Harper's Bazzar 4
Disclaimer: I have received this *.pdf through the PDF Review Project. Although I have not played HARP, I do have the electronic version of it. I do not own any other HARP products.
Note: I have added a review of HARPER's Bazzar 2 at the end of this review.
Harper’s Bazaar, Issue 1, Volume 4, is 12 pages long. The information presented is to be considered optional and unofficial. The first page has a letter from the editor, table of contents, and numerous credits, including both office cats and home cats. The e-Book is laid out in two columns, and the art is black and while. No bookmarks are present; however, this is not a significant issue in such a short work. The e-Book contains two new races, two new cultures, rules for damage dice, new clerical orders, and finally, new casting traditions.
The first new race is called the Phrenali. The Phrenali are described as short, but calm, pale, and peaceful. They are able to see twice as far as other races; a quick comparison gives elves a +10 on all general perception rolls. While elves may see more clearly, the phrenali can see further away. The bonuses granted to various attributes and resistance rolls also seems to be balanced with the other races. The mechanical information for this race is complete, but there is very little fluff. The Phrenali remind me a lot of the “grey” aliens, but the background in the text suggests that they emerged from a subterranean area after several hundred years of living underground.
The other new race is more insular; they are the Drogosi. Living in the jungles, and known as Tree Wraiths, the Drogosi are fierce and stubborn. They have several abilities that compliment their typical environments nicely: they can sense other creatures, and hide more easily. Once again the race seems to be mechanically balanced, but is very light on the fluff.
Following the races, there are greater and lesser Blood Talents for both new races. For those unfamiliar with HARP, Blood Talents allow multiple races to be crossbred and give the resulting offspring some, but not all, of the abilities of the parent races.
Next up are the new cultures: the Nali and a Tribal culture. The neat thing about cultures in HARP is that they separate skill bonuses from race, and more into cultural/regional groups. (For example: There are no more dwarves with +2 to stonecunning, especially if they grew up in an agrarian culture.) The Nali culture has a very strict social structure that is hard for outsiders to understand – but is essentially about gaining prestige. It seems very similar to the Aiel from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. Once again, there are very few details, but enough of a framework is given to add this culture to a campaign with only a little more effort. The Tribal culture is more self-explainatory, but again, only minimal details are given.
The damage dice rules are a replacement for the critical hit tables in HARP. (HARP does have fairly extensive Critical Hit tables.) It is based on the size of the weapon used to attack - bigger weapons use larger damage die – and the degree of success that is made on an attack roll. The bigger the margin of success, the more dice are rolled for damage. These basic rules are very simple, and make sense to a mainly-d20 gamer like myself. The optional extras allow for stunning your opponent, causing bleeding damage, temporarily crippling, and suggestions for making the rules more lethal.
Finally there are new clerical orders and casting traditions. These are varied and well detailed, especially in comparison with the rest of the material in the e-Book. One order is a militant dwarven priesthood, while another is an elven order or druids. The final tradition is an order of secretive scholars. The casting traditions are essentially ways to customize how your character casts spells. Three new Casting Traditions are presented: Totem Casting, Divine Casting, and Wand Casting. While they differ somewhat in flavor, they are all very similar mechanically. Characters may have multiple casting traditions, and choose which one to use when casting a spell.
Given the scope of this product, the lack of detail I have noted above is not a big deal. This is definitely a grab bag of stuff – but a worthwhile one. The extra flavor from the Divine Orders and the Casting Traditions, the new races, and the damage dice rules are all good. It definately made me want to run a HARP session, if not a full campaign. 4 out of 5 stars.
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Harper's Bazzar 2 Review:
Disclaimer: I received this review as part of the PDF Review Project. I have no other connection to Iron Crown Enterprises. I previously reviewed Harper’s Bazaar 4, and as these products are very similar, I will attempt to be as concise as possible. That review can be found here:
http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=review&reviewid=2695728
Harper’s Bazaar Volume 1, Issue 2, was published by Iron Crown Enterprises in the spring of 2005. It is 13 pages, laid out in a two column format, and contains a bunch of goodies for HARP players and game masters: two new races, two new cultures, two sets of new blood talents, a way to make Paladins in HARP, some optional rules, and three new clerical orders. It should be noted that the material contained within Harper’s Bazaar is optional and unofficial.
The first of the new races is called the Kalbari. They are described as solemn and distrustful, respectful of shows of strength, and view most other races as inferior; however, they are pragmatic enough to recognize that they need to trade with the other races to survive. The Kalbari seem like they are best suited for non-player characters for two reasons: they are not known for their ability to mix well with other races, and they have bad tempers (according to the text). The race is balanced mechanically with the races from the HARP core book.
The other new race is known as the Merak – unlike the Kalbari they are travellers, but they prefer to travel on ships, rather than spending much time inland. While they are not arrogant, they are condescending towards others they meet. They have abilities geared to survival in a marine environment, including the ability to breathe underwater, and the ability to see clearly under water. The Merak seem much more compatible with other races; however, the two concepts seem fairly similar. Each race lives in a very specific environment, and both races believe themselves above other species.
Following the new races, are two new cultures; cultures specifically meant for the races presented earlier in the e-Book. The Cragger culture represents beings who live in caves dug into cliffsides, while the Oceanic culture represents beings who live in a marine environment. While neither of these cultures is detailed thouroughly, a basic outline is given. The Craggers try to blend into their homes as much as possible, and ensure that each room has access to light and air. The Oceanic people live on giant floating ships and fish a lot.
After presenting the Blood Talents for each new race, the next section details HARP Paladins, and includes several spells that a Paladin may learn. These spells are quite flexable, and include such things as the ability to inspire courage in allies, to bless a weapon for the paladin’s use, to deflect blows, and to turn undead. Each spell uses a certain amount of Power Points, and may be augmented by using more points. This is much more flexible than a D&D Paladin which has ten class abilities, and about 40 spells. A HARP paladin has one class ability, and twelve spells, yet can do many, if not all, of the same things.
The Optional Rules in this issue of Harper’s Bazaar are for cascading fear effects. Instead of either making your resistance roll or not, these optional rules allow for degrees of failure. This is a good thing, as characters may have the option of standing their ground or attempting to escape, rather than either fighting the battle with no negative effects for being terrified, or running away despite having nearly made a successful roll. There are also options to use Armor as Damage Reduction, to allow those with greater skills to reduce the effect of a fumble, modifying the rules for a hack and slash feel, and a way to make initiative more random.
Finally, three new clerical orders are detailed. These are varied in concept and a great way to add a little flavor to what can sometimes be a rather homogenous profession (or character class). The first new order is the Earth Wardens. They are required to respect nature, and gain a +5 bonus to finding herbs, tracking, and identifying plants. The second new order are the Guardians of the Night. They defend innocents against evil cults, the undead, and other such nastiness. Members of the Guardians are able to gain Night Vision, if they do not already have it. Finally, the third order is called The Gatekeepers. This order serves the goddess of Life and Death, and believes the undead are an abomination. They are skilled healers, and respect life to the point they will only use blunt weapons and fight in self defense.
This Issue of HARPer’s Bazaar is full of good stuff. Although the races seem to represent specific niches rather than more broad archetypes, the material presented here is good. 4 stars.
