Dragons by Rob Barnes, N. Robin Crossby and Chris J. Van Tighem is a role playing game supplement published by Columbia Games Inc. for use with Hârn and HârnMaster. This is a bestiary supplement.
The supplement is available as an 18-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $8.99 but was purchased at a reduced price thanks to a special offer.
The supplement starts with some general details on dragons, with the two main types found in Hârn being fire and ice dragons, which share many of the same abilities, though there may be other species.
History looks at the history of dragons, with a sidebar covering one creation myth, with both the Sindarin and Khuzdul have tales of dragonkind being in Hârn before the Elder Folk and there are also tales of dragons and dragon-like creatures across Lythia. It’s believed that dragons have an oral tradition of their history, but don’t share this.
Biology looks at the appearance and physiology of the two main dragon types; when young, they look different, but grow similar as they age. They may have an otherworldy origin. A sidebar looks at dragon blood, a powerful alchemical substance.
Diet looks at what dragons eat. They are carnivores and their digestion produces hydrogen gas, which both helps them fly and is the origin of their breath weapon.
Reproduction and Habitat looks at their low rate of fertility and reproduction. There are HârnMaster stats for seven different ages of dragon.
Dragon Abilities covers these, describing them and giving HârnMaster terms, but they are highly variable and a GM can use this to make each dragon distinct. Flight, armour, claws and bite and tail are covered, along with a sidebar on their breath weapon and area of effect attacks.
Dragon Talents looks at their ability to charm other creatures, speak, sensitivity to enchantment and psionics and pyrokinesis/cryokinesis and a sidebar covers dragon magic.
Known Ahnerirn lists three reputed fire dragons, with a sidebar on the bestiary they were listed in.
Known Dhivernin lists four reputed ice dragons from the same bestiary.
Lesser Dragons looks at other draconic creatures, with a sidebar looking at dragonships and dragons in heraldry. The creatures then follow, with HârnMaster stats. Some are covered in more detail than others.
The Amphitere is a comparatively small winged serpent.
The Basilisk can mesmerise people, freezing them in place, which is where the reputed turning people to stone came from.
The Lindowrm is a wingless serpent that is found in or near water and is an excellent swimmer.
The Drake is a wingless reptilian creature found primarily in forests that can spray acidic venom.
The Wyvern is a two-legged winged reptile with a poison stinger.
Dragons 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 co0lumn with sidebar or two columns and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of colour and black and white illustrations, including a full-page scale drawing of a dragon. Presentation is decent.
As with other HârnMaster bestiary articles, this covers a limited number of creatures in great detail. In this case, they are dragons or similar to them. The true dragons are covered in the greatest detail, but the other types have a fair amount too, up to two pages. The main part of the content is the background material, which means the supplement could be adapted to other systems without too much trouble, especially if stats don’t need to be generated. Dragons is, at full price, not that cheap, but it contains a good amount of material and it can be found by clicking here.
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