N. Robin Crossby
Encyclopedia
N. Robin Crossby was the creator of the Hârn
fantasy setting and the HârnMaster role-playing game system, as well as dozens of other related works describing the world of Hârn.
, England
, the third of four children. His early hobbies included slot-car racing, a fascination with dinosaurs and the drawing of fictional maps. His early education took place at William Ellis Grammar School in London. The roots of Hârn
can probably be traced back to his early role-playing experiments with his brother and sister in the early 1960s, which involved a hand-drawn map and a personal history of the lost continent of Atlantis
.
Crossby’s family emigrated to Canada
in 1968, settling in the Vancouver
, British Columbia
suburb of Coquitlam. He attended Centennial High School. Between 1974 and 1980 Crossby was involved in dozens of projects, only some of which came to fruition. After graduating high school both he and his future wife Sharon went to work assembling circuit boards at Crossby Electronics. This company was owned by his father, Victor Crossby. They did a great deal of GlenAyre Electronics’ contract work during the 1970s and were responsible for the bulk of circuitry installed at the former BC Hydro tower located on Burnaby Mountain
. Crossby was employed there until about 1980. He attended Douglas College
from 1974 to 1976, graduating with an Associate Degree in Philosophy
-based company Maple Meadows Glass in approximately 1995.
After graduating Douglas College he transferred to Simon Fraser University
, where he co-founded SPLUD, the Society for the Protection of Large Unpleasant Dragons, which held meetings in the SFU Rotunda. While SPLUD was supposedly a board games club, in fact Crossby used it as a platform for his many gaming experiments. Again were seen early precursors of Hârn
going by names like Power and Resource. There were endless versions of these games, their one common quality being an abundance of detail.
player and composer who often performed at family gatherings. He was also an amateur playwright, and between Douglas College and SFU Robin, his future wife Sharon, his sister Sue and their friends operated a small community theatre company called Threshold Theatre out of the James Cowan Theatre in Burnaby.
Robin signed his first contract with the Vancouver-based gaming company in 1983. Throughout that year CGI published a series of booklets called Encyclopedia Hârnica, consisting of the history and background of several regions of the island of Hârn
. These were followed in the next three years by the Kingdom Modules, a re-release of much of the same material in a more condensed format. Also in the early 80s, Columbia Games
released the Hârn Regional Module, which included a massive, full-colour map that attracted many reluctant players to the system. The Hârn Regional Module was later re-released as HârnWorld.
In 1996 CGI came out with HârnMaster Core (known colloquially as HârnMaster II), printed in full-colour on cardstock in a binder that theoretically allowed the system to expand with future modules. The modules included in the new HârnMaster Core series were also printed with the more popular D20 statistics, a different points system that simplified Hârn’s extremely detailed points system and brought out resentment in veteran Hârn players who preferred the HârnMaster I rules. CGI argued that this would bring in a new generation of players, but Hârn fandom has boasted about the same number of players since approximately 1990. HârnMaster II also retailed for nearly $50 USD, which for the time was extremely expensive.
, an Australian video game company interested in developing a Hârnic Internet role-playing game.Robin signed his second contract with CGI that same year. Over the next three years Auran paid for four trips to Australia
including one where he was accompanied by his wife, as well as a business associate Tom Dalgliesh and his wife Penny. But tensions had been rising between Robin and Columbia Games, which had moved to Washington state for tax purposes in 1999. Robin had grown unhappy with the direction being taken with the Hârn product line and had begun self-publishing his own modules under the name Kelestia Productions
in 1997. These modules and rulebooks diverged from CGI’s releases as of the HârnMaster I series. Robin released both digital products in PDF format through Hyperbooks.com and print products which were produced in Burnaby and shipped in large volume from his home with the help of his eldest daughter Arien. During this period he published nearly half a dozen products, including his own extension of the basic rules called HârnMaster Gold. HMG was not only a new version of the Hârn universe, but a guide to campaigning with the Hârn world in any gaming system without compromising on the level of detail.
