thormagni
Explorer
I finally got the entire PDF of the book this weekend, so that I can run demo games at GenCon and I must say, very interesting and very beautiful. At 570+ pages, the book is a monster, but it features a lot of two-page paintings of events in the book and what appears to be a pretty thorough fan-guide style look at the world presented in the first book of the series. Also, the last 80 pages or so of the book are devoted to a Tri-Stat version of the world and rules.
I made a 4-page cheat sheet to hand out to players at the game, summarizing the world of Westeros and the changes from D&D to GoT D20 which I think it would be OK to share, if anyone is interested.
To summarize though:
* Combat is more free-flowing, descriptive than the minis and map tactical standard D&D3e. Thus many of the manuevers of basic D&D are not necessary. And attacks of opportunity don't exist.
* Armor Class is basically your bonuses (level and Dex) plus a random 1d20 roll every attack. Your AC gets a -2 for every attacker after the first.
* Armor provides Damage Reduction instead of AC bonuses.
* Shields provide DR or AC bonuses, depending on whether the attacker is trying to hack through the shield or get past it.
* Every skill has an area of specialization you choose when taking the skill, for which you get a +2 bonus (I believe.)
* Strength does not add a to-hit bonus, neither does Dex. To get either, you have to take the Brute or Finesse feats.
* Shock Value is one half of your Con score. If you take more than your shock in a single attack, you must roll a Fort save or be stunned. On first read, I suspect this value is going to be a bit low for my tastes.
* Hit points are not random and do not accumulate as fast as they do in other D20 games (even slower than in Conan.) Essentially you cap out after first level and only gain a set number plus your Con bonus each level thereafter.
Also there are many changes based just on the setting. For example, magic as a tool or class feature simply does not exist.
So far, it is an interesting take on the whole issue. I'm anxious to see how it plays out.
I made a 4-page cheat sheet to hand out to players at the game, summarizing the world of Westeros and the changes from D&D to GoT D20 which I think it would be OK to share, if anyone is interested.
To summarize though:
* Combat is more free-flowing, descriptive than the minis and map tactical standard D&D3e. Thus many of the manuevers of basic D&D are not necessary. And attacks of opportunity don't exist.
* Armor Class is basically your bonuses (level and Dex) plus a random 1d20 roll every attack. Your AC gets a -2 for every attacker after the first.
* Armor provides Damage Reduction instead of AC bonuses.
* Shields provide DR or AC bonuses, depending on whether the attacker is trying to hack through the shield or get past it.
* Every skill has an area of specialization you choose when taking the skill, for which you get a +2 bonus (I believe.)
* Strength does not add a to-hit bonus, neither does Dex. To get either, you have to take the Brute or Finesse feats.
* Shock Value is one half of your Con score. If you take more than your shock in a single attack, you must roll a Fort save or be stunned. On first read, I suspect this value is going to be a bit low for my tastes.
* Hit points are not random and do not accumulate as fast as they do in other D20 games (even slower than in Conan.) Essentially you cap out after first level and only gain a set number plus your Con bonus each level thereafter.
Also there are many changes based just on the setting. For example, magic as a tool or class feature simply does not exist.
So far, it is an interesting take on the whole issue. I'm anxious to see how it plays out.
