HARP (High Adventure Role Playing)

By Tim Dugger and Heike A. Kubash

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558066020
• ISBN13: 9781558066021
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Iron Crown Enterprises
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Replacement for much of the d20 System

I've played Rolemaster before when I joined a friend's game and he provided me with a pre-gen. Eventually I bought a core Rolemaster book, and saw how some people could see it as complex. So it was part of that percieved complexity that made me take a look at HARP, coupled with my disgust with the d20 mentality, and the d20 system's focus on combat and level-chasing over playing a character. Likes -Blood Talents: No mixed races presented as "true" races. -Masquerades as class and level based when it's really skill based -Playable as is and has expansions you can use if you choose. -Scaling Spells: no need for "spell chains". -Single task resolution chart. -Spells as skills. -Three different methods of stat generation, of which, none suck. Dislikes -EDO: Elf, Dwarf, Orc.

Not a d20 rip off

If you've been roleplaying for a while you should know of the Rolemaster system and probably have heard that it is very rules heavy with more charts than you can shake a sword at. I have even heard it deprecatingly refered to as chartmaster.Well now the producers of Rolemaster (Iron Crown Eneterprises) have put together this fabulous new vehicle of theirs. When I was first gathering information about the product I asked "Is it a cut-down version of Rolemaster" to which I got a very snide "No" from a chat forum by one of the designers. It is a stand-alone product offering - well read the product endorsements - that is compatible with Rolemaster.Having purchased the product I still can't shake the feeling that its a cut-down version of Rolemaster. However I think it is absolutely great. Currently I hads been nuying d20 material big-time, glad to have a only one system to deal with (I like lots of genres to play with), however when bitching with friends about what we saw as shortcomings with d20 I would always harken back to Rolemaster.So why do I prefer HARP over d20? More flexibility. Sure in d20 you can mix and match classes and get funky prestige classes etc, etc. While this works great, it still seems clunky to me. In HARP, skills are everything. You don't get an automatic +1 each time you raise a level as a fighter, you have to spend skill points like everyone else (it costs less though and you get extra bonuses every 5th level). Resistance rolls are also determined by ranks in a pertinent skill. You want a fighter with a wicked Will save, buy that appropriate skill ranks. And broaching the holy of holies, if you want your fighter to learn a spell, go right ahead and spend those skill points (sure its expensive, but you can do it). So while d20 allows freedom within a tight bundle, HARP allows absolute freedom to muck with your character.I mentioned spells. To learn a spell you need to develop ranks in that spell. As you improve your knowledge in that spell you can do more potent things with it, modifying it as the task requires.Combat is also fast and furious with one roll deciding whether you hit and how much damage was done. Yeah theres just over a dozen charts in the book, but not all will be used in a combat and I keep a seperate copy out of the book (downloadable from the ICE website) so I don't damage the spine of my book.I playtested HARP with my group of ardent d20ers and they were thoroughly chuffed and are looking forward to a campaign. My only problem is that there doesn't seem to be a fantasy realm I can't create, leaving me with too many choices, but is that a bad thing?