Heroth Castle by Tom Dalgliesh is a role playing game supplement published by Columbia Games Inc. for user with Hârn and HârnMaster.
The supplement is available as a ten-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $4.99 but was purchased at a reduced price during a sale.
The opening paragraph explains that Heroth is a castle and small town in northeast Kanday, and is the largest settlement in the area, close to both the Thardic Republic and the Kingdom of Rethem.
History starts with the founding of the settlement as an imperial fort during the Corani Empire and, though captured during a war with the Kingdom of Aleathia, remained a legion fortress until the collapse of the empire. It was then ruled by various despots until captured by the Order of the Checkered Shield for Kanday and has been held by Kanday ever since, with details on the prior earls. A sidebar has the coat of arms, location, holder, liege, population and subordinates to the earl.
Current Situation explains the current earl, Sinel Cassean, is the most powerful tenant-in-chief in the kingdom, in terms of land. It gives his relations with various powers, and his desire to seek alliance with Tharda. A sidebar gives more details on the current earl and his ambitions.
Government explains Heroth is the earl’s primary seat and is present for around half the year, the remainder spent at his ancestral keep, visiting vassals and other places of importance.
Economics explains the town enjoys prosperity as a stopover for merchant caravans and travellers.
Religion explains that the climate is not very tolerant. Larana and Peoni are favoured, Halea, Ilvir, Save-K’nor, and Sarajin are tolerated but discouraged and worship of Naveh, Morgath and Agrik is punishable by death. A sidebar gives details on Ravinath Forest, part of a royal forest and notorious as a refuge for outlaws and brigands; the earl’s foresters are often outnumbered by those they would roust.
Following this is a full-page colour GM’s map of the area. This is followed by descriptions of various points of interest, including businesses, with a map of the two floors of an inn.
Next, Caer Heroth covers the castle itself in detail, together with maps.
Next is a page with an excerpt from Atlas Hârnica Map E7, showing Heroth’s location, a map of Hârn, again with Heroth’s location marked, and a list of related products.
The final page is a player map, which is like the GM’s map but not labelled.
Heroth Castle in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and, although comparatively short, has enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text is either single column with sidebar or two column and appeared to be free of errors. As well as the various maps, there are also a few colour and black and white illustrations. Presentation is decent.
The supplement lacks any HârnMaster stats, and can therefore be used with other systems. It gives a decent overview of a settlement that, with a few changes, could be dropped into other settings, especially as Hârn settlements tend to be small. Heroth Castle is a decent little supplement and it can be found by clicking here.
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