, muscle-powered weapon from before or outside the age of gunpowder. No firearms, no siege engines and nothing modern. Every type has a solid body of wood, metal, stone or bone, so any material can be worked into it. A type is on the list only if Wikipedia names it on one of these pages, all read on 2026-09-18: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medieval_weapons, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polearm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_swords, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_(weapon), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_axe and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagger. Where those pages only name a weapon, its line comes from Wikipedia's own article on it, read the same day: English longbow, Mongol bow, Yumi, Crossbow, Javelin, Chakram, Spear-thrower, Boomerang, Macuahuitl, War hammer, Flail (weapon), Bardiche, Bill (weapon), Pike (weapon), Lance, Trident, Partisan (weapon), Lucerne hammer, Tomahawk, Quarterstaff, Khopesh, Shotel, Falchion, Jian, Katana, Talwar, Khanda (sword), Kampilan, Rapier, Cutlass, Sabre, Longsword and Claymore. The page once planned as the base list, Wikipedia's "List of premodern combat weapons", did not exist on 2026-09-18, so it was not used. A weapon whose description could not be confirmed that day was left out. Two lines were corrected on 2026-09-19: the pugio blade length now follows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pugio (18 to 28 cm), and the kidney dagger goes by the name Victorian weapon historians gave it, which https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollock_dagger records beside the older one. Six more lines were corrected on 2026-09-19 against the weapon's own article, fetched that day: the tomahawk belongs to many Native North American peoples and only the word is Powhatan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk); the assegai was used across Africa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assegai); the jitte is spelled the way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitte spells it, which calls "jutte" a misspelling; the labrys goes back to Minoan Crete (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrys); the dirk's spelling is credited to Johnson's 1755 dictionary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk); and the kopis now gives both blade lengths in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopis. Reviewed line by line for sense, safety, duplicates and agreement with the other three rows on 2026-09-18. Licence: own work

    ,

    Made with: all 41 materials

    Historical metals 11

    • bog iron Impure iron that forms in bogs and swamps. Norse smiths smelted it from Iceland to Newfoundland.
    • brass Copper alloyed with zinc. The orichalcum of ancient writers may have been brass.
    • bronze Mostly copper with about 12 percent tin. Harder than wrought iron, but tin was costly.
    • copper The main metal in bronze, which is copper with roughly one part in eight of tin.
    • laminated steel Steel built up in layers. The kampilan of the Philippines is made of it.
    • meteoric iron Iron and nickel from a meteorite. Tutankhamun's dagger and Inuit knives were made of it.
    • pattern-welded steel Pieces of differing steel twisted and forge-welded so a pattern shows. Vikings favored it.
    • steel What smiths learned to make from iron: stronger than bronze, and it holds a sharper edge longer.
    • tamahagane steel Japanese steel smelted from iron sand and charcoal in a clay furnace called a tatara.
    • wootz steel High-carbon crucible steel from southern India, traded as cakes and known for its fine bands.
    • wrought iron Softer than bronze, yet cheaper, because bronze needs tin and tin was costly.

    Wood, stone, horn and bone 13

    • antler Tomahawk heads were stone, bone or antler before Europeans brought iron and steel.
    • bamboo The core of a Mongol bow is bamboo, and the Japanese yumi is laminated from bamboo and wood.
    • birch bark A finished Mongol bow could be given an outer wrap of birch bark.
    • bog oak Oak kept in a peat bog for centuries turns black and so hard that it needs special tools to carve.
    • hardwood The waddy and the nulla-nulla of Aboriginal Australia are both hardwood clubs.
    • hickory A usual wood for the shaft of a tomahawk.
    • horn and sinew Horn on the belly, sinew on the back, glued to a core: the recipe for a composite bow.
    • nephrite jade The stone of the Māori mere, a short club with a broad blade.
    • obsidian Volcanic glass that breaks into very sharp edges. The macuahuitl carried rows of obsidian blades.
    • rattan The cane that escrima sticks are usually made from.
    • seasoned ash A pike shaft, 3 to 7 m long, was ideally made of well-seasoned ash.
    • smooth river stone A ball club sets a rounded head of stone or wood on a wooden handle.
    • yew The preferred wood of the English longbow, a self bow about 6 ft long.

