KINGDOM OF CHYBISA, OVERVIEW

"Kingdom of Chybisa" (Henceforth "Chybisa"), is a kingdom book designed for use with Columbia Games, 'Harn' generic fantasy setting. Appropriately since this book deals with the smallest of the Harnic states, this is also the shortest of the Harn Kingdom books containing 22 pages (not including maps) as opposed to 46 pages for the other kingdom books.

As with all of the 'Harn' material the book is divided into independently numbered articles, which were supposed to be removed and placed in a 3-ring binder to form the "Encyclopedia Harnica". In this book, the articles are:

Chybisa (6 pages): The history and organization of the Kingdom of Chybisa, a tiny state whose independence is threatened by her larger neighbors, both of whom have claims to Chybisa's throne.

Burzyn (10 pages): The capital of Chybisa, site of one of the more impressive castles on Harn and details of Castle Shobald, a ruined tower that was once the original royal seat of Chybisa.

Harnic Law (6 pages): An overview of how law works on the Island of Harn with information on penalties and regional variations.

KINGDOM OF CHYBISA, COMMENTS

The copy of "Chybisa" reviewed does not appear to have been the first version published, the Columbia Games 1987 catalog shows a book with a picture of Burzyn castle on the cover, this 'first edition' was also longer featuring articles on two ruined settlements (Telumar & Bejist) and Herb Lore as well as the material in this book.

This version of "Chybisa" has a picture of the Chybisan Royal Guard on the cover and contains only the three articles listed above. In my opinion, this revised edition represents a missed opportunity on the part of Columbia Games, aside from Burzyn and Geda (Featured in "Castles of Harn"); Chybisa has only two other castles and three other baronial settlements. If the articles removed from the first edition had been replaced with articles covering these places then Columbia could have produced a kingdom book that would have covered all or most of the major (in Chybisan terms) settlements of Chybisa.

A final objection I have, is in relation to the article on Harnic Law, while useful, this sort of material would have been better placed in the region book, rather than published in a kingdom book.

The maps accompanying the text are up to Columbia's usual standard and there is some interesting adventure hooks contained in the text, including the missing treasure of Chybisa's version of Robin Hood.

KINGDOM OF CHYBISA, VERDICT.

This volume does provide the GM with a decent overview of Chybisa and its capital, however I feel that more could have been done by Columbia Games.