ASoIaF RPG - A Tourney of Gulls [Recruiting]

[Cor Azer]

Allrighty, ready when you are

I've almost got a first draft of Laton ready for your perusal, Dr. Zombie, just need ot purchase some equipment and pick a few qualities. He already has Heir (being the Heir to the house and all). Without me havign to list all the available qualities, is there anything you want to Laton to be particularly known for? Any key traits (good or bad) that people take away upon meeting him? Ie, is he Charismatic? Friendly? Drunken? Knighted? Pious? Particularly deadly with a sword? A hunter? I already filled out his attributes (which mostly determine the dice he rolls when attempting various actions), but qualities can give modifiers to certain actions, or grant special abilities when doing other actions.

With luck, that's not too vague for you

 

[DrZombie]

No worries. I'd think he's a good-natured lad, knighted, trained mainly with a mace, and with a particular hatred of bandits and oath-breakers. His house is renowned to stand by it's oaths.

House motto "Honor will neither bend nor break" ?

 

[Kazun]

I've no complaints with you assigning holdings, but I do have a few suggestions.

Defense (46): We could do a single castle for (40), or we could do a small castle (30) and a tower (10). I would vote for the single castle, since we occupy a relatively small geographic area.

Land (18): Hills (7) for the Mine we'll be buying, Hamlet (10), and Stream (1)? Alternatively, we could drop the hamlet and just pick up a second domain. We're in the Vale, but we're not acquiring Mountains, which could imply we're closer to the coast if we desired a coastline. We have a decent amount of options here, and I think the only one we know for sure is Hills. Here is my formal suggestion: We're situated north of Heart's Home, nestled in the foothills of the the mountains. Looking at the map in the core rulebook, we'd be right in the armpit of those mountains, where an unnamed stream flows through to the Fingers. Hills (7), Stream (1), Dense Woods (5), Road (5). Our population is small and lives either within the castle or in its shadow. A fresh stream flows from the mountains, almost directly through our stronghold, and down towards the Fingers. Dense woods crowd against our walls, as if to push us back up into the mountains. This is part of our high Defense. A road makes travel through the dense wood actually manageable, though it requires considerable upkeep. This also gives us the opportunity to give a name to those woods and to the stream.

Power (22): I imagine a small force of well-trained men-at-arms; probably no cavalry or navy given our proximity to dense forest, high mountains, and fortified defenses. The unit types that make sense for us, in my opinion, are Archers, Garrisons, Guerillas (specialized for forest), Infantry, and Scouts. My suggestion: Elite Archers are (10), Veteran Garrison is (7), Trained Scouts are (5). Having an elite unit means we get to give them some backstory. Elite means along the lines of the Unsullied or the Brave Companions. Our archers would be famous, and it is in line with our emphasis on defense. Last time we went to war, our house was badly damaged; I can imagine a lord of the house unwilling to make himself a desirable asset by sitting on a force of infantry or engineers or anything.

Wealth (21): A Mine is (10). We could either grab a second Mine (10), or we could snag an Artisan (10). The Artisan would give us one of the following: castle-forged weapons, more defense from our fortifications, or +1 House Fortune. Last option is a Maester (10), which gives us +3 House Fortune, the ability to communicate via ravens, and it opens the option up for a player to be the Maester. I vote Mine (10) and Maester (10).

As for motto, I like your premise DrZ, but we could streamline it: "Honor bends nor breaks" is grammatically correct, catchy, and makes you think about what it's saying.

In closing, I found a pretty sweet Westeros map: http://gameofthrones.net/images/Westeros_Maps/map_of_westeros.jpg

 

[Cor Azer]

I've no complaints with you assigning holdings, but I do have a few suggestions.

Defense (46): We could do a single castle for (40), or we could do a small castle (30) and a tower (10). I would vote for the single castle, since we occupy a relatively small geographic area.

Land (18): Hills (7) for the Mine we'll be buying, Hamlet (10), and Stream (1)? Alternatively, we could drop the hamlet and just pick up a second domain. We're in the Vale, but we're not acquiring Mountains, which could imply we're closer to the coast if we desired a coastline. We have a decent amount of options here, and I think the only one we know for sure is Hills. Here is my formal suggestion: We're situated north of Heart's Home, nestled in the foothills of the the mountains. Looking at the map in the core rulebook, we'd be right in the armpit of those mountains, where an unnamed stream flows through to the Fingers. Hills (7), Stream (1), Dense Woods (5), Road (5). Our population is small and lives either within the castle or in its shadow. A fresh stream flows from the mountains, almost directly through our stronghold, and down towards the Fingers. Dense woods crowd against our walls, as if to push us back up into the mountains. This is part of our high Defense. A road makes travel through the dense wood actually manageable, though it requires considerable upkeep. This also gives us the opportunity to give a name to those woods and to the stream.

Power (22): I imagine a small force of well-trained men-at-arms; probably no cavalry or navy given our proximity to dense forest, high mountains, and fortified defenses. The unit types that make sense for us, in my opinion, are Archers, Garrisons, Guerillas (specialized for forest), Infantry, and Scouts. My suggestion: Elite Archers are (10), Veteran Garrison is (7), Trained Scouts are (5). Having an elite unit means we get to give them some backstory. Elite means along the lines of the Unsullied or the Brave Companions. Our archers would be famous, and it is in line with our emphasis on defense. Last time we went to war, our house was badly damaged; I can imagine a lord of the house unwilling to make himself a desirable asset by sitting on a force of infantry or engineers or anything.

