Cthulhudrew
First Post
You seem to have pretty well covered things, actually.
This is the reason I used (read- blatantly lifted) elements of Haven for my Alphatian campaigns. Alphatia, on the world of Mystara, is very high magic- it is ruled by a council of 1,000 of the most powerful wizards on the planet, nobles are spellcasters, etc. I basically use Haven as the model for the city of Shraek, in the kingdom of Blackheart (though with a decidedly more Cthulhian twist than in the Green books- though I seem to recall a nod to Lovecraft and his contemporaries, from the books).
It would definitely require some alteration for a lower magic setting, though not much I'd think. The general gist is that there are some really nasty magical creatures that occasionally require more "muscle" to deal with than just the regular guard (and Hawk and Fisher end up being dragged in to the mix a lot, given their natures, and the fact that they've had dealings with magic before). Otherwise, the city itself is an admixture of, on the one hand high society, with all the privileges of wealth and station; a quarter for merchants and the like; a dock quarter (where, as is typical, most of the bad element hangs out); a temple district (the street of Gods); and the guard which keeps order in the city, but is largely corrupt, save for Hawk and Fisher (and one or two others), who are often required to bend or break the rules in order to see that things get done, and done in a just manner. Which also explains their relatively low ranking in the order of things (they just piss too many people with influence off).
It's been a while since I've read the books, so I think Hyp's description is far more apt than I could come up with. But there is a lot of detail in the books, so plenty of room to mine some creative ideas.
Now that I think of it, you could probably use many elements of Haven for say, a City of Greyhawk campaign. It is very similar to many "generic" sorts of fantasy Cities (and I'd say it could only be used as a big city, anything smaller wouldn't translate quite as well), but with a richer history and tapestry than is generally cultivated for such settings. As I pointed out, it's one of Green's strongest points.
On another note, his Blue Moon books (which bookend the Hawk and Fisher stories- the first one relates their origins, and the second one ties up loose ends for them) are somewhat more light hearted even than his humor in the H&F series, and the magical elements of them are a bit more on the fantastic side (I'd say the H&F books feature elements more suited to a D&D type campaign, while the BM books always seemed somewhat cartoony and fairytale-ish).
Glad you're enjoying them. The thing about the characters' one-dimensionality is strange, almost paradoxical. On the one hand, he gives the characters these elaborate, well thought out, rich histories that are just as detailed as his world building. On the other hand, when you see the characters in action- their thoughts, dialogue, interactions with others- they're ciphers. You can't really distinguish them too much from others, and they react pretty much the same way. It's strange.
Again, though, that's really my only complaint about his books. If his characterization were stronger, they'd be among my top ranking books of all time. At the same time, though, they are incredibly interesting, and certainly memorable to me. And they've definitely had an influence on my rp campaigns.
