Response to Woas about HARP

[Rasyr]

1) If a character is trying something (attacking with a weapon, casting a spell, climbing a cliff, etc.) and has enough bonuses (say great bonuses in an incredibly easy situation) that the character would succeed, but gets a natural roll in the fumble range (01, say), does that count as a success or a fumble?

A fumble there is always a chance that even the most skilled character will mess up.

2) With opposed skills, and one skill setting the RR, I get that the one setting the target number is applied through the RR chart, but is the other skill also run through that RR chart? In the example given on p. 68, a character tries to sneak past a goblin. The characters sneak roll is 127, which gets translated to 130 on the chart. The goblin got a perception roll of 96. Is this a "Bare" 96 or is it too translated on the RR chart, this time to 110?

The first skill is rolled on the RR column, the number generated is what the second skill/roll must equal or beat. The second roll is NOT looked up on the table.

3) a) What happens if there is a tie in RR rolls? (Between two skills, or to resist poison, etc.)?

The general guideline is that the defender's roll must meet or beat the number generated on the RR column, so using the above example, a total roll of 130 would mean that he resisted the effect.

Anyhow, just skimming through I like some parts (phantasms that don't disappear! woohoo!), although I may tone down the fumbles and/or criticals in my game. At first, it seemed that every fighter who lives long enough will, eventually, die by impaling himself on his own sword! But it looks like a fighter, at worst, will only cause himself bleeding wounds, perhaps with some stunning, since a fumble can't lead to more than 100 on a crit table. Still, it does seem nasty.

Well, considering that my father, who was an expert archer, once put an arrow through the palm of his hand, i would say that the fumbled could be considered as plausible...

So yes, fumbles can be nasty, but you are always free to tone them down.

I like the GM advice section, though.

Glad you liked it.

 

[Particle_Man]

Do racial stat mods (like a +2 bonus to Insight for an Elf) affect the stat itself (so a 90 becomes a 92), or the bonus it gives (so a 90 stays a 90 but a bonus of +8 becomes a bonus of +10)? I think it is the latter, but if so, your example of the Elf Mage with one rank in PPD, Insight 90, and Self Discipline 90 (on page 42) should be 63, not 61, right? Because the Insight 90 for elves would mean a +10 stat bonus instead of +8? Or am I reading this wrong?

 

[Rasyr]

Do racial stat mods (like a +2 bonus to Insight for an Elf) affect the stat itself (so a 90 becomes a 92), or the bonus it gives (so a 90 stays a 90 but a bonus of +8 becomes a bonus of +10)? I think it is the latter, but if so, your example of the Elf Mage with one rank in PPD, Insight 90, and Self Discipline 90 (on page 42) should be 63, not 61, right? Because the Insight 90 for elves would mean a +10 stat bonus instead of +8? Or am I reading this wrong?

Correct, the racial stat bonus is added to the total stat bonus, not to the stat itself. As to the example, you are correct there as well, the example forgets about the racial bonus (oopsie!! -- I think you are the first person to catch that boo-boo).

So, in short, you are reading it correctly.

 

[Numion]

I had to check HARP out too, now you've done it. At a first glance it seems very similar to RoleMaster, which is ok since that was my favourite game in early 90s even with the insane criticals and lethality. Harp seems much simples and focused though.

I haven't read it all though, and I've only got one comment. I read the character generation part, and doesn't that make it really hard generating NPCs, or is there an easier method for them? Calculating development points each level and assigning them seems to be quite a lot of work for NPCs .. but as I said, I only glanced through the rules, and might've missed the right section.

Well, considering that my father, who was an expert archer, once put an arrow through the palm of his hand, i would say that the fumbled could be considered as plausible.

Hopefully not to the tune of RuneQuest, where someone calculated that if an army of 10,000 went to war around 500 would kill themselves!

 

[Cinderfall]

Questions Questions

It's nice to have someone to answer questions about HARP. I looked at the game awhile back, thought it was interesting but a bit complex. More specifically I was looking at it from a GMs point of view. But now that there's someone to ask......

How long/hard is NPC generation?

How easy are the rules to use "on the fly"?

How long is PC generation?

Are all the rules in one book?

How many stats do monsters need?

How much supplemental rules/background information are in HARP's future?

That's all I can think of right now. Thanks in advance.

 

[Rasyr]

I had to check HARP out too, now you've done it.

Bwah-hah-hah! My evil nefarious scheme is working!

At a first glance it seems very similar to RoleMaster, which is ok since that was my favourite game in early 90s even with the insane criticals and lethality. Harp seems much simples and focused though.

Compatibility with Rolemaster was one of the guidelines that I was working under when writing HARP. And since HARP shares several basic concepts and ancestry with RM, the similarities should not be too surprising. However there are enough differences that make HARP a unique (as in separate and individual) game rather than just a lite version of RM.

Many of the basic concepts in RM were reworked from the ground up in designing HARP. This allowed me to strive for a tighter focus for the game overall. I am still in shock that I actually wrote the dang thing - I did the initial development, but thought we were going to hand it over to an established author. Imagine my surprise when asked how soon I could have a manuscript ready.

