The Chronicles of Counter Harn

[Vondy]

I have posted the first seventeen turns of my Counter-Harn campaign "Caer Nurel" on Curufea's site. I have also posted a page with brief character sketches (written, not drawn) of all of the characters who have appeared in the game to date. I will post future turns as they are completed, as well as resources which will include:

Articles on the game's divergent history, religion, theurgy based magic, etc.
Full character builds and write-ups for character's who merit them.
The House Rules I use for PBEM.
Anything else that tickles my fancy.

It can be found here:

http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=resources:counterharn

[Curufea]

Looks good!
And I'm not just saying that because I've ripped off large amounts of Harn material for my Western Shores campaign, either :)

[Vondy]

At the beginning of each turn I put "game-master comments." The player decided to go through and add his comments.

Update: player comments through turn sixteen.

[Eosin]

Much impressed. You captured a great flavor. I am through chapter 7 where it starts hopping.

[Vondy]

We completed and I added Turn 18 today.

Its fief maintenance. Not exciting, but it builds the characters and village.

Update: Added Turn 18.

[Vondy]

Much impressed. You captured a great flavor. I am through chapter 7 where it starts hopping.

Thanks! The action runs in ebbs and flows. We just came down from an action series and are now into a character series again. I'm trying to get us more firmly into the main plot now. The medium is slow going, but we're on a slow burn to a major bursting point :eg:

[Vondy]

Update: the kaldor (kingdom) timeline for counter-harn is now up.

Hopefully the general timeline will be up in the next few days.

[Eosin]

I want write-ups!!! Give me write-ups or give me death!

:nonp:

[Vondy]

I want write-ups!!! Give me write-ups or give me death!

:nonp:

They're coming! Our house rules for the PBEM format need to get polished and go up as well or they won't make a lot of sense. Because of the PBEM format we dropped speed and CVs and decided to go with DEX order and "combat skill rolls" for combats between major characters. The combat rolls are opposed (sword versus sword, sword versus shield, sword versus dodge, etc), and the greater margin wins. It means everyone has to have that information available, but it speeds things up greatly. For combats with goons and minions, however, we just write them out alternating a "few phases" at a time without rolls. As a result, I need to figure out what format I want to present them in and include some notes on how I would build them if I were running a table top game (with normal rules).

[Vondy]

Update: Baron Reinhardt Maddox's Character Write Up is on the Wiki.

http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=characters:baron_reinhardt_maddox

[Vondy]

Update: added Faranir of Tonot's write up.

http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=characters:faranir_of_tonot

[tkdguy]

Maybe I'm just being dense, but I don't understand why you're calling it Counter-Harn. Did I miss something?

Anyway, have you seen this link? It has some good stuff:

http://www.regia.org/main.htm

[Vondy]

The counter-earth shtick is a common pulp sci-fi trope in which the events happen on a planet sharing earth's orbit, but on the opposite side of the sun where no one can see it (which was all well and good before the advent of the space probe). My harn is very different than canonical harn, so I decided it was counter-harn. I could have just as easily called it counter-earth and used harnic place names, but it has other harnic elements as well, so its "counter-harn."

[tkdguy]

Got it. Thanks for clearing it up.

[Vondy]

Got it. Thanks for clearing it up.

Counter-Earth in Fiction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Earth

[Eosin]

Good reading. Keep us appraised of any updates.

[Mutant for Hire]

*manfully trying to avoid making any Gor jokes here*

[Vondy]

Which is good since I loathed the Gor novels with an abiding passion. The idea of a counter-earth comes from the pythagoreans, and has appeared in several science fiction stories (not just "its good to murder a man so you can rape his woman because she wants you to John Norman").

Did you read any of the logs?

[Curufea]

And here I thought Gor was about pot plants :)

[Mutant for Hire]

Which is good since I loathed the Gor novels with an abiding passion. The idea of a counter-earth comes from the pythagoreans, and has appeared in several science fiction stories (not just "its good to murder a man so you can rape his woman because she wants you to John Norman").

Did you read any of the logs?
Yes, I read the logs. This is called "humor" which occasionally surfaces on the boards.

[Vondy]

Yes, I read the logs. This is called "humor" which occasionally surfaces on the boards.

I understood the joke.

And since you read them, any thoughts?

[Vondy]

Update: Character Posted: Kamran Inthin

http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=characters:kamran_inthin

[Vondy]

Update: Character Posted: Countess Thilisa Maleken.

SPOILER WARNING: She hasn't appeared in the game yet and there is at least one potential secret on her sheet - so if you are reading the logs and don't want secrets revealed before their time then don't read her sheet. On the other hand, if you like thrillers more than mysteries... be my guest.

Note: I'm working on her spells, which I will post when finished. It'll be a few days.

http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=characters:countess_thilisa_maleken

[Mutant for Hire]

I understood the joke.

