Setting Spotlight: Harn

I enjoy a good setting, and can see the appeal in making systemless settings designed to be plugged into most tabletop RPGs. I eventually designed my own, but it was a long journey with plenty of research along the way. During my research, I wanted to check out other systemless settings to see what was on the market and what other companies were doing right. The most popular and well-respected product that I found was Harn; a fantasy setting focusing on one body of land, with a strong Medeival European vibe with elves and dwarves. However, the thing that makes Harn stand out is the amount of detail and attention the folks at Columbia Games Inc. give to the world. It all feels alive and vibrant, making the land feel real despite its fantastical roots.

For me, the main pull of Harn is just how much open wilderness there is, with plenty of space for adventure while still filling in very real and interesting cultures. Personally I like my worlds to be open-ended and give a solid amount of wiggle-room for me to GM to my heart's content. At times, Harn can feel a little too detail oriented for me. That being said, I recognize that this is a style difference and there are many GMs out there that will love how much content there is for this setting. My sandbox GM mindset still went crazy for the fact that the world is open-ended enough that you can run many different kinds of fantasy games in it. Want to run a campaign focusing on knights and royalty in a political environment? Done. Want to run a campaign with plenty of barbarians and visceral danger? Easy! That balance of freedom and detail is incredibly hard to achieve.

The layout of Harn products is fairly simple and has an old school feel to it, which is perfect for the feel they are going for. There's enough content for Harn that if one were to first approach it, all of the supplements and documents can be overwhelming. Harnworld Master Module 3rd Edition is a good place to start, packing in a lot of material for only 60 pages. The price point is a little steep, costing $27.98 at the time of writing this.

However, Columbia Games also offers a fantastic free supplement detailing Kaldor, a kingdom in Harn. It clocks in at 60 pages with a wealth of material which can be found here. Downloading this should also put you on Columbia's email list, and they are constantly sending out offers. I was able to purchase the Master Module for $4.99 from a promotion, an absolute steal in my opinion.