Njals Saga is one of the best. You could lift entire scenarios from it. One of my favorites describes a pirate hunting expedition where they encounter a magical mist.

I saw on Amazon.com this week that the English translation of the third volume of Jan Guillou's Crusader trilogy, Birth of the Kingdom, will be reprinted (poss. 1st US printing, with cover art from the movie version) next week (28 June 2011). (Here's a link to it: http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Kingdom-Thr ... 818&sr=8-1 .) Of course, viewers of the movie version will more-or-less already have the gist of the plot, but it will be nice to finally get my hands on a copy of the book, too. (If I get enthused enough about this author, I believe there was also a related book where Arn's son or grandson turns out to be the founder of the city of Stockholm -- not sure if that's available in English translation. I could always dust off my rusty university-learned Swedish and try reading some of Guillou's books in the original language. )

I finally bought a copy of Guillou's Birth of the Kingdom through Barnes & Noble (their brick & mortar/high street stores didn't have it on hand, but a clerk at one of the stores ordered it from their website for me with free shipping). Now, of course, I'll have to find a copy of the "next generation" sequel, about Birger Jarl founding the city of Stockholm (preferably in English, but I could manage the Swedish if I had to).

This might be interesting for some P-Harn Courts for noble and gentry flavor.

A link to the University of Oregon Book of The Courtier PDF written between 1508 and 1528 describing a perfect courtier by Castiglione 252 pages.

https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/ ... sequence=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Courtier

The book is organized as a series of fictional conversations that occur between the courtiers of the Duke of Urbino in 1507 (when Baldassare was in fact part of the Duke's Court). In the book, the courtier is described as having a cool mind, a good voice (with beautiful, elegant and brave words) along with proper bearing and gestures. At the same time though, the courtier is expected to have a warrior spirit, to be athletic, and have good knowledge of the humanities, Classics and fine arts. Over the course of four evenings, members of the court try to describe the perfect gentleman of the court. In the process they debate the nature of nobility, humor, women, and love.

Yes, an excellent resource. More Renaissance than medieval, but still well worth reading for inspiration and ideas.

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-- Jim Chokey

"Argent, chief embattled tenne. A coney of the field and crossed carrots proper"

looks like nobody mentioned this one to date, so I'll do that job:

Rosemary Sutcliff: The Eagle of the Ninth

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"The purpose of the game is to entertain the players and the GM. The rest is just semantics."
-by Munin from the forum-

I love that series, and have read several of those books to my kids. However, the sequels set in later periods are probably closer to Harn itself (Saxon invasion, Arthur, the Vikings). "The Eagle of the Ninth" feels more like an Azeryani Legion in a border province which will be lost to the Empire in later generations (probably sooner rather than later).

Robert Low - Raubzug (Die Eingeschworenen, Band 1)
I'm just reading the book now and it is definetly Krazma's Forge the crew is entering in chapter 7:
- the widening pit of skulls (sinkhole) and the water on the ground
- the chimney ending above the forge, the ladder upwards
- the anvil with its deep cleft of a magic sword
- Markar's (Regin's) quarter and all the furnishings and equipment, even the skeleton in the bed

He must know 100 bushels of rye.

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everybodyTHINKShimselfSOwellSUPPLIEDwithCOMMONsenseTHATevenTHOSEmostDIFFICULTto PLEASEneverDESIREmoreOFitTHANtheyALREADYhave. RENEdescartes.

I'm reading the second one ("The Lantern Bearers") right now and am really digging it.

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-- Jim Chokey

"Argent, chief embattled tenne. A coney of the field and crossed carrots proper"

I've been (slowly) working my way through Eiriksdottir by Joan Clark, about the Vinland expedition led by Freydis Eiriksdottir (Leif Eriksson's sister). It presents the experience mostly from her perspective, and thus is a relatively sympathetic portrayal -- but she's still not a very nice person. (Think Ivinians settling wilderness/tribal areas W of Orbaal.)

I am greatly enjoying Martin Conisby's Vengeance by Jeffery Farnol. It is old enough to be free on the kindle
The settings and disloyal would be inspirational to any Harniac GM. NOTE that should be dialog not disloyal - blasted Aneroid autocomplete!
NOTE that should be Android not Aneroid. QED

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Heroes should be uncommon. They just happen to be the PCs.

Yahh, Johns back!!!

In a very limited capacity!

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Heroes should be uncommon. They just happen to be the PCs.

Better than nothing!
"I thought I'd got away, but then they just sucked me back in"

Currently reading: "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. Very great book, amazing story. One of the best reads I had in ages concerning Fantasy.
What's the link to Harn for me?
The way magic works and how magic users behave. The introduction of the arcanist Abenthy is a good example for what I mean. He is using his abilities only as a last resort and with at least some subtlety, as if not to break the Code of the Shek-pvar.

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"The purpose of the game is to entertain the players and the GM. The rest is just semantics."
-by Munin from the forum-

Just finished that one a few weeks ago, and am planning on ordering his next book in the series.

Personally, I thought Rothfuss' depiction of magic was a little too "scientific" especially in the later chapters, but still an interesting take on the place and role of magic-users in a fantasy setting.

The accumulation of skills over time by the main characters also mirrors a Harn-style approach. No one has a "class" or an archetype to follow; instead they are collections of skills and experience which presents a much more realistic view of the way people develop personalities.

It's one of those stories in which you can tell there is a lot more history and backstory in the author's mind than there is on the page. Hopefully, he expands on the setting in later volumes.

