The following thread is intented to provide assistance to Fanon writers who are interested in "improving" their articles, or to those who'd simply like some inspirations of what could be done differently than they did so far.

Dos:
Feel free to enter any suggestions, techniques, or preferences you might have. Please do so in a brief and concise way. Please state the aspect your post is covering in the first line of your post (i.e. 'technical', 'creative writing', 'arts'...)

Don'ts:
Please do not enter into discussions on how good or bad others' suggestions are. You can pick up ideas and develope them further, but please be brief - this is supposed to be a guide that people actually find the time to read.

_________________
Steer me straight, O German one.
O flamer of mail, O Carver in Stone...

Spartan on HârnChat

Hi all,

Dos:

Work on subjects you love. There is no pay for fanon (except the love and adoration of the masses on HarnForum...oops the Forum is not just about me ). So be sure that you are doing it for yourself. Even if not everybody finds your subject matter useful, there will be plenty who do.

Look at what else has been written (harnlink.com is a good place to start, followed by lythia.com). You don't have to follow their format or style, but it will give you a good idea of what sorts of things the reader will be looking for. Conversely, it will show you what HAS NOT been written about and may offer a chance for you to make a big impact in a previously undeveloped subject.

See who has written in the area or subject you are interested in, they will probably be more than willing to suggest ideas, give hints or advise you of pitfalls (sometimes because they already fell into them). Most of the current authors, artists and mappers for both Kelestia Productions and Columbia Games are active on the forum and generally we are happy to talk to people who are interested in our "Stuff".

Read everything you can about the area or subject you intend to write on. Harn fans are obsessed with consistency (guilty as charged ). If you miss something important, they will not go gentle on you. However, some of the coolest areas to write on are those with very little written about them (as an aside, I wrote the Selvos Castle article (20pp) based on three lines of text in the Kanday Kingdom Module and then expanded that further with several fanon expansions to over 95pp, it was great fun).

Ask questions! The HarnForum is the fount of all knowledge. We have archeologists, historians, published authors, etc, etc, etc... If you have a question about Harn or real world parallels, someone will know the answer and be more than happy to share.

Be careful about game balance. While introducing one homesick ogre is cool, having a colony of 500 magically appear inside the borders of Tharda might be a bit much. Generally, I use the Occam's Razor test (i.e. Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred). I also go by the maxim that if it is really big or important, it "should" have been mentioned in canon already (or you need to have a really good reason why it was not). In general, HarnFans are a conservative bunch. I am not saying "don't write extremely divergent articles", but I do warn you they may not be as well recieved as those that support and reinforce the "prevaling" view of Harn.

If you are writing adventures, try to play test them for balance and completeness (if possible) or ask other experienced GMs to look them over for anything you might have forgot.

Learn by doing. It can be scary, but the best way to get better is to write, write, write. Once you have written something, share it. If you are worried about the reception from the fans, then share it with a few friends whose opinion you trust first. They can give you feedback and will probably be more considerate of your feelings (or not! ).

Format is not everything. You can use pdf, html, txt whatever works for you, however be sure to make it clear, well laid out with paragraph and visual breaks (like white space) to make it easier to read. An easy to read (layout wise) document will allow the reader to focus on the content rather than get turned off by the format. There are templates for the CGI standard layout available on Lythia.com and several volunteers who can help you with layout if you find it too intimidating.

Advertise your work! It is not very helpful if you write the best document ever, but it is buried several pages down in an infrequently visited website. Host it wherever you want (your own page or someone else's), but let the people of the forum know where it is so they can go take a look at it. For those without a website, there are several kind volunteers who can host it on their site for you.

Art and maps help, but are not essential (depending on what you are writing). Good (and relevant) art helps people visualize what you are talking about, however some topics do not require any art, so if you don't have it, it is not a show stopper. Maps are very helpful and can sometimes explain more (and more clearly) in a half page than can 10 pages of text. Clear, understandable hand drawn maps are certainly sufficient, but there are also people out there who can help you with making maps (using various programs and formats) if you need it.

