my %way_of = (
     the_sword => sub{do('sword',@_)},
     the_gun   => sub{do('gun',@_)},
     ""        => sub{do('default',@_)},
);

my $what  = $something;
my $stuff = $something_else;

&{$way_of{$what} || $way_of{""}}($stuff);

##</code><code>##

if ($what eq 'the_sword')
{
     do('sword', $stuff);
}
elsif ($what eq 'the_gun')
{
     do('gun', $stuff);
}
else
{
     do('default', $stuff);
}