#RPGaDay2024 for 15 August: Great character gear

Today's prompt: Great character gear

I'm a bit obsessive about playing dress-up with my characters.

I want to know what they wear, what it looks like, what it's made of, if it's patched, embroidered, previously owned, how it changes with the weather and the seasons. I want to know about their accessories - jewelry, hat bands, knife sheaths, spurs, baldrics, kerchiefs, plumes. I want to know what's in their pockets - a whetstone, a pack of chewing gum, a jackknife, a pocket comb, a string of rosary beads, an engraved silver matchsafe, an old love letter.

And truth be told, this goes beyond just clothing. My Flashing Blades character has a "library card" - the index card on which I keep track of all the books in his collection. My Boot Hill character ordered custom saddle, boots, spurs, chaps, and gunbelts, all with embossed crescent moons in honor of his last name, Luna, and when he received a charro suit as a gift, the silver conchos were moons as well. My Traveller free trader captain designed his crew uniforms including the patches for his ship and his trading company; the same logos were painted on the ship and its air/raft, and on the walls of his office in his cabin.

A big part of what immerses me in a setting is material culture, "the aspect of culture manifested by the physical objects and architecture of a society." I love authors who tell me Arbuckles is the brand name on a sack of coffee beans, or directors and set dressers who put bottles of Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray soda in their characters' hands. It draws me into the world, brings it to life, makes it real, and a bit of obsessive styling or collecting does the same thing for my characters.