HarnWorld: Thoughts?

[GothmogIV]

Because I am a sad, weak-willed human who is easily influenced, I just bought a copy of Harnworld. Does anyone have any experience with this setting? It looks like it hits a lot of my sweet spots: low magic, gritty (-ish) vibe, etc. Thoughts, condolences, chastisement, encouragement, etc. are most welcome.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because I am a sad, weak-willed human who is easily influenced, I just bought a copy of Harnworld. Does anyone have any experience with this setting? It looks like it hits a lot of my sweet spots: low magic, gritty (-ish) vibe, etc. Thoughts, condolences, chastisement, encouragement, etc. are most welcome.

It looks wonderful (I spoke with the designers at GenCon last year about it), and very much in line with my preferences, but I haven't yet been able to justify the price tag.

 

[GothmogIV]

As I tell my wife, "Think about how much money I'd be spending if I golfed."

 

[Alzrius]

I'm a fan of Harn mostly for its system-agnostic reference material. Things like its heraldry supplement, its farming supplement, its Manor supplement, etc., all serve as excellent guides for how those things work in a medieval-style setting.

 

[MacDhomnuill]

When you say you bought Harn world which product exactly did you buy because currently there are hundreds if not more than 1000 documents for Harn world. Harn is incredibly detailed in the best way and the setting is super realistic. I like the Harn Master RPG even if it uses overly technical language that is often extremely confusing.

 

[Alzrius]

When you say you bought Harn world which product exactly did you buy because currently there are hundreds if not more than 1000 documents for Harn world. Harn is incredibly detailed in the best way and the setting is super realistic. I like the Harn Master RPG even if it uses overly technical language that is often extremely confusing.

I got into Harn roughly a decade ago, when they were still printing supplements in loose-leaf format which were meant to go in three-ring binders. They'd started releasing bundles where you could buy various binders that had multiple supplements in them, and I picked up several of those, including the HarnWorld 3rd Edition, the Harndex, Lore, and Kaldor.

In terms of the system-agnostic supplements I mentioned, most of those are from the Lore binder, including Fishing, Heraldry, Household, Hunting, Law, Real Estate, and Tournaments, among others. Likewise, while it was a standalone product rather than being part of the Lore binder, the HarnManor supplement was similarly impressive for the depth it went into regarding manorial life.

I should note that Household and HarnManor both received (rather humorous) reviews over here.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Ghost2020]

Every kickstarter they have I find myself constantly on the edge of buying the complete collection of books and PDFs.
I end up passing on it because the price point is frankly too high. Their store breaks out the books into individual PDFs, etc. It's just not a super set up. I understand the defense is that "it's a premium product". I don't doubt that, they're well done and full of information. I just can't justify it.

Regarding that information, it might be a fun or even educational read for a campaign setting, but I would wager 80% of that information doesn't impact the gaming table. It's a lot of minutiae.

I slide back and forth between completely resisting and absolutely frothing over it. I can't figure it out. If I could buy the PDFs of the actual full hardcovers, at a decent price, I'd probably go that route.

I would likely use GURPS 3rd ed or the new BRP (Basic Roleplaying Universal Engine).

 

[Micah Sweet]

Every kickstarter they have I find myself constantly on the edge of buying the complete collection of books and PDFs.
I end up passing on it because the price point is frankly too high. Their store breaks out the books into individual PDFs, etc. It's just not a super set up. I understand the defense is that "it's a premium product". I don't doubt that, they're well done and full of information. I just can't justify it.

Regarding that information, it might be a fun or even educational read for a campaign setting, but I would wager 80% of that information doesn't impact the gaming table. It's a lot of minutiae.

I slide back and forth between completely resisting and absolutely frothing over it. I can't figure it out. If I could buy the PDFs of the actual full hardcovers, at a decent price, I'd probably go that route.

I would likely use GURPS 3rd ed or the new BRP (Basic Roleplaying Universal Engine).

Exactly this. I really want Harn, but I'm just not made of money.

 

[GothmogIV]

I love worlds so much! And I don't think I have one that is completely system agnostic, so I'm looking forward to reading it.

When you say you bought Harn world which product exactly did you buy because currently there are hundreds if not more than 1000 documents for Harn world. Harn is incredibly detailed in the best way and the setting is super realistic. I like the Harn Master RPG even if it uses overly technical language that is often extremely confusing.

I bought the 40th anniversary hardcover.

 

[GothmogIV]

I love fantasy worlds, and I don't think I have one that's system agnostic. I'm looking forward to reading this!