How do I explain this? OK, so, when Harn first came out, it was an exercise in creating a detailed, rules-free campaign setting. The first product was called Harn Master Module (1983) or the Harn Regional Module (1983) depending on whether it came in a box or a folio folder, and it consisted of two booklets, “HarnView” is an overview of the geography and cultures of Harn while “HarnDex” is a sort of dictionary of more fine-grained Harn information. Later on, creator N. Robin Crossby created a system for Harn, called HarnMaster (1986). It’s pretty complex, probably sitting somewhere between RuneQuest and Rolemaster on the spectrum. With the advent of HarnMaster, the generic material was rebranded as HarnWorld (1990) and came in a number of different formats. Still later, the generic material was revised again with players in mind. Thus: HarnPlayer: A Player’s Guide to HarnWorld (1994).

This takes the HarnView and HarnDex material (in entirety, I think) and adds a deeply informative Common Knowledge section (I am not sure if this section is original to Player, as there are a confusing number of configurations of the stuff put out by Columbia, but I think it is). That section is very noteworthy. It’s a collection of legends and songs and historical sketches and it does an excellent job of quickening the static world information into something living and breathing. I’ve been a fan of Harn for a while, but I never really looked at this book as anything more than an afterthought, but when I finally dug in, I was surprised at how essential these 20ish pages now feel.

Worth noting that I own this book for the same reason I initially dismissed it: because the cover (as ever, by Eric Hotz) delights me. It is somehow a perfect distillation of the Harn experience. But because it was cartoonish, well, I judged the book by its cover and never really looked beyond it. Silly me.