Welcome to the second incarnation of the Penultimate HârnPage, a mixed collection of stuff I’ve created for various hobbies.
Here you’ll find material for tabletop gaming (particularly the Hârn RPG setting and the HârnMaster Gold and Hero System 6th edition rules), various articles I’ve written and maps I’ve made exploring English medieval history and the East African colonial and post-independence periods.
You’ll also find a gallery of my 3D artwork, with some advice and resources for creating your own.
This version of the Penultimate HârnPage differs from the original in many ways. First off, it’s a lot prettier (in my opinion). The old page gained its reputation for its content, not its appearance. But the web has changed in the 10 years since the original launched; a strict adherence to the capabilities of second-generation browsers, once a matter of pride, is now merely antiquated. Besides, my ability to tart the page up with nice piccies has increased considerably.
The organisation of the site has changed as well. The major change to previously existing material is the separation of Hârnic resources and historical resources. The original idea was to present history for Hârniacs, and so fact and fantasy were intertwined. But more and more people visited the site purely for the history, and found the Hârnic references confusing (or downright inexplicable).
With the reorganisation, I’ve taken the opportunity to convert essays and articles to PDF where I think it appropriate. So many people requested this (or offered to do it for me), and PDF has become such an accepted format, that insistence on HTML essays to save bandwidth and ensure forwards-compatibility now seems completely outmoded.
The consequence of this is that long-time readers may not find articles where they expect them - and may find they have changed. For instance, my popular medieval farming calendar has been updated, moved into the History section and its Hârnic references removed (even as illustrations have been added). However, Hârniacs will soon find a dedicated Hârnic Farming Calendar, based on the medieval one (sometimes word for word) in the Hârn section.
But some things don’t change. The Penultimate HârnPage is still a labour of love. It still has great content for gamers of a historical bent and, even though it's pretty now, my Luddite tendencies mean it’s still hand-carved in a plain text editor. Except for the new blog part, which is in WordPress. I draw the line at custom-building a whole content management system.