Response to Woas about HARP

[Teflon Billy]

Telflon Billy did and does continue to say that. He seems to really like the game.

Yer darn tootin'

I think the character generation rules for HARP are some of the nicest I have ever come across. They are amazingly flexible and manage to provide a lot of options for PC's without succumbing to the Power Creep I find prevalent when a great number of D20 supplements are added to Core D&D in an effort to increase PC uniqueness.

The Magic system, while still very mechanical in nature, provides a very "tweakable" set of tools for the game.

I, like Dinkeldog, was worried about the lethality of HARP's predecessor, but while the rules maintain alot of the "gore" that I associate with Rolemaster, there preponderence of healing (and make no mistake: more so even than in D&D a PC Party needs a healer) tends to minimize the "Gimpmaster" elements I was expecting.

I am curretnly running two games, one for a group of 12-year old girls and one for a group of adult newbs with background in film.

Neither has had any trouble understanding the rules, nor have they presented me with any concepts or actions that weren't relatively easy to model with the core book.

I recently gave my second copy of HARP to Colonel Hardisson, who will be reviewing it shortly (he is equally impressed)

 

[Rasyr]

I really like that magic system, definately seems more streamlined and customizable to how the player wants his spells cast. Now, why can't the spells be put onto the website? huh?

heheh....
Now, ICE does have a PDF version of HARP (no DRM for those who are interested) for sale for on $10. You might want to check that out.

You want to know what really burns me up, I have a pretty cool FLGS with the exception to special orders for books. For some reason, whenever I try to get a book special ordered (like HARP or Savage Worlds), the person who does the ordering always says they can't do it (I think he is really lazy and just doesn't want to) but I don't have any other means of getting these other games that aren't as well known. Sorry for the Rant!

Well, part of it is, I am sure, the distributor which the LGS deals with, at least in some cases. For example, the largest distributor is Alliance, and they (due to personal reasons of one VP) refuse to carry any ICE products. They even refuse to carry ICE through a third party (such as Osseum). Thus, if it isn't something that Alliance doesn't carry, the store cannot carry it.

There are some stores who refuse to even deal with more than one distributor because it would be too much of a "hassle" for them to do so. Granted, some distributors base their discounts on the total value of the order the LGS places, so some of it may be economically motivated on the part of the store.

As for book stores, ugh! Working with book store chains is often very bad for a company. Remember, most publishers don't get paid for several weeks after they ship books to the distributors. With book stores, you have this same problem, and then you have returns (which they insist on having) which makes accounting a nightmare.

How well would Eberron be translated into HARP? How easy would it be to convert the new Eberron races to HARP mechanics? If it can do that, because I really like Eberron, then I think HARP would be my system of choice (but I have to go download what is available and someday buy the book).

Well, I have not looked at Eberron, so I cannot say offhand, however, I can give some general race creation guidelines.

Stat Bonuses - these normally fall between 8 and 11 points total, split among the eight stats. Humans only have 8, but get the flexibility to place those in any stat they like. Most of the other races have 11 points. For Cyradon, the setting that I am currently working on (rewriting and editing phase), we have as a PC race Gryphons. They get a minus to one stat, and that minus is figured in with the rest of their stats and give them a total of 11 points to the positive side divided among their stats.

Endurance and Power Point Bonuses - For all PC races, this is 60 points, divided between the two.

RR Bonuses - This is 30 points, divided among the three RR types for all PC races.

Racial Abilities - Each race gets three, and only three racial abilities. There is no point limitations or anything like this here, so this is where you need to be careful. As a general rule, look at the abilities given to the standard races to give you an idea of the power level of the abilities.

Cultures are even easier to define/design, at least for the mechanics.

Each culture gets 2 starting languages (and the same number of ranks in each language). Each culture also get 20 skill ranks divided among individual skills. The Adolescent Skill Ranks table in HARP only has those skills in which the default cultures have ranks. So you do not have to limit your cultures to those specific skills. Just remember that no character may have more than 6 ranks in any given skill at first level, so do not give more than that to any one skill (though I would recommend a max of 3 ranks in any one skill, except for special situations).