CGI and Robin worked together alongside Auran until 2000 when the Auran project was cancelled by Electronics Arts, the games proposed publisher, before it was fully completed. It was one of a number of games cancelled by Electronic Arts at the time due to budget cutbacks. Over the next three years there arose more conflicts between Robin and CGI over licensing and unpaid royalties, which led to Robin formally dissolving his contract with Columbia Games in 2003. Columbia games continued to produce Hârn products in defiance of the contract dissolution up until Crossby’s death and beyond.
The present-day Kelestia Productions website was founded in approximately 2006 and began selling digital copies of modules under the name Hârn Canon, to differentiate it from the products still being sold by Columbia Games. These modules were created not only by Robin but by his fans; by this period Robin was actively encouraging the input of his fanbase to create new material. The Chélemby City (publication title: Chélemby: City of the Sea Kings) module was produced as a group effort between Robin and many contributors and fans, including his long-time friend Rob Duff. Kelestia Productions was incorporated in October 2008, and since his death in July 2008, the company has published modules and products under the guidance of his heirs and estate-appointed project heads Jeremy Baker (a New Zealander) and Ken Snellings (an American).
Though the dispute between Kelestia Productions and Columbia Games has never been completely resolved, Kelestia Productions has done business selling electronic-format modules since about 2006. After Robin’s death in 2008 his intellectual property rights passed on to his eldest daughter Arien. The trademark for the name “Hârn” was formally granted to Arien Crossby by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in September 2009, and Kelestia Productions is looking into settling the conflict between themselves and CGI in the near future.
, he died two years later on July 23, 2008, in a hospice
in Port Coquitlam, BC.
Hârn
Hârn is a world published by and designed for use in fantasy role-playing games . It was designed by N. Robin Crossby, and it was published by Columbia Games in 1983. In 2003, Crossby claimed that the contract between him and CGI had ended...
fantasy setting and the HârnMaster role-playing game system, as well as dozens of other related works describing the world of Hârn.
Early life
N. Robin Crossby was born of Anglo-Welsh parents in 1954 in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the third of four children. His early hobbies included slot-car racing, a fascination with dinosaurs and the drawing of fictional maps. His early education took place at William Ellis Grammar School in London. The roots of Hârn
Hârn
Hârn is a world published by and designed for use in fantasy role-playing games . It was designed by N. Robin Crossby, and it was published by Columbia Games in 1983. In 2003, Crossby claimed that the contract between him and CGI had ended...
can probably be traced back to his early role-playing experiments with his brother and sister in the early 1960s, which involved a hand-drawn map and a personal history of the lost continent of Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
.
Crossby’s family emigrated to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1968, settling in the Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
suburb of Coquitlam. He attended Centennial High School. Between 1974 and 1980 Crossby was involved in dozens of projects, only some of which came to fruition. After graduating high school both he and his future wife Sharon went to work assembling circuit boards at Crossby Electronics. This company was owned by his father, Victor Crossby. They did a great deal of GlenAyre Electronics’ contract work during the 1970s and were responsible for the bulk of circuitry installed at the former BC Hydro tower located on Burnaby Mountain
Burnaby Mountain
Burnaby Mountain, elev. , is a low, forested mountain in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia, overlooking the upper arms of Burrard Inlet. It is the location of Simon Fraser University, the Discovery Park research community, and the System Control Tower of BC Hydro and a new complex of...
. Crossby was employed there until about 1980. He attended Douglas College
Douglas College
Established in 1970, Douglas College is one of the largest public colleges in British Columbia, Canada serving 14,000 credit students, 9,000 continuing education students and 1,000 international students each year.-Programs:...
from 1974 to 1976, graduating with an Associate Degree in Philosophy
College years
During his tenure at Douglas College he began dabbling in graphic design, creating many logos and posters for various Douglas College clubs under the name Hexagon Graphics. Hexagon was still around decades later, its largest project being a logo design for Maple RidgeMaple Ridge, British Columbia
Maple Ridge is a District Municipality in British Columbia, located in the northeastern section of Metro Vancouver. Maple Ridge has a population of approximately 68,949.-History:...