Utility is one measure of a good article (i.e. can this article help a PC or a GM), but is not the only path. I have read numerous article which contribute to an overall appreciation of Harn or generate discussion (i.e. Ilkka's articles on Kaldoric history for example), these are also valuable, but in a different way.

Proof read your articles! Better yet, ask a friend to read your article over for spelling and grammar. Like formating, good spelling and grammar allow the reader to focus on the content of your article rather than the mechanics of writing. If you have someone who can edit the text, this can help. However, the lack of an editor shouldn't be a bar to releasing an article.

Add adventure hooks (either explicit or implied) to your location, subject matter or adventure articles. This is a real boon to the GMs reading your article. They don't need to be long (a sentence about a long lost scroll in an article about scribes for example). These little gems can really inspire others.

Don'ts:

Try not to be offended if others don't love your work as much as you do (I struggle with this one a lot).

Don't be disappointed or discouraged if fans find a lot of holes in your first few articles. Rome was not built in a day. Accept the criticism (again, I struggle with this too) and include the suggestions in your next project.

Don't try and write the Penultimate Tome for your first work, it will only overwhelm and frustrate you. Start off small. If you have a big idea, break it down into managable pieces, write and release them one at a time. This limits time and effort required to complete each piece and gets you feedback along the way to help keep you energized and motivated.

I will add more thoughts as they come to me.

TTYL

Kerry Mould

_________________
Well, my days of taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle. - Mal, Firefly.

Hi all,

More thoughts:

Adventures and Plot Ideas:

There are many different possibilities for fanon of this type. You can write one-off convention or filler type scenarios, adventures which might span several sessions or campaigns that may take months or years to complete.

You need to answer several questions:

- What is the objective?

- What is the truth? The GM needs to know up front what has truly happened and what the implications are so he can understand the ramifications on the rest of the information listed below.

- Why should the PCs get involved? (i.e. lead-ins)

- What is in it for them? (i.e. rewards)

- Are there enemies? If so, who are they? How many are there? What are their abilities? Who is their leader?

- What is the enemy's rationale, motive(s) and goals? (i.e. why are they opposing the PCs)

- Do the enemies have allies?

- Do the PCs have allies and/or patrons? Are there mechanisms (i.e. the cavalry rides in) to save the PCs if they get in over their heads?

- What other obstacles must the PCs overcome?

- Where is it set? (location, time of year etc)

- What is the history behind this adventure?

- Is there a timeline for the adventure? If so, what happens and when? If the PCs derail the timeline, what are some of the branches of the adventure? Ideally, there should be several paths the PCs can follow to successfully complete the adventure. There is nothing players hate more than feeling they are being railroaded. Typically, players will try and break out of railroading so you need some alternate plans for when the PCs get off track.

- Clues and rumours are helpful to guide the GM and provide suggestions and spark inspiration.

- How do you conclude the adventure? Does this adventure lead to others?

Just a few suggestions, YMMV

TTYL

Kerry Mould

_________________
Well, my days of taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle. - Mal, Firefly.

This is worth keeping. Stickyed!

_________________
Ok, let me get this straight. These guys come in, trash the place, slap Agrik & Larani around, and the most intelligible thing they said was "Zog!"?

Hi all,

Yet a few more thoughts...

Places (Manors, Towns and Sites)

Like adventures, articles on sites can take many forms and sizes, from a simple house in a city, to a lonely wilderness location to a sizeable community. Whatever the size of the location you are describing, most GMs are looking for the same information:

You need to answer several questions:

- Where is the place? You don't have to physically locate it on Harn, it could be a generic type of location. In that case, give the GM a little direction...i.e. it should be in a large town in the poor district, it should be in a mountainous wilderness location far from human habitation etc

- Who owns it? Is it owned? Is it contested?

- Why this location special? Why are you writing about it? What makes it interesting enough to write an article about?

- What does the place physically look like? Size, geography etc.

- How does it fit into the greater surrounding area? Is it a centre of commerce, military power or a sleepy backwater?

- What is its history? Who built it? When and why...

- What is happening there today? Is it an active location or a ruin inhabited only by wild beasts?

