Published by Emperor’s Choice Games (the long-time stewards of Dave Hargrave’s legendary Arduin multiverse), the Arduin Trilogy Boxed Set – Harbinger Edition is a modern retro-clone/restoration release designed to preserve and expand upon the classic 1970s Arduin Grimoires.
It serves as both a pristine reprint collection of Hargrave’s foundational books and a treasure-trove package loaded with unreleased collector’s material, expanded card sets, and vintage game aids.
Core Contents of the Harbinger Box
The Harbinger Edition collects the foundational texts that gave birth to the Arduin Grimoire series in their original $6 \times 9$-inch saddle-stitched digest formats:
Volume I: The Arduin Grimoire (Variant Double Pack)
Includes two separate printings of the legendary 96-page first volume:
The iconic Erol Otus cover edition.
The Greg Espinoza cover edition.
Content: Introduces original custom classes (Phraint, Rune Weaver, Star-Powered Mage), critical hit/fumble tables, and cross-genre sci-fi/fantasy spells.
Volume II: Welcome to Skull Tower (100 pages)
Expands on monster stats, hive-mind creatures, additional spell levels, and rules for tech-magic integration (plasma weapons, power armor) within classic fantasy d20 frameworks.
Volume III: The Runes of Doom (100 pages)
Features high-level planar travel, demonology charts, exotic magical items, and Hargrave's gonzo worldbuilding details.
The Arduin Primer (16 pages)
A rare, reprinted classic collector's booklet outlining the foundations of the Arduin rule set and campaign philosophy.
Boxed Goods & Physical Extras
Beyond the core books, the Harbinger Box includes physical accessories designed to evoke late-70s/early-80s boxed sets:
Custom Packaging: A sturdy storage box designed with side finger-slots for easy shelf retrieval.
Unpublished Magik Item Cards: Two artifact reference cards pulled directly from Dave Hargrave’s personal, previously unreleased archival notes.
Cardstock Critical Hit Table: A durable, standalone reference card for Arduin’s famous, brutal critical hit and amputation charts.
Character Sheet Pack: Four printed blank vintage-style Arduin character sheets.
Polyhedral Dice: A full set of black polyhedral gaming dice.
Harbinger Edition Bonus Card Bundles
Emperor's Choice bundled the Harbinger Boxed Set with two supplemental card expansions that convert classic Arduin lore into modular gaming aids:
| Add-On Bundle | Description / Contents |
| Arduin Fantasy Card Collection | A 72-card cut-out sheet set featuring monster stats, exotic treasures, and classic Arduin encounters. |
| Arduin Character Pack & Pocket Rules | A 40-card character option deck alongside the Pocket Rules ABA (Arduin Battle System) quick-reference guide. |
Why It Matters for OSR & Classic Gaming
Preservation of Early Sci-Fantasy: Before official campaign settings unified fantasy styles, Hargrave’s work bridged raw, high-lethal d20 dungeon crawls with lasers, psionics, and cosmic horrors.
Modular Utility: The material in the Harbinger Edition functions both as a standalone retro-clone system or as a plug-and-play "weird fantasy" supplement for traditional OSR engines (like Worlds Without Number, ACKS II, or Barrows & Borderlands).
Historical Value: By including both the Otus and Espinoza versions of Volume I, it preserves the visual evolution of one of tabletop RPG history's earliest independent publications
