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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Trystorp" data-source="post: 1345696" data-attributes="member: 4513">I think it's unfortunate that this thread has degenerated into this kind of banter.  In my personal experience the Harn community has been in large part a mature, thoughtful and fascinating bunch.  This opportunity to download a free .pdf of the HarnMaster system I would hope will bring new fans to the community.  I, like the majority of role-players, grew up on D&D and its various incarnations.  When I grew tired of many of the aspects of that rule system I dipped my feet in the waters of dozens of other systems looking for something that would allow me to play in a way that I could maintain my suspension of disbelief.  I have found HarnMaster to be a system that does this better than any other.  It has an ease of use that I find startling when I look at other systems I have played over the years.  I find I spend the majority of my GMing time focusing on the events of the session rather than looking up rules.  I find the system to be the most intuitive I have played.  As others have said, it is a difficult system to break and a remarkably easy one to modify - as the large number of houserule documents on the web can attest to.  Some might argue (and some have!) that this indicates a broken system to begin with but I disagree.  I find it to simply be a matter of granularity.  The core system contains the basics needed to play and the many options available in the book expand on this, allowing GMs to add as much detail as fits their style of play.  The multitudes of houserules continue to feed the needs of hungry GMs!Again, in my experience, HarnMaster is a great rule set.  It is however tailored to a certain style of play - low fantasy.  It does not cater to the loin-clothed berserker or bikini-clad warrior woman.  It depicts fairly realistic warfare.  As you would expect, an armoured warrior has a distinct advantage over unarmoured opponents.  Combat is deadly, but I have not found this to a detriment to long campaigns.  Instead, my players became more engrossed with their characters.  They adjusted their concept of what "heroic" meant in the context of a low-fantasy world.  They guard their lives carefully and choose fights with great discretion.  Avoiding combat is always an option they are more than willing to take!  They have become more careful, thoughtful and tactical players.  The system, in my opinion, is in large part to blame for this.I have not found Harn fans to be pretentious or snobbish.  It is unfortunate if that has been the experience of others.  We are a group of individuals who have found a world and/or system that works for us where other worlds or systems have failed to do so.  Harn is an incredibly detailed and realistic fantasy world that allows my imagination to soar, unfettered by inconsistencies and over the top fantasy elements.  HarnMaster is a rule system that allows me to run my game in this world or other similar worlds.  Is it perfect?  Of course not - there are elements of it that don't completely work for me (though certainly do for others) but it does what it is designed to do very well.All of the above is in my experience and in my opinion.  I apologize for gushing and any pretension that may have seeped through into my words...   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Give it a look - you can't beat the price!</blockquote>

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