Difference between revisions of "Hârn Manor Introduction"

Latest revision as of 04:14, 20 August 2017

Note: Green = I Have, Red = Don't Have, Orange = Old Scan, Blue = Misc, Black = ALL Base (Template)

Note: ADD Link Colour for Text: CREATE LINKED Page

SIDEBARS

About Realism

Contents

Manor Data Forms

SIDEBARS

Dice Conventions

CREATE TABLE

Rounding Conventions

HârnMaster Terms

Manor 01

Introduction

• Manor 01
• Manor 02

• Manor 1-2

HârnManor is a set of rules and environment for generating and running Hârnic manors. Since nine of ten Hârnic folk spend their entire lives on the manor, often the same manor, there are many reasons for detailing them.

1. . To generate a manor and village as an adventure site. Perhaps the manor is the scene of terrible crimes that must be solved, or the locale of a concealed artifact required to complete a mission, or a safe haven where players can rest and recover from wounds.
2. . To detail the birthplace and family of a character. Characters may be low-born peasants, but detailed settings help players to get more in touch with their world. Families in distress are always a ripe source of adventure plots.
3. . To generate the lands held by a patron who has employed the players as men-at-arms, foresters, priests, and so on. This is an excellent way to get low-born players involved in the lofty ambitions and often deadly intrigues of the nobility.
4. . Players whose characters are born noble, or have earned their place in the nobility, will certainly want to know their resources. Some will be happy to entrust the details of their fief to a bailiff; some will demand the option to improve their good fortune by astute management.

SIDEBARS

About Realism

Realism in a game system helps players attain the "suspension of disbelief" that is so essential to memorable role-playing. On the other hand, some sections of this article may be more than you want in a game. The rules are designed to let you take only what you need.

If all you want is a ready-made manor, choose one from the four that are included and modify to suit your needs. You can also generate a custom manor and ignore fief budgeting. If players want to make economic decisions to improve their fief, details on crops and livestock are given.

Optional rules are preceded by a check  box. Read and review the rule and then check the box if you plan to use it. This will help you to maintain consistency and will be helpful to players referring to these rules.

Hârnic animal and crop yields are much less than those of modern Terra. For example, modern dairy cows yield ten gallons of milk per day, but in the 12th century they gave only one gallon.

However, Hârn is not an exact model of medieval Terra. Several factors, including magic and a polytheon of gods, affect the overall quality and yields of Hârnic agriculture.

Manor 02

Contents

• Manor Life provides a general overview of Hârnic manors.

• Village Generation gives realistic Hârnic villages, populated with a variety of serfs, freeholders, and craftsmen. The village is an excellent source of roleplaying material since they are often much-abused by brigands, gargun, and other predators. Villages may also be a fine place to recover from injuries or to hide from enemies.

• Household rules to populate the lord's manorhouse. For most rural lords, the whole point of agriculture is to enhance noble culture. A rich fief means a rich household and prestige. Not everyone can be a lord, but players can easily be members of a lord's household.

• Manor Budget rules for operating medieval manors. There is a basic routine for those who simply wish to generate a manor and leave it unmodified from year to year. This is followed by a Manor Budget section that allows you to operate a manor, seeking to maximize revenues and the good life. Finally, there is a series of optional rules that allow decisions to be made about what crops to grow, which livestock to raise, how much woods to clear, and so on.

• Avonel is a microcosm of the deadly politics of Rethem. The fief is a ward of the Earl of Ithiko and a pawn in the struggle between the crown and the Earl of Tormau. The underage Lord of Avonel simmers while a rapacious guardian steals much of the fief 's wealth. Religious strife looms between two competing Agrikan and Peonian clerics.

• Clord is a manor on an island near Thay, recently granted to the Church of Peoni as an abbey and hospice. Most patients are lepers. The local serfs who work the fields and support the church fear the arrival of these unfortunates into their world.

• Roganter is a secular manor in Kaldor, held by a knight from the Archbishop of Larani. The nearby woods and hills echo to the sounds of miners and outlaws.

• Turenborg is a Jarin village conquered by the Ivinian Clan Turen. It lies ten leagues northwest of Geldeheim. Turenborg was briefly liberated by the Jarin in their revolt of 701 and the Turens have never forgotten the trauma of those days.

Manor Data Forms

HârnManor uses two forms, printed back to back, to keep track of information.

• Village Census Form (VCF) handles key details for each tenant on the manor and is, essentially, a village census.

• Manor Budget Form (MBF) records details on manor size, land use, the lord's household, and fief budget.

The forms have been designed to make the task of manor economics as simple as possible. Think of them as a character profile for the manor.

SIDEBARS

Dice Conventions

HârnManor refers to dice by the letter "d" followed by the type of dice.

CREATE TABLE

d100 = Percentile dice

d6 = Standard six-sided dice

d3 = A d6, but read 1 and 2 as 1, 3 and 4 as 2, and 5 and 6 as 3.

d2 = A d6, but read 1, 2 and 3 as 1, and 4, 5 and 6 as 2.

Rounding Conventions

When rounding numbers:

• Round acres to the nearest whole acre.
• Round cash and kind to the nearest penny.
• Round fractions to the nearest whole number.

HârnMaster Terms

HârnManor uses some terms from HârnMaster that may not be familiar:

ML is Mastery Level, also known as skill level. This is recorded in percentiles. Every household on the manor has a primary skill ML.

EML is Effective Mastery Level, or the character's ML after it has been modified by whatever variable conditions might apply.

CS, MS, MF, & CF are Critical Success, Marginal Success, Marginal Failure, and Critical Failure, respectively. When rolling percentile dice, all numbers ending in 0 or 5 are critical results.

A

• A
  • A

Notes

• A
  • A