Harn

[Lord Zardoz]

I played a demo game at a small D&D convention in Saskatoon. I had fun, but the rules had nothing to do with that. The rules do aim for realism to a degree that is stunning.

However, I managed to lead a bit of a player revolt and skewed the game heavily to absurdity, which turned out to be quite fun for all at that table, including the DM.

Things took a turn towards the goofy when I dubbed my character "Sir Loin of Beef", and another player who liked where I was going was then dubbed "Sir Osis of Liver". The scenario started out with the players riding into the encampment of some general. The first thing I ended up doing was dragooning some random solder into being my butler, telling him his name was now Yuri. I demanded to meet the commander, and told him I was going to take command. He told me this was not going to happen. I took exception to the insult, and the demanded that the matter be settled with a duel.

At this point the DM looked at his notes, tossed them aside and declared "Ok, I guess I wont be needing these". He was very much baffled and awed, and spent much time laughing and shaking his head. I must commend him, however, for adapting quite well to the situation.

I had come up with a plot wherein I ordered my henchmen to shoot me with a crossbow mid fight. I would then condemn the base treachery of the commander, and hopefully turn his own men against him. Unfortunately Yuri chickened out and ran away, and I lost the fight despite my flawless strategy of going for "All Nut Shots All the Time" on the opposing commander with my Mace.

Highlights:
- Causing the DM to throw away the notes

- "Hey, who was your father? Did he server here? He was a good man. A strong man. I like strong men...." (Spoken by Sir Osis of Liver to the camp commander)

- "Welcome to 'Beef Country'!!": (The battle cry of Sir Loin of Beef when going for the groin shot.

- My character being hanged for treason after losing the duel.

Observations:
Resolving any melee attack was over complicated. You had different armour values for every location on the body, and there were numerous table lookups for hit chance vs location, hit chance vs armour type, and damage effects.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Jolly Giant]

On the few occasions when I'm not the DM, I'm a player in a Harn campaign. Actually, I've been in several, but all with the same DM. We've used the 3.x rules, though.

 

[Treebore]

I've never used the rules, but I have used setting material for decades.

 

[Wombat]

I've used the setting material for games using D20, Ars Magica, and Over the Edge as rules sets, but have never used the actual Harn rules themselves, despite the fact that I have owned said rules for many years.

Overall I like the setting material, with three provisos -- I am not fond of the pantheon of gods provided, I dislike the names of villages (none of these feel appropriate -- where are names like Little X or Center X, Two Oaks, King's X, New Town, or other related names?), and the description of every kingdom is set up at a major crisis point at the "beginning point" of the game, which feels a bit forced. Other than that, I love the setting material.

 

[Eltharon]

I used the setting as a basis for Erinoth, my low fantasy setting, but I don't use the rules. The HarnWorld products are very nice for a low magic setting.
Never played the rules, though I think I have them sitting around here somewhere. GURPS , imo, is better for that kind of game.

 

[Fenhorn]

I don't know if I should answer (since I'm not the target of this poll, I'm a regular at the HârnForum). But yes I do play alot of Hârn. But I'm currently DMing a DnD campaign (forgotten realms).

But to further "promote" Hârn to those who don't know what it is, the maps (canon and fanon) and the rest of the settings can be useful in any campaign settings. There is a lot of extremely good quality fanon maps and articles over at Lythia (if Leitchy (admin) has put them up yet, he has rebuilt his site).

 

[Darrin Drader]

At one point I had one of the World of Harn core books that was loaded with the basic setting information. Some dude at a gaming store back in the early '90s went on for half an hour about how it was the best setting ever, so I picked it up. I never played it, so I eventually offloaded it.

 

[jdrakeh]

I have just heavily reinvested in HarnWorld and HarnMaster both. In fact, in the interim 'fallout' period that I predict will follow the release of 4e, I plan on making it my default fantasy system/setting.

 

[skinnydwarf]

I'm curious to see if Harn has any players on this board.

I'm a player in an awesome monthly campaign. We're a pretty combat light group and I don't own any of the books, so I don't know the rules very well (beyond a basic understanding of the skill system), but it's really fun with a good DM.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Wheres the 'I've heard of it but I've never played it' option?