Running RQ: Game of Thrones

Mage

Mongoose
Hey everyone,

I just thought I'd post this. I am going to run a Game of Thrones game for some friends over the next few weeks. I will be using Runequest for it, and will be doing some Character generation tonight.

The game will revolve around King's Landing at the start, when Robert is still alive. The first session will revolve around the players joining the band of warriors with Beric Dondarrion as they go after Gregor Clegane as ordered by Eddard Stark, the King's hand at the time.

I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts or input. When I have the scenario typed up, or part of it, I will post.

So far I have three players, but only one has a rough idea of what he wants to be (a Braavosi or Tyroshi sellsword).

Just curious if anyone has done or knows of a Runequest mod out there for Game of Thrones?
 
No idea im new to RQ II my self and are currently trying to sort dragonlance out for it. but your idea sounds good hope to hear more of it
 
Nice idea.

I think it can be done well, but as with most low-magic settings, you need to find a use for POW. Beyond just skills. If no attribute is based off POW. It becomes the ultimate dump stat.

Have you read the entire series? There's about to happen big things if you start it right there, you know?
 
@ Anubis CK

I'll be sure to post updates!


@ Mixster

Thanks. I will definetly be playing down the magic. POW is something I will have to find a use for. Refer to it as 'POWER' as opposed to 'POWER OF WILL' Maybe it could be extra hero points per game, considering how screwed your character will be if he has a leg lopped off. Or I could just drop it altogether. It's something to think of anyway.

I haven't read the entire series, but am up to Feast of Crows. Should be fine.
 
be interested to hear how it goes. Magic aside I think MRQ2/Legend is definitely a good fit for game of Thrones.

It's been a while since I read the books, but as I recall what magic there is (the Red Witch and so on), it seems to me that the summoning rules in Elric might work. But it might be best kept in the hands of NPCs.

Other than that my only advice is stuff you probably already know when running a game based on books - don't worry if the PCs completely change the course of events - let them, and run with it.
 
To be honest, I don't think you need to worry about dump stats. RQ/BRP is not inherently a balanced or mini-maxed system. For example, settings like Wraith Recon, Elric, Lhankmar and so on have all managed perfectly well despite most characters not 'needing' POW for anything.

If you're running points-based character generation and everyone starts off with POW 3 then that indicates that perhaps the players are overly focused on mini-maxing. You may find that apart from specialist magicians and maybe the pyromancers that most characters end up with POW around 7 or 8. However that is probably quite thematic. In ASoIaF most characters simply have no magical intuition and absolutely no defence against magic. Those who are magically competent and need POW will find that their other stats suffer in comparison.

If you do want to do points balance then you could do something like this.
Each character starts with:
STR 8, CON 8, DEX 8, SIZ 10, INT 10, POW 8, CHA 8

You can add up to 25 points to your characteristics to a maximum of 18 to anyone characteristics.

You could then let players take various starting events but only once each and maybe a maximum of 2. E.g.

Cursed. Reduce your POW by 3. Add 3 points to a characteristic of your choice (even above 18). You gain 1 fewer Hero Point whenever Hero Points are assigned.

Sickly. Reduce your CON by 3. Add 2 points to a characteristic of your choice (even above 18). Your CON & Resilience can never be increased.

Feeble. Reduce your STR by 3. Add 2 points to a characteristic of your choice (even above 18). Your STR & Brawn can never be increased.

Giant-blooded. Add 3 to your SIZ. Reduce your INT by 2 points. Your INT can never be increased and no lore skill can be increased past INT*5.

Emaciated. Reduce your SIZ by 2 and your STR by 2. Add 3 points to a characteristic (other than STR or SIZ). STR, SIZ & Brawn cannot be increased.

Despised. Reduce your CHA by 3. Add 3 points to a characteristic. Your CHA and Influence cannot be increased. You gain 1 fewer Improvement Roll than normal whenever they are assigned and any training costs are doubled.

Lack-wit. Reduce your INT by 2. Add 1 point to a characteristic of your choice (even above 18). Your INT and lore skills cannot be increased.


Of course the problem with all systems like this is that you start fearing despised, lack-wits because they must be brilliant at something. On the other hand, characters in ASoIaF do tend to be larger than life so something like this might be quite evocative.
 