    Legend and fantasy 17

    • a giant's tooth Invented for the table. One tooth makes one weapon, so ask what became of the giant.
    • a shard of a broken crown Invented for the table. Decide whose crown it was, and who broke it.
    • adamant The legendary hardest substance, from a Greek word for unconquerable. Later it meant diamond.
    • amber that has something trapped inside Invented for the table. Hold it to the light and decide what is in there.
    • cold iron Folklore's name for plain iron, long believed to repel fairies, ghosts and witches.
    • coral from a drowned city Invented for the table. Divers know where the city is and do not go back.
    • crystal grown in a wizard's cellar Invented for the table. The wizard wants to know how it left the cellar.
    • dragon bone A real legend: fossil bones were sold in China for centuries as the bones of dragons. Decide who is brave enough to work it.
    • griffin claw A real legend: medieval treasuries kept griffin claws, often made into drinking cups. The pair at Saint Cuthbert's shrine are ibex horns.
    • heartwood from a walking tree Invented for the table. Decide whether the tree agreed to it.
    • kraken beak Invented for the table. It came up in a net, and the crew never fished that water again.
    • manticore spine From a real legend: some old accounts say the manticore could loose its tail spines like arrows. The rest is yours to decide.
    • orichalcum The metal of Plato's Atlantis, second only to gold in value. It may simply have been brass.
    • phoenix ash Invented for the table. The ash was gathered between one life and the next, which took good timing.
    • sea-serpent scale Invented for the table. Sailors will pay to touch it and refuse to sail with it.
    • thunderstruck oak Invented for the table. Wood from an oak that lightning split and did not kill.
    • unicorn horn A real legend: sold in Europe as an antidote until the 18th century, and used for the hilt of Charles the Bold's sword. It was narwhal tusk.

    How this list was compiled: The tool builds one weapon from four rows (type, material, origin, quirk) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other three. Nothing on the page is a game statistic, and nothing says how to make or use a weapon. Rules for this row: a material that completes the words "made with". The wording is "made with" and never "made of", so a longbow made with bronze has bronze fittings and a club made with obsidian has obsidian set into it. A line names a substance only and never a behavior (no glowing, no temperature, no sound), because the Quirk row owns behavior. The facts on the historical metals and natural materials were read on 2026-09-18 in Wikipedia's articles on Bronze, Wootz steel, Pattern welding, Meteoric iron, Bog iron, Tamahagane, Obsidian, Bog-wood, English longbow, Pike (weapon), Tomahawk, Mongol bow, Yumi, Kampilan, Macuahuitl and Club (weapon), all under https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/. In the legend group, seven lines rest on a real legend. Cold iron, orichalcum and adamant were read on 2026-09-18 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_in_folklore, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orichalcum and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamant. Dragon bone, unicorn horn, griffin claw and manticore spine were read on 2026-09-19 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_gu, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn_horn, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manticore. A review on 2026-09-19 found that an earlier version called dragonbone and unicorn horn our own inventions, which was wrong: both are old legends and both turn up in published games and novels, so those lines now give the legend, and a basilisk fang, which readers know from a famous series of novels, was replaced. The other ten lines in the group say "Invented for the table". That describes the line, not the creature: giants, krakens and phoenixes are stock figures of legend that nobody owns, and each line carries a question to answer at the table instead of a fact. Reviewed line by line for sense, safety, duplicates and agreement with the other three rows on 2026-09-18. Licence: own work

    ,

    Origin: all 58 origins

    Made for someone 12

    • built by a temple workshop for a festival procession Processional pieces are for show. Decide who first broke that rule.
    • built to order for a left-handed customer A left-handed character feels at home with it. Everyone else notices something is off.
    • commissioned by a duke who never paid for it The maker's family still holds the unpaid bill.
    • commissioned to settle a debt between two families One family thinks the debt is settled. The other does not.
    • crafted by a village smith as a wedding gift Decide whose wedding it was, and why the gift left the family.
    • crafted by an apprentice and signed with the master's mark The mark adds value until somebody who knows the master's work looks closely.
    • crafted by an old soldier who swore it was the last one It was not the last. Decide who talked the maker into one more.
    • finished by a smith for her daughter's first campaign Either the daughter came home or the weapon did. Pick one.
    • finished in secret during a siege Work out what the maker had to melt down, trade or steal to finish it.
    • ordered as one of a matched pair Decide who holds the other one, and whether they want the set.
    • ordered by a champion who never came to collect it The order was paid in full. Nobody knows what kept the champion away.
    • submitted as a masterpiece to enter a craft guild A masterpiece was the test piece that turned a journeyman into a master.