- For manors and villages, what sort of agriculture does it support? Are there many old, long cleared, fertile fields or is it a new manor with trees still being cleared?

- Are there any related locations? Subordinate manors or a manor it owes fealty to?

- How is it paid for? Is there a business that generates funds? Does it even need funds (unlikely if it is a ruin!)?

- Who is the overlord (landlord)?

- If the article has a large area map (like a manor map), there should be a local area key to explain any special or unusual features.

- Who are the residents of the location? Perhaps a small write up on each (or not).

- Maps of the location itself. These can be hand drawn but they need to be clear and legible.

- A map key which describes all of the key parts of the location.

- Who is the most important individual associated with the location? And perhaps a more detailed description.

- Is there anything special about the location? If so, it may need an extended write-up on this feature.

- You should try to salt adventure hooks throughout the article to make it more useful to a GM

Just a few suggestions, YMMV

TTYL

Kerry Mould

_________________
Well, my days of taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle. - Mal, Firefly.

And even better add one or several developped adventure frames at the end if you feel like it (Classical Hârn modules had these in a section called "Current Events").

Cheers,

Roland

Come on guys - there must be some hints you have for others writing articles? Don't let Kerry hang here all alone...

_________________
Steer me straight, O German one.
O flamer of mail, O Carver in Stone...

Spartan on HârnChat

Both Kerry and John, are perhaps, the masters of writing items for Harn, both fanon and canon. So if they both have suggestions and ideas for us neophite writers, lets listen/read what they have to say. I have taken their ideas to heart in TRYING to write an adventure for the canon area but they infamous writers block keeps saying hello to me....

Does anyone have any suggestions about layout? Or is that a separate topic?

Personally, I look at the layouts of other canon or fanon products that correspond to what I am working on and adapt them to my own needs. For example when writing Naniom Bridge, I had a look at how other location modules were laid-out, and did more or less the same: intro, history, climate, etc...

Now, I am writing a campaign module so I am pilfering (layout) ideas from "The Earl's Progress" (by Kerry Mould - Mold in American English ) and the "The Warrior's Grave" (by Matthias Fuchs - err, won't translate that one in AE ), plus a dash of "Araka-Kalai" and "100 Bushels of Rye".

Basically, the "standard" fanon layout works and is pleasant to the eye. I just reproduce the usual layouts because that is what we are accustomed to (and because they work very well), with modifications to fit my needs.

Hope this helps,

Roland

I'd have. I am currently working on a revision of an Adobe InDesign template which I will make available soon.

One suggestion about the illustrations: The best procedure is to do the following steps:

1. Open the graphics file and convert it to either greyscale or bitmap (black&white)
2. Vectorize it (using for example Adobe Streamline)
3. re-size the vectorised format to the dimensions you'd like
4. Export the image to TIFF using LZW compression and greyscale modes (if possible, use anti-aliasing when exporting it. Resolution should be 288 or 300 dpi.

This results in a rather small, crisp graphic which looks nice on screen and in print, and also is very small (filesize).

The same format is suited well if you'd like to convert your CC2 (Mappa Hârnica) maps. Simply follow the steps below:

1. Open your map in CC2. Make sure to set the zoom level properly using the "Zoom Extents" button.
2. Choose "Save as..."
3. In the appearing dialog box, select "bitmap" as file format
4. In the same dialog box, click "options".
5. Enter the following values: Horizontal pixels: 2448 Vertical pixels: 3168
6. Save the file
7. open the file in an image editing software, changing the resolution from 72dpi to 288dpi. Save the bitmap file as TIFF using LZW compression and greyscale colour mode for interior maps resp. RGB mode for local, regional, and atlas maps.

The result is a letter sized colour map (RGB) in 288 dpi resolution which is ca 750kb large (ca 250 kb for a greyscale map)

These are just some basic hints. If people are interested, I can post some more...

