As with all of the 'Harn' material the magazines were divided into independently numbered articles, which were supposed to be removed and placed in a 3-ring binder to form the "Encyclopedia Harnica".
I have recently come into possession of some issues of the magazine and will be reviewing them over the next few weeks.
ENCYCLOPEDIA HARNICA: 2, OVERVIEW.
The front cover is plain grey, with part of the Anisha map displayed above a listing of the contents.
Following a short introduction are two articles and a map with an accompanying data table.
The first article deals with Anisha a mysterious ruin located in the mountains of Harn. It covers the history and present day status of the site, a series of maps showing the site and its most important structures and provides several adventure hooks to lure PCs there, while leaving the details of what they find up to the GM. The article was subsequently reprinted as part of the Kaldor Kingdom book.
The second article covers how the law works on Harn, it was subsequently reprinted both the 'Chybisa' Kingdom Book (1.5Ed), and HarnPlayer.
(See: http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_7626.html for a review of the Chybisa Kingdom Book.)
The final item in the magazine is a map showing the region around Tashal, capital of the Harnic Kingdom of Kaldor, accompanying it is a two page table containing basic information (Name, ruler, population, etc) on every settlement shown on the map.
ENCYCLOPEDIA HARNICA: 2, COMMENTS.
The magazine was intended to provide information that a GM could expand and it does succeed in that. However there are some problems, the Anisha article is weakened because it focuses almost exclusively upon the ruins themselves while providing minimal information on the nearby village of Haruch, a village whose inhabitants believe that their ancestors served the sites godlike builders and tend the site awaiting their return.
The second article is a wonderful overview of how the law worked in mediaeval societies and is a good look at a subject that is often glossed over in other RPG material.
The weakest part of the magazine is the Kaldor information, the map is clear and easy to read, but no way was provided for the GM to convert the information on the table into a working settlement. The necessary rules eventually appeared in Issue Three of Encyclopedia Harnica, but it represents a rare example of Columbia Games 'dropping the ball' as the information should have appeared in Issue One.
ENCYCLOPEDIA HARNICA: 2, CONCLUSION.
Columbia Games regards the Harn line, as the Rolls-Royce of generic RPG settings and the Harnic Law article is of a high enough standard to merit that comparison, however it is dragged down by the accompanying material. I give it a four in terms of overall presentation but only a three for the content.
The next review in the series will cover the ninth issue of Encyclopedia Harnica.
