City of Cherafir is a role playing game supplement published by Columbia Games Inc. for use with Hârn or HârnMaster.
The supplement is available as a 36-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $26.46 but was purchased at a reduced price thanks to a special discount.
The supplement starts with an explanation that Cherafir is the capital of the Kingdom of Melderyn and is a centre of scholastic activity. A sidebar gives some stats for the city.
History covers the history of the region from the time of the Earthmasters, though the earliest periods just have brief notes.
Economics covers the trade in Cherafir, which is the largest market on Hârn and is the closest point to Lythia. Some trade is also proscribed. A sidebar has the chronology and taxes.
Government covers the main civic officials with a sidebar having council members.
Military Forces covers the armed forces of the city, the city watch, royal guard and fortifications. Law and Order explains how that is maintained. A sidebar covers religion.
The city itself is then described. It starts with a map of the city, with the different districts marked, an explanation of the numbering and a sidebar has an index of locations.
Each of the eight districts is then described. Each district has an overview, a map of the district with points of interest marked and details on these points of interest. Where appropriate, size, quality and prices of the goods and services available at shops and service establishments is given. One district, the Alienage, where outsiders can dock, also has a more detailed map of the area and the buildings, spread across several pages. This map is also available separately.
After this is a map showing part of Melderyn with Cherafir on it, the city’s stats again and a sidebar with various related supplements. This is followed by an unmarked players’ map of the city.
Following this, four locations in the city, some of which were previously sold separately, are detailed more thoroughly on two pages apiece, with maps, descriptions and, for two of them, adventure hooks.
City of Cherafir in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text follows either a single column with sidebar or two column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of illustrations, as well as the colour maps, both black and white and colour. Presentation is decent.
This supplement describes a comparatively small, though big for Hârn, fantasy city in some detail. Nowhere near every location is described, given the population, but a lot of places are described in varying levels of detail. Though in theory this is designed for use with HârnMaster, it is actually system neutral and could be used with any system. With a bit of tweaking, it could also be dropped into many low fantasy settings, making it pretty useful generically.
In all, the supplement describes a city in a good level of detail, with enough details of what can be found there to make it useful. However, it’s also not exactly cheap, given the length, at full price, which does describe many of the Columbia Games supplements truthfully. City of Cherafir is a decent, but expensive, supplement covering a city and it can be found by clicking here.
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