PaladinSix

I am enjoying A Shepherd's Life, Impressions of the Wouth Wiltshire Downs http://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Impressions-South-Wiltshire-ebook/dp/B0084AV11U/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1343322315&sr=1-9.
This is not a rollicking adventure story like Black Bartlemy's Treasure (I wrote about a few months ago). It is an example of the turn-of-the-last-century travel literature that frustrated city-dwellers craved as a gateway to a more peaceful time. It is mostly just well-written observations of life in very rural, not-yet industrialized England, wool country far from the smokestacks of London.
Typical characters we meet are old Isaac Bawcombe the shepherd and his trusty dog Watch, and Old Nance the rook-scarer. These characters do not get into scrapes and find treasures (although there is one guy who goes about digging up the old barrows expecting to find treasure). It's just observations.
It is most like if your old friend Will had just returned from abroad, and he is talking over a pint about how people live there.
This would be good reading for GMs planning to set a campaign in Vemionshire (or anywhere in Kaldor) or in Kanday. After reading through some chapters of this book (free on the Kindle) you can more convincingly depict the wool-country for your players, and have enough of a feel for it to react realistically when the players go off the script.

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Heroes should be uncommon. They just happen to be the PCs.

Just got a copy of A Feast of Ice & Fire: The Official Companion Cookbook, and recently also read The Unofficial Game of Thrones Cookbook. Both are essentially collections of modern redactions of medieval recipes, which because of the "Game of Thrones" connection will doubtless introduce a much broader audience to medieval cookery. The Unofficial Game of Thrones Cookbook is the less expensive of the two, and features an extensive section in the back for home brewers attempting to reproduce the alcoholic beverages described in George R.R. Martin's series. A Feast of Ice & Fire includes the text of the period (ancient Roman and medieval English, French & German) recipes being reproduced, a very close reproduction of the original recipe, and (often) a looser modern adaptation, with gorgeous color photographs of the finished dishes. Both books quote relevant passages from the "Game of Thrones" series describing the dishes reproduced in the recipes. Both should be widely available from the bookseller of your choice (f.ex. Amazon.com & other countries' versions of Amazon).

He deserves a fanon write-up simply based on his (her?) name, immediately. Someone - fill that gap!

Old Nonce the child-scarer would deserve a very different treatment ... more Parachshire than Vemionshire, John.

Some interesting Kindle Freebies on Amazon and possibly a few ideas for a campaign with the holidays approaching and possible a little more free time. If you can post on the boards you can get the Kindle program without needing a Kindle:

Curious Myths of The Middle Ages by S Baring-Gold http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Myths-Mid ... B0052GDSL0

Household Tales of The Brother Grimm [1,800s but they were academic scholars who collected folklore (5 Limit hyper link)]

Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1,830s)

http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Demonolog ... witchcraft

Pagan and Christian Creeds

http://www.amazon.com/Pagan-Christian-c ... ian+creeds

For Ivinia:

http://www.amazon.com/Viking-Tales-eboo ... king+tales

http://www.amazon.com/Children-Odin-Nor ... king+tales

I was about to reiterate this recommendation in a separate thread, when I ran across it here. It is one of the best novels I have read in a very long time and ranks among the very best with middle age themes, I believe. It tells the story of bastard rising to become king. It mixes real world geographical and historical elements, thereby giving the story references that make it larger than a "self-contained" fantasy tale can. The soft magic even a Harniac that rejects Shek P'var can tolerate.

I agree with Stino, that it outruns "The Name of the Rose". It is truly unfortunate that a full english translation does not exist. Wikipedia claims, a spanish version exists as "Los hijos de las tinieblas. Una fábula de las edades oscuras". (I would also rather translate the title to english "Children of Darkness" - but neither will find you anything on the internet. Only Goth and Metal stuff.) I found the title misleading after the first couple of chapters but quite fitting in hindsight.

Mark Twain's Roughing It chapter 10 introduces an excellent lawman/villain/company man named Slade. He's ruthlessly efficient at "restoring order" and recovering company property. Twain encounters him on the outbound leg of his trip in Roughing It, one of his first books, en route to Carson City, Nevada, where hos brother has been appointed governor or somesuch.
The value to the GM is the way Twain describes this guy's career as a clever, resourceful, cold-blooded killer who happens to be of value to his employer, a stage coach company in the Wild West. He would be equally as believable as a sheriff in Rethem or maybe Vemionshire or northern Melderyn. He'd make a fascinating patron for PCs until they realize he's an utter psychopath.
(miss you all, etc, etc)

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Heroes should be uncommon. They just happen to be the PCs.

Oh, yes, I agree completely. And the followup trilogy with the Fool is superb. Many questions are answered in that one.

Personally, I am surprised that Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels have not been mentioned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deryni

Gwynedd shares much in common with Harn: a pseudo-British setting, religious fervor, low magic (really focused psychic powers), "realistic" deaths (i.e., no super heroes), etc. Personally, I prefer the first six books (chronological, not published, order): Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, Camber the Heretic, The Harrowing of Gwynedd, King Javan's Year, and The Bastard Prince. The later books dealing with Kelson are more....roamantic in tone is the adjective I'm looking for.

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Q: GM, what is good?
A: To crush the PCs, see their character sheets pile before you, and hear the lamentation of their players.

I know its probably "low culture," but I'm reading - and loving - the Northlanders comic series in graphic novel format right now.

Great stuff.

I got the first 8 or issues of Northlanders, but then dropped out of comic reading entirely. It's one of the few that I miss.