Hârn Columbia Games CG4751-E HârnManor

HârnManor is the base for all that Hârn has to built upon. Breakdown and expanding this supplement article with the original vision by Robin, shall allow for a far superior game that draws on the intrgue and draw players into a medieval world that is alive and broad in it's exploration.

Designed to be used with HarnMaster, this is a valuable resource for any Fantasy/Historical RPG that wishes to include manging and running a manor as part of the campaign.

Note: ADD Comparison and differances to EH3 Manor CG6003 article. This will bring back to proper costs and original concept by Robin.

Complete Hârn book list from Columbia Games broken down into sections, then expanding each book into wiki pages.

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CG4751-E HârnManor

Credits

Contributors

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Introduction

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.

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.

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.

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.

Manor Life

The power of the nobility is ultimately vested in its control of land. Most Hârnians live in the countryside, where they work to feed themselves and their livestock and to prosper by selling surplus food to townsfolk. Survival for everyone depends on growing food, and feudal lords control most productive land under the manorial system. A typical manor has a manorhouse, an adjacent village of 10–30 peasant households, and supporting craftsmen.

The Manorhouse

The lord, his family, and their retainers live in the manorhouse, a stone or timber stronghold surrounded by an outer wall. The manorhouse complex is usually situated on a natural or artificial hill at one end of the village, but can be anywhere within the manor.

The heart of the manorhouse is the great hall where members of the lord’s household eat meals and socialize. Here, too, the lord holds his manorial court, settling disputes among tenants, ruling on matters of law and custom, and receiving due homage. A fireplace is near the center of the hall, beneath a smoke hole in the high roof. Wood or peat fires provide light and warmth, and are used for cooking if there is no separate kitchen. Additional light may be provided by high, narrow (defensible) windows and, in the evening, by rushlights, torches, or lanterns. Large trestle tables are erected for meals and removed as necessary. Most residents sit on stools or long benches, but the lord will have chairs for himself, immediate family, and noble retainers. The floors may be hardwood or stone, covered with rush mats or carpets.

Bedrooms and dormitories are separated from the great hall by partitions, curtains, or walls. Quality of accommodation depends on the manor’s wealth. The lord and lady might share an elegant four-poster. Very young children sleep in cradles near the bed of their nursemaid, perhaps their mother. Older children, retainers, and most guests are given space in dormitories, or a folding cot in the great hall. Important guests may borrow the lord’s bed. Poorer residents can hope for pallets filled with straw.

The manor courtyard has an outer wall, sometimes built of stone but more likely a wood palisade, surrounded by a moat, ditch, or earthworks. Most manors are reasonably selfsufficient and have a miller, woodcrafter, metalsmith, and other craftsmen. Some craftsmen are bonded to the lord’s household and operate workshops within the manor wall. Other craftsmen are freemasters and operate in the village outside the manorhouse complex.

Hârnic Manors

The manor is the basic economic unit of rural Hârn. A typical keep or castle has 10–30 manors within a five-league radius.

The manor ranges from 600 to 3,600 acres in size. Manors are held by a knight who owes fealty and military service to a baron or earl, or are held directly by a great noble and managed by loyal retainers known as bailiffs. Some manors are held by religious orders. A few manors around chartered freetowns are held by wealthy simplefolk. “Manor” is the nearest English translation of the Hârnic word Nealu.

Knight's Fee

A knight’s fee is the amount of land considered sufficient to support a fully equipped cavalryman and his family.

Traditionally, this is ten hides, or twelve hundred (1200) acres, but the rising cost of chivalric weapons, mail armour, and trained warhorses require knights to manage their fief with care. Some knights hold larger manors for the same military obligation; some hold smaller manors. In other cases, a large manor is held as a double or triple Knight’s Fee.

Rushlights & Lamps

Rushlights are made of rushes soaked in tallow. They are cheap, reliable, reasonably bright, and are the most common source of indoor light. Other sources of illumination include oil lamps and, in wealthier households, candles.

Manor Lands

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Manor Tenants

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Peasant Life

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Hallmoots

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Village Generation

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Manor Generation

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Household Generation

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Manor Budget

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Glossary

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Manor Events

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Hallmoots Events

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Tenant Fate

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Manors of Hârn (examples)

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Avonel

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Clord

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Roganter

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Turenborg

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Addons: Households (add Expansion article)

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Notes

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