Alternate systems suggestions to play in the world of Harn
Hmm, yeah, Mythras was going to be my first suggestion.
darjr
I crit!
Well now I gotta check this out!
I looked at the free quick start for Harnmaster and I just couldn’t wade through it.
I love Harn, I really do, but I couldn't get into the system either. I can see why some people love it, but it's crunchier than I can deal with for a new system. It might be because I'm older and grumpier than I used to be, but the cognitive overhead for learning a new system like Harn just isn't in me any more.
I’LoL throw in the suggestion of Beyond the Wall And Other Adventures. It’s old school dnd, but has some of the modern conveniences (ascending Ac), as well as great playbooks for CharOp. Also, magic is fairly low level in comparison to 5e.
What? Just because the whole 5E system pushes back against almost everything that Harn is trying to do? Why would that be a problem?
Crazymajor
Villager
So for everyone recommending Mythras...
I've seen it recommended more times than anything else, and I have looked through the book. And, it 100% fits Harn, but that's a lot because it is pretty close to Harnmaster, to begin with.
From the start, at character creation, it looks quite good and is easy to explain. So its easier to entice players towards it. It honestly makes me want to be a player in this system!
But the rest, as a GM and someone who needs to not scare away 5e players, once you get to core mechanics, it just starts to get as dense and crunchy as Harnmaster. Stuff like combat seems like it will be slow to run with heavy bookkeeping in having to track all these values and effects and actions.
It almost feels like I might as well just do Harnmaster, if I'm going to have to deal with this much crunch.
I've seen it recommended more times than anything else, and I have looked through the book. And, it 100% fits Harn, but that's a lot because it is pretty close to Harnmaster, to begin with.
From the start, at character creation, it looks quite good and is easy to explain. So its easier to entice players towards it. It honestly makes me want to be a player in this system!
But the rest, as a GM and someone who needs to not scare away 5e players, once you get to core mechanics, it just starts to get as dense and crunchy as Harnmaster. Stuff like combat seems like it will be slow to run with heavy bookkeeping in having to track all these values and effects and actions.
It almost feels like I might as well just do Harnmaster, if I'm going to have to deal with this much crunch.
In the '80s and '90s, I played in three different Harn campaigns, one with D&D (1e and 2e), one with Hârnmaster, and one with GURPS. D&D wasn't a great fit. It just became another D&D campaign. We had fun, but classes and levels felt like they put artificial constraints on the setting. Hârnmaster was complex, but ok. GURPS felt like a more streamlined version, and the skill-based system was a good fit. We played lighter combat back then, but enjoyed the ability to have called shots and for armor to absorb damage.
Michael Cule wrote an article for Roleplayer in 1991 called, "A Whole New World: GURPS on Hârn," which might be worth looking at. There are other resources out there if you google for GURPS Harn.
As far as the system goes, I love GURPS, and I've never had any trouble attracting players—my adult group has a waitlist and I run two summer camps for middle- and high-school students. My 14-year-old son is running a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy campaign for a whopping seven players. But, I recognize that it's not to all tastes and there's a good amount of up-front work for a game master to decide which elements to include.
Michael Cule wrote an article for Roleplayer in 1991 called, "A Whole New World: GURPS on Hârn," which might be worth looking at. There are other resources out there if you google for GURPS Harn.
As far as the system goes, I love GURPS, and I've never had any trouble attracting players—my adult group has a waitlist and I run two summer camps for middle- and high-school students. My 14-year-old son is running a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy campaign for a whopping seven players. But, I recognize that it's not to all tastes and there's a good amount of up-front work for a game master to decide which elements to include.
aramis erak
Legend
There are at least half a dozen. Unfortunately, many of them have names used by other products.
The ones I found easily on DTRPG:
- Sword of Cepheus
- Barbarians!
- Hexpunk (urban fantasy)
One, 6-stat, was released under the GNU FDL in the 90's published on the web. I no longer have a copy; that HD died in the late 00's. Technically it was generic, but it included a fantasy setting book.
Another one, which drafts floated on COTI for a while, was very clearly sword and sandals; I think it may have morphed into SoC.
Similar Threads
