Harn

I adore Harn. Simple and to the point. Sure, it's not for everyone or every game, but I love it. At one time I had a LOT of Harn material: the Harnic boxed set, the Ivinia boxed set, all of the Encyclopedia Harnicas, the Kaldor module, the Melderyn module, and 100 Bushes of Rye and Dead of Winter adventures. I also had Nasty, Brutish, and Short. All of this was before a house fire destroyed very nearly all of my gaming collection.

I ran a short-lived campaign centered on Trobridge Inn whilest living in Atlanta. We used GURPS 3rd Edition and conversion notes I found somewhere. It was fun, but we ultimately found GURPS too frustrating.

I have nothing against HarnMaster, having owned the 2nd and 3rd editions, along with HarnMaster Magic, pre-fire. I really like the rules set, but have no problem with the idea of using something else with a Harn campaign.

The point to this is simple: I'm rolling some ideas around for a Harn campaign using a rules set I've never talked about before (at least not to you lot). I apologize for the mystery. I promise I'm not gratuitously amping the drama, I just don't want to give away too much, too quickly. In truth, I found the key to the first stumbling block only this evening.

I really hope I can maintain some steam with this, if for nothing else than to collect some notes that I can refer back to when my mood swings around. And around.

Call me crazy, but . . .

I love Harn. I even love Harnmaster, but it cuts against the grain of my current minimalist leanings. The Harn setting, though, is so cool. This isn't meant to be a review or even some sort of "things I love" post. I just wanted to establish that I do indeed have a long lasting and deep love for the setting.

Here's the crazy part: the last day or two I have been thinking about what a nice fit Risus would be. I know Risus is supposed to be all about fast silly fun, a beer-and-pretzels one-off thing when there is a problem with the regular game. There are, however, many examples of house rules for bringing a more serious tone to the game. I haven't explored them very much, only enough to get this crazy idea.

I have read Harnmaster. I've also seen a pretty good set of conversion rules for using GURPS in Harn. One thing common to both situations is that in such a detailed setting, it really means something to be a certain "profession" from a certain area. There is quite a lot to being a minor Kaldoric noble, or an Ivinian Huscarl, or a Shek P'var. What ends up happening is that by the time you've selected the combination of skills/advantages/perks/flaws/whatever to adequately describe the broad strokes of the character's profession and social background, there is nothing left to describe the nuances.

With Risus Kaldoric Noble (4) paints a complete picture of that aspect of the character. It covers everything it means to be a Kaldoric Noble. Almost as importantly, it can be applied in a nuanced way, thus it also fills in the broad strokes with the subtle shading that brings a character to life.

I like this idea.