-based company Maple Meadows Glass in approximately 1995.
After graduating Douglas College he transferred to Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
, where he co-founded SPLUD, the Society for the Protection of Large Unpleasant Dragons, which held meetings in the SFU Rotunda. While SPLUD was supposedly a board games club, in fact Crossby used it as a platform for his many gaming experiments. Again were seen early precursors of Hârn
Hârn
Hârn is a world published by and designed for use in fantasy role-playing games . It was designed by N. Robin Crossby, and it was published by Columbia Games in 1983. In 2003, Crossby claimed that the contract between him and CGI had ended...
going by names like Power and Resource. There were endless versions of these games, their one common quality being an abundance of detail.
Hobbies
Crossby was similarly attracted to the arts; he was an accomplished guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
player and composer who often performed at family gatherings. He was also an amateur playwright, and between Douglas College and SFU Robin, his future wife Sharon, his sister Sue and their friends operated a small community theatre company called Threshold Theatre out of the James Cowan Theatre in Burnaby.
Family life
Not long after arriving in Canada he met his future spouse, Sharon MacLeod, a close friend of his sister Susan. Robin and Sharon had their first child in 1983 (a daughter named Arien) and their second in 1987 (Faya). They were not married until 1987 just barely before the birth of their third daughter, Kiley, in 1988.Business and Publishing
Near the end of the 1970s Robin started calling his gaming system Hârn and began shopping it with publishers. In 1980, Robin made first contact with the gaming company that would later become Columbia Games Inc.Columbia Games
Columbia Games is a maker of board and role-playing games including Hârn and a variety of games, mostly wargames using blocks instead of the more conventional chits...
Robin signed his first contract with the Vancouver-based gaming company in 1983. Throughout that year CGI published a series of booklets called Encyclopedia Hârnica, consisting of the history and background of several regions of the island of Hârn
Hârn
Hârn is a world published by and designed for use in fantasy role-playing games . It was designed by N. Robin Crossby, and it was published by Columbia Games in 1983. In 2003, Crossby claimed that the contract between him and CGI had ended...
. These were followed in the next three years by the Kingdom Modules, a re-release of much of the same material in a more condensed format. Also in the early 80s, Columbia Games
Columbia Games
Columbia Games is a maker of board and role-playing games including Hârn and a variety of games, mostly wargames using blocks instead of the more conventional chits...
released the Hârn Regional Module, which included a massive, full-colour map that attracted many reluctant players to the system. The Hârn Regional Module was later re-released as HârnWorld.
About Harn
Like many popular role-playing environments of the time, Hârn took place in a quasi-medieval setting, on the world of Kèthîra in what could be described in another reality, but described in detail many factors that other systems often neglected. One section of HârnWorld, for instance, laid out a complex model for generating weather patterns that affected the entire planet. Hârn was unusual at its outset for having no defined system to support the story – many early players used Dungeons & Dragons rules systems or RuneQuest models to actually play Hârn campaigns. It wasn’t until 1986 that Columbia Games released Hârn’s companion rule system, HârnMaster I, which was a leap forward in RPG design in that it calculated the probabilities of various battle, exploration and magic scenarios in a far greater degree of detail than any existing system of the time. The level of detail involved in both modules and statistics made it intimidating for more faint-hearted players. Hârn meta-material was available in the form of CGI’s HârnQuest Magazine, released four times annually, which is still published today. At one time Hârn fandom also had a thriving mailing list called HârnLine, also known as the Duffleboard for its moderator Rob Duff.In 1996 CGI came out with HârnMaster Core (known colloquially as HârnMaster II), printed in full-colour on cardstock in a binder that theoretically allowed the system to expand with future modules. The modules included in the new HârnMaster Core series were also printed with the more popular D20 statistics, a different points system that simplified Hârn’s extremely detailed points system and brought out resentment in veteran Hârn players who preferred the HârnMaster I rules. CGI argued that this would bring in a new generation of players, but Hârn fandom has boasted about the same number of players since approximately 1990. HârnMaster II also retailed for nearly $50 USD, which for the time was extremely expensive.