_________________
Steer me straight, O German one.
O flamer of mail, O Carver in Stone...

Spartan on HârnChat

Severin brings up a good point.
Lots of people say that, when writing, layout doesn't matter; you should just get the text right and worry about layout later.
But in the real world, being able to write to a model with a good layout serves many purposes, including helping to get and stay motivated.
IMO, one of the best tools for a fanon writer to have is a good template in the writing tool of your choice. Then you can write and see as you go how it looks on the page. Always leave room for art, too - a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, and even if you cannot produce or buy art for your article, you can find clips on the web to use as inspiration. (Of course, if you use someone else's image you should credit that person).

One of the hardest things about any writing project is getting started. You do not have to start at the beginning of the article, however! Sketch out an outline first. Then fill in the easy parts. Just like doing a jigsaw puzzle, the more parts you have in place, the easier it is to fill in the remainder.

Start with the Big Picture. Assume the article is for publication and sketch out the scope of the project. Do not try to write a treatise on all there is to know about something unless that is your goal. Too much information can be a writers trap - you tend to add more and more of your pet subject, far beyond what the article needs, and never get to the other parts.

Two things that help a lot are a clear image in your mind of what the finished article will look like, and a clear image of the reader enjoying the article. It is always easier to write when you know your audience.

Here is a helpful trick to plan your article:
1) Decide how many pages it will be. Use existing articles as a model. Make it a multiple of 2 or 4, because this helps to mimic how a publisher does it.
2) On a clean sheet of paper, sketch out that number of pages in two columns, one at the top right, and then pairs down the page, and then one at the bottom left.
3) Number the pages (small numerals) from 1 for the top right one then 2 for the top left, 3 for the next right-hand page, etc. You should end in the bottom left with an even page. These are the page numbers for your article.
4) For each page, plan to use one of two familiar page layouts: wide-and-sidebar for typical HM and some HarnWorld pages, or 2-column for text-heavy pages or sections where you can put parallel information in neighboring columns. You do not have to assign the layouts yet, but be aware of these two ways to show information.
5) On page one, write Intro, draw a credits box to the right, and picture an illo to go on the page.
6) For each remaining page, fill in the text blocks from your outline, if you have created one. If not, just look at a model article and copy the headings. Add your own thoughts and see how it flows.
7) Add boxes for illos. Figure no more than one full text page in every three pages, and on the other two pages, figure a large illo on one and a smaller illo on the other. So a 24pp article would have 8 large and 8 small illos, and up to 8pp of just text. It is always OK to have more art, but don't use too much text.
Look at your sections and don't crowd them. Remember that whitespace is the GM's friend, enabling the reader to add comments to make it specific to his own campaign. There is a tendency to squeeze in as much information as possible on a few pages, but whitespace serves a function too.
9) Now stand back and look at it as a whole product. If you saw it in a store, would you buy it? Review it in your mind; would you recommend it to others? What is missing? (Of course all the words are missing, but this is to see if the structure is adequate for the job BEFORE you do all the writing!) make adjustments as needed until you see a 5-star article in your mind.
10) Now you can write. You have a clear picture of where you are going and who wants it. Copy your plan from the paper into MS Word and assign Heading 1 to the main sections, Heading 2 or 3 to subsections, and Heading 3 to sidebar headings. Insert page breaks and column breaks to get it to mimic the layout you selected.
It is a pain in the neck dealing with MS Word sections, so try working in the simple 2-column style for the first draft. It is also a pain in the neck dealing with image frames, so until you have art, just add a few paragraph returns and a big, bold line of text that says something like XXXX-IMAGE OF THE BARON HERE-XXXX. You can deal with the tricky stuff later; for now just get the words on the page.

Then review, review, review. Print it our and go over it with a red pen. Be bold! Move thing around, axe entire sections, rethink your original ideas, really torture it to get the best out of it. The review phase should be a crucible that burns off the impurities. Get another pair of eyes somewhere on the forum to look it over too, but be sure to state what you expect for the article to accomplish.

Then finish it. Make a list of things that need to be done, and keep in touch with your reviewing partner to maintain a sense of urgency. Announce it here so everyone harasses you to finish it up. Set a deadline for yourself and keep us posted.

