Harn World

[Snoring Rock]

Anyone here ever use Harn as a campaign world? I have used city maps and such but I am looking at the world and it looks cool. It is very low to no magic at all so you have a really blank canvas. I like the feudal medieval feel it has.

[Arduin]

Never heard of Harn

[Snoring Rock]

Columbia Games

The world is Harn. The games rules are Harn Master. These guys are coming back. They were around in the 80's and then they popped up out of nowhere at GenCon this year.

[Arduin]

Columbia Games

The world is Harn. The games rules are Harn Master. These guys are coming back. They were around in the 80's and then they popped up out of nowhere at GenCon this year.

Oh yes! I remember now. ~83-84. Low magic like Middle Earth. Set in M.E. Europe.

[Lord Dynel]

Never heard of Harn

I'm actually shocked, sir! You're an old-timer and you've never heard of Harn? Crazy!!

Columbia Games is actually a perennial guest at GenCon, Rock. They were there in '09 and '11, the two times I've gone. And I know they were there this year, too, like you said. They've focused a lot on boardgames these past years (with a little bump in Harn production during the d20 era) but they've continued to put out Harn material, slowly. These days, they've been releasing pieces of the setting with updated material, albeit slowly and many in pdf format.

I love Harn. It's intimidating, because I don't know if I can do it justice. It's very feudal with and very low fantasy. Not much in the way of "monsters" (there are some) and many of the "foes" will be human forces, as it's a very human-centric setting. A lot of courtly adventure, intrigue and power-play and the like.

I've been working on completing my Harn collection of late, with only Gods of Harn, Evael (the original, not the d20 one), and a couple issues of Harnlore to go of the original Harn stuff that was released. Some of the HarnMaster stuff is worth picking up, too, like Harn Manor, the barbarian supplement, and such. One of the things I like the most is that the setting has never "advanced" - all material ever released never goes past the first day of the year 720, which is when your campaign is supposed to pick up from.

I don't think it'd translate to C&C very well, unfortunately, but there is always those with ambition that could try. Me? I'd probably use GURPS (over learning a new system) with Harn.

EDIT: Okay, Arduin, that makes me feel a little better!

[Traveller]

For the record, it's Hârn and HârnMaster rather than Harn and HarnMaster.

Dynel, why wouldn't it translate to C&C? I'm trying to remember off the top of my head, but I seem to recall "Field of Daisies" and "Dead Weight" - the two Free RPG Day modules - having conversion guidelines for use with D&D. I do remember the back cover of "Field of Daisies" mentioning it being usable with any game system.

By the way...I believe I have one Hârn product you're not all that likely to find: the advertising kit. The advertising kit contained a couple copies of the covers to be hung on a wall as well as the map of Hârn itself from HârnWorld. In fact, the map is the reason I didn't grab the Free RPG Day version of the map: I didn't need it.

[Snoring Rock]

Well, I have an "in". My brother in law is the editor for Columbia Games (Harn) and I do not know how to make that little up arrow over the A so I call it Harn.

I have most of Kaldor and the map. The material is certainly human-centric but it contains the organization and the best maps of keeps and castles you eve saw. If you insert the monsters and dungeons on your own, the rest takes care of itself. I think HarnMaster is too detailed and slow but C&C will work well. Sounds like some of us at least a few of us old timers know what Harn is anyway.

[Arduin]

Never heard of Harn

I'm actually shocked, sir! You're an old-timer and you've never heard of Harn? Crazy!!

Shouldn't be. It came out many years after I started playing and was an EXTREMELY minor blip on the gaming radar. I was also well into parenthood by then.

[Go0gleplex]

What I remember of Harn were the extremely good maps, particularly of castles and such. I wasn't much for the rules however.

[Lord Dynel]

Never heard of Harn

I'm actually shocked, sir! You're an old-timer and you've never heard of Harn? Crazy!!

Shouldn't be.

Well, I am. Crazy, huh?

It came out many years after I started playing and was an EXTREMELY minor blip on the gaming radar.

Which, like many items that made small waves back in those days, are highly sought after and expensive pieces of gaming merchandise these days. Again, crazy...

Dynel, why wouldn't it translate to C&C? I'm trying to remember off the top of my head, but I seem to recall "Field of Daisies" and "Dead Weight" - the two Free RPG Day modules - having conversion guidelines for use with D&D. I do remember the back cover of "Field of Daisies" mentioning it being usable with any game system.

