WarFlail's Archives - January 2005

WarFlail's Archives - January 2005

Go to WarFlail's Archives - February 2005

Monday, 31 January 2005

HMA Character Profile - IMMINENT

The HMA Character Profile is still in the testing phase - many thanks to the beta-testers who are helping me find any technical and backward-compatibility errors and fix them. This project is coming along nicely and is very close to completion. I expect to make it available here next month. Watch this space...

Saturday, 29 January 2005

News from Dicey Business

DICEY BUSINESS is brought to you by www.columbiagames.com.

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HÂRNWORLD NEWS
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NEXT HÂRNQUEST RELEASE IMMINENT

The next release of HârnQuest is coming soon. We're aiming for mid-late February release. Invoicing and billing for those subscribed to HârnQuest is underway. This issue contains Minarsas, Bears and Slimes (beastiary).

Minarsas is an ancient frontier castle and market center that commands eastern Kaldor's remote Vemion Valley. It is home to the powerful noble Clan Caldeth and the wealthy guildsmen of Clan Harabor.

Minarsas is an entirely new castle article, never before published. The Minarsas article builds on the advances begun in Olokand and Karveth, and introduces even more exciting improvements designed to enrich the players' experience and the GM's ease-of-use.

The 40pp article includes the most comprehensive treatment of the castletown ever for a Hârnic castle with more than 75 local map key entries, plus employment and lodging information for visiting PCs, details on the annual Wool Fair and some of its GM-friendly events and attendees, genealogy and finances for Clan Caldeth (including a full accounting of military resources), a section on local enforcement of law and order, capsule descriptions of most of the caer household and the town watch, and an expansion-ready description of the ancient Khuzdul kyg on which the caer is built.

Adventure possibilties abound in this remote outpost at the foothills of the Sorkin Mountains. Characters who enjoy wilderness adventuring can mount search and rescue missions with Morgal's Rangers, hunt in the mighty Valwood or the treacherous Rumerill Ridge or set out for high Azadmere. Those who prefer the subtleties of settled areas can interact with a believable and detailed castletown and with the occupants of the caer on all levels. From the long-sealed Khuzdul kyg beneath the caer to the far-ranging missions of Morgal's Rangers, from the solitude of Earl Caldeth's spartan chambers to the colorful chaos of the Wool fair, Minarsas is suitable as a long-term base of operations for PCs, and is equally ready for those just passing through.

WarFlail's Comment

Minarsis! All right! Eastern Kaldor has been neglected for far too long...

Also of interest is the slimes article (hopefully, it will cover moulds and oozes too!). There hasn't been anything on these organisms since HM1 - not even HMg Bestiary features them!

Tuesday, 18 January 2005

More HMA Updates Cont'd

I've put in some further changes to the HMA Weapon Data spreadsheet. I modified a couple of stats, such as increased Blunt impact for Morningstars (0b never made sense to me for blunt trauma purposes) and boosted impact values for the Hartbow (which, as the Evael module points out, is superior to the Longbow in both range and impact).

I also made a small change to the HMA GM Screen: I changed the Draw Weight definition to match the current definition in HMg. The definition I had in there was from an earlier version of HMg and it didn't occur to me until recently that it had changed.

Finally, I've made some more enhancements to the HMA Armour Profiles (did I already promise to stop tinkering with this? I really really mean it this time!). One addition I've put in is the Mercantilism skill from Roy Denton's incredible article (available from Lythia.com), which is a must-read for anyone wanting to play a Mercantyler PC. I've also tidied up a few formulas - just aesthetic improvements for the most part.

Friday, 7 January 2005

Printed HMg Documents

I was extremely fortunate to have access to a 600dpi colour laser printer this week so I took the opportunity to print off and bind HârnMaster Gold Player Edition, GameMaster Edition, The Shèk-Pvâr, The Bestiary and Atlas Keléstia: Folio 1 (all available from Kelestia.com). Even double-sided, we're talking in excess of 300 sheets of paper! And I've still got Evánekin and Kolâdis to go! All I can say is I'm relieved that I didn't have to print these PDF files on my home inkjet...

Those documents look very nice printed, by the way. Although be prepared for a dent in your colour cartridges...

More HMA Updates

I've changed some of the Strength requirements in the HMA Weapon Data spreadsheet and uploaded it to the House Rules page. The original Strength requirements were taken almost verbatim out of HMg, but on closer inspection I felt that some of the requirements are too high. Requiring a minimum Strength of 15 to wield even the lightest Morningstar, for instance, seems excessive to me!

In addition, I tightened up the VB code on the HMA Armour Profiles and posted it for download. Nothing too serious.

The HMA Character Profile is complete and currently undergoing playtesting by third parties to make sure it works properly. I'm still writing the manual to go with it but hope to finish everything up Very Soon.

Monday, 3 January 2005

HMA Updates

I am pleased to announce a few updates on the First up, a new addition to the growing list under the HârnMaster Advanced section: HMA Weapon Data. This is a Microsoft Excel file that contains an expanded list of weaponry for use with HMA, including exotic weapons such as spiked bills and 1,200lb crossbows!

Also, I've posted updated versions of the HMA GM Screen and HMA Armour Profiles, in advance of the imminent launch of the HMA Character Profile, which had turned into a massive project. The GM Screen contains just a couple of minor corrections. The Armour Profiles, though, has seen a small but fairly important change - because HMA now features a scalable Fatigue Rate (unlike HM3), the Encumbrance Penalty has been reduced to compensate. EP is now: (Load - (2 x STR))/END.

So what is this Character Profile I've been working on? It is in essence a character sheet for Excel, but it can do all sorts of tricks to take the hard work out of keeping track of your PC. Automatic Skill Base calculations, weapon lists, armour profiles, pets/steeds lists, priestly invocation lists and Shek-Pvar spell lists are just the tip of the iceberg. Coming soon...

Tsunami Hell (Continued)

Just to continue my blog from last week, day by day the horrific effects of the tsunami originating off the coast of Sumatra are sinking in. If you are one of the lucky people who haven't been affected, I sincerely urge you to donate to an aid organisation that is trying to bring relief to the millions of people who have. World Vision or Red Cross, for example...

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