    Found or dug up 12

    • bought in a sale of unclaimed cargo The rest of the cargo says something about the last owner. Decide what.
    • cleared out of a collector's attic after the funeral The collector kept a ledger. This entry has a line through it.
    • dug up by a farmer plowing a new field The farmer sold it cheap and has since dug up something else.
    • found hanging in a barn nobody had opened in years Everything else in the barn was rotten. This was not.
    • found in a wagon load marked as farm tools Somebody was moving arms quietly. Decide where the other wagons went.
    • found in the hold of a wrecked ship The ship's manifest lists the cargo. This was not on it.
    • found on an old battlefield by a child picking berries The child's family wants a fair price and has no idea what that is.
    • found under a barn floor, wrapped in oiled cloth Whoever wrapped it meant to come back for it.
    • left behind at an inn by a guest who never returned The innkeeper kept it for a year and a day before selling it.
    • pulled from a peat bog by turf cutters Bogs keep what falls in. Ask who put it there, and whether it was an offering.
    • recovered from a collapsed mine Miners carry picks, not weapons. Ask what they expected to meet down there.
    • washed up on a beach after a storm No wreck was reported. Decide what else the tide brought in.

    Handed down or given 11

    • carried by four generations of the same ferry family The ferry still runs, and the family would like a word.
    • given by a dying mentor with one instruction Write the instruction down. It should be short and hard to follow.
    • handed down through six generations of one family Six generations means six stories, and the family tells only five.
    • hung on the wall of a tavern for three generations Regulars touched it for luck so often that the tavern wants it back.
    • inherited along with a farm and its debts Selling it would clear the debts. Decide why the owner has not.
    • kept by a village and lent to whoever stands watch It belongs to everyone, so everyone has a view on who should carry it.
    • kept in a locked room by a family that never said why Find out who held the key, and who noticed the room was empty.
    • left at a gate with a note that said only sorry Work out who was sorry, and what for.
    • left to its owner in a will, with no explanation The two of them met once. Decide what happened at that meeting.
    • passed down with a list of names, the last one blank Decide whether the holder has dared to write in their own name.
    • passed from teacher to best student for a century The line of students is unbroken. Decide whether the current holder earned it.

    Won, bought or taken 12

    • accepted in place of a ransom Somebody valued a person at exactly this much.
    • bought cheap from a soldier heading home Ask why the soldier wanted to arrive home without it.
    • bought from a trader who seemed glad to see it go The trader left town the same night.
    • claimed as salvage from a wrecked caravan Salvage law is clear. The caravan's owners are not convinced.
    • confiscated at a city gate and sold at auction The person it was taken from is still in that city.
    • paid as wages by a captain short of coin It is worth more than the wages owed. The captain may not have known.
    • stolen once, returned, and stolen again Decide which of the two thieves the players meet first.
    • swapped by mistake for one that looked the same Somewhere, somebody is carrying the wrong one and has not noticed yet.
    • taken as a prize at a tournament The loser has trained every day since.
    • traded for a horse and a winter's food A steep price. One side of that trade was desperate, so decide which.
    • won at dice and never won back The loser still plays at the same table and still asks for a rematch.
    • won in a wager from a river pirate Pirates pay their debts and remember them. This one remembers.