To be honest, I don't think you need to worry about dump stats. RQ/BRP is not inherently a balanced or mini-maxed system. For example, settings like Wraith Recon, Elric, Lhankmar and so on have all managed perfectly well despite most characters not 'needing' POW for anything.
I kindda disagree. I think that it is possible to min/max in both RQ and BRP. And that it is a GM/Settings job to make sure that doesn't happen.
Even with rolled (and not assigned) stats this is a problem, because the player who got a good roll for POW will feel bummed that he can't use it for anything. And stats that you don't use are pretty meaningless in a roleplaying game IMO. I think that is why most games go without an appearance score, because it becomes meaningless.
Legend has, by design, no real dump stats. Sure you might not think you need a high charisma, but getting an extra improvement roll at all points is pretty damned awesome. You might not want a high INT, but having more combat actions is pretty damned awesome. And without a good Strength you can't wield any weapons, and without a decent SIZ you wont have any HP. All in all, CON is pretty much the worst stat (since all it does is covered by SIZ as well, but SIZ covers other things like damage and Strike Rank). But it is still immensely useful.

If you're running points-based character generation and everyone starts off with POW 3 then that indicates that perhaps the players are overly focused on mini-maxing. You may find that apart from specialist magicians and maybe the pyromancers that most characters end up with POW around 7 or 8. However that is probably quite thematic. In ASoIaF most characters simply have no magical intuition and absolutely no defence against magic. Those who are magically competent and need POW will find that their other stats suffer in comparison.
Emphasis mine. It could also indicate that the players understand the system (and by the way they can't start with a stat below 6 so they'll probably have a POW of 6). Why should a player feel compelled to just dump his stats in a hole to make his character "less mini-maxed". It's like being given 20 blocks of Lego to build anything you want, but if you don't use at least 3 of them on building a chair (that you can't use), you are just a munchkin.

Therefore, my point about POW needing to do something else is pretty simple. If POW is just there to indicate how lucky you are (or blessed by the gods or whatever), you have to ask yourself, am I ever going to require a roll against this stat. Is this stat even seeing play beyond telling you whether you start with 16 or 32 Persistence. If not, then why is this stat in the game at all? IMO things that have no impact on the game, such as useless stats, should be handled by roleplaying, and having a stat for it is just silly.

Your stat generation seem ok, and I am thinking of nicking it.
 
If you have Age of Treason, there is a new stat SOC (social status) that is used in some skills and situations. There are also some nice rules for oratory and influence, which I would think are critical for a GoT game. Take a look -- you could just use SOC and drop POW.

Steve
 
Mixster said:
To be honest, I don't think you need to worry about dump stats. RQ/BRP is not inherently a balanced or mini-maxed system. For example, settings like Wraith Recon, Elric, Lhankmar and so on have all managed perfectly well despite most characters not 'needing' POW for anything.
I kindda disagree. I think that it is possible to min/max in both RQ and BRP. And that it is a GM/Settings job to make sure that doesn't happen.

Actually I agree with you entirely. You can if playing in a points-based game mini-max and *more so* in RQII/Legend than most other BRP because there are some huge break points. Dealing with it is really an issue of play group style and preference. If players want to mini-max and the group likes it, why worry? If some do and some don't then it's up to the group to come up with a decision.

My experience of running low magic RQ since RQ3 first came out and seeing the huge range of RQ low magic settings in which POW is given nothing else to do is that this is an issue more in theory than practice. It is slightly more of an issue in RQII/Legend because in other RQ editions, POW is your defence against magic while it has a relatively minor defensive role.

So personally I'm not convinced that you need to do anything mechanically. If a player complains about having a "useless" high stat then he can always re-roll and hope he gets a lower POW next time.

That said, the system has heroic abilities and those are triggered by Magic Points so there is an inbuilt use for MPs for non-magicians that can be expanded. The one house rule I've used extensively in the past is that a PC can get +10% to a skill check for each MP spent on it; representing intense focus, effort and investment in that skill check.* That would include skills like Persistence.




*To be precise this was under RQ3 and the rule was +5% per MP and +1% per FP. Under RQII I would use 1 MP = +10% as there are no FPs and bonuses tend to be bigger.
 
I would definitely pick up both Clockwork & Chivalry as well as Age of Treason. Both have new social classes, professions, and rules for Alchemy and a bunch of stuff that would be appropriate to a Game of Thrones campaign. Also grab Empires.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone, there is a lot to chew on.

