Couple things you should know about the form Harn takes, both physically and organizationally. From the start, pretty much, Harn books were arranged into sections that were individually numbered. Basically, you could cut the spines off and arrange the sections alphabetically to create a massive Harn encyclopedia. In the post-HarnMaster era, Columbia started publishing much (but not all) Harn material on heavy stock loose leaf. These…I love them. I love office supplies and binders and color coding and the Harn loose leaf inspires a powerful urge in me to file. But at the same time, there is a high level of chaos in the line from the ’90s on, and I suspect that it is folly to believe filing all the loose leaf would be satisfying or comprehensive. And then what would I do with all the covers and boxes?

Anyway, this is Inns of Harn (2008), a wonderful pile of loose leaf in a folder. Don’t let the shoddy PhotoShop silhouetting the cover turn you away! Inside, the art is great (all by Richard Luschek, who took over art duties for the line from Eric Hotz in the late ‘90s), the floorplans detailed and the layout crisp. Five inns are detailed without any mechanics — a dangerous local dive, a riverside inn, a pilgrim’s respite, a high class haunt and a caravanserai. Each boasts information that makes them easy to use in play and provides a wealth of opportunities for diversion — detailed maps, profiles of staff and possible clientèle, adventure seeds, food for sale and so on. Just enough for them to come alive, not so much that it takes any effort to use them. Perfect little things. I swear, modular stuff like this is so useful and entertaining when done well, I don’t understand why there isn’t more of it laying around the hobby.