Making Weapons in Fantasy Worlds More Interesting by Banning Them

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 8, 2015

The crossbow was once banned for use (“against Christians”) by Pope Innocent III. It was the “ultimate weapon.” The prevailing belief is that this was done because it took minimal training to use and could penetrate a knight’s armor at range. Since knights were the “main battle tanks” of the era, the idea that these expensive (and politically connected) warriors could be wiped out easily by a bunch of peasants fresh off the farm was pretty alarming to the noble classes from whose ranks they came. The crossbow was an equalizer on the battlefield, which is great for the people on the disadvantaged side of the equation, but not so much on the side that owned the land, wealth, and who made the rules. With the pope’s help to give it the force of not just law but a sin, they tried to stem the tide of technology. It didn’t “stick” for long, though.

In Japan, starting in the late 16th century, “Sword Hunts” were called to disarm the commoners. The nobility could still carry weapons, which gave them a natural advantage. It limited the potential for peasant uprisings, and equally important slowed the ability for rivals to raise up armies and do to the new rulers what the new rulers had done to the previous ones. The weapons restrictions stirred up a great deal of discontent, increased class stratification, and empowered criminal ronin. But it also led to the development of some pretty awesome martial arts weapons techniques using farming implements turned into deadly weapons.

Previously, Frederick Barbarossa and other rulers in Britain and Europe had occasionally banned advanced weapons (like swords) from the peasantry. This sounds like a bit of an overkill on the class stratification thing again… it’s not like peasants could often come close to affording a sword, or even a nice spear. Maybe this was the Holy Roman Emperor’s attempt to hog up the battlefield loot for himself and his boys? (I have no idea… taking a dead knight’s sword might have been uber-taboo …)

George Silver wrote a lengthy objection to the use of the rapier in his work, “Paradoxes of Defense” in the late 1500s. In this case, it wasn’t so much to protect the higher classes from the low-born so much as to protect his countrymen from what he believed was a dangerous weapon and fighting style that had no practical use on the battlefield or a real fight. His work didn’t have the force of law, of course, and it didn’t seem to change many opinions, but it stands as a fascinating historical look at the schools of thought in European martial arts. Granted, some rapiers were getting kind of ridiculous among the upper class at the time. They were a status symbol, sometimes absurdly long, like a really stupid spear. Cue jokes about compensation.

I don’t want to talk about modern weapon bans or restrictions, because that gets pretty politically charged. So I’ll stick with the medieval and renaissance eras. Taken from these examples, the real purpose behind the historical restrictions was to protect the ruling class (in these cultures, the warrior class) and and maintain the political status quo. As technology advanced and put more powerful weapons within the grasp of the non-warrior-class, undermining the advantages of expensive armor, weaponry, and lifelong training, said ruling class would often outlaw the weaponry. In the long run, technology is an equalizer, and those in a position of power are naturally inclined to fight against that. (It should be noted that in the short term, technology tends to have the opposite effect, as the advantages are unaffordable to all but the wealthy.)

So… pulling all that into a fantasy world representing approximately this same era… let’s talk about MAGIC WEAPONS!

If magic weapons are extremely rare… precious artifacts of dubious power… then nothing really changes. Most fantasy novels are like this. The occasional Sting or Glamdring isn’t going to change things too much.

Likewise, when magic is something only practiced by a rare few, especially with some kind of centralized authority that can be controlled or negotiated with – or at least kept tabs on – this might not change things too much.

But where magic items start becoming common – like many role-playing games or settings like The Forgotten Realms – magic ends up taking on a role similar to technology in the real world, and one could expect those in power would start breaking out the ol’ ban-hammer. When some farm-boy (like many origin stories) picks up a magical sword that, with minimal training, makes him the equal of a knight, people are going to have problems with that. Particularly the knights or the parents of the knights who spent a fortune on equipment and training and are part of a an established social order.

So magic weapons and armor get outlawed. Maybe this is part of a more sweeping practice of outlawing weapons and armor in general, although in fantasy worlds with predatory outlaws and monsters looming on the outskirts of every village, this might not be practical. But again, those in power don’t want an army of former farm-boys with magical weapons to rise up against them. They’d probably rather the knights under their (relative) control had the monopoly on magical enhancements.

Now, as a player in a game, this sounds super-boring.  But it’s actually the opposite. It adds drama to a setting. It’s not that the player’s can’t have cool magical gear… it’s that they can’t have them legally. When you create crimes, you create criminal activity. Weapons smuggling. Black-market armor dealers. Even the noble-hearted but low-born paladin might have to fight between obedience to the law of the land, which may or may not be for the “greater good,” and their higher purpose which demands they face evil with weapons imbued with greater than mere mortal craftsmanship. Spells that hide or disguise the magical aura (dweomer, to use a term Gary Gygax was fond of, aka dwimmer) might be extremely valuable. A spell like Magic Aura – which creates an artificial magical aura – could be very powerful when used against a rival at the right time.

In short, there’s tension and a slew of cool storytelling potential there.

Now, Silver’s case is another interesting one – an effort to preserve what he felt was a “best practice” for fighting against a fighting style that was a new social trend but of limited value in actual warfare.  This opens up a whole ‘nother can of words worth thinking about as either a writer, designer, or game-master.

Weapons can be “trendy,” and it may not have anything to do with their actual effectiveness. This can be on a military scale. Many scholars believe the adoption of firearms by the military was premature – it wasn’t until around the 1700s or 1800s that they actually became superior to a plain ol’ bow or crossbow. Whoever is in charge decides that this weapon is the “thing.”  But it can also be on a social level. The popularity of the fencing masters of France and Italy caused the swell of interest in the rapier. A hero like Xena or Robin Hood can increase general interest in their weapons of choice.

This could be a way to give a culture or a community some distinctiveness. Maybe it’s a trendy thing to use a flamberge, an expensive status symbol in a certain city. Maybe a mace of a particular design is considered the holy weapon of a particular deity, and people wield one as an outward symbol of devotion even if they aren’t particularly pious. Maybe after a local hero defeated Goliath with a sling, the sling became a weapon of choice within the community.

And maybe there’s a rivalry between fans of different kinds of weapons. Why not? Or between scale mail versus chain mail? Just think about how modern flame-wars can erupt between fans of Star Wars versus Star Trek, and transpose that to late 16th century arguments over weaponry featuring George Silver, and enjoy! Your readers or players will hopefully find it a lot more interesting!

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