Hârn: Hârn World and Hârn Master together form a roleplaying experience that signify most of the things I want from it. The world is alive and believable, every new module I read brings out something new. A new pattern or a new piece or just more depth to the color in the weave that makes the whole.
Hârn is often called ‘the most real fantasy world’ and I have little trouble believing that. The information is accurate and detailed. The people described are varied and believable. The society works. Combat is hard and deadly.
What attracts me most to Hârn is the ‘down to earth’ attitude. Player Characters are people, not super heroes. Forget the Babes in Chainmail Bikinis, those probably don’t even exist in the Comedies played in the Palace of Masks. The women who have chosen to bear arms are for real, they wear similar things and wield the same weapons as their male counterparts do. They are less strong, but often slightly more agile. Most people probably choose other professions though, both males and females have a wide range of things to do.
I personally am more interested in the intrigue and politics or solving mysteries that outright brawling. Even more fascinated I am by everyday life, whether in a small village or a bustling city. Getting inside the head of a PC and ‘living’ his/her ( usually her for me) life with the little joys and worries is a challenge I enjoy. If or when the ‘normal’ life is disrupted by something extraordinary, it makes everything more special.
My history with Hârn is short, although I had heard of it before and done some net searching, my first hands-on experience was at Conklaavi 2001. After that I was convinced it really was what I had hoped it would be and so I made my first purchase, Hârn Manor. It was soon to be followed by Pilot’s Almanac and HârnMaster Core. Since then my rules collection has expanded to include all modules currently released. My copy of Hârn World is rather recent acquisition, after months of hoping to find it on the shelves, I finally had to buy it in Helsinki so I could get it autographed by N. Robin Crossby. He was the Guest of Honour at RopeCon this August.
Apart from meeting the creator himself, RopeCon was also a turning point for me. I decided to finally risk it and go for running a Hârnic adventure. As I knew no-one in this fair City of Turku who would be interested in such a venture, getting started is not so easy. I decided to start out with the newly released Hârn DE adventure ‘Web of the Widow’ for a few reasons. One of them being that I happened to win a copy at RopeCon, but also has a nice, solid plotline and it is not too long. In case the players dislike each other or me, we won’t be stuck together forever. This makes Hârn a new challenge to me, a bit of something to brighten the coming Autumn.
These were my thoughts at the end of August, 2001. I reserve the right to feel differently in the future.
Sincerely,
Frost