    Badges of office 11

    • awarded to the winner of a harvest-fair contest Decide what the contest was. It need not have been a fight.
    • carried at the head of a guild's yearly procession The guild has marched without it for some time and would pay to stop.
    • carried before a judge on the way into court People who have stood trial in that town go quiet when they see it.
    • carried by the door wardens of a royal court Court servants recognize it on sight and straighten up.
    • held by whoever is elected captain of a militia Elections come round, and the last captain did not want to hand it over.
    • issued by a city watch that no longer exists The watch was disbanded, and the reason is a matter of public record.
    • issued to a lighthouse keeper for reasons not recorded Lighthouses are not usually armed. Ask what came out of the sea.
    • kept at a shrine and lent out once a generation The loan has terms, and the shrine keeps a careful calendar.
    • presented to a border fort by a grateful town The town expects to see it on the wall when it visits.
    • presented to a ferry captain for forty years' service Forty years on one river means the captain knew everybody's business.
    • sent as a diplomatic gift and quietly regifted If the first giver ever sees it again, there will be an incident.

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page. The tool builds one weapon from four rows (type, material, origin, quirk) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other three. Nothing on the page is a game statistic, and nothing says how to make or use a weapon. Rules for this row: a phrase that follows a comma and starts with a past participle. An origin never says how long ago the weapon was made, never calls it new or unused, and never names a material, a part such as a blade or a string, or a way of making such as forging or carving, because the type may be a bow, a club or a sword. It never depends on size, so nothing is found in a chest or a boot: the type may be a pike. No real places, no real people and no named game worlds. Each origin carries one question that turns it into a plot hook. Reviewed line by line for sense, safety, duplicates and agreement with the other three rows on 2026-09-18. Licence: own work

    ,

    Quirk: all 66 quirks

    Look and feel 12

    • it carries a line of writing nobody can read A scholar could read it. Decide what the scholar wants in return.
    • it fits its owner's hand as if measured for it Nobody measured. Let the owner wonder about that.
    • it has a strip of faded ribbon tied around it Ask who tied it on. The owner will change the subject.
    • it is decorated far beyond what its purpose needs Thieves notice it first, and so do hosts who seat guests by rank.
    • it is far lighter than it looks Strangers who pick it up always overdo the lift.
    • it is heavier than anything its size should be Carrying it all day is a statement. So is putting it down.
    • it is plain to the point of looking unfinished People underestimate it, and whoever carries it.
    • it looks like a cheap copy of something famous Decide whether it is the copy or the famous one.
    • it pulls slightly to the left Its owner has learned to allow for it. A borrower has not.
    • it rattles slightly, and nobody can find what is loose Three craftsmen have looked. Each one charged for the looking.
    • it smells faintly of pine tar, whatever is done to it Harmless, but it rules out hiding downwind of a dog.
    • it was clearly made for somebody with bigger hands A good reason for a character to be saving up for a better fit.

    Habits and superstitions 12

    • by tradition it is cleaned only with river water Easy in a valley, a real problem in a desert or at sea.
    • it comes with a rhyme that every owner has to learn Write two lines of the rhyme. The players will finish it for you.
    • it has a name that its owner refuses to say aloud The name is written down somewhere. Decide where.
    • it is always set down on the owner's left A small habit that lets an old friend recognize the owner in disguise.
    • it is said to bring rain if left outside overnight Farmers in a dry year will pay to borrow it.
    • it must be lent to anyone who asks politely, once Sooner or later the wrong person asks politely.
    • its owner is expected to give it away before growing old Choosing who gets it is a story of its own.
    • its owner is expected to tell its story when asked A good way to hand players the origin without reading it out.
    • its owner must greet it each morning, or so the story goes Nobody knows what happens otherwise, because nobody has skipped a day.
    • lending it is said to end a friendship within the year Somebody will need to borrow it badly enough to take the risk.
    • nobody is supposed to step over it An easy rule for a stranger to break. Decide what the owner does about it.
    • sailors touch it for luck and soldiers will not Both groups have a story to explain it, and the stories disagree.