Well, Traveller, I guess I spoke rashly. Hârn (ahem), is different in a lot of aspects and a lot of work, I feel, would have to go into the system before it's ready for play. Magic spells would have to get broken into their repective colleges. Some classes would need to be reworked/removed (like the druid, with many of their spells going to wizards). The economy would need reworked, if you wanted to do it Hârn-style, and go with a silver standard. Monsters would need wrote up, and demihumans (meaning, dwarves and elves) would need a bit of tweaking. I can't think of anything else, at the moment, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert on the world, by any stretch of the imagination. I love the world, though, and I could put the effort into it, a C&C Harn would rock.

[Traveller]

Well, I have an "in". My brother in law is the editor for Columbia Games (Harn) and I do not know how to make that little up arrow over the A so I call it Harn.

I have most of Kaldor and the map. The material is certainly human-centric but it contains the organization and the best maps of keeps and castles you eve saw. If you insert the monsters and dungeons on your own, the rest takes care of itself. I think HarnMaster is too detailed and slow but C&C will work well. Sounds like some of us at least a few of us old timers know what Harn is anyway.

ALT+0226 to generate the a with circumflex (â).

[Arduin]

Which, like many items that made small waves back in those days, are highly sought after and expensive pieces of gaming merchandise these days. Again, crazy...

Naw. Nostalgia. I'd pay for a mint original simply as a piece of gaming history.

[Lord Dynel]

Which, like many items that made small waves back in those days, are highly sought after and expensive pieces of gaming merchandise these days. Again, crazy...

Naw. Nostalgia. I'd pay for a mint original simply as a piece of gaming history.

But there are those out there that know that...and speculate the hell out of things because they (not you or I) think it is a piece of gaming history. A lot of stuff from "back in the day" had small print runs, so some resellers pick that stuff up and sell it off as pieces of gaming history, whether it is to you an I or not...it probably is nostalgic to someone.

I've been picking up the Hârn stuff because the quality of its work - the maps, the writing, all of it. I'd say its better than 90% of the stuff that's out there today. I got into, originally, kind of "late" in the early 90's. So, for me, it's finally gotten to the top of my "to buy" list.

[Arduin]

I've been picking up the Hârn stuff because the quality of its work - the maps, the writing, all of it. I'd say its better than 90% of the stuff that's out there today. I got into, originally, kind of "late" in the early 90's. So, for me, it's finally gotten to the top of my "to buy" list.

How do you like the rule set?

[Snoring Rock]

While simple, they are very location centered. I mean that it takes 3 die rolls to figure out where exactly you get hit. And anyone can kill anyone with a lucky hit. Very realistic and thus low fantasy. There are no classes. You gain skills as you use them.

[Arduin]

While simple, they are very location centered. I mean that it takes 3 die rolls to figure out where exactly you get hit. And anyone can kill anyone with a lucky hit. Very realistic and thus low fantasy. There are no classes. You gain skills as you use them.

Similar to original RuneQuest in combat complexity.

[Snoring Rock]

I love the kingdoms and politics as well as trade. I think you could use the world and plug the fantasy in as you see fit. I like the Tolkien-esk feel of elves with elves and dwarves with dwarves. I would not use HârnWorld rules just the campaign and modules. Think of that and plugging in DCC's. Make sense?

[Lurker]

I love the kingdoms and politics as well as trade. I think you could use the world and plug the fantasy in as you see fit. I like the Tolkien-esk feel of elves with elves and dwarves with dwarves. I would not use HârnWorld rules just the campaign and modules. Think of that and plugging in DCC's. Make sense?

Rgr on that. I've mined a lot from the world (and do love the low fanticy/Tolkien feel) but didn't like the rules. I never ran or played them, but my read through (some years ago) made me shy away form them.

[Treebore]

I love the setting, even used several "locations", lots of the NPC's, but never ran it AS my setting.

[Omote]

I love the maps. In particular, the HarnWorld map.

~O

[Ancalagon]

Anyone here ever use Harn as a campaign world? I have used city maps and such but I am looking at the world and it looks cool. It is very low to no magic at all so you have a really blank canvas. I like the feudal medieval feel it has.

I played in the HarnMaster game offered at the last GenCon. It was hellagood fun!

[Snoring Rock]

Yeah, the guys running for Columbia Games, at Gen Con did a great job!