The question sometimes comes up as to how you would ideally and realistically arm and dress yourself if you were the wandering warrior adventurer in a fantasy realm, which would of course be based on Europe in the Dark Ages or early Middle Ages. The idea would be to carry maximum effective weaponry and armour while being able to easily move around and do everyday tasks.

Weapons: You would want your hands free and not to have to overtly brandish a weapon all the time, so pole weapons are out. I would suggest an arming sword (straight one-handed double edged) worn at the hip. You would want some sort of knife or dagger as well. This would place you at a disadvantage against those armed with pole weapons, so you would want a medium sized round shield worn with a sash on your back. The sword & shield combo would be easy to reach quickly and be good for most situations.

You would also want a bow. To avoid having to carry anything in your hands, longbows would be out. You would want a short composite recurve bow in a double pouched holster with the arrows slung across your lower back using backpack-like straps pitched at a slight angle so the things didn't fall out.

Clothing: There would be various options, but this is the best I can think of. Obviously for mobility and comfort, plate armour is out. Perhaps you could wear a one piece long-john type doublet with buttons or clasps in the appropriate places. This would be made of layers of linen offering some padding and resistance to cutting. You could wear knee-length leather boots. Over the top you could put a gamberson/dress type garment clasped half-way down the front to allow you to step into it from the top. It would consist of three layers - leather on the outside, chain-mail in the middle and thick felt on the inside. I don't know if such a garment was ever made, but if not it should have been. This would come down to about knee length and the sleeves would go just below the elbows. You would wear leather gloves. You would want some kind of head protection that didn't obscure anything or weigh too much, perhaps something like a pith helmet.

This would offer the maximum fighting ability, protection and versatility on a realistic basis. A lot of what you see in gamebooks and such would be completely impractical.