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".
ENCYCLOPEDIA HARNICA: 9, OVERVIEW.
Behind its yellow cover the ninth issue of 'Encyclopedia Harnica' has three articles all focused on the portion of Harn that lies between the kingdoms of Melderyn, Chybisa, Kaldor and Evael.
Bejist (8 pages): Issue Nines' site article covers a location near the south coast of Harn that has been occupied by several different groups over the years, first the Earthmasters, then the Elven/Dwarvish Condominium and most recently, renegade followers of Naveh, the Assassin God. They have established a temple/farm here and, driven by an obscure prophecy search the ruins of the Elven settlement, seeking a demon imprisoned there during the long ago days when Elf and Dwarf were friends.
The article provides a general overview of the site and specific details on three structures, the Navehan temple/farm, the domed housing of the Earthmasters Godstone (dimensional gate) and an interdimensional prison tower which contains the most deeply held secret of the Kingdom of Evael. It concludes with advice on how a GM bring their players to this deadly location, included is one specific hook, a rare text entitled, "The Scroll of Taurin Halfhand". This is the prophetic text that bought the renegade priests to the site and inspires their activities.
The Bejist article has been reprinted twice, as part of the 1st Edition "Kingdom of Chybisa" module and later as part of the 'HarnD20' module, "Evael: Kingdom of the Elves".
Herblore (4 pages): This article covers 25 Harnic plants that can be used to produce medicines, narcotics and poisons. The article begins with a color plate showing the 25 plants following this are some short notes on how to use the article. The plant descriptions that follow use the following format:
Name (effect)/ Habitat and ease with which it can be found/ How to make the drug from the plant/ Effects/ Notes on use, restrictions, antidotes, etc.
While no specific adventure hooks are provided with this article, simply reading the descriptions of the plants should provide a GM with plenty of ideas.
This article also formed part of the 1st Edition "Kingdom of Chybisa" module and has never been reprinted since.
The Pagaelin (4 pages): The final article in "Encyclopedia Harnica: 9", deals with one of the 'barbarian' nations of Harn. The Paegelin nomads are a brutal and untrustworthy race, and unsurprisingly their only 'allies' are Gargun (Harnic Orcs). Their disorganization means that they are little threat to the surrounding civilized nations, however that is slowly changing as the priests from Bejist slowly infiltrate the Pagaelin tribal hierarchy and religion, through the means of drugs and judicious assassination.
The Pagaelin article was reprinted along with the articles above in the 1st Edition "Kingdom of Chybisa" module, subsequently it was used as part of the "HarnMaster Barbarians" rule expansion.
ENCYCLOPEDIA HARNICA: 9, COMMENTS.
The first thing I noticed after I had finished reading the magazine was how the renegade priests of Naveh link the articles. Bejist describes their base, the Pagaelin are a disorganized race that the priests are forging into a dangerous weapon with the aid of the drugs and poisons described in the 'Herblore' article.
Taken together the articles provide the GM with a wealth of adventure hooks and ideas some of which could lead to quite lengthy campaigns. For example, in the 'Herblore' is the description of a poison which does not kill unless the victim stops taking it. There is an antidote, but the plant needed to produce the antidote is rare, and can only be found in one place, Setha Heath. In the southern reaches of Setha Heath, are Bejist and its inhabitants. Inhabitants who will stop at nothing to ensure that their activities are not discovered.
The maps provided in the Bejist article are up to Columbia Games usual high standard; the accompanying captions are comprehensive and contain everything a GM needs to create an adventure around the site. Only two things stand between this article and perfection in my view, firstly it would have been nice to have a map of the tunnels dug by the priests in their quest to free the imprisoned demon. Secondly it is clear from the published map that the fields attached to the Temple complex extend to the northwest of the map border, it might have been better had Columbia used a folding map so as to include the entirety of these fields and the surrounding terrain, rather than the one page map used.
The Herblore article is very good, the plants created have a good range of effects and availabilities and as noted earlier the descriptions will inspire any number of adventures, the only surprise I had was with plant 21, this is an ordeal drug used by several of the barbarian nations of Harn, it is clearly based on the noxious plant featured in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's, "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot".
The Pagaelin article is missing only one item to make it complete, no real information is provided on just what the priests plan to do once they have control of the tribesmen.
ENCYCLOPEDIA HARNICA: 9, CONCLUSION.
In conclusion, despite being out of print for some 19 years, this is one item that I would recommend that GMs try and track down; the effort will be well rewarded.