Then stop and call it done. Let your baby go out into the big world. Rest assured that if some jackass jumps all over you with nasty things to say, he will be soundly berated by a hundred of your best friends on this forum! You have to be able to call it done and let it go.

Because the hardest part of any article is starting it, and the other hardest part is finishing it.

_________________
Heroes should be uncommon. They just happen to be the PCs.

I brought this up in the Alternate Realities section because it had to do with another game system, but after what John wrote, it probably would have been just as appropriate here.

Thor Olavsrud has put together a sort of back-stage look at the development process of a new sci-fi game called Burning Empires, which is based on Chris Moeller's Iron Empires. Chris also did the covers for CGI's Trobridge Inn (d20) and Evael (d20), which I know quite a few harniacs weren’t too happy with, but his Iron Empires books, Faith Conquers and Sheva’s War, I thought were really good. The article is called, Burning Empires: from Inception to Finished Product.

_________________
Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies.

Hello,

During the month of January 2007, there was a major debate over fanon, specifically a fanon article on Menekai written by Gallus. After a GREAT deal of discussion and some hard feelings, one of the diamonds that came out of the discussion was the issue of PRUDENT PROJECT SELECTION.

I wish to make it clear that I am not trying to tell people WHAT to write, I am just trying to share what I have learned about the pros and cons of writing about different locations in my experience as a fanon author, occasional freelance writer for CGI and duly appointed member of the OGD. Use or ignore this information as you wish.

I welcome any and all fanon about any location.

During this discussion, I will be rating articles on the Laser-Guided Canonic Bunker Buster (LGCBB) scale (credits to D-Man for coming up with the great name!) which gages the relative chances of a fanon article being hit by the dreaded LGCBB (i.e. a canon release by CGI/KP about the same location as your fanon article).

(Edit to clairify the purpose of the post)
Please note: If you do not care whether your fanon article covers the same location as another canon / fanon article or wish to present an ALTERNATE view of said location, then you have nothing to worry about. Please ignore this post.

* = one bomb, VERY LOW chances of your fanon article being superseded by a CGI or KP canon article, not zero, but it is highly unlikely.

** = two bombs, LOW chances of your fanon article being superseded by a CGI or KP canon article. It could happen, but not in the near future or unlikely.

*** = three bombs, MEDIUM chances of your fanon article being superseded by a CGI or KP canon article. There is some chance of it being overtaken by new material, but likely not in the immediate future.

**** = four bombs, HIGH chances of your fanon article being superseded by a CGI or KP canon article. This specific location or type of location will likely be released as canon, however this may be a while in the future and so your article may stand on its own for quite a while.

***** = five bombs, VERY HIGH chances of your fanon article being superseded by a CGI or KP canon article. This location is (or will be) released at some point in the near future. However, there are always plenty of room in or around the canon article for new fanon.

KINGDOMS
On Harn *****
On Lythia * to **** (ask the KP guys about which ones are four stars)

All of the Harnic kingdoms will be redone. The ultimate goal is to get all of the kindoms back into print with a new and improved version two. I do know some of the Lythian kingdoms are being worked on by KP. However, I am sure someone could talk to Jeremy Baker (Fastred) and find out which kingdoms are the furthest down their list (and hence the safest to write about without fear of being superseded).

There is plenty of opportunity to write fanon which amplifies or expands information in the kingdom modules. For example, the sections on royal bureaucracy or very slim. There is plenty of room to develop articles on the sheriffs, bailiff of the hundreds, the exchequer etc.

CITIES * to *****

All of the cities have been released as canon publications already (in Cities of Harn and Son of Cities). It is virtually guaranteed that all of the cities of Harn will be redone in the future. That being said, they should not be considered out of bounds...

Golotha and Tashal have already been redone. The chances of CGI returning to them in the forseeable future is VERY LOW. Therefore any fanon articles in these cities is quite unlikely to be superseded.

