Yes, the title is fucking terrible:) Just went in on Harnmaster- got the 3rd edition core rule box set, the HarnWorld 3rd edition folder and the new HarnWorld Bestiary. Hopefully will get them next week.
Special thanks to Estar- you've posted a bunch on Harn and Harnmaster. What you've written has drawn me in, especially a write up you did on your blog about Harnmaster combat:)
Re-mortgaged the house? ;)
Quote from: RunningLaser;941318Yes, the title is fucking terrible:) )
No, it is the best thread title in years.
How compatible is older Harn stuff with newer Harn stuff?
I have a few of the older modules which I got just for curiosity/appreciation, including a heraldry module which I've never really wanted.
Quote from: RunningLaser;941318Yes, the title is fucking awesome:)
Fixed that for you.
Me love you beaucoup, GI.
Quote from: RunningLaser;941318Yes, the title is fucking terrible:) Just went in on Harnmaster- got the 3rd edition core rule box set, the HarnWorld 3rd edition folder and the new HarnWorld Bestiary. Hopefully will get them next week.
Special thanks to Estar- you've posted a bunch on Harn and Harnmaster. What you've written has drawn me in, especially a write up you did on your blog about Harnmaster combat:)
Glad to be a service. The new bestiary makes it easier to get into the game. I recommend you look at what I said on changing how Injury levels effect shock rolls. Otherwise combat will seem too deadly.
Quote from: Skarg;941324How compatible is older Harn stuff with newer Harn stuff?
Setting-wise. 99%. Harn has never budged at everything being set in the Harn present of 720 TR. And newer expanded version are 99% consistent with the older version.
Quote from: Skarg;941324I have a few of the older modules which I got just for curiosity/appreciation, including a heraldry module which I've never really wanted.
Well except for a few bundles they still sell everything as individual articles. A little more pricey but you can buy exactly the things that interest you.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;941322No, it is the best thread title in years.
I have nothing to add to the actual thread but I actually laughed out loud with the title.
Quote from: One Horse Town;941320Re-mortgaged the house? ;)
Selling a kidney. Maybe shaking my tail for dollars too.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;941322No, it is the best thread title in years.
Quote from: Black Vulmea;941327Fixed that for you.
Me love you beaucoup, GI.
*bows deep
Quote from: estar;941328Glad to be a service. The new bestiary makes it easier to get into the game. I recommend you look at what I said on changing how Injury levels effect shock rolls. Otherwise combat will seem too deadly.
Thanks Estar.
I see there's a lot of city books for Harnworld. Any that you'd recommend starting off with?
Quote from: RunningLaser;941470Thanks Estar.
I see there's a lot of city books for Harnworld. Any that you'd recommend starting off with?
I would read over the Kingdom descriptions and see which Kingdom you like. Tashal is the best supported with several quality fanon articles on Lythia.com (http://www.lythia.com/index.php?s=tashal). Tashal has that Game of Throne vibe with the Kaldoric Civil War looming the background. Golotha is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Cornanan is the largest Harn city. Cherafir has a heavy concentration of arcanists. Thay and Aleath are the closest to being "good guy" cities. Shiran is the Thardic Republic's second city after Cornanan and could be considered a bit decadent.
Thay, Aleath, Shiran, and Tashal all pretty close to the frontiers of their kingdoms.
Also know that many castles are in fact small towns in their own right. For example Kiban in Kaldor. If you are into the Viking series look at Orbaal and Geldeheim. Menekhod is in the heart of a religous war between the followers of the goddess of honor, Larani and the god of fire and warriors, Agrik
Finally keep in mind that Harn has a lot of specifics but they been pretty clever in making everything only defined up to the first day of year 720 TR. And keeping Harn resilient if you want to change significant elements of the setting. For example, Harn has dungeons, mostly Earthmaster site. And as dungeons they are pretty understated and grounded in the low fantasy medieval reality.
But people have successfully ran dungeon centered Harn campaign, taking advantage of the fact that most sites have a passage or two leading to a unmapped area that referee can use to tack on whatever.
Harn has planes and through the use of Godstones, PCs can access planes in a way that makes sense for Harn. Or you could also use the planar spells available in the rules you use if you use something other Harnmaster.
It works well this way because N. Robin Crossby was inspired by the same sources that inspired Arneson and Gygax. He opted for a more low-fantasy medieval oriented approach. But because it share so many elements with D&D, people find it easy to shoehorn the more gonzo D&D tropes into a Harn campaign if that what they want.
