Iron_Chef wrote:
How does the Game of Thrones RPG incorporate the political intrigue of GRRM's setting with the d20 rules set and adventures? Has anything special been done? It's really a bit hard to imagine the setting with d20 rules retaining the same flavor as the books unless the rules have been made more like the Conan RPG (in other words, severely tweaked to fit the setting). I didn't see anything on the GoO site that talked about how the rules had been changed for GoT.
They're kind of undermanned right now, and don't want to give away all of the changes, but the system has been changed quite a bit in minor ways to make it reflect the books.
Is it as easy to die in the RPG as it is in the books? A 13th level Sandor Clegane could just wade right through a hundred 1st level soldiers in regular D&D.
It's much more possible. There is a new quality called "Shock Value" based, if I remember rightly, on some portion of your initial Con score. You take more than that in damage, you need to make Fort saves or get stunned or worse. Hit points are skewed much lower, with classes granting a base rate rather than a dice type.
Are human ethnicities as big a part of character creation as Conan? Are there ability score, favored class and skill differences between say a Dornishman, an Ironman, a Northman, Kingslander or Qohorik? Are all the races from the series included as PCs?
Yes, your cultural background plays a big part in the skills and feats you'll have access to initially. I think every race or culture briefly touched on in the first novel is covered in the core rulebook.
Are the various orders and noble houses represented by rules/mechanics? Do they provide a bonus to skills for example? Do they have requirements foe entry like a prestige class? Maesters, Septons, Lannisters, etc.
Yes, ues. and no. You have to be born into an area to choose a House there as your background. There are regional and House traits, such as the difference between any Northmen and the Starks specifically.
Are there new classes or just tweaked classes or are some classes unchanged from D&D (fighter, rogue, etc.)?
Core classes are artisan, godsworn, maester, knave, man-at-arms, raider, noble, hunter. Some are pretty similar, some are new, all have been modified to fit the setting.
Are monsters limited to giants, mammoths, dire wolves, wights, Others and dragons, or do we finally get to see what the heck a snark and grumkin are supposed to be as the books constantly mention them, but never actually see?
Every creature we physically see in the first novel is in the core book. Those named but obviously real are in there also. Those which are "also known as" are identified. Additional game books will cover monsters as they appear in the series.
How practical will it be to be a warlock/maegi? Or priest of R'hllor? What is the magic system like? Is it like Call of Cthulhu (casters take ability damage to cast), Conan (power points), regular D&D or what?
Not very practical, unless you're in Dothraki land or perhaps the Free Cities. I didn't work on the magic system, and haven't seen the final draft. I only took part in some feedback. I think it was much more freeform in constructing magical effects, with some qualifying feats and skill rolls, though. Future game products will deal more with magic, mirroring the novels' progression.
Will the setting be supported with adventures? If so, when, and will they be political oriented?
I wrote the deluxe adventure included with the deluxe edition, and playtested a three-part connected adventure. I don't know if the book has an intro adventure. Mine begins small, but could turn into a House politics campaign easily. The three-parter is a mix of action and some intrigue.
What kind of sourcebooks can we look forward to and when?
The initial goal was one big core book per novel, with some extras. Not sure where that is now. Sales and manpower will likely determine the line's fate.
How complete is the setting? I imagine Westeros/The Seven Kingdoms are quite well-detailed, but what about the Free Cities, the Slavers Bay area, Summer Isles, etc.? Is there enough detail here for GMs to run adventures in them or will they be covered in a separate sourcebook?
See above. There's a lot of info in the gazeteer section, but I'm not as familiar with it as I am other sections.
Is there a complete timeline included so GM's can know when certain events from the books are transpiring and plan his adventures accordingly?
Not sure. There's a long summary of the first novel, if I remember correctly.
What material, if any, is included from The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, Feast For Crows, Dance with Dragons? Just setting, rules, or both?
Nothing from the last of those books listed, and only minor background elements from all of them except for AGoT, which the core game book is based on.
Sorry all of my answers are not as complete as I'd like - the project went through a lot of revisions, and most of the writing I did on the main book was finished in mid-2004 or much earlier than that. Plus, I don't like to talk about stuff I didn't directly work on.
Also, while I am replying to this here - it might be more polite to take any further discussion of this game over to the Guardians of Order forum, unless some relevance to Conan can be introduced to the thread.