Rethem is next on the CGI agenda, thus cities in Tharda, Kanday, Melderyn will likely not be touched in the near future. Golotha and Tashal give fans a good idea of the type of locations that will be covered in future city articles (i.e. the castle, major temples, key business areas, high profile locations) and what will NOT LIKELY be touched (i.e. individual businesses, side streets). Therefore, authors can judge for themselves what the chances are that their location will be superseded and (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT) if they even care if their article is superseded by a canon article in the near or distant future.

A good example of the type of articles which have been successful is James Currie's Cherafir:An Expansion. That article was released in 2003 and may stand a decade (at the current rate of production) before ever having to worry about being superseded. It is an excellent example of a fanon article doing yeoman service to fill a void between canon versions.

CASTLES *****

Castles are the key seats of the Kings and Earls. They will all likely be detailed at some point. Rethem's castles will likely all be detailed similar to what was done with Kaldor. However, the castles of Melderyn, Tharda and Kanday will likely not be detailed for several years to come. Thus, authors can choose to write these locations knowing that 5 - 10 years from now, they might be superseded.

Techen Castle by Patrick Nilsson is a good example. First released in 2001, HarnFans have had use of it for five years and it may be another year or two more before it is superseded (yet to be determined). Who knows how much gaming use the article has got during that time. It is an excellent example of not being deterred by what MIGHT come in the future.

KEEPS
Key, special or otherwise important keeps ****
Lesser keeps ** to ***

While most castles WILL be detailed, most keeps WON'T be detailed. The exceptions are generally in those keep of some special importance or significance to a given kingdom. In Rethem for example, Bedenes will likely be detailed because it is the only keep of the Warriors of Mamaka, the fighting order associated with the Agrikan Primate of Harn. While at the same time, Quoso Keep, just a few miles away will likely NOT be detailed because it is a subordinate keep to the Earl of Tormau and his castle has already been detailed (in Rethem v1) and will likely be revised.

Therefore, if an author was thinking of doing a keep, picking one like the highly acclaimed Lerenil in Chybisa is a good bet, because it is unlikely to be superseded.

MANORS, ABBEYS & MINES
Unique Locations ** to ***
Majority of Locations *

Most manors, abbeys, and mines will never be detailed. There is neither the time or the inclination for the canon authors to work on these smaller locations while the kingdom modules and key cities and castles are out of print. The only risk that such a location may be done is if it is somehow unique or special. As an example, it is very unlikely that any Rethem manor will be detailed, but there is a slightly higher than zero (but still low) chance that Vinarsa Manor (the home of the Agrikan Primate of Harn with six subordinate manors) would be detailed rather than Vimen Manor (a single manor held by the Bailiff of the Hundred) which is directly above it on the subinfeudation chart.

I am currently writing Erone Abbey. It is slightly more risky than say writing about Charmic Manor, because Erone is one of only two Peonian Abbeys in the whole of Kaldor. However, since Kaldor is largely finished and the writing team is moving on to Rethem and other points, I feel fairly confident that it won't be superseded and have decided to accept the risk. However, should it be superseded, it would be relatively simple to redo it as a Peonian Abbey in Melderyn or Kanday.

UNIQUE LOCATIONS * to *****

Some places are unique and have or will be detailed (i.e Araka-Kalai and some Earthmaster sites for example). However, that should not deter fanon authors from writing about them. Earthmaster sites in particular are great because they allow authors to do all sorts of things not possible in mundane sites. IMNSHO, these sites could easily have a dozen variants and still not be overdone. Araka-Kalai only covers a very small part of the huge potential of the site and so could easily be expanded with fanon articles.

In conclusion, this is only a scale of relative risk. If you don't care about being superseded, then you can safely ignore this whole post and write what you like. It is just a guide for those who need or want such a thing. I make no promises as to its accuracy, it is only a relative guide.

TTYL

Kerry Mould

_________________
Well, my days of taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle. - Mal, Firefly.

I am sorry if what I am going to suggest has already been mentioned but the length of the thread was too much and I wanted to share my comment while I had a few moments spare;
Place plot hook summaries at the end of a location, for easy reference. This is what I worked out with Joe Adams in the Knights of Kaldor campaign for the manors.
I would like to see it in canon and fanon, as it would make it easier for a ref moving a campiagn to a new location to find the buried hooks.
Only really works with location's, not adventures.
Allan

Once again, Kerry has deftly, eloquently, and diplomatically stated that which I could only roar like the lion in his pride. Lovely.

