Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Ok, first off, I am also a member of the Hârn Forum.
Falstaff wrote:
"The people there, once they discovered I also played D&D/d20 roleplaying games, started bashing me."
It wasn't like that exactly. First, Falstaff, quite innocently, I thought, made a post about running a certain type of Hârn campaign before the current timeline. Nothing wrong there. Someone else made responded in what veterans knew was a joking manner that Falstaff's idea was 'Epic Hârn', which is something that a few Hârn folks view with disdain. Someone else (one of those that think 'Epic Hârn' is dumb) made another vaguely negative comment and Falstaff got defensive and pretty much told the guy to F*@k off. And then he made another trolling post that he knew would piss these guys off and, well, sure enough, it did and they responded in kind. There were at least two of us trying to put out the flames, but Falstaff kept slinging back direct insults and any hope of getting things calmed down went out the window. They didn't bash Falstaff because he plays D&D/D20. They bashed him because he was goaded (I thought) by a few individuals into making very rude posts. I don't place blame here, just calling it like I see it.
Falstaff's assertion that HârnMaster players don't like D20ers/D&Ders is a false blanket statement. The truth of it is that
some HârnMaster players don't like D20ers/D&Ders. In the case of Falstaff, it was
one in particular and two somewhat peripherally. I, myself, play HârnMaster and prefer it over D&D
for Hârn. However, I am also a defender of D20 in the Hârn online community and my D20 Hârn Guide at
www.nine.addr.com is a testament to my benevolence towards D20/D&D. There a number of other Hârniacs who use D20, or some variant of D&D (1st Ed, 2nd Ed, whatever) with Hârn.
Yes, it's true that there is an element of elitism in the Hârn community. I suspect this is true of most any game world or game system, especially small, niche games like Hârn and HârnMaster. The vast majority of the Hârn community, though, do not overly share this 'elitism'. It's just a very few of them. Unfortunately, they are often the most vocal of the lot. In fact, I'll probably get some ribbing and pestering for this post (I see you guys!) from them.