"Iversen Manor" is location article for Columbia Games Harn generic fantasy role-playing setting, written by J. Patrick McDonald.
For those not familiar with the setting, Harn is a Madagascar sized island, loosely based on 11th/12th century Britain. It is a place of mystery and strange happenings, on the island are nine states, seven human (Chybisa, Kaldor, Kanday, Melderyn, Orbaal, Rethem & Tharda) and two non-human (Azadmere & Evael).
The article is available from www.lythia.com, as a free 2.60MB ZIP file containing a GM map, a player map and the article itself in the form of a 9 page, 1.53MB PDF file.
HARNWORLD: IVERSEN MANOR, OVERVIEW.
The article details a manor in the eastern Harnic kingdom of Kaldor, a realm on the brink of civil war, as the aging king continues to refuse to name an heir. The manor is not ruled by a secular lord but by the Church of Larani, a goddess devoted to chivalry and the arts of the paladin (A rough equivalent would be D20s Heironeous.). It is located in a close to the base of one claimant to the throne of Kaldor, a man who has publicly declared his desire to subordinate the Church to his will...
The first page of the article covers the historical and economic background to the village. Pages two and three contain the map keys, landscape features are designated with letters (A to G), while village residents are indicated by a numbered list (1 to 23). The fourth page covers the manor, its inhabitants and a local legend about an ogre in the local woods.
Following the manor/village information is a campaign outline called "All the Kings Men", it sees the PCs hired to deal with a local bandit, 'Tellin the Red', a mysterious figure who has killed two Church Knights and possibly the local Miller.
The final two pages consist of a village census and budget.
HARNWORLD: IVERSEN MANOR, COMMENTS.
This fan article is one of the earliest HarnWorld PDF articles I know of (Copyright 2000) and has some differences with later fan articles. Unlike the later articles the illustrator is Columbia Games regular Eric Hotz, who supplies both the cover picture, which shows a carving of a charging knight, and three other pictures, two of buildings and a picture of one of the knights killed by Tellin the Red.
The villager descriptions are somewhat variable, some simply give a name and number of children, and others such as the entry covering the village woodcrafter give a good idea of the individual's personality and background. However enough information is provided to allow the GM to create a living community with events occurring independent of the PCs actions.
One surprise about the article is that no interior map is provided of the manor house, this is a minus, as one possible entry for PCs is as Knights of Larani sent to Iversen as replacements for the men killed and interior maps would be a definite help in conveying the appearance of the manor to the players. The information on the manor inhabitants however, is excellent, with the GM being provided with several possible hooks for adventures beyond the main scenario outlined the pages following.
The campaign outline is brief and will require some work by a GM to set up, however all the information they will need is there, the who, the how and most importantly the true motivation of Tellin the Red.
As with all HarnFan articles 'Iversen Manor' is stat free and could be easily adapted to any fantasy role-playing system.
HARNWORLD: IVERSEN MANOR, VERDICT.
This well presented article provides a solid background to the village of Iversen, with enough room left free to allow the GM to improvise. The main adventure provided while requiring work from the GM is an exciting one and can lead the players into a campaign based upon political intrigue rather than mere combat. In short, I recommend downloading the article, even if you do not use all the material contained within.