Estar, that site is a treasure trove. Again, thank you.
Quote from: RunningLaser;941543Estar, that site is a treasure trove. Again, thank you.
Yeah Lythia.com by far is one the greatest RPG fanon sites.
I highly recommend the Harn Pottage (http://www.lythia.com/series/pottage/) series for ANY vaguely medieval setting. It a bunch of generic locations and material that can integrated almost anywhere you need in Harn or another fantasy setting.
For Harnmaster the Friend, Foes, Followers series (http://www.lythia.com/series/friends-foes-followers/) is a very useful source of NPCs.
I also should mention the Kelestia site (http://www.kelestia.com/). The deal is that N. Robin Crossby and Daliageshs of Columbia Games had a falling out. NRC formed Kelestia and Columbia Games kept on publishing Harn. Despite NRC's death the dispute still hasn't been settled. However a cease fire has emerged where Columbia Games mostly sticks to Harn, and Kelestia largely works on the larger world.
Kelestia's stuff is pretty good but really detailed. For example they have not one but two books on Venarive the area of Lythia that Harn is next too. One is a general overview, including Harn. The Second is a SOCIAL history of Venarive. They both are long and entirely overkill for somebody who not a big fan. Both they are useful in their own ways. The first is the same general overview we seen for dozens of other setting. It a good one for the type of book it is. The social history it is a bit of an odd duck but if you use as a reference for WHY people act the way they do in the world of Harn it very useful for that. This helps with roleplaying Harn as its own unique world.
But.....
One of the strengths of Harn itself is that it generic medievalness allows a lot of gamers to figure it out a way that Jorune, Glorantha, and Tekumel don't do well. In end of Venarive stuff from Kelestia basically is telling the specifics how NRC thought Harn worked. Just like medieval England wasn't the same as Germany or France.
In the end it going to be a few campaign before you find yourself needing stuff on Lythia. Harn is a pretty big place.
*been breakin it down to Salt n Pepa's "Push It"*
/record scratches
"Wha? That's the end?!" (lil Janet for ya, Miss Jackson if you're nasty!)
Well, my Harn-stuff order came in today. Gotta put everything in page protectors then a 3 ring binder. God, I love that format:). Then onto a good reading!
Quote from: RunningLaser;942361Well, my Harn-stuff order came in today. Gotta put everything in page protectors then a 3 ring binder. God, I love that format:). Then onto a good reading!
What did you get?
Quote from: estar;942401What did you get?
I got the third edition rules box set, the third edition Harnworld binder set and the third edition Bestiary set. Have to say, just giving things the briefest of skims, looks pretty damn impressive.
Ok, skimming a little more- this game is starting to look like a real gem. Damn.... seriously, top notch stuff.
Quote from: RunningLaser;942521Ok, skimming a little more- this game is starting to look like a real gem. Damn.... seriously, top notch stuff.
Yeah, while I only ran a handful of campaigns using Harn and the Harnmaster rules, I been using most of the details in my Majestic Wilderlands since the 1980s. If I didn't have time to make a keep, town or city, I recycled a Harn settlement. If I needed a list of herbs, I used Harn as a starting point. The same with the price list. Eventually I modified it to the point where it was unique to my campaign but again for the stuff I haven't done, Harn material has proven to be a time saver.
Recently I lent my friend the Harden Article because had a detailed entry about a Charcoaler and he wanted to get a understanding of how medieval charcoalers operated. The Harn Writing team really do their homework and still retain a knack to making the details terse and gamable. Something that the Ars Magica and Chivalry & Sorcery folk need to work on. Those two are overly verbose whenever they describe something. Harn is short, sweet and to the point.
The new Harnworld and Harndex are the best version of the core setting information to date.
Estar- if you didn't mind me asking, what's the Harndex?
Quote from: RunningLaser;942540Estar- if you didn't mind me asking, what's the Harndex?
An alphabetical mini-encyclopedia (http://www.columbiagames.com/cgi-bin/query/cfg/zoom.cfg?product_id=5002) about locations, people, and details about harn.
RPGNow has a preview you can view (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/134620/Harndex-A-HarnWorld-Reference-and-Glossary).
This is Harnworld (http://www.columbiagames.com/cgi-bin/query/harn/cfg/single.cfg?product_id=5001).
