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I suppose I should introduce myself, since I have been lurking around every Harn-related site now for about the last decade.
I used to think there were 2 kinds of people that played rpg's: gm's and players. A number of years ago, when Kerry Mould first arrived in Ottawa and got into one of my games, I learned that I was wrong - there are 3 kinds of people that play rpg's: gm's, players, and writers. To be honest, Kerry didn't like what I was doing as a storyline involving the succession crisis in Kaldor, and from the materials I read later on, I found out that one of the reasons was because of his writing contributions involving Kaldor. On good terms (I hope), we then decided that his style involving gaming and mine were somewhat different, and dissolved the game that we had started.
That was how I learned about the wide world of Harniacs on the net, and began to collect what I could use, and left what didn't agree with my way of gm'ing.
Anyway, more about myself. I've been gm'ing rpg's for the last 27 (almost 28) years now, and I have discovered that my all-time preferred system is Harnmaster, and my favorite setting, naturally, is Harn. That is from among the many other game systems I have run, from the nostalgic AD&D, to everything of White Wolf's Old World of Darkness, to FASA's Star Trek RPG, to many, many more... I am a devoted "systems freak" gm - mix, match, tweak, fill in, and edit out to make the system reflect perfectly the kind of game I am attempting to run; with Harnmaster, I rely mainly on 1st ed, but "season" it with 2nd and 3rd revision parts that I feel actually needed. I have not managed to get my hands on HM Gold, mainly due to finances, although from conversations I have had, even with Robin himself prior to his death, I have the impression that what I run is very close to Gold through the house rule changes I made.
These days, it is unusual if I am not running at least one Harnic campaign every year. My usual playing group is small, and occasionally someone seeks out the intensity of a one-on-one campaign to boot. I have to admit that I am not very "loyal" to the Harnic canon, nor fanon, in the design of my storylines, namely since I see all those materials as the resources I have at my disposal. In the end, everything could be recognized by those familiar with the game an setting, but it will be different enough to keep you on your toes. To be fair, I usually do my changes so to NOT try to retroactively change anything prior to the 720 TR generic start date. One thing I will change, or as I like to refer to it, "work around", is anything involving heavily detailed write-ups on the personalities and current motives and intentions of various nobility and rulers - to be blunt, I feel the information that has been made available about this through fanon/canon works is effectively choking regarding gm creativity. I much prefer the short, vague, and tantalizing statements involved in the original Harnic products, rather than the new detailed material. (Same could be said for settings, I suppose, as well.)
I am a dedicated gm. I am not a writer. To be honest, I make a rather poor player (those gm'ing tendencies just come out too much), although I can be a decent helper and advisor to anyone else gm'ing a game. My style is to go from the general and universal down to the specific and immediate, and by doing so to make available layers of intrigue that can be unlocked by players as they pretty much do as they wish, with the understanding that I will rigidly enforce what are best called natural and logical consequences for their actions. I am particularly fond of the notion of starting with the "you are a journeyman (whatever), now what do you do?", then see what the player decides to take initiative about. To help this, I am also very much into extreme detail in character backgrounds, family relations status, etc. Like everyone else involving Harn, I have a vision of how I perceive the world and the supporting game system to work "right", and I do my best to also make it brutally fair.
I suppose I shouldn't go on much more, or I will start to ramble. Anyone in the Ottawa area that is interested in the kind of HM games I run is welcome to contact me, especially if there is a desire to play. Also, if anyone would like to know more about anything about me, or would like to seek some kind of advice from me, is also more than welcome to contact me. I try not to bite... often.
-Andrew
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