"A raven has arrived, my lord," says the maester as he withdraws a small slip of paper from one of the many pockets hidden within his robes.
"Indeed? Seems too soon for a reply from Runestone. Who sent it? Seven runes on an azure field... That's the knight out on Lakelights, is it not?" The lord pops the seal on the paper, and scans its contents.
"Ser Terald Brocklyn, yes my lord."
The maester waits patiently while the lord reads, noting his liege's bemused smirk.
"A tourney at Lakelights. Interesting. It's only a few weeks away, so I doubt many from outside the Vale would have even been sent a raven, let alone have time to travel so soon. Perhaps I should ride." The lord's brow furrows, considering his reply. "Ser Terald's not particularly rich, and the message is somewhat vague on the prize - his greatest treasure?"
"Ser Terald was gifted with the Valyrian steel blade The Maiden's Kiss, my lord. By Lord Arryn himself after killing the Knight of Three Septs in King Robert's service."
"Wasn't it stolen? His brother I believe?" The lord had the odd habit of cocking his head to the side when trying to remember obscure details.
"Rhyllip, my lord, yes. He slew Ser Terald's wife Tessica and infant heir - named for The Bronze Yohn, if I recall - and then ran for the mountains; I am unsure if he took the blade with him or not, although he likely met his fate against the clans." The maester touched his chain, as if to refocus his thoughts. "I believe three daughters are still left to Ser Terald. The oldest may even now be of an age to be seeking a husband."
The lord frowned and handed the message back to his maester. "Send a reply to Lakelights. I will allow some of the swords in my service to attend Ser Terald's tourney, but I don't think I shall be attending myself. Unless..." the lord paused, tapping a finger on the arm of his chair. "Send some discreet inquiries. If the Bronze Yohn is attending, I may need make an appearance. A good showing may help my claim on the Westwater."
---
So... I've run several PbeM games before, but not a PbP, and I've only run a one shot of the A Song of Ice and Fire RPG before, so this'll be a first for me in a couple of ways.
I'm interested in running an ASoIaF PbP game (hence the thread here). The little scene above more or less sets out the starting hook, but a few more details:
The game is set in the Vale of Arryn region of Westeros, in particular starting on the peninsula where Gulltown and Runestone are located. The first adventure will be taking place at Lakelights, a small castle held by Ser Terald Brocklyn, a knight who was granted lands, house, and castle after the War of the Usurper. The game is set about five years before the books begin, so Robert isn't completely fat yet, Jon Arryn is the hand, and people are only occasionally still mentioning Balon's Rebellion.
The PCs will not be part of that house, however. Most PCs will be family or servants of a house that we'll start putting together once we've recruited a few players. The only restriction on this house is that it'll be a Vale house, probably founded during the Blackfyre Rebellion (to set the number of historical events). If we have at least 5 people interested, I may let players be members of a second Vale house. As with the books, there could be quite a few perspective characters, so I'm setting a soft limit of about 10 players (although I won't be offended if I get well below that).
I haven't played the system enough to really want to experiment with house rules, so it'll be just the main rulebook + errata (and I'll probably use the slightly expanded jousting options from Peril a King's Landing). I don't think I'll be using a combat grid, just narrative description, but I leave the option open to switch to a grid. I will be using/allowing the advanced combat rules, including the advanced reach section.
I'm pretty open about character concepts, as long as they'd fit with the ASoIaF world. This is pre-books, so magic hasn't really started returning yet. Prophecies, omens, charlatans, alchemy, sure. But nothing akin to mystical forces explicitly controlled. At least one PC should be a blood relation of the players' house(s), but the standing within the house is completely up to the group.
I would advise a good mix of character archetypes and attribute focus - there will be combat, but as in the books, it can be short and brutal, so avoiding it is certainly life-extending. Similarly, there will be intrigue - even though the game will involve a lot of landed and minor houses, there will be plenty of squabbling and jockeying for position. Whether or not one of the PCs is the lord of the PC house(s), we will be running the houses as a whole in addition to the individual PCs.
I do tend to hew pretty close to the tone of Martin's books, which means that some adult topics may be referenced - however, I will be going with the "fade to black" rather than explicitly describing anything like Daenerys' or Tyrion's bedroom activities.
For those who don't have the rulebooks, the system has a pretty good narrative feel to it, so I'm more than willing to help people build characters and get a feel for the game, even if they've never read the rules. People unfamiliar with ASoIaF are welcome as well, although they may admittedly find it harder to come up with character concepts.
I'm hoping for at least an every-other-day pace, but we'll see how that plays out.
My maester awaits replies in the rookery...
