Oh, so this is actually sort of idiosyncratic to the Rules Cyclopedia. You can either switch weapons and automatically lose initiative the next round (which I think means that Frank Mentzer invented Rob Schwalb’s fast/slow initiative – but to be fair to SotDL, a ton of little things Frank Mentzer did in BECMI were almost bizarrely ahead of their time, and I should end this digression now), or you can retrieve the weapon. “Retrieve” is an unlisted subset of the Retreat action, and thus controls your movement speed and affects your AC (no shield) and counts as an attack from behind.

To crimfan’s point – BECMI/RC is 100% comfortable with gear denial, and as a balancing measure, also with spellcasting interference.

Retrieving a weapon isn’t an action as I recall, though perhaps it should be. It gives characters an incentive to carry a backup, though, which would encourage use of “suboptimal” weapons. I’d usually charge a bonus action and might charge half their movement (as if they had to get up from prone). Those two costs are fairly annoying, though not devastating. What disarming does is dramatically weaken their AoOs. Of course, those aren’t nearly as nasty as they used to be.

Through its history D&D has been essentially allergic to gear denial, with relatively few exceptions (3.X).

I hope that means they have to spend their next action retrieving their weapon. Because otherwise, what’s the point?

Well, fighter WAS one of the two leading vote tallies.

This is why I hate couples…

Personally, I’ve found that the memory is the second thing to go.

Of all the things failing in this battered body, my eyes are not yet one of them.

Well, obviously. You’ve aged out of the target demo. You’re one of The Olds now. Maybe you’d have an easier time with bifocals?