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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crothian" data-source="post: 2591131" data-attributes="member: 232">Game of Thrones d20Game of Thrones d20    The age of big books is upon us.  At least that is what some people around here are saying.  It has been a trend, but as I look at this book for this review it does not seem that big.  It is almost five hundred pages and it is a good sized hard back.  But as I read through the book it was all needed.  There was no good way to do this book any smaller.  So, is it the age of the big book or is it the age of books that are tackling concepts and ideas that can only be completely covered in a book of this size?  Maybe it is splitting hairs a bit but Game of Thrones is as big as it needs to be.  Guardians of Order I am sure could have done it smaller, but they wanted to do it right.  I know this because they tell me in the book.  This is one of the most impressive books I have seen in a very long time.      Game of Thrones d20 is the d20 version of Game of Thrones.  That might seem a bit obvious, but there are more then one version of this book coming out.  Guardians of Order has their own in house system called Tri Stat.   It will be very interesting to see how the books do the same thing with different mechanics.  Game of Thrones is a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin.  It is a series of epic fantasy that has a very large caste of characters.  There are a lot of things going on in this world and it does make for a good role playing game fantasy.  Not all fantasy novels can say that.  So, in looking at a setting for gaming it is very important to have a setting that would make for a good backdrop for anyone to run a campaign in.      A lot of positive statements have been made about this book.  It is really fantastic in all areas.  The binding is very solid.  I have been reading and rereading this book and tossing it around like I do all my role playing books and it is holding up great.  That does not always happen with books of this size.  The book is done in full color with some amazing two page spreads of art.  These are full color art pieces that span two pages.  Many of these are scenes from the novel or at the very least inspired by them.  While the art for the most part is really good there are some pictures that proportions of people is really off in other words the legs are way longer then they should be.  But for the most part the art if great.  The layout is very good.  They have a great use of table and sidebars all over the place but the pages never look crowded or bare.  There are some stylized fonts used in headers but they are easy to read and fitting to the book.  It is a very nice book just to look through.    Another important aspect of this book is its care to inform the reader of nearly everything.  There is a lot of information in here on many different things, but the book takes care of making sure they are well explained.  The book is only covering the events of the firs Game of Throne book.  It is very up front about this and also speaks on canon material.  Very simply everything in the novels should be canon and while this book does fill out many details on the world there is no guarantee that they will not be over ruled by future novels.  But that is a chance that has to be taken when dealing with a series that is not fully written.  The book does give a nice overview of the events in the first book.  It is important for people to have read the novel though as the feel of character and places and events just is different reading then in a role playing game then in a novel.  The RPG here also talks about what an RPG is and serves as a very good way to bring people who are fans of the novels into role playing.  There is a nice example of game play and while this is not the quintessential book for introducing people to RPGs it does cover the basics.      One great thing that is included is a History of Fantasy.  This section has really no impact on the game of or the setting.  But it is fascinating to me.  It is just sixteen pages on fantasy and the genre as it has evolved over the last century.  Some very good research goes into this and while it is not going to be extensively complete, it serves as a great way to just look at fantasy for those of that are fans of the genre.  At the very least I found mention of a few authors I do not read and will have more novels to take a look at.    The mechanics of the game come early in the book.  However, the approach to character generation is really solid and one I really wish Wizards of the Coast would adopt for their game.  The focus of the character generation is on the character and not on the stats.  They have a ten step character generation chart and picking up the dice is in the third step and actually that ability generation which they suggest point buy so no dice there really.  But it starts with discussing things with the DM and figuring out what the game is going to be about, what characters are best suited for this, and just getting an understanding of what the game is going to be so the character concept works.  There are some interesting changes in creating a character, but for the most part it is going to be very familiar to people familiar with the system.  The game makes use of backgrounds and house affiliation and these can actually be more character defining then the class.  The selection of backgrounds is very impressive and mighty be the most complete selection in all of d20.     However, all is not perfectly well in the game.  There are character defects.  Now, I really like defects for character.  I think including weaknesses for the characters is a great way to make them feel more human and can bring in some nice role playing opportunities.  However, I do not like the way that there are mechanical benefits for them.  Guardians of Order does do something most systems do not and specifically tell the DM to make the defects bite.  In other words makes them count as too many systems it seems offer something for defects and then the DM drops the ball with never enforcing them.  I prefer a system that only rewards the characters when the defects actually come into play.  The system they use here really places a lot of trust that the DM will make the defects balanced but having them show up in game.  That’s really the problem the reward the characters get is always there but the payment which is the defect is only there when it is remembered to be used.      There are other rules changes here as well.  Armor provides damage reduction.  Hit points are a lot less with classes getting a set number to start with and a much lower set amount as they gain levels.  This is very much like the Babylon 5 RPG except constitution bonus is added to these hit points.  Attack bonuses are the same as class bonuses but strength and dexterity do not automatically add to attack roles.  There are rules for piece mail armor, attacking through armor and called shots, and a few other specific rules that make combat more deadly.  Seeing all the changes together really brings the feel of the game to that of the novels.      More important then the rules though is the setting.  As I stated the book covers the first book in the setting and gives a nice over view of the novel.  There is a lot of great information in the book about the different houses, the different places, and the people.  Reading the novel is important but one does not have to know the novel completely to follow what is going on in this Role Playing Game.  I have only read the novel once and it was some time ago, and the RPG here presents enough for me to remember the important things and gives some great information that really fits into this.      A Game of Thrones is a setting I can see myself playing and it is a set of rules that I would enjoy playing.  The focus on the character of the character over the stats is very important to the feel of the game and to the style of game that reflects the novels.  I can see people wrapping up their current campaign to start one in here.</blockquote>

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