Wealth (21): A Mine is (10). We could either grab a second Mine (10), or we could snag an Artisan (10). The Artisan would give us one of the following: castle-forged weapons, more defense from our fortifications, or +1 House Fortune. Last option is a Maester (10), which gives us +3 House Fortune, the ability to communicate via ravens, and it opens the option up for a player to be the Maester. I vote Mine (10) and Maester (10).

As for motto, I like your premise DrZ, but we could streamline it: "Honor bends nor breaks" is grammatically correct, catchy, and makes you think about what it's saying.

In closing, I found a pretty sweet Westeros map: http://gameofthrones.net/images/Westeros_Maps/map_of_westeros.jpg

Ideas mostly along what I was thinking, so good to see the players and I have similar expectations about the type of game.

I was planning on setting up the house further south in the vale, along or near the peninsula holding Gulltown and Runestone, but it could work further north - House Coldwater is also sworn to the Royce of Runestone, so there's precedent of a sort with Houses being sworn to geographically seperated lieges.

The river/stream I think you're looking at and the big forest in the Fingers are named I believe - I'd have to check details on House Belmore of Strong Song and House Corbray of Heart's Home on the river, but I'm pretty sure the forest is called the Snakewood (although that may strictly be the area of House Lynderly of Sunkenwood).

That is indeed a good map. I was going to link to the ones by Other-in-Law on Deviant art, but he's removed them for some reason, so I don't know if I can link to them anywhere.

 

[DrZombie]

Nice work dude.

If we are famous for our archers, It might be better if (one of) our characters reflects that? We would be much mre rustic then usual, trained in tracking, stealth, hunting and such. Maybe swap the sword for an axe?

I like the streamlined motto.

Cheers,

Dr Z

 

[Kazun]

If we need to be closer to Runestone, that's no big deal. It will obviously change what we choose for our land holdings. So long as we can keep our hills. You're the boss.

As far as the Snakewood, you're probably right. Technically, we're never told where the Snakewood is. But considering that it's the seat of House Lynderly, and that House exists on the border of an "unnamed wood"... yeah.

No other houses are seated on the stream I was looking at, and I can't find a name for it. The northern stream is the Coldwater Burn, and "our" stream is the one that is south of it and runs parallel to both the river and Coldwater Burn. I don't know that my knowledge can be trusted, though; I can't find a name for that river, either. Surely they'd have given a name to the only river in the Vale. Surely?

 

[Cor Azer]

If we need to be closer to Runestone, that's no big deal. It will obviously change what we choose for our land holdings. So long as we can keep our hills. You're the boss.

As far as the Snakewood, you're probably right. Technically, we're never told where the Snakewood is. But considering that it's the seat of House Lynderly, and that House exists on the border of an "unnamed wood"... yeah.

No other houses are seated on the stream I was looking at, and I can't find a name for it. The northern stream is the Coldwater Burn, and "our" stream is the one that is south of it and runs parallel to both the river and Coldwater Burn. I don't know that my knowledge can be trusted, though; I can't find a name for that river, either. Surely they'd have given a name to the only river in the Vale. Surely?

There's no particular need to be closer to Runestone - most of the Houses that the group will be dealing with are also created just for this game, so I can move them as easily as you move. I also, interestingly, found that House Corbray also initially fought against Robert in his rebellion just like your House, so having your House up in the Snakewood, somewhat near to House Corbray sort of fits, in that it was a little pocket of resistance to the Usurper.

I thought I had read this online, but it is in the ASoIaF RPG Campaign Guide - Snakewood is the large forest just southwest of the Fingers, Sunkenwood is the actual castle of House Lynderly on the southern border of the Snakewood. I can't find the name for any of the rivers that surround/cut through the Snakewood, although the northernmost and southernmost ones are described as "glacial".

 

[Kazun]

Do we actually have any other players? Knowing for sure would aid us in the creation of our characters. If it's just the two of us, and DrZ is the knightly first-born, then I am definitely going to be playing the diplomatically-minded character. I actually kind of like the juxtaposition of roles; that I would be his "body guard" in the political circles. Or would that be a "mind guard"?

I probably won't be on much this weekend, but starting Monday I'll work on getting my character created.

 

[Cor Azer]

Do we actually have any other players? Knowing for sure would aid us in the creation of our characters. If it's just the two of us, and DrZ is the knightly first-born, then I am definitely going to be playing the diplomatically-minded character. I actually kind of like the juxtaposition of roles; that I would be his "body guard" in the political circles. Or would that be a "mind guard"?

I probably won't be on much this weekend, but starting Monday I'll work on getting my character created.

Acmite and Deepwinter have said they're interested, but I've yet to hear anything of actual substance from them (Deepwinter said he'd be interested in a captain of the guard type character).

Fortunately, I can get started with just the two of you, and if they (or others) want to join in later, it's not too hard to work them in.

 

[Cor Azer]

Character Sheet thread over here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/rogues-gallery/305284-asoiaf-rpg-tourney-gulls-houses-characters.html