Alternate systems suggestions to play in the world of Harn

[aramis erak]

Along the RQ/BRP descendents, Mythras is one of the more complex (but not as far as some get)..

Jackals, while I would not say it's simple, looks to be not too overtaken, and the magic is pretty low level and tied to religions.... that would require reworking. Character gen is pretty open, too.

 

[jdrakeh]

Along the RQ/BRP descendents, Mythras is one of the more complex (but not as far as some get)..

Jackals, while I would not say it's simple, looks to be not too overtaken, and the magic is pretty low level and tied to religions.... that would require reworking. Character gen is pretty open, too.

Jackals is built on the chassis of OpenQuest by Newt Newport, so I'd just grab that game if anything in Jackals grabs your fancy. Newt just updated the 3rd edition on DriveThru over the past weekend.

 

[Delazar]

Since we’re into BRP-adjacent games, may I suggest the awesome Dragonbane?

it’s d20 based, roll under system, and a perfect streamlining of BRP. It also has a few things taken straight from DnD (death saves, the ability scores, off the top of my head).

low magic, highly customazible

and ok, this is not what you’re here for, but the art in that book is just amazing!

 

[Fenris-77]

Along the RQ/BRP descendents, Mythras is one of the more complex (but not as far as some get)..

Jackals, while I would not say it's simple, looks to be not too overtaken, and the magic is pretty low level and tied to religions.... that would require reworking. Character gen is pretty open, too.

The reason I suggested Mythras specifically is that the crunch it does have, which is not insignificant, is IMO precisely the right crunch for Harn. Specifically the rules for Passions and the combat rules fit what Harn is trying to do to a tee. Anyway, just my two cents.

 

[reelo]

Another possible fit, and very rules-lite, is Brittannia Games' "Essence Core" system:

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[reelo]

So for everyone recommending Mythras...

...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.

Well, combat in Mythras (and other d100 adjacent games) is crunchy because it's supposed to be a rare occurence (as opposed to D&D adjacent games). It's quite deadly.

Hârnworld is a deep RP setting, it's not supposed to be combat-heavy. If you have players who try to solve every problem by violence, they're gonna end up in in jail pretty quickly. Even something as "harmless" as walking into a town or city in full armor and swords on their belt will get them into trouble with authorities. Hârn is a wonderful setting, but it's not your regular "High Fantasy".

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I’ll take a different tack on my suggestion: figure out which systems you and your players are most comfortable playing and choose from among those. You might find that your individual or collective experiences will more easily allow you to do the jerry-rigging required to run Harn in an alien system. Think of it as your “Rosetta Stone” system.

For me, that system is HERO. For others, it’s GURPS. Etc.

Even without a Rosetta Stone RPG system, someone might know of a game or games with a more Harnian feel.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Shadowdark is also significantly less powerful than 5E and has extremely low cognitive load. (If you can run 5E, you can run Shadowdark, especially after you decide to dump feats, skills and a bunch of other stuff from memory that can now be used to remember Harn trivia.)

Making it even lower powered would be easy, I suspect.

If I were in your shoes, though, I'd go with AiME or another of the modern Lord of the Rings RPGs.

 

[SJB]

The simplest BRP version to adapt to Harn would be Cthulhu Dark Ages, which has the medievalism baked in.

The default setting for OpenQuest is a pseudo-Carolingian empire which would also work.

The generic BRP rules have just been published in a tidied up edition under the ORC licence.

Other systems include Chronica Feudalis, Codex Martialis or Maelstrom Domesday.

It’s not as if the world lacks decent rules for pseudo-medieval settings!

 

[Crazymajor]

Well, combat in Mythras (and other d100 adjacent games) is crunchy because it's supposed to be a rare occurence (as opposed to D&D adjacent games). It's quite deadly.

Hârnworld is a deep RP setting, it's not supposed to be combat-heavy. If you have players who try to solve every problem by violence, they're gonna end up in in jail pretty quickly. Even something as "harmless" as walking into a town or city in full armor and swords on their belt will get them into trouble with authorities. Hârn is a wonderful setting, but it's not your regular "High Fantasy".

RP/Story focus has always been my preference, and would be how I run it. But everyone, even the most hardcore RPers, do also want combat. Whether its running into bandits... monsters in the forest... ect. And ultimately, combat is where the systems mechanics are the MOST important and what 90% of mechanics are based around, because we could RP for 2 hours and never even roll a dice. We wouldn't even need a system at that point.

Combat is great, and could create some of the best moments, and when its rare that makes those moments even more important. Which makes the crunch even more annoying. Cause you finally get to the combat and then... half the encounter time is less fighting and more dealing with numbers, book keeping various values, going through various effects, trying not to forget anything, ect.