---
Character Sheets over in: http://www.enworld.org/forum/rogues-gallery/305284-asoiaf-rpg-tourney-gulls-houses-characters.html
IC Thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/playing-game/307985-asoiaf-rpg-tourney-gulls-ic.html
"Indeed? Seems too soon for a reply from Runestone. Who sent it? Seven runes on an azure field... That's the knight out on Lakelights, is it not?" The lord pops the seal on the paper, and scans its contents.
"Ser Terald Brocklyn, yes my lord."
The maester waits patiently while the lord reads, noting his liege's bemused smirk.
"A tourney at Lakelights. Interesting. It's only a few weeks away, so I doubt many from outside the Vale would have even been sent a raven, let alone have time to travel so soon. Perhaps I should ride." The lord's brow furrows, considering his reply. "Ser Terald's not particularly rich, and the message is somewhat vague on the prize - his greatest treasure?"
"Ser Terald was gifted with the Valyrian steel blade The Maiden's Kiss, my lord. By Lord Arryn himself after killing the Knight of Three Septs in King Robert's service."
"Wasn't it stolen? His brother I believe?" The lord had the odd habit of cocking his head to the side when trying to remember obscure details.
"Rhyllip, my lord, yes. He slew Ser Terald's wife Tessica and infant heir - named for The Bronze Yohn, if I recall - and then ran for the mountains; I am unsure if he took the blade with him or not, although he likely met his fate against the clans." The maester touched his chain, as if to refocus his thoughts. "I believe three daughters are still left to Ser Terald. The oldest may even now be of an age to be seeking a husband."
The lord frowned and handed the message back to his maester. "Send a reply to Lakelights. I will allow some of the swords in my service to attend Ser Terald's tourney, but I don't think I shall be attending myself. Unless..." the lord paused, tapping a finger on the arm of his chair. "Send some discreet inquiries. If the Bronze Yohn is attending, I may need make an appearance. A good showing may help my claim on the Westwater."
---
So... I've run several PbeM games before, but not a PbP, and I've only run a one shot of the A Song of Ice and Fire RPG before, so this'll be a first for me in a couple of ways.
I'm interested in running an ASoIaF PbP game (hence the thread here). The little scene above more or less sets out the starting hook, but a few more details:
The game is set in the Vale of Arryn region of Westeros, in particular starting on the peninsula where Gulltown and Runestone are located. The first adventure will be taking place at Lakelights, a small castle held by Ser Terald Brocklyn, a knight who was granted lands, house, and castle after the War of the Usurper. The game is set about five years before the books begin, so Robert isn't completely fat yet, Jon Arryn is the hand, and people are only occasionally still mentioning Balon's Rebellion.
The PCs will not be part of that house, however. Most PCs will be family or servants of a house that we'll start putting together once we've recruited a few players. The only restriction on this house is that it'll be a Vale house, probably founded during the Blackfyre Rebellion (to set the number of historical events). If we have at least 5 people interested, I may let players be members of a second Vale house. As with the books, there could be quite a few perspective characters, so I'm setting a soft limit of about 10 players (although I won't be offended if I get well below that).
I haven't played the system enough to really want to experiment with house rules, so it'll be just the main rulebook + errata (and I'll probably use the slightly expanded jousting options from Peril a King's Landing). I don't think I'll be using a combat grid, just narrative description, but I leave the option open to switch to a grid. I will be using/allowing the advanced combat rules, including the advanced reach section.
I'm pretty open about character concepts, as long as they'd fit with the ASoIaF world. This is pre-books, so magic hasn't really started returning yet. Prophecies, omens, charlatans, alchemy, sure. But nothing akin to mystical forces explicitly controlled. At least one PC should be a blood relation of the players' house(s), but the standing within the house is completely up to the group.
I would advise a good mix of character archetypes and attribute focus - there will be combat, but as in the books, it can be short and brutal, so avoiding it is certainly life-extending. Similarly, there will be intrigue - even though the game will involve a lot of landed and minor houses, there will be plenty of squabbling and jockeying for position. Whether or not one of the PCs is the lord of the PC house(s), we will be running the houses as a whole in addition to the individual PCs.
I do tend to hew pretty close to the tone of Martin's books, which means that some adult topics may be referenced - however, I will be going with the "fade to black" rather than explicitly describing anything like Daenerys' or Tyrion's bedroom activities.
For those who don't have the rulebooks, the system has a pretty good narrative feel to it, so I'm more than willing to help people build characters and get a feel for the game, even if they've never read the rules. People unfamiliar with ASoIaF are welcome as well, although they may admittedly find it harder to come up with character concepts.
I'm hoping for at least an every-other-day pace, but we'll see how that plays out.
My maester awaits replies in the rookery...
---
Character Sheets over in: http://www.enworld.org/forum/rogues-gallery/305284-asoiaf-rpg-tourney-gulls-houses-characters.html
IC Thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/playing-game/307985-asoiaf-rpg-tourney-gulls-ic.html
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