Н. Робин Кроссби: Создатель мира Hârn

Canadian role playing game designer

N. Robin Crossby (May 18, 1954 – July 23, 2008) 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.

N. Robin Crossby was born of Anglo Welsh parents in 1954 in London, 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 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.

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 Ridge 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. SPLUD was a boardgame club that held meetings in the SFU Rotunda. Some of the games played there were designed earlier by Crossby with names like Power and Resource. After encountering Dungeons & Dragons, he started on early precursors of Hârn.

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 Kelestia website during the course of his illness. Despite surgery and chemotherapy, he died two years later on July 23, 2008, in a hospice in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia.