A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Nurisel Castle

Nurisel Castle by N. Robin Crossby, Tom Dalgliesh and Edwin King is a role playing game supplement published by Columbia Games Inc. for use with Hârn and HârnMaster.

The supplement is available as a 14-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $9.99 but was purchased at a reduced price thanks to a special offer.

The opening paragraph explains that this is the principal seat of the Earl of Nurisel and the second largest settlement on Melderyn.

History gives details from the original settlement of the region by the Jarin around 2,000 years ago, through becoming one of the five kingdoms that predated the founding of Melderyn, it being the home of Lothraem Halmaenth, a powerful Gray Sorcerer who became regent and instituted a reign of terror. to the present day and its reputation as a centre of learning. A sidebar has the coat of arms, location, holder, liege, population and subordinates to the earl.

Current Situation covers the current earl, who is covered in more detail in a sidebar, along with taxes, and his relationships with his major tenants, with brief details on them.

Religion explains that Save-K’nor, Larani and Peoni enjoy tax-rree status whilst worship of Agrik, Naveh and Morgath is punishable by death. Other faiths may not be welcomed.

Economics explains that Nurisel benefits from a prosperous maritime community and its proximity to Cherafir. Fish is an important good.

Legend of the Black Tower gives more details on Lothraem Halmaenth, his regency and reign of terror, his confrontation by six mages which resulted in three of them dying and Halmenth’s tower being destroyed by the sorcerer himself, whose body was never found. A sidebar covers the military forces and the annual blessing of the fleet celebration.

Following this is a labelled colour map of the settlement and descriptions of various points of interest, including businesses.

Caer Nurisel is itself then mapped and described.

Next is a page with an excerpt from the Melderyn Kingdom Map, showing Nurisel’s location, a map of Hârn, again with Nurisel’s location marked, and a list of related products.

Next is the map of Nurisel again, this time a player version without labels.

Rhynhuthor Seminary describes and maps the temple of Save-K’nor in Nurisel, with sidebars covering the high deacon and adventure hooks.

Miller (Jorain of Hacdonael) covers the settlement’s mill in more detail, again with maps, and a sidebar covers Jorain of Hacdonael.

Nurisel Castle in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text is either single column with sidebar or two columns and appeared to be free of errors. As well as the maps, there are a number of colour and black and white images. Presentation is decent.

The supplement doesn’t cover just a castle; it covers the castle and accompanying town. Or, for the period, accompanying city. In addition to the castle, two more locations are covered in a decent level of detail, too. The supplement lacks any HârnMaster stats so can be used with any system, and with a bit of work changing certain references, the location should be easy enough to drop into other settings, making this more broadly useful. Nurisel Castle can be found by clicking here.