Heraldry by N. Robin Crossby is a role playing game supplement published by Columbia Games Inc. for use with Hârn and HârnMaster.
The supplement is available as a 22-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $9.99 but was purchased at a reduced price thanks to a special offer. Two pages are ads.
It starts with a paragraph on heraldry, which is also called armoury, before moving on to The College of Heralds. This starts by explaining that Hârnic and Lythian heralds have three important roles, the design, execution and records of armorial achievements, formal diplomacy and genealogical records, as well as ceremonial functions. Colleges are considered neutral ground and the college as a whole is supported in various ways. It then looks at the three different ranks of heralds, as well as having a list of Lythian colleges; many on Hârn use Cherafir as their central archive.
Achievements starts by explaining this is the name of a complete heraldic bearing; coat of arms only applies when it is on a coat. The looks at the different terminology for the different parts of the achievement and what these mean, with a colour example achievement and tinctures, along with a page that is an official copy of a heraldic entry, though this can be filled in.
The Right to Bear Arms explains that only gentlefolk, legions and fighting orders have this right; “arms” here means heraldic achievements, as in coat of arms, not weapons. These three groups are then examined, with a description of what heraldic registers are.
Genealogy looks at how this affects the arms that can be born, and how a knight unlikely to inherit the family arms can get a grant of their own.
Blazonry explains that a registration includes a written description of an achievement, which is called a blazon; this, not an illustration, is the authoritative version. This is followed by explanations as to what the field of the shield, partition lines and charges are. There are also religious and royal prerogatives when it comes to achievements.
Following this are six pages of illustrations showing various different achievement elements in black and white.
Marshalling of Arms explains that this is when two or more arms are merged into one, and several methods of doing so are illustrated.
Flags and Standards explains how these are executed.
Military Conventions looks at how various military organisations display arms, including fighting orders and Thardic legions.
Maritime Conventions explains how arms are displayed at sea and how pilots are the only professional class allowed to have their own heraldic device.
Badges looks at what guilds and temples are allowed to display.
International Differencing looks at how arms are displayed in different countries.
Heraldry 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 is either single column with sidebar or two column, and appeared to be free of errors. There are a large number of illustrations, both colour and black and white, though the majority are black and white illustrations of heraldic elements. Presentation is decent.
This is a completely system neutral supplement with no HârnMaster stats, and will therefore work with any system. In addition, though there are references to Hârn and the other nations of Lythia and beyond, a large proportion of the supplement is based on genuine heraldry, which makes a substantial amount useful for any setting that plans to use heraldry in a similar way to how it was used in the real world. This does make the supplement more generally useful, though there are entire books on the subject that could be used instead. Heraldry is rather expensive at full price and it can be found by clicking here.
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