The Cudgel is indeed the second worst weapon in the game (if you include the Drow's unarmed state as weapon) but check your stats. With a 0 strength mod the Cudgel will deal 10 damage, and is actually designed to one shot those mobs. If your strength is lower than 10, you will start suffering melee damage penalties, as per classic dnd rules.
Slimes and other mobs will outrange you with any weapon (other than throwing knives or magic, obviously), and that is by design. If you let them come to you, they will have an extra moment to charge their attacks, if you run to meet them, you will mitigate this chance. (But to be fair, this should be made more obvious with clearer attacking sprites.)
The RNG can definitely be a little rough, and I'm still experimenting with it. Chests should fairly evenly distribute drops between Weapons, Armor, and Accessories, but I will definitely look into the math again to make sure Weapons aren't too scarce.
Another option I may consider is making Weapons more likely to find when they player is unarmed, or only wielding the Cudgel.
Thank you for your feedback. I really appreciate your support, and taking the time to play my games. And I will definitely take your suggestions into consideration moving forward.