I put together the first character with one of the lads, he is a soldier of noble birth working for house Stark. Just need to come up with a more expanded background for the character, and shoehorn him in somwhere.

As a side note I am thinking of making weapons do more damage (think back to the old signs and portents article where it gives alternative charts of damage for high and low fantasy settings).
 
Perhaps it should be a dump stat. By doing this, it makes it so that overall "important" scores are higher, which may be vital in a lethal worls without magic buffs.
 
POW feeds in to Persistence (sticking to your plan) and Oratory (speeches and battlegield shouting) which will be very important in resisting intrigues in a Game of Thrones type campaign.

It is also used to power heroic abilities so I'm not sure if it will ever really be a dump stat. If I am playing a non-spellcaster I love having a high willpower
 
I wouldn't have a problem with POW being dumped in that setting - magic has been fading from Westeros for thousands of years, so POW will probably reduce through natural selection, and it only make a few percentage points difference on skills. But there are hints that magic may be making a comeback, so anyone who dumps POW may be hampering their long term prospects.
 
Personally, I wouldn't dump POW from any setting, particularly ASOIAF. Look at the skills that have it as a characteristic;
  • Insight - Tick
    Perception - Tick
    Persistence - Tick
    Ride - Tick
    Art
    Gambling - Small Tick
    Healing - Tick
    Meditation
    Oratory - Tick
    Streetwise - Tick
    Survival - Tick

Depending on exactly where the campaign starts, any or all of those skills with a tick could be extremely important. While I get that POW is only a few points in each, I don't know how many times I've missed a roll by a point or two - lots. In ASOIAF PC's really need to be aware of their surroundings, and to be able to 'read' others, for as Eddard Stark learns the hard way, treachery and betrayal are everywhere!
 
DamonJynx said:
Personally, I wouldn't dump POW from any setting, particularly ASOIAF.
By "dump" I meant "assign as a dump stat, i.e. put a low value into because it's not used for much" rather than not having the stat in the system.
 
You could consider expanding the "Your Attribute limits your Skill" rule for Persistance and Resilience discussed in the rulebook to include all skills.

Take for example the skill Insight, based on INT+POW (correct? I don't have the rulebook in front of me at the moment). You could limit the Insight skill to (INT+POW) x 5. Or x4. Or the average of INT and POW x5. Or whatever works for the particular power cap you want to play with.

So anybody can be passably good at Insight. But to be a truly cunning courtier, you need to have a natural aptitude for it, (partially) represented by your POW score.

This way there is a mechanical incentive for players to not dump POW down to 3. Or at least not for the players who want to have some success at skills requiring more elan than brawn.

Have fun,

Daniel
 
Another option (and one that slightly increases the power level of a campaign) is to add the character's base score in a skill to an improvement roll rather than adding just their INT.

E.g. If you have INT 13 and POW 8 then you add +21 to your improvement roll. This makes it slightly easier to increase skills over 100. E.g. if your POW is 16 then you would +32 to any roll to increase Persistence. This upgrades the influence of characteristics on skills quite noticeably over the medium term. It does decrease the importance of INT a little - which is maybe no bad thing seeing as it already influences CA and SR.

Given that in ASoIaF it's usually lack of awareness that's the major factor in getting you killed ("I see daggers all around you...", "whatever") then lacking POW for Insight can be kind of terminal.
 
Deleriad said:
Another option (and one that slightly increases the power level of a campaign) is to add the character's base score in a skill to an improvement roll rather than adding just their INT.
I houseruled this right from the start to be the highest of the base attributes. I didn't want high INT and decent CHA to be such a big advantage. I like the idea of adding both though. My players feel robbed when they roll under their skill, and this would please them.

If you want to punish dump stats, then give out slightly more IRs but only let them add the lowest base stat. This is still more generous than RQ3, which added the category modifier so sometimes you got a negative on your roll instead of a positive.
 
PhilHibbs said:
DamonJynx said:
Personally, I wouldn't dump POW from any setting, particularly ASOIAF.
By "dump" I meant "assign as a dump stat, i.e. put a low value into because it's not used for much" rather than not having the stat in the system.
Yeah I got that. That's why I said "it's only a couple of points" referring to the difference between a low score and an average one.
 
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