Shields and Light
Shields should be more interesting. Shields weren't popular for centuries because they gave +1 AC.
+1AC is boring.
You can sacrifice your shield to avoid the damage of one hit that could conceivably be blocked.
You can try to sacrifice your shield to avoid all damage. 1 in 6 chance to block all damage, either way your shield breaks.
Force your opponent to roll to hit again, 3 in 6 chance your shield breaks and you still get hurt.
Force your opponent to re-roll damage. 3 in 6 chance it breaks.
Sacrifice your shield to re-roll incoming damage. Capped at the previous total.
Your shield doesn't give you an AC bonus, it has HP (4/6/8 small/med/large) and you can choose to put some damage on it but it breaks if it goes over (HP can be kept secret from players)
Shields don't give an AC bonus, they reduce damage by 1/2/3 against shots it could block.
Light sources are a nuisance to track as in-game time. Players find it tedious, the GM has enough to think about.
Light has a "fuel" rating (torch 6/ candle 8/ lantern 12). Reduce this by 1d4 every room/encounter/when you remember. Don't let the players know how much they have left.
Light as literal time. If a torch lasts an hour, it lasts an hour of game time. A 4 hour session would need 4 torches.
Every time you think "those lights have been up for a while" roll every encounter from then on. 3/2/1 in 6 chance they run out.
D10 plus the number of encounters. 10/12/18+ the lights go out.
Every dungeon has "murk" rating 1- 20, 1 being insane and 20 being lame. When you feel like being a bastard roll the area's murk like a normal save throw. Torches go out on the first failed save, candles 2, lanterns 4.
Anyone have any other ideas?