King_Stannis said:
Man, I can't believe how little people are saying about the GRRM stuff in this issue. Is it that uninteresting? I'm starting to wonder if I should get it, now....
It's ok... The map is great. I have some problems with it, though.
It doesn't really even much seem to TRY to simulate the low-magic setting... at least that I can see... It stats people as paladins and sorcerers, and says something to the effect that the spell list may not be accurate in relationship to the books. Lame cop-out, IMHO.
*tiny spoilers*
I liked the one prestige class they gave, but I wish they would have given a few more... Delay the Heros of Cormyr artical an issue and put more in, would have been my choice. Things like the order of assassins that Arya met... (Valar Morghulis!)... But in fairness, I guess those are still too big of mysteries to do.
Frankly, lots of the issue is just names of NPCs, with few or no stats. A few of the major NPCs are stated out, but I often times disagree with the stats... Stannis Baratheon is stated as a level 10 paladin, for example... why not just a fighter? Or an aristocrat/fighter like they stated Tyrion? I don't remember him doing anything terribly paladin-esq... I'm not even 100% certain I would stat him as Lawful Good... I'd choose Lawful Neutral, myself. Daenerys Targaryen is a 6th level sorcerer.
In fairness to the magic level, they did try to keep spells to a certain theme... generaly less flashy stuff, except in the case of Melisandre... But even there I have problems. Without any major spoilers, one character who in the books *is* able to bring people back from the dead, by his stats in Dragon, is *not* able to do so (Not even close, actualy).
There is a fair amount of assorted setting material... but a lot of it is clearly aimed at people who have never read the books. Not a bad choice, perhaps, but I don't have to like it.

. They give plot hook ideas, but they generaly are either so self-evident as to be a waste of space (Players could have just joined the Night Watch, or participate in minor skirmishes during the war of succession), or very much a "play around the major NPC" thing... "Help John Stark bolster the garrison of the Wall", or "Look for Bran".
Of the two suggested campaign ideas, "The Awakening Darkness" is the more interesting of the two... It sums up the information we have on what is north of the Wall quite nicely, even clarifying a few points I was unclear on. "The Clash of Kings" is the other one... It's not bad, but far less needed... and IMHO, far less usefull.
The game information ends with a little box titled "Magic in Westeros", which gives suggestions on how to deal with magic in Westeros... It basicly just boils down to giving three options: Magic doesn't exist except for a few NPCs, Magic exists but nothing over 4th level spells, and "Just play D&D".
Interestingly, they occasionaly treat mundane items as minor magic items... Tyrion's signet ring, for example, is treated as a Ring of Protection +1. I'm not sure how I feel about that... I mean, actualy, I kinda like the concept on the surface, of having otherwise mundane items give a bonus just due to their important, but I'm not sure I really like how they did it.
The rest of it is mostly a bio type thing of George R.R. Martin... which wasn't a bad read, until I came across the line "Perhaps most shocking to D&D players,
Martin's group's system is not the d20 system. (Their choice of bolding, not mine). Come on, was that really needed or relevant? Other than that, it was a pretty good read.