Motorcycle Leathers of the United Provinces

Some recent reading included Mythago Wood (mentioned on here before). One detail caught my eye: Harry Keaton, on entering Ryhope Wood brings with him motorcycle leathers - noted to be quite resilient to the cold, and generally tough. Better, certainly, than a cloak. I wouldn't like to say if this meant that 1940s motorcycle gear was of a similar resilience to leather armour, but it certainly set my mind in a certain direction.

Of equal use to the adventurer as armour are clothes that protect against the weather. Indeed, the notion of travelling in full armour at all times is a fairly dismal one. It works in the confines of the dungeon (a limited space, designed to be traversed), but perhaps not in the wilderness. It is familiar to sacrifice freedom of movement for protection: it should be no less strange to willingly encumber yourself with bulky clothes or a tent. Indeed, a modern-day six-person canvas tent with poles and pegs weighs 33 kilograms - and it does not pack down very compactly.  

Hence, I should like to put together equipment lists that include gear meant to keep out the cold, or the damp, or heat. Some of Joseph Manola's class equipment lists for Against the Wicked City do this very well. My recent trip to the Scum Quarter has helped inspire this; my references there to Electric Bastionland and Gus L's Fallen Empire are once again relevant. 

Another point before I start; I have come to the decision that equipment lists do not list everything. This is perhaps no surprise to you - equipment lists have rarely explicitly listed clothing - and never in such detail as to include everything. I take it that an adventurer has a full set of largely intact clothing, or a pocket knife to cut their meat, or a comb about them. 5E sidesteps this by providing a ready-packed Explorer's Kit on the items list with mess kit and tinderbox and the like - I would rather leave such a step up to the GM. Rules of thumb are useful here: we imagine that the player can readily carry a pocketknife and cut their meat or sharpen a pen, but they can't butcher a hog without having a cleaver. It might be that the player can trim or tie back their hair and brush most of the mud from the hem of their cloak - but washing the cloak and getting a haircut requires a laundry and a barber. 

There must be limits to this; needle and thread, yes, but not enough to make a tapestry. Enough vessels to cook a simple meal for the party, but no more. Anyway, that's probably enough of this for the time being. Time to put some of the ideas above into practice. 

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The Leo Hollandicus of Claes Janszoon Visscher

The Thrice-Blessed, Benevolent and Victorious Republic of Datravia, known formerly and vulgarly as the Prizelands is a place of known, since the War of Liberation approximately a century and a half ago, for enviable modesty on the part of its inhabitants. Other than in some few particulars, their nature is peaceable, if not passive – if it is correct to draw that distinction. However, such matters as touch on their privileges, on the privileges of their Parliamentary Representatives and on the ancient laws of the Isle and City of Datresse, they are as humourless, passionate and inconsolable as any slighted courtier of the Imperial Household in gold-girdled Purlitz who has discovered a speck of dust on his pelisse.

The place is Datravia, vulgarly known as the Prizelands. The time is the time of my mooted Early Modern setting, clumsily referred to as White-Hot Sparks from the Crucible of the Enlightenment. The faith and cultural iconography refer to the Majestic Vision. The Temple and Church generator could fit here; the list of Religious Processions probably not. 

The obvious inspiration is Golden Age of the Netherlands, though a significant other influence would be  pre-Modern European city-state republics. There's probably a bit of A Tale of Two Cities and The Age of Innocence in here as well.  

1. Coach Guard /// Heavy lined greatcoat (as leather, resistant to cold and rain), Blunderbuss, Dark lantern, Flask of genever.
2. Parliamentary Lictor /// Green sash with ivy motif, Concealing robes, Ceremonial sickle-staff, Unceremonious pistol, Archaic privileges.
3. Dockyards Pugilist /// Hand wraps, hand wraps with concealed weights, Smelling salts, Jar of soothing unguent, Miraculously unbroken nose (+1 to CHA until you take a blow to the face).
4. Coffee vendor /// Portable brazier (can be carried on back, requires high-energy fuel), Heatproof jacket (as leather, resists flame), Coffee grinder & sufficient beans for two pots, Stale pastries, Wealth of gossip (start with 1d6 rumours).
5. Burgher of the Isle /// Wide-brimmed hat and lacy cuffs, Pocket watch, Box of calling cards, Officer's Gorget of a Shooter's Guild, Carbine of same (never fired outside the range). 

   

   The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch 
   being the most famous of shooter's guilds.

   
   
6. Pamphleteer /// Bundle pamphlets (Roll 1d4; 1 - Comic, 2 - Poetic, 3 - Trenchant, 4 - Bawdy), Waistcoat with large flat hidden pocket, Bottle ink, Throat lozenges, Demagogue's Licence (Recently expired).
7. Lensgrinder /// One finished lens, Two glass blanks, Lapping powder, Caddy half full of restorative tea, Absence of fingerprints.
8. Supercargo /// Oilskin wrap (resists rain, seawater), Ledger in waterproof carrying case, Brace of pistols with exotic engravings, Tin of foreign sweetmeats.
9. Hot-house botanist /// Secateurs, Wide-brimmed hat and long loose coat (resists sun), Selection of Interesting Plant Cuttings*, Out-of-season bouquet.
10. Ley-line surveyor /// Witchsight theodolite, Tripod-staff, Rune-engraved measuring chain, Paper, Charcoal, Pen and Ink. 

*Said cuttings may purely be of academic interest, or ornamental value - but if you wish them to have a more interesting purpose, Appendices A-C of Yoon-Suin will be of use. (The plants won't necessarily be Tea or Opium, but they could have similar effects to those detailed.).

I was largely thinking of the Wicked City rules for firearms - though I have an appreciation for the awkward Lamentations of the Flame Princess matchlocks. 

Some of the above was composed with the aid of this website, largely focused on Delft. I'm not sure that it is utterly sound on every point, but it is very good at showing its sources.