International Publishing and Conflict with Columbia Games
In 1998, Robin and CGI were contacted by Auran GamesAuran
N3V Games is an Australian video game developer and publisher based in Brisbane, Queensland.-History:Auran was established by Greg Lane and Graham Edelsten in 1995, and released its first game, Dark Reign: The Future of War, in 1997...
, an Australian video game company interested in developing a Hârnic Internet role-playing game.Robin signed his second contract with CGI that same year. Over the next three years Auran paid for four trips to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
including one where he was accompanied by his wife, as well as a business associate Tom Dalgliesh and his wife Penny. But tensions had been rising between Robin and Columbia Games, which had moved to Washington state for tax purposes in 1999. Robin had grown unhappy with the direction being taken with the Hârn product line and had begun self-publishing his own modules under the name Kelestia Productions
Kelestia Productions
Keléstia Productions publishes role-playing materials for use with Hârn, a fictitious setting. Keléstia Productions was created by N. Robin Crossby, the original creator of Hârn, after a contract dispute with publisher Columbia Games proved irresolvable....
in 1997. These modules and rulebooks diverged from CGI’s releases as of the HârnMaster I series. Robin released both digital products in PDF format through Hyperbooks.com and print products which were produced in Burnaby and shipped in large volume from his home with the help of his eldest daughter Arien. During this period he published nearly half a dozen products, including his own extension of the basic rules called HârnMaster Gold. HMG was not only a new version of the Hârn universe, but a guide to campaigning with the Hârn world in any gaming system without compromising on the level of detail.
CGI and Robin worked together alongside Auran until 2000 when the Auran project was cancelled by Electronics Arts, the games proposed publisher, before it was fully completed. It was one of a number of games cancelled by Electronic Arts at the time due to budget cutbacks. Over the next three years there arose more conflicts between Robin and CGI over licensing and unpaid royalties, which led to Robin formally dissolving his contract with Columbia Games in 2003. Columbia games continued to produce Hârn products in defiance of the contract dissolution up until Crossby’s death and beyond.
The present-day Kelestia Productions website was founded in approximately 2006 and began selling digital copies of modules under the name Hârn Canon, to differentiate it from the products still being sold by Columbia Games. These modules were created not only by Robin but by his fans; by this period Robin was actively encouraging the input of his fanbase to create new material. The Chélemby City (publication title: Chélemby: City of the Sea Kings) module was produced as a group effort between Robin and many contributors and fans, including his long-time friend Rob Duff. Kelestia Productions was incorporated in October 2008, and since his death in July 2008, the company has published modules and products under the guidance of his heirs and estate-appointed project heads Jeremy Baker (a New Zealander) and Ken Snellings (an American).
Though the dispute between Kelestia Productions and Columbia Games has never been completely resolved, Kelestia Productions has done business selling electronic-format modules since about 2006. After Robin’s death in 2008 his intellectual property rights passed on to his eldest daughter Arien. The trademark for the name “Hârn” was formally granted to Arien Crossby by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in September 2009, and Kelestia Productions is looking into settling the conflict between themselves and CGI in the near future.
Later Life and Death
In early 2006, Robin was diagnosed with liposarcoma of the bowel, a cancer arising in fat cells. Throughout his illness he continued his work, and the last map completed by Crossby was a map of the entire Harnic world. Many also applauded Crossby for keeping a sharp and witty blog on the Kelstia website during the course of his illness. Despite surgery and chemotherapyChemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
, he died two years later on July 23, 2008, in a hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
in Port Coquitlam, BC.