Adept Play
Adept Play
Tag: Harnmaster
(alternate titles Hârnmaster, HârnMaster) A fantasy game by N. Robin Crossby, first published by Columbia Games in 1986.
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Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts
Looking across quite a lot of current play and preparation, I realized I’m riddled with cult members throughout all of it. Like fleas, or maybe less mentionable little skin critters: lookit alla them creeping and crawling around in there! I doubt we need to slog through any breakdown of the concept. Bluntly, it’s a lazy…
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One bad harvest
We’re finally playing Harnmaster for the long game, with four sessions so far. You can see my slow and deliberate prior uptake in Dialing down the fantasy and Grit and focus. If you’re not familiar with it (people seem to be 100% or 0% with hardly anyone in-between), Harn is a set of isles at…
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Why things are the way they are
Mark Wallace contacted me for conversation about role-playing mechanics and emotions or the resulting content, among many other people. He’s written and published a lot about creative developments just outside or underneath the acknowledged media; see The Mark Wallace Experience for examples and enjoyment. He began the conversation with a bigger, relevant question: why role-playing…
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Grit and focus
At the Happening, I was determined to play a little bit of Harnmaster and Dangerous Journeys, both of which I’ve been poking at for many years. David brought Boot Hill too, and as it happened, the three make a nice set for discussion. Also, we were intrigued enough to play a second session of Harnmaster,…
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Närcon 2023
I’ve attended the third and last of the primary Swedish conventions for me this year, excluding the big one, Nordsken, which I might consider next year. Närcon is not specifically about games as such, being, simply, all about the fun, emphasizing cosplay and music. Spelens Hus Norrköping has an ongoing presence there, recently under review…
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Dialing down the fantasy
I’m a polyfantasist: any degree of fantastic content and any degree of naturalism are both fun. For the moment, I’m focusing on one historical cluster of play-and-design: variously called hedge fantasy, mud-and-shit fantasy, “iron” fantasy, sometimes overlapping with historical fantasy, with games that sought it through the lens of deep culture and realism. It’s played…
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Finding D&D 4: Essentially
Finding D&D, part 4! This one is scaring me. Remember how I warned that the one about fundamentalism and the OSR wouldn’t be insulting? I fear this one can’t say the same, and even if it doesn’t go too far, I know it’s going to gore a lot of oxen. One point I develop in…