Pax Tharda! 05/23/2000
Patrick Nilsson has just updated his Swords and Shields's web page and it's inspired me to re-tinker with my own site. I'll not promise weekly updates (as he has done), but I will update this site more often than every other month. I've been asked by several people (well, three actually) to write a regular review/opinion column about role-playing in general and Hârn in particular. For those wanting more about me - check out Ketherian's WebSpace.
Every other weekend, we gather around my square kitchen table and play the Legion campaign. Most of the content in this site comes from that one particular game. I use some very modified rules and give a different slant on the information provided by the various source books and rule books. The modifications I use in my game are presented here in the rules and society sections of this website. Everything else in the game comes from HârnMaster I (HMI).
Game Masters (GM) since the title's inception has created their own world in which their fantasy games can be played. Most of the GMs of my acquaintance all have 3" black binders full of information on the various races, cultures, religions and such like. After a while it all starts to sound a bit the same. No offence intended to anyone by this, but just how many times can you do elves, dwarves and halflings and not have it appear to be a rewrite of Tolken; or as my Significant Other (SO) calls it - "Bored of the Rings". Hârn, in that regard, presents nothing new. It has elves (Sindarin), dwarves (Khuzdul) and orcs (Gargun) - but no halflings. The game was written from a human-centric point of view, which makes it a little bit easier to run, if not to play.
Hârn differs from other role playing worlds through its politics, cultural depth and detail. The source books provide a strong background over which any GM can lay their preferences. Most GMs of Hârn perfer the evil kingdom of Rethem and its upcomming civil war, or the kingdom of Kaldor and its succession crisis. Of the seven human kingdoms (the republic included) there are several web pages on each of the other kingdoms (Orbaal, Kaldor, Chybisa, Melderyn, Kanday, Rethem) - but no other that I know of on Tharda.
I chose the Thardic Republic for my setting because I found it intriguing. The Republic differs greatly from the surrounding kingdoms in that - it's not a kingdom. It doesn't have a knighted class and its land owners are more like master merchants than feudal nobles. It has the largest standing army on the island of Hârn, a senate (consider it's government to be an oligarchy) and some rather unique views in regards to nobility (called equestrianship), inhertiance, money and religion. In my campaign world women and men are treated equally. There are no "women's roles" nor "men's roles" in society. Inheritance is a matter of birth order (or personal preference) and not always sex. Yes, there is sexism even in my role-playing world, but it is not dominant - and when it does rear it's ugly head it is considered inappropriate and...well...ugly. I'll save the topic of "is chivary sexist" (which I don't believe it is) for another column.
Unfortunately most folk seem to take the Thardic Republic as a common enemy - an expansionistic empire about to explode into one of its neighbors and begin a war its enemies could not afford to loose. While this is mostly true (it's a republic, not an empire) it is still a good setting for a campaign. Tharda is a corrupt, money-centric republic that believes its people to be honest, forthright and true. Bribery is not a sin, it's a way of life.
Poor Tharda, so misunderstood. I'm not saying they're peace-loving neighbours and that the surrounding kingdom's shouldn't worry about future invasion possibilities (the name of this column is Pax Tharda after all); but hopefully through this web site various GMs will realize the plot possibilities such a unique enemy provides.
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