The following pages contain notes that I made a couple of years ago for a fantasy role-playing game with early sixteenth century technology. Some of it is simply background, and has little practical relevance in roleplaying games, but I find many of these topics crop up regularly on role-playing e-mail lists, so I've posted them here more or less in their entirety.
Because this was a fantasy setting, the details are not always historically accurate with regard to our own world. While as many details are possible are the same, some deliberate changes have been made. For example, medical technology has lagged behind real world developments, because of the wider availability of healing magic to the rich and influential. Gunpowder also arrives later, because I didn't want it to have been widely available during the 'high fantasy' era which preceded that of the new setting.
Although the campaign I planned was set in the early sixteenth century, the notes here describe the evolution of the relevant forms of technology from around the twelfth century up to the campaign date. So, if your setting is earlier than mine, you should still be able to pick out the details you require. Details of pre-medieval technology are not listed (at least, not yet), and in some cases may actually have been superior to what is described here.
Armour Statistics for RPGs
For more information on real-world medieval technology, written by somebody who really is an expert, check out the Medieval Technology Pages at NYU
And for more information on renaissance fashion (and where to buy it), check out Eras of Elegance
