A Game of Thrones RPG

[Nifft]

I have it! It's right here in my hot little hands! er, on my hot little hard drive!

The nice folks at GoO sent out a free PDF for those of us who are not at GenCon and must therefore wait for our copy to be shipped. Yay DriveThruRPG! Yay GoO!

The art is mostly amazing.
The system ... I'm reading it. The letters are small.

The book did NOT contain a map of the known world that expands on the area shown in the maps found in GRRM's novels... so nothing new there. Too bad, I'd probably pay about $100 just for a big, color, accurate map of his whole world.

Anyway, I just wanted to brag.... ask questions, maybe I'll look away from the PDF long enough to answer them!

-- N

 

[Herremann the Wise]

You suck!!!

Unfortunately for me, I 've just got to wait for delivery into Sydney. I think I got in early enough to get the signed copy as well as the accompanying CD-Rom. I'm paying A$200 for the privilege - about US$150.

I don't wish to ask any questions, I'm absolutely positive it will be completely and utterly brilliant.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Cam Banks]

It is indeed a glorious book. It's distracting me from my freelance work. Damn you, Guardians of Order!

Cheers,
Cam

 

[stevelabny]

tell us..tell us everything. i wanna see the enworlders squirm.

 

[Drew]

Damn...color me jealous!

 

[Derfel]

Well I just got my copy from DriveThruRPG as well. A small consolation to not receiving my actual hard-copy until October, but a welcome one.

I've only had a brief chance to skim through it so far, but what I see I like. The introduction alone gives the reader a great overview of the history of fantasy literature, almost 20 pages discussing the important works, genres and styles of fantasy literature. Naturally this is followed up with a page or so of the influence GRRM has had.

Character creation is quite different. Gives three styles of play that can be used: Noble House - where all characters are affiliated with one house; Game of Thrones - players play characters in opposing houses with a heavy political bent; and Band of Heroes - characters are "adventurers" such as the Night's Watch or Kingsguard. Children are even mentioned as player characters (very fitting considering the books).

One aspect of the book I'm liking are the Designer's Notes scattered throughout that explain their thoughts behind the changes from traditional d20. The Tri-Stat rules are kept in the Appendix, while the d20 rules take front and centre. On the OGL front, the book references quite a number of products, and much of the game content is open.

Magic is presented as being very rare, misunderstood and seems to fit the level of magic presented in the novels. Magic is handled through a prestige class and feats that can be taken.

There's so much detail here, that even a quite skimming through the book isn't enough. Back to reading

 

[Vexed]

This sounds great. I hope they have this available at Gen Con, as i will be there in a few days! HEH...
Question- Regarding magic. After you take the Prest class, are you able to start casting spells out of the PHB just as if you began gaining them at 0 level, 1 st level, 2nd etc...
Are there any "banned" spells? Im primarily intersted in how the game mechanic for magic is represented.

 

[Enforcer]

I got my PDF copy as well. And the priests don't get spells, though there is an Extra Special feat called Pious that one could take. I didn't read it very closely.

I've just skimmed my way to the Game Mechanics chapter, where I hope to learn what the Defense roll and Shock values are all about.

Some interesting changes: Str and Dex no longer provide bonuses to hit, though Str still provides a bonus to damage for the usual weapons. Intead, there a bunch of feats that allow one to apply their Str or Dex or Int or Wis or Cha on attack rolls with a specific weapon. The same feat can instead apply the ability score mod to damage with that weapon, and yes you can take it twice to get both bonuses--though these feats (Brute, Finesse, and I can't recall the other names off-hand)do NOT stack with each other.

Hit Dice are gone. One gets max hp for first level, but then a fixed amount for each additional level (1hp+Con mod for classes wussy in combat, 2hp for decently tough classes, 3hp for badasses like Knights and the Kingsguard).

Presumably because of the lower hit points for everyone, Power Attack uses the 3.0 rules, not the 3.5.

I'm taking the PDF with me to work and will post more if I can.

 

[Derfel]

Question- Regarding magic. After you take the Prest class, are you able to start casting spells out of the PHB just as if you began gaining them at 0 level, 1 st level, 2nd etc...
Are there any "banned" spells? Im primarily intersted in how the game mechanic for magic is represented.

Well magic in the game does not use the core d20 mechanics at all. There are no spell levels presented, and they don't focus on adapting the core spells to GoT.

The Maegi prestige class (actually presented as a NPC class to restrict its use to the players without the GM's consent) allows the character to use certain abilities. At 3rd and 7th levels the Maegi gains a Lost Art, which can be a Blessing, Faith, Terrible Presence or Higher Mysteries. Blessing and Faith act almost like Bardic abilities in the core rules, providing bonus' to an ally's actions based on the Faith in the Maegi's power. Terrible Presence allows them to unerve others. Finally, Higher Mysteries provides bonus' on Knoweldge checks with respect to magic-related tasks.

Spells can be used by anyone with a Wisdom of 15 or higher (This is one place where the Maegi class breaks the Prestige Class mold, in using an ability score as a prerequisite). They must also have at least 6 ranks in Knowledge Arcana and one of five special feats (Iron Will, Blood of the Dragon, Blood of the First Men, Dreams, or Animal Companion). There is also a Feat the character can take (one for each spell) that makes the casting easier.

The character makes a Wisdom check vs DC 25 which is modified based on their ranks in certain Knoweldge skills, how many class-levels they have (the bonus is higher if they have Maegi levels), and whether they are performing a ritual sacrifice or not.

Even untrained characters can try a spell (an example given is Daenery's ritual to bring back the dragons) but it is more difficult. Any spell-caster must also pay a price when using magic.

In terms of spells, however, there are a few examples of spell feats. An example is Strength of Blood, where the recipiant undergoes a blood ritual and if succesful, gains a bonus feat. Another example is "Powers Old and Dark" the ritual that can be used to attempt to raise someone from the edge of Death.

The book recommends that any spells used have a story-impact. So no character would be casting spells to cure wounds or cast Magic missle. Instead the magic should be rare and dangerous. Magic is very much left to the GM to rule on in a game.

 

[Drew]

How does the book handle aspects of the setting that haven'te been covered in the novels? Are there any spoilers? Are there any parts that seem glossed over so as to not spoil the books (the true nature of the lord of light, for example)?

Also, does the book assume you're playing during the time of the novels, or some other time period?

Finally...can you give me some stats for the undead creatures from north of the wall?