Thanks! Memory kickstarted- remember seeing an older Harndex at my lfgs. Will see about picking up the new one at some point.
Quote from: estar;941328Glad to be a service. The new bestiary makes it easier to get into the game. I recommend you look at what I said on changing how Injury levels effect shock rolls. Otherwise combat will seem too deadly.
Estar, I'm new to the site but have been into Harnworld and Harnmaster since it was first released all those years ago. I have dabbled with some small scale scenarios, but never got round to playing a full campaign. Could you please provide a link to where you discuss injury levels and shock rolls, as I too think combat tends to be a little too lethal for most players tastes.
Quote from: Penry;945191Estar, I'm new to the site but have been into Harnworld and Harnmaster since it was first released all those years ago. I have dabbled with some small scale scenarios, but never got round to playing a full campaign. Could you please provide a link to where you discuss injury levels and shock rolls, as I too think combat tends to be a little too lethal for most players tastes.
A 911 call from the Attic (http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/search?q=harnmaster)
Specifically this
QuoteI am not sure about this new shock roll system. I see what they were trying to fix with 1st edition. But this is like way to brutal for even my taste. I may go with a d6 roll based on whatever injury they took that round plus +1 to the roll for each prior injury. So in the first fight Scott would have been faced with a 3d6+2 shock roll instead of 5d6. 4d6+5 for the second fight's shock roll.
while not related to shock rolls this is a big time saver during character gen.
QuoteI also need to create a table of triple values so players can quickly compute the average. For example a total of 42 means the average of three values is 14 the same for 43, 44. For 45 the average becomes 15.
Thanks, I'll run some parallel test encounters at various skill levels to see how your proposal plays out. Looks like I'll be digging deeper through your blog over the weekend too. :)
Most ridiculous thread title ever.
Quote from: RunningLaser;941318Yes, the title is fucking terrible:) Just went in on Harnmaster- got the 3rd edition core rule box set, the HarnWorld 3rd edition folder and the new HarnWorld Bestiary. Hopefully will get them next week.
Special thanks to Estar- you've posted a bunch on Harn and Harnmaster. What you've written has drawn me in, especially a write up you did on your blog about Harnmaster combat:)
Is it still in terrible binders like Aeon?
@Pundit, you know you love it in your secret heart of heart's.:)
Quote from: Marleycat;946118Is it still in glorious three ring binders like Aeon?
The bestiary and Harnworld sets came with three ring binders. The third edition rules came three ring punched:)
Quote from: RunningLaser;946152The bestiary and Harnworld sets came with three ring binders. The third edition rules came three ring punched:)
Love the three ring binder although they include them with certain product with cover pages inserted in them. Namely what was mentioned above and the main kingdom articles (Kaldor, Kanday, Orbaal, etc).
Because of this I am able to integrate everything that they ever released except for their early Harnworlds and Ivina modules. As they were released as soft bound books. I have binders with articles from the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 2010s . The Harn line is remarkable for it consistency compared to every other RPG product out there.
Quote from: RunningLaser;941318Special thanks to Estar- you've posted a bunch on Harn and Harnmaster. What you've written has drawn me in, especially a write up you did on your blog about Harnmaster combat:)
Estar for the win! He also has one of the best Avatars around. Always assumed it was SCA, and that is the way to be.
I always wanted get Harn back in the day, just seemed to pricey and the rules...I don't know...but still so enticing!
Quote from: Xanther;946222Estar for the win! He also has one of the best Avatars around. Always assumed it was SCA, and that is the way to be.
I always wanted get Harn back in the day, just seemed to pricey and the rules...I don't know...but still so enticing!
Xanther- Columbia games has the third edition rules as a pdf for $7.98 (http://www.columbiagames.com/cgi-bin/query/harn/cfg/single.cfg?product_id=4001-PDF) Almost half as much as drivethrurpg charges.
Quote from: RunningLaser;946224Xanther- Columbia games has the third edition rules as a pdf for $7.98 (http://www.columbiagames.com/cgi-bin/query/harn/cfg/single.cfg?product_id=4001-PDF) Almost half as much as drivethrurpg charges.
The RPG side of Harn compares well price wise to other RPG product lines. It is the setting that is the rabbit hole. ;)
Correction the beastiary can be pricey and the whole line is organized a little differently with Magic, Religion, and optionally Manor being the other books.