    Reputation 13

    • a collector has been trying to buy it for years The offers are generous, and lately they arrive more often.
    • a rival maker swears it is a fake Decide what it is supposed to be, and whether the rival is right.
    • a temple has offered to buy it, twice The temple has not said why, and the second offer was double the first.
    • everyone who sees it asks the same question Decide the question. The owner is tired of answering it.
    • innkeepers tend to ask for it to be left at the door Decide what happened in an inn, once, to start the custom.
    • it has a bad reputation that it has done nothing to earn The reputation belongs to a different one entirely. Few people listen.
    • it is famous in one small town and unknown anywhere else In that town the drinks are free, and so is the advice.
    • it is wanted as evidence in a very old court case The case was never closed, and the clerk who remembers it is still alive.
    • it makes its owner look more dangerous than they are Useful at a toll gate, less useful when somebody wants to prove a point.
    • its likeness is stamped on an old coin still in use The coin passes through many hands, so strangers half recognize it.
    • somebody keeps leaving flowers beside it Fresh ones, even on the road. Nobody has seen who.
    • there is a song about it, and the song gets it wrong Let a tavern singer perform the wrong version in front of the owner.
    • two families both claim it and both have paperwork Each family is polite about it, in a way that will not last.

    Uncanny 15

    • birds go quiet when it is carried past Anyone who knows the woods can hear the owner coming by the silence.
    • cats fall asleep next to it whenever they can Every inn cat finds the owner's room by midnight.
    • dogs refuse to walk past it Bad news for a hunter, good news for anyone a guard dog is chasing.
    • frost forms on it first on cold mornings By an hour or so. It is the first warning of a hard night.
    • horses are calmer when it is nearby Stable hands ask the owner to stay a little longer.
    • it casts a shadow that is slightly the wrong shape Most people never notice. Children and painters do.
    • it grows heavy near anyone who is lying The owner knows somebody nearby lied, but not who, or about what.
    • it hums faintly when rain is on the way A free weather forecast, and a poor night's sleep before every storm.
    • it is always a little warm to the touch Pleasant in winter. Suspicious to anyone who handles it by accident.
    • it is easier to find in the dark than it should be It gives no light. The hand simply goes to it.
    • it is never quite where its owner left it Never far: the other side of the bed, the next peg along.
    • it weighs nothing at all under a full moon One night a month. Decide whether that is a gift or a problem.
    • milk sours in any house where it spends the night Hosts work it out by the second visit.
    • mirrors fog over in the same room Hard to hide at a dinner party.
    • whoever sleeps beside it dreams of the sea Even people who have never seen the sea. They describe it correctly.

    A catch 14

    • every pawnbroker knows whose it was and will not take it So it cannot be turned into quick coin, however bad things get.
    • it attracts lightning, or so its owner firmly believes Whether it is true matters less than where the owner stands in a storm.
    • it cannot be carried quietly, whatever the owner tries Padding, straps and oil have all been tried. Sneaking means leaving it behind.
    • it comes with an oath that the owner has not read closely Write three clauses. Make the third one the problem.
    • it is illegal to carry in at least one nearby town The law is old and oddly specific. Somebody wrote it for a reason.
    • it is one of a set, and the set's owner is collecting The collector is patient, polite and very well funded.
    • it is recognized everywhere, which is rarely useful Disguises fail. Rumors arrive before the owner does.
    • it is too precious to risk and too useful to leave behind Make the owner choose at least once a session.
    • it is worth more than everything else its owner has Every night in a cheap inn is a risk.
    • it needs an hour of care every evening or it sulks Decide what sulking looks like. Keep it small and annoying.
    • its owner has not won a game of chance since Not one. Friends have started to notice and to take advantage.
    • its owner sleeps badly whenever it is out of reach A problem in any hall where weapons are left at the door.
    • somebody out there wants it back Read the origin again and decide who.
    • whoever carries it is always the first to be challenged Guards, duellists and drunks all pick the same person out of a group.

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page. The tool builds one weapon from four rows (type, material, origin, quirk) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other three. Nothing on the page is a game statistic, and nothing says how to make or use a weapon. Rules for this row: a full sentence without its full stop, in which "it" is always the weapon. A quirk never names a part (no blade, edge, string or point), a material, a size, an age or a number of past owners, so it cannot contradict the type, the material or the origin. It never describes harm. A quirk is never a bonus or a penalty in any rules: it is a habit, a reputation, something uncanny or a catch for the owner. Only the Uncanny group needs magic, so a historical game can skip it. Each quirk carries a note on using it at the table. Reviewed line by line for sense, safety, duplicates and agreement with the other three rows on 2026-09-18. Licence: own work