About Hârn
Hârn is
a fantasy role-playing game setting originally created and published by N.
Robin Crossby and Columbia
Games, Inc.
Modeled loosely on 10th-12th century Britain, Hârn is a realistic quasi-medieval setting. Its feudal kingdoms are ruled by flawed kings and scheming barons who look down upon base-born commoners. Warfare is brutal and deadly. Hierarchical churches, dominated by ambitious nobles, wield great secular power in addition to their spiritual authority. The crafts and trades are monopolized by urban guilds, who jealously guard their priveleges. Most Hârnians are serf farmers, bound to the land, totally subject to their lords.
Hârn is, nonetheless, still a fantasy setting. The typical accoutrements of fantasy RPGs are rare— but they do exist. Reclusive kingdoms of Elves and Dwarves lie in the Shava Forest and Sorkin Mountains. Savage tribesmen, vicious orcs, and bizarre monsters dwell in the wilds. The mysterious ruins of the long-vanished race of Earthmasters dot the island. Secret societies of magi, schooled in ancient sorcerous arts, exert a subtle influence over the isle's affairs of which few are aware. And a pantheon of strange gods— many mutually hostile— seek to reshape the world in their own images through the actions of their human followers.
The Hârn Setting: Introductory Publications
The
most thorough introduction to Hârn currently
in print is the Hârnworld
boxed set, written by N. Robin Crossby and published by Columbia Games,
Inc. This product contains a beautiful poster-sized map of the island in
addition to two books outlining Hârn's history, culture, politics,
religion, etc., as well as providing a broad overview of Lythia,
the great continent that lies to the east of Hârn, and Kethira,
the planet on which Hârn is found.
The
HârnPlayer book included in the Hârnplayer
boxed set, also written by N. Robin Crossby and published by Columbia
Games, Inc., also provides an excellent and detailed introduction to the
Hârn
setting
Peter Leitch, who maintains the e-mail-based Hârnlist, the web-based Hârnforum, and the excellent Lythia.com pages has authored a good two-page introduction to Hârn (in PDF format).
A more detailed twelve-page introduction to Hârn, penned by Alan Goodall, is also available online.
The Hârn Setting: Other Material
In addition to the basic setting materials provided above, there are a host of other publications detailing more specific subsettings on the island of Hârn— individual kingdom modules (Kaldor, Kanday, etc.), individual settlements, articles about guilds and the like.
There are also a number
of published materials pertaining to regions on the nearby continent of
Lythia, including Ivinia, Shorkyne, Chelemby, and Ledenheim.