_________________
The Melderyn Campaign

Would it be useful to snip the list of likely CGI publications from one of John's recent posts into this thread.

At the time I suggested nailing it to the top of the forum to stop people making a time-costly mistake.

Good idea!
One of the frustrating things about writing a high-quality fanon article is to see it rendered obsolete by a subsequent canon publication. This also happens to a somewhat lesser extent when an upcoming project is announced, because people may stay away from your carefully-crafted article for fear of introducing important information that may be obsoleted while the party is still in situ.
If you are looking for a fanon project to work on, it may help you to know which areas are safest and which are likely to see canon releases soon.
FIRST - soon is a very relative term, and most GMs prefer something today to nothing for six months while CGI or KP get something published.
SECOND - what is posted below is only about CGI's planned releases. I know nothing about KP's release schedule, except that the two companies have been honoring a gentleman's agreement to confine their releases to Harn (CGI) and Lythia (KP).

The list, as of Feb 10, 2007:
Kaldor is essentially done - feel free to write whatever you like in Kaldor without fear of new canon interference.
Because Kaldor was recently done, Chybisa and Melderyn won't see any new releases for a couple of years while CGI focuses on the west.
Rethem is next on the chart, probably in Q3. It will include the kingdom article followed by a few of the more important undeveloped castles, specifically Techen, Menekai, Arketh, Bedenes, and maybe Omnis. Those will probably take us through 2008.
Right now, the plan is to hit Orbaal after Rethem, but City of Aleath might squeeze in there first. The Orbaal releases will focus on the important as-yet-undetailed castles. I do not remember them off the top of my head, but it is a couple of years away at this writing anyway.

_________________
Heroes should be uncommon. They just happen to be the PCs.

One thing I'd like all writers to do, when they write an article about a location, is to make sure they make it clear in the beginning where exactly that place is. I mean something like this:

"Loban, village
Location: Kethira, Harn, Kaldor, Meselyneshire, Ambarnis hundred, near Olokand"

(I'm not totally sure that's even correct, but you get the picture.)

I purchased, downloaded & printed just about everything about Harn, Canon and Fanon during the last year or so. I just recently organized all the material into folders and noticed that all the material did not have this information and some that did, did not have it in a nice information box (they had "hidden" it within the text). Some mentioned only the hundred or shire, for example. But how was I supposed to know even what kingdom those were in, having never used any of the Harn modules before?

For a newbie in Harn, it wasn't easy (or at least it wasn't fast) to find out where to place some of the articles.

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http://kotisivu.dnainternet.net/viljou75/
http://rpgandboardgaming.blogspot.com/
http://jounivilkka.blogspot.com/

Good point - while I can usually recognise most places in the West once stuff from East of Trobridge Inn appears I have to rush to my map and track it down.

Personally, I'm not sure that you need any more than:

Location: Shire, Kingdom
Holder: name
Liege: name

Which is fairly standard. In fact I can't think of any articles that don't include the above.

The shire and kingdom information is enough for a general idea of the location, the liege details let you track down the hundred from the kingdom module.

Neil

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Uxbridge English Dictionary:
Iconography: Filthy Byzantine pictures

Tee hee. What's the current projection?

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I'm your only friend, I'm not your only friend, but I'm a little glowing friend, but really I'm not actually your friend, but I am.

It got slipped back behind the double-HQ of Herblore and Potions. There is another HQ with them already. They are on a boardgame now. Then comes Rethem. Maybe Q3...
It would be nice to have it in time for HarnCon.

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Heroes should be uncommon. They just happen to be the PCs.

/me resists dusting off an old and obvious joke.

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I'm your only friend, I'm not your only friend, but I'm a little glowing friend, but really I'm not actually your friend, but I am.

Q3 '08!





or maybe '09...

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Heroes should be uncommon. They just happen to be the PCs.