My feas

[SnowDog]

Hello!

My main concern is that this game will be too good and will follow the books too closely. Let me explain what I mean.

What I have read so far this game looks awesome but the I fear that how can you actually play in a wold that is so fully fleshed? I have never been able to run games set in the Middle Earth, for example. Are you going to play the head of Starks, for example? That PC would be pretty important and his actions would affect the whole kingdom and make it deviate quite much from what happens in the novels.

I don't want to be discouraging or anything but I'd like to know how to run a game that is set at this level in addition for it being set at the background that is more or less "set in stone" in novels.

Thanks for all the hints and tips!

[Ser Arthur Dayne]

Im confused; is it that you're worried that the game is going to cling dependently to the cannon events of the novels? or that you fear that standard adventuring groups wont fit within the setting.

As for the former; I believe GR is planning to make the RPG more based around the idea of playing in the setting, rather then in the cannon storyline.

For the latter; a standard "adventuring party" is perfectly feasible in westeros; simply not on the world-saving scale of many other rpg's.

If I'm wrong; feel free to correct me ^_^

[higgins]

Mayhaps they will build the main setting taking place after the canon material as they did with Thieves' World? This is somewhat difficult however, as nobody actually knows how ASoIaF is going to end. Heck, they might go for the past too.

[SnowDog]

Darn! I managed to make a typo on subject line

My games very rarely involve world saving so that's not a problem. But now that you mentioned it a normal wandering party could work very well in the setting with a ready meta plot but my main concern was clinging too much to the plot of the books.

If setting takes place at different time than the books then that's different of course or if setting of the books is taken just as a basic idea.

BTW new stories (a novel and short stories) of Thieves' World use the same setting as the game.

[Pencil Pusher]

I don't think that aSoI&F suffers the same "overlord" problem as settings like Middle Earth, Wheel of Time, or Star Wars.

In those settings there is one clear cut monolithic -- hydra-like, evil. Your PCs can't defeat Vader, Sauron, Sarumon, or pretty much anybody important. That is reserved for the book/movie protagonists since each bad guy is by definition unique.

There are no unique bad guys in Westeros (maybe Greggor and the witch). You want to fight against Jaime.... Okay, build a new Lannister cousin who has many of the "Jaime" traits and place him somewhere in Riverlands as a minor lord near your PCs. Want them to mess with Vargo Hoat? Well, he and his crew aren't the only goat shaggers in Westros killing for noble coin. Make somebody similar and if you have the stats in the book just use 'em. Nobody will know that you didn't write up your own mummers.

Decide what kind of story you want to tell and where you want to set it. Everything should fall into place from there. Just don't try to tell the story of Jon Snow or Tyrion. That won't work. You can tell the story of a noble bastard who finds himself over his head or the story of a son who suffers at the hands of his father.

[_x_]

I really do not see how this is a problem.

Imean, its up to you to decide which timeframe to play in or not, and whether to stick to canon or not. ALso, one of the beauties ofrpgs is that you can actually change events of the world. So if you want to change canon, sure you could discuss it with your narrator, play the game during the timeframe of the books, then go about doing what you want. (preventing Ned form dying for example)

[Theron]

Out of curiosity, have you read the Dunk and Egg stories? For my money, those are the perfect sorts of adventures PCs can have in Westeros without marking up the larger canvas. Granted, Dunk and Egg have far more important futures ahead of them, but at the time, the stories, the risks, and the stakes involved are all appropriate to an ongoing campaign.

[timemrick]

Journey to King's Landing (the short adventure in the Quick-Start book) is set at about the beginning of the series--Robert is still king, the wars haven't begun, etc. If you wish to set it in a different time or place, simply tweak the back-story a bit; the only key element in the set-up is that the characters are on the road when they run into trouble.

The adventure mentions that it can be used as a lead-in to Peril at King's Landing, the full-length adventure coming out this fall, but I have no idea whether that book will make any of the canonical characters or events central to its own plot.