I think part of the richness of Harn is how its cultures and history are layered. Greyhawk is a collection of kingdoms, which is also true of Harn, but the kingdoms of Greyhawk each feel like One Particular Thing. The Bandit Kingdoms are where all the bandits are, the Duchy of Geoff is the one where the ogres are always attacking, the empire of Iuz is where all the really evil folks live, and so on. Harn starts in the same place, though with a much more modest number of seven kingdoms. Melderyn is the magic kingdom (lol), the Thardic Republic is a decadent post-Roman kingdom, Kaldor is your typical Arthurian kingdom and so on. But things get complicated by the Orcs, who are a magical problem from another dimension (probably) and things like Orbaal, which was recently conquered by the Viking-like Ivinians, who have struggled to control the native Jarin population. Already, Harn feels more socially and politically dynamic than Greyhawk.

HarnMaster Barbarians (2000) introduces another layer of detail: eighteen tribal nations that coexist (tensely) with Harn’s feudal kingdoms, each with their own customs and magic systems and religious practices. This really solidifies, in my mind, how Harn uses Britain as a basic template, with wave after wave of culture groups arriving (often being pushed out of their original homelands) and supplanting the folk who are already there. The tribal nations very much remind me of the Celts who were subjugates by the Romans, who left Britain to the Cymru, who were eventually subjugated by the Saxons, who then mingled with invading Norse before being overrun by the Normans, and so on.

Harn’s tribal nations have echoes of these various real world groups. But more importantly, they contrast strongly with the feudal people of Harn, who have traded much of their individual freedom for safety and civilization. The tribes are not bound by laws, but rather by blood and friendship. There is little they are required to do, but their lives are more precarious in the wilderness. Being pressed by Orcs and scarcity of resources and other dangers tend to bind the community together. And to have these tribal groups living alongside the feudal peoples, in the deep forests and wild lands the civilized people refuse to go, is just such a wonderfully believable detail, both because it feels realistic and because it immediately injects more friction into the world. 

All the art is by Eric Hotz and this might be his final work for the line. Not entirely sure about that.