Of course, my wife also tells me that if I ever get a swelled head from this, she has an aluminum baseball bat ready to deliver an attitude adjustment upside my head.... :\

I haven't read it all though, and I've only got one comment. I read the character generation part, and doesn't that make it really hard generating NPCs, or is there an easier method for them? Calculating development points each level and assigning them seems to be quite a lot of work for NPCs .. but as I said, I only glanced through the rules, and might've missed the right section.

Well, personally, I would only do that for very important NPCs. For less important NPCs, there are shortcuts such as the following:
1) Assign Stats
2) Assign max ranks to primary skills (about half a dozen)
3) Assign 2 ranks per level to secondary skills (about another half dozen)
4) Assign up to one rank per level to a few other skills to round him out (maybe another half dozen).
5) Assign any relative talents (total point value of about 5 DPs x level maximum - thus a 5th lvl NPC would have about 25 points worth of talents)

This may or may not make a legal character (DP point-wise) but it will allow for quick NPC generation (skipping any steps that you do not really need).

Additionally, there is an excel speradsheet available on the HARP website which would make this much easier, and we have a fellow working on a character generation program for HARP as well (which will hopefully have a built in NPC generator).

 

[FCWesel]

Rasyr, thanks for the posts. As a long time MERP fan, never got into Rolemaster for some reason, I will now have to check this out. Thanks again.

 

[Rasyr]

It's nice to have someone to answer questions about HARP. I looked at the game awhile back, thought it was interesting but a bit complex. More specifically I was looking at it from a GMs point of view. But now that there's someone to ask......

No problems! I am always willing to answer questions.

How long/hard is NPC generation?

See my post above regarding this (in response to Numion). But the method I use is realtively simple for non-important NPCs, so it does not take me very long.

How easy are the rules to use "on the fly"?

Very Easy! As mentioned at some point in this thread, there are a few core types of resolution, that can be used to handle almost any situation on the fly. Once you get used to them (and putting a copy of the maneuver table on an index card is really helpful), resolving situations on the fly is pretty much a snap.

How long is PC generation?

As always (with ANY system), this will depend upon the individual person and how much effort they put into it. However, for a person who has a basic grasp of the rules, creating a first level character will likely take about 20-30 minutes on average. Personally, if I know what type of character I want to create beforehand, I can do a first level character in about 10-15 minutes (but then again, I have more than a basic grasp of the rules).

Are all the rules in one book?

Everything needed to play is in the core book. Chargen, treasure, encounter tables, a basic list of monsters, spells, combat, etc..

How many stats do monsters need?

Not quite sure what you are asking here, but you can actually see all the monsters in the HARP core book in a free PDF from the HARP website - http://www.harphq.com/webextras.htm

Monsters in HARP are built just like characters (as Fighters, in fact). This means that a Kobold is a dangerous creature that can wipe out another first level character....

How much supplemental rules/background information are in HARP's future?

Rules - not too much. We are striving to keep rules creep to a minimum, but there are still a few things that we would like to expand on. We currently have a Martial Arts product, a Dark Arts product, products with new spells, new monsters, etc.. planned. As for background, we have Cyradon in development for the default setting to be used by HARP. And we have a sci-fi version of HARP planned. We also have several liscences in the works as well, for other folks to product their own HARP products.

That's all I can think of right now. Thanks in advance.

No problem!!

 

[der_kluge]

A cultural template or a profession could very easily be modelled using the creature-template system. In this case they would be +0 ECL unless you started giving feats out by the fistful, with skills and ranks in those skills.

Well, sort of. In HARP, the races only have ability modifiers, endurance (hit point) modifiers, power point modifiers (for spellcasting), and resistance (saving throw) modifiers. In D&D, races have these plus things like speak with burrowing mammal, favored weapons, exotic weapons, bonus feats, and other sundry things. To create a cultural template in D&D, which I agree could be done, you'd first have to baseline all the races by removing the "cultural" aspects. For example, it makes no sense that a gnome who lives in a populous city would learn to speak with prairie dogs. Also, the races in D&D are unabalanced to one another - see also my thread titled "Dwarves rock, Orcs suck - an analysis". I created a point system for the races based on their abilities, and dwarves numerically come out WAY ahead, and Orcs end up in the negative numbers. In HARP, all the races are numerically equivalent, and all the cultural templates are numerically equivalent. Furthermore, the numbers are right there in front of your face, so if you wanted to create a "grew up on the moon" cultural template, you know exactly how many points you need to balance it with the cultures in the book. No guesswork - in D&D, you get arbitrary questions like "is darkvision really worth as much as a bonus feat?" There is no debate in HARP - all of it has a point value.

It's why I love HARP.

And no, Rasyr isn't paying me on the side.

 

[Acid_crash]

Rasyr, how does licensing HARP work with ICE? I know it's not free, but I'm just wondering how ones gets to use it.

Also, would it be possible for a person to write a setting or sourcebook and dual stat it using both HARP and d20/D&D stats, or is that against the rules?