D&D 5E What D&D should learn from a Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)

[Ahnehnois]

The game?...it's D&D. Not SoIaF.

It's also not LotR, not Arthurian legend, not a Greek epic, not Lovecraft, not Star Wars, not Harry Potter, and so on and so forth. And yet, it probably is informed by all of those things, and you'll regularly see people pushing that it should be more so.

 

[steeldragons]

It's also not LotR, not Arthurian legend, not a Greek epic, not Lovecraft, not Star Wars, not Harry Potter, and so on and so forth. And yet, it probably is informed by all of those things, and you'll regularly see people pushing that it should be more so.

Yup. Infuriating,isn't it?

 

[Ahnehnois]

Yup. Infuriating,isn't it?

It can be. D&D is its own thing, and shouldn't be beholden to these other influences. However, D&D is not an island, and it ought to pay some attention to the world of adventure fiction.

 

[DEFCON 1]

The *real* thing D&D should learn from A Song of Ice and Fire?

Six years between new volumes pisses people off. LOL.

D&D should really release a new edition every-other-year like Martin did for the first three books.

 

[amerigoV]

It's also not LotR, not Arthurian legend, not a Greek epic, not Lovecraft, not Star Wars, not Harry Potter, and so on and so forth. And yet, it probably is informed by all of those things, and you'll regularly see people pushing that it should be more so.

This thread is pretty typical for D&D in a common way. D&D was and is inspired by many sources. It resulted in is own genre (that has evolved over the editions). But D&D rarely is able to emulate those sources of inspiration without a lot of work.

There are two things I would like for the D&D to take from GoT:

1. People (extend to races) are not identical. All elves are good, all dwarves are greedy, and neutral people are uncaring are boring. What makes GoT interesting is the "good" people all have flaws and the "bad" people all have some redeeming qualities.

2. Monsters should be monstrous, not encounters.

 

[CM]

Sex sells? (I kid, sorta)

 

[DM Howard]

I like the political intrigue. However, we already had that inspiration from the likes of the War of the Roses and "The Great Game" in the Wheel of Time Series. I'm such a hipster, but I'm annoyed by how popular GoT is because of the HBO show. I know it's petty and said, but it's true. My thoughts in lyrical rage-form here.

 

[Umbran]

My first choice is easily mortality rates. Characters in SoIaF don't hack their way through hordes of orcs. They hesitate even to begin a fight, because fights mean death.

Yes, but that's because Song of Ice and Fire is about politics, war, and emotional abuse. It isn't a series about adventure.

What 5e might take is that you don't need everyone to have overt magic to have an interesting and successful play - D&D maybe has a little too much "all classic roles must be filled" to it. A game structured so that a group of 5 fighter-types could still be different enough to be interesting and effective in game would be nice.

 

[fjw70]

In 0e maybe, in very low-level 1e-2e-3e probably (capped at about 4th level?), can't see it in 4e. Uncertain yet as to 5e.

Lanefan

Not that hard to do in 4e. Cap at 4-5th level, only use martial power source classes (rituals the only spells) , no minions, and dead at 0 hp.

 

[Mistwell]

I think grim and gritty high lethality will be an option in the DMG, but it's not the default assumption of the PHB. And I don't think the default assumption should be changed back to that option - the default hero-type seems to be the greater preference of a majority of players, so keeping it an option instead seems to make more sense.