And since you read them, any thoughts?
Not my style of fantasy gaming, to be honest. I prefer my fantasty worlds a little more fantastic. I'm not really the medieval gaming type. The closest I get is Ars Magica. But it looks solid otherwise.

[Vondy]

Not my style of fantasy gaming, to be honest. I prefer my fantasty worlds a little more fantastic. I'm not really the medieval gaming type. The closest I get is Ars Magica. But it looks solid otherwise.

Fair enough. I do have some fantastic elements coming up, but I have a few more plot points I want to drop into place first. Part of my "simulationist" schtick is to make those elements really stand out when they appear, but this player has always been into more politics and social intrigue (no matter what the genre) than other aspects of the game. And the truth is, I'm more into mundane fantasy than the fantastic. I liked the idea behind ars magica, but truth be told, I couldn't get into the system, and some of its base assumptions struck me as odd. I guess I'm influenced by a weird blend of Howard and midieval fanboyism. On the other hand, when I do run high fantasy, you will feel the thunderbolts of the gods, and in this case, a few may be lobbed around here, too.

[Vondy]

Update: Character Posted: Countess Elsbeth Curo.

SPOILER WARNING: Lots of spoilers.

http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=characters:countess_elsbeth_curo

[Vondy]

Update: Maps: Caer Nurel, Kaldor with Nurel, Kaldor Political, Harn - Edited.
Update: Image, Wheel of the Shek Pvar.

http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=resources:counterharn_resources_maps

[Mutant for Hire]

My take on fantasy is that if you have people able to harness magic, then magic becomes a tool by which the world is interacted with and manipulated, and that in turn shapes society, which is ultimately shaped by what power it has over nature.

I like to start with fundamental metaphysics and then figure out how a fantasy society evolves out of that. Which is not to say that you can't end up with a medieval society, but what sort of medieval society evolves where magic and strange beings are part of the commonly accepted fabric of society?

[Vondy]

My take on fantasy is that if you have people able to harness magic, then magic becomes a tool by which the world is interacted with and manipulated, and that in turn shapes society, which is ultimately shaped by what power it has over nature.

I like to start with fundamental metaphysics and then figure out how a fantasy society evolves out of that. Which is not to say that you can't end up with a medieval society, but what sort of medieval society evolves where magic and strange beings are part of the commonly accepted fabric of society?

Its a method of world development, to be sure. But I don't think its an exclusive one. A lot depends on how easily "magic" is harnessed, what its potential outcomes are, and the philosophies of those who do harness it. If its easy and openly potent with few philosophical blocks, then yes, I agree. If its difficult, or has potent but subtle effects, or their is a philosophical impediment to its use - then this may not be the case.

There are several genre precedents for this, which include the arthurian mythos (only a few mages appear, or even appear to exist) in arthur's britian. Magic is there, but it is "otherworldly." Other's are the witches in MacBeth, which echoes the Witch of Endor in the Bible. In the Conan stories, while magic existed and was quite powerful, its practitioners were fairly rare and it had obvious drawbacks in terms of the risks of practice. It added a fantastic element, but the world itself was not fantastical (from my perspective). Then there's high fantasy, which is a different animal all together.

My fantasy tastes are more geared towards the arthurian and shakespearean style of magical interplay, and not to the high fantasy magic-interplay. I also have a preference for Howard and Moorcock (higher fantasy in truth). I guess I run "low fantasy," though magic can be world shaking in its implications. I just like it to be a more subtle element. My feeling is that when magic is common and easy it becomes ordinary and is no longer fantastical. Different strokes and all that.

I decided for this game that I would run with the arthurian/shakespearean model and would rely heavily on the midrashim (which are fairly fantastical in of themselves) for the inspiration for monsters and "magic." As a result, theurgy and dealing with demons are the mode of magic, and the practicioners who do so are few in number. Magic itself is potent, but subtle. And the beasties have a common heritage (though varied form).

[Vondy]

Update: Turn Nineteen is up.

http://www.curufea.com/hero/doku.php?id=resources:counterharn_logs_caernurel_t urn_nineteen

[Eosin]

Hey There....

Did someone say 20? D20? Issue 20? Turn 20.... I could swear I heard 20.

[Vondy]

Its done. I just have to post it. We're half-way through 21, which should be done late next week. We've both been pretty busy.

[Vondy]

I set up a blogspot blog for this as I don't want to take up board bandwidth for it in the absence of perceived interest. It would be neat get feedback on the turns from people if they're interested in what's going on in the game. It is set up so that you have to be registered to make a comment, but that can be changed if too many people find it annoying to register. The motivation is to cut down on spam! I'm all for compliments and constructive criticism. I will, however, prune abuse or spastic criticism. Anyways, here's the link:

http://caernurel.blogspot.com/

[Eosin]

I'm interested. Good stuff.