You could always come over to the ICE forums, and check out the thread where they are discussing converting Forgotten Realms over to HARP for ideas on how to proceed as well. Plus the players over there would be more than willing to offer lots of advice as well.

 

[haiiro]

I'm intrigued by this description of HARP's mechanics -- thanks, Rasyr.

Incidentally, the HARPHQ website lists the ltd. edition hardcover rulebook as being available in October, but as also a pre-order. What's the status on this item?

 

[Krieg]

Hey Tim while you're here, any possibility we can get an ETA for the limited edition hardback?

Thanks!

 

[Rasyr]

I'm intrigued by this description of HARP's mechanics -- thanks, Rasyr.

de nada!

Incidentally, the HARPHQ website lists the ltd. edition hardcover rulebook as being available in October, but as also a pre-order. What's the status on this item?

That is a bit of a sore point. hehe

ICE sent this book to the printer back in May! We have yet to see anything from this printer, although they were paid back when we sent it to them. The boss has not gotten any information out of them other than it will be done soon (they keep giving us delivery dates and then continually miss them). The boss won't even tell me who the printer is (other than they are in the mid-west someplace) cause he is afraid I would go on an rampage against them (or that I might let it slip to our customers who would do the same thing - hehe).

Just the latest in a long line of printer-related nightmares this year....

I will most definitely be extremely glad when we get our own in-house printing system (due to be delivered within a month) so that we won't have to deal with printers (except for special things like maps and such) anymore. It will also allow us to almost instantly be able to update books with corrected errata and such as we find and fix it.

And the bindings on books done with this system are fabulous. They sent us some samples, and I abused them as much as I could, and could not break the binding. I was impressed to say the least.

 

[Rasyr]

Hey Tim while you're here, any possibility we can get an ETA for the limited edition hardback?

At this moment, no. Bruce (my boss) called the printer right before he left town last week (had to go help with his Brother-in-law's estate), and had not heard back from them before he left. Hopefully he heard something while away (he took his cell-phone with him). Hopefully, he will have some news tomorrow when he is back in the office.

 

[Krieg]

That is so weird, I didn't notice haiiro asking virtually the same question right before I did. LOL

Thanks for giving what info you could!

 

[Acid_crash]

heheh....
Now, ICE does have a PDF version of HARP (no DRM for those who are interested) for sale for on $10. You might want to check that out.

Well, I'll pass for now cuz I don't use credit cards or debit cards, but how does ICE work with people and money orders?

Well, part of it is, I am sure, the distributor which the LGS deals with, at least in some cases. For example, the largest distributor is Alliance, and they (due to personal reasons of one VP) refuse to carry any ICE products. They even refuse to carry ICE through a third party (such as Osseum). Thus, if it isn't something that Alliance doesn't carry, the store cannot carry it.

That sucks! You are losing sells because of a personal grudge because of a VP. Talk about pathetic.

My store uses just Alliance for the majority of their stuff, and that does explain why they can't get it.

You could always come over to the ICE forums, and check out the thread where they are discussing converting Forgotten Realms over to HARP for ideas on how to proceed as well. Plus the players over there would be more than willing to offer lots of advice as well.

I'll check into that, thanks for all the information you have given. I do like HARP, someday I shall have to get a hard copy of it.

 

[Rasyr]

Well, I'll pass for now cuz I don't use credit cards or debit cards, but how does ICE work with people and money orders?

We accept Paypal as well, if you use that (and it works from bank accounts as well as credit cards). Just email customer service to get things rolling and Lori (my wife) will take care of you.

And money orders are not a problem. We often get orders from folks who are, shall we say, freedomly challenged. They send in their order via snail mail and we usually ship it out within 3-5 days of receiving it.

We are very flexible.

 

[haiiro]

That is a bit of a sore point. hehe

Ah well -- "coming eventually" is better than "scrapped."