Bears by Rebecca Downey is a role playing game supplement published by Columbia Games Inc. for use with HârnMaster. This is a short bestiary article.

This is a four-page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG for $1.99 but it was purchased at a reduced price due to a special discount.

The first page gives some general information on bears; how long they live, what they do, how long they live and what they eat. Bears will apparently kill, but not eat, Gargun; a common trait. There is a description of their senses, their skills, including combat and tracking, and how cubs can be reared in captivity and be trained. A sidebar covers hunting bears, what enrages them and how they behave and the practice of bear-baiting.

The next three pages cover three types of bear. Each bear is named, together with variants, and it is described, together with its habitat and hunting. Sidebars on each page have a map of Hârn, showing the range of each bear, followed by a stat block for a male of each species. The three types of bear are Brown, Black and Snow, each more dangerous than the preceding one, with Snow Bears being the deadliest and known to track and hunt for miles, no matter what the prey.

Bears in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and at this length doesn’t need them. The text maintains a single column with sidebar format and appeared to be free of error. There are black and white illustrations for each bear type, plus an example of bear tracks with a human handprint as comparison. Presentation is decent.

Each bear, and bears overall, is well described as to how they behave, the threat they cause and how they can be treated. Although they may be hunted and killed, or captured, doing so is a dangerous business, despite the potential rewards. Bears are not safe creatures to hunt. This is a HârnMaster bestiary supplement so, unlike the more generic ones, this is only usable with that system. Bears is a decent little bestiary article and it can be found by clicking here.