HARN ENCOUNTERS, OVERVIEW.

"Harn Encounters" is a collection of 101 adventure outlines written by fans of the Kethira role-playing setting created by Columbia Games. It is a 78-page 'Encyclopedia Harnica' style article in the form of a 664kb PDF file that is available for download from www.lythia.com . After a short introduction that explains the purpose of the article, the adventure outlines begin, first adventure outline is an encounter with the Kethiran equivalent of the Flying Dutchman and last is a spoof scenario in which the PCs encounter a RPG designer who got lost on his way to Jamaica. The last page lists the people who contributed to the work.

The adventure outlines are grouped based on what region they occur in (Coastal, Highway, River, Rural, Urban & Wilderness). Each outline consists of a background paragraph that explains the situation, and a series of numbered bullet points. These bullet points cover how to handle the various PC reactions to the situation, as well as the consequences of the player actions. All outlines have been written without statistics or specific locations making them truly generic.

HARN ENCOUNTERS, COMMENTS.

The appearance of the collection is very professional and compares well with Columbia's official Kethira/Harn material. Text is clear and easy to read and there are a number of black and white illustrations scattered throughout the article.

The length of the adventures that result from the outlines vary, some, like the 'Flying Dutchman' scenario would probably last two or three nights, while others such as an urban based scenario in which the PCs are asked to rescue manuscripts from a burning building would probably not take more than an hour to play through.

One thing I like about the outlines is that they emphasize role-playing over dice rolling/combat, for example in the outline, "Witch's Itch..." the PCs may become involved in saving a local physician/herbalist from being burned as a witch after a number of villagers suffer from a 'curse' that causes a painful rash. If the PCs investigate they will find that the rash was actually caused by a poison ivy like moss that the herbalist accidentally collected while looking for ingredients. The lord of the manor has decided to give the herbalist a 'trial' before burning her. The 'trial' is the only opportunity the PCs have to convince the lord to free the herbalist. Success can only be attained if the PCs present the information to the lord in a respectful manner, failure to do so could not only result in the death of an innocent, but also the PCs could find themselves in the lords dungeon awaiting execution.

Something that some GMs may disagree with, but I like is the fact that most of the rewards for the outlines are oriented towards NPC contacts rather than large amounts of treasure. This enables the GM to use the outline to add flavor to a particular area or settlement. As an example one adventure finds the PCs helping a bard who was imprisoned after singing a bawdy song in the presence the lord of the manor, if the PCs manage to save him from punishment, then he will become the PCs friend and can be used as a recurring character/contact every time the players return to the area. Other outlines offer the PCs chances to gain contacts with merchants, priests and nobles.

A clever thing about many of the outlines is that the events within can simply be used as background events unless the PCs specifically decide to become involved, though even as background events there may be consequences that could effect the PCs later on.

The black and white illustrations that accompany the outlines have a delightful storybook quality to them and several go particularly well with the outlines, especially the ones on pages 8 & 39. However this is not the case with all of the illustrations and this is I feel the collections only real flaw.

Finally, the generic nature of the material means that the outlines are suitable for all fantasy role-playing settings, not just Kethira.

In conclusion I wholeheartedly recommend this material to interested GMs, it is well written and presented. Even if the GM does not use the material in exactly as written it will doubtless spark off ideas of their own.

HARN ENCOUNTERS, VERDICT.

"Harn Encounters", is a professional and well-written product that deserves to be on every GMs hard drive.