Over the course of 1989 and 1990, Columbia Games released what I can only call a seven-volume series of zines that expanded on the magic system first presented in the HarnMaster rules. This organized the use of magic into six elemental schools (air, fire, earth, water, metal and spirit) which correspond to a variety of metaphysically important essences — for example, Odivshe embodies water, but also slowness, darkness, cold and ice. These schools are arranged in a wheel, which symbolizes harmony and provides a framework for progression — the mage must attune to the other schools, a task that proves trickier as they progress further around the circle (I think there is a good chance this arrangement inspired the schools of magic in 2E D&D). Supplementing the specialized spells of each school are a set of neutral spells available to all casters. Further, especially learned mages can transcend the limitation of the circle, becoming Gray Mages, a rare and powerful occurrence.

HarnMaster: Magic (1997) collects all that earlier material into one set of loose leaf pages (heavy stock, full color, droooool) and makes everything delightfully modular. Even in the zine form, I liked the Harn magic system and found it surprisingly usable, but here even more so, thanks the inclusion of the humble check box. Basically, every mechanic is accompanied by one, and if the GM wants to use it, they check it off. Unchecked boxes are ignored and if whole pages are unchecked, they can simply be removed from the rules entirely. I haven’t given a close look to the binder version of HarnMaster 3E (1996), so I don’t know if this is a something the entire ruleset employs, but it strikes me as a very clever and usable way to present a system that can scale to the desired complexity of the players.

The downside of the magic system is that while the spells are novel, interesting and useful, they are all named using in-world logic. I think Dream of Galega (which evokes a powerful healing coma) is a more interesting and evocative name than “Heal,” but on a mechanical level I prefer the latter as I know what it does without having to memorize or refer to the text. Boring though that may be. But that kind of balance between the fiction and utility is a challenge something like Harn is always going to face.

Eric Hotz on the art throughout. I like the cover a lot. It’s very cheeky.