GM Authority (Edited For Clarity, Post #148)

[Aldarc]

‘GoT inspired game where you play regular people’ is not so vague that a player would assume a Child of the Forest is a viable character choice.

"I would like to play a campaign influenced by Game of Thrones. It will still have magic and monsters but the characters will be regular people in a medieval land."

A campaign influenced by Game of Thrones does not mean a campaign set in Westeros. And playing "regular people" is most definitely vague in this context, especially since it is preceded by affirming the existence of "magic and monsters". An elf running a shop in Eberron or even Greyhawk could equally be regarded a "regular person."

In the first three books there is no magic such as is recognized in the game.

Off the top of my head, I recall at least Melisandre shadow babies, the resurrection of Beric Dondarrion, and the Alchemist Guild spells. This is definitely not the level of D&D's magical ubiquity, but the original premise also said that magic would be a part of the game.

Other than three dragons, again having minimal presence in the first three books and absolutely none in Westros, there are no monsters.

Ummm... Wights. Giants. Others.

GoT is a story about people, and the power struggles (Game of Thrones) they engage upon.

Sure, but this is not somehow mutually exclusive with elves and dwarves.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Off the top of my head, I recall at least Melisandre shadow babies, the resurrection of Beric Dondarrion, and the Alchemist Guild spells. This is definitely not the level of D&D's magical ubiquity, but the original premise also said that magic would be a part of the game.

Melisandre had single-use powers which were suggested to be tied to items.

The Alchemist Guild is a better example, but tarnished by the fact they said that they had no idea why things were working.

Magic in the first three books is more a little-understood occurrence than D&D's career field, although we do see Melisandre, and the Spider's reminisce about the fate of his genitals. Although both are from outside Westros. It is not until the later books when we start to see some awareness and control over magic by Westros natives.

Ummm... Wights. Giants. Others.

He said 'monsters'. Undead and Giants are not such, being separate categories. The Others are never identified; they could simply be a difference Human culture.

And keeping in mind we saw wights three times, and a single giant on four occasions, one being referred to as the last of his kind.

AS to Elves and Dwarves, that are no such races in GoT, or even the miserable excuse of a TV series.

 

[tetrasodium]

In the first three books there is no magic such as is recognized in the game. Other than three dragons, again having minimal presence in the first three books and absolutely none in Westros, there are no monsters. GoT is a story about people, and the power struggles (Game of Thrones) they engage upon.

The godswood & weirwood trees within come up very early in the first book where bram or someone has a history lesson on them. You may not understand the significance till later but I'm pretty sure bran had an interaction with them in his pushed off the wall coma, Ned Stark's Valaryan steel sword was magical.Ghost summer & th other pups are direwolf pups & I'm pretty sure bran exhibited some pseudo druidish powers with his pup summer then.

 

[Neonchameleon]

There seem to be several areas of disagreement here - some of which are based on D&D and its tropes and how they mesh with Game of Thrones and its.

First, GoT absolutely does have PCs. It has high death rates - but I played WFRP before ever playing D&D. The younger Starks (Jon, Arya, and possibly Sansa) are pretty obviously PCs (Sansa I'd say is a probable PC but definitely not a D&D PC).

Second, Cersei. I would not tolerate Cersei in a D&D game. I would absolutely think she would make an excellent PC in something more like Apocalypse World where failure, success with consequences, and PVP are much better accounted for and where there is a less harmonious relationship expected between the PCs.

Third, to a rough glance there are no non-humans in Game of Thrones (when it comes to reading the books, I read the first three back in 2000 but haven't read them since and said I was going to wait for the series to finish...) but that doesn't mean that it's a core part of the setting that there have to be none in a game based on it. Especially a more magical game based on it, and a

Third, to a rough glance there are no non-humans in Game of Thrones (when it comes to reading the books, I read the first three back in 2000 but haven't read them since and said I was going to wait for the series to finish...) but that doesn't mean that it's a core part of the setting that there have to be none in a game based on it. Especially a more magical game based on it, and a game using the D&D rules at that. If someone said "influenced by Game of Thrones" to me I'd assume that this meant that there would be politiciking, death (especially of characters other than Jon, Danny, Arya, and Sansa) would be cheap and it would be dark and full of betrayals. It would not to me say "No Non-Humans Ever" especially when the setting was explicitly more magical than GoT itself an definitely contains people that are about as human as Aragorn (the Dunedain at least in MERP having rules as a race while they would not if there weren't other races involved; the lines are blurry). Also there's the relationship to the wolves and the young Starks doing things others couldn't - which in D&D would be either feat based or race based as I'm pretty sure Jon, Arya, and Sansa are different classes.

D&D rules on the other hand are a strong "non-humans are allowed" pitch (and are far from my first choice for GoT). As such the DM made a bad pitch that did not clearly communicate what they were trying to do. The player gave what was probably a good faith pitch (and honestly there's no reason elves can't be ordinary people, just ones who look odd (most of them really are played that way)). And then in textbook style, according to the DM, both sides dug in in a way that reflects badly on both (I know I do this in message threads) and if there'd been a "a plague on both your houses" option in the poll I'd have taken it.

 

[nevin]

When player A & B resort to "PvP" against player C over toxic behavior it's clear that player C is

Melisandre had single-use powers which were suggested to be tied to items.

The Alchemist Guild is a better example, but tarnished by the fact they said that they had no idea why things were working.

Magic in the first three books is more a little-understood occurrence than D&D's career field, although we do see Melisandre, and the Spider's reminisce about the fate of his genitals. Although both are from outside Westros. It is not until the later books when we start to see some awareness and control over magic by Westros natives.


He said 'monsters'. Undead and Giants are not such, being separate categories. The Others are never identified; they could simply be a difference Human culture.

And keeping in mind we saw wights three times, and a single giant on four occasions, one being referred to as the last of his kind.

AS to Elves and Dwarves, that are no such races in GoT, or even the miserable excuse of a TV series.

not sure about the books but the Children of the Forest at least qualify as Fey if not Elves.

 

[Aldarc]

Melisandre had single-use powers which were suggested to be tied to items.

The Alchemist Guild is a better example, but tarnished by the fact they said that they had no idea why things were working.

Magic in the first three books is more a little-understood occurrence than D&D's career field, although we do see Melisandre, and the Spider's reminisce about the fate of his genitals. Although both are from outside Westros. It is not until the later books when we start to see some awareness and control over magic by Westros natives.

I agree that it starts out lighter in magical spells and rituals and increases in its fantastic qualities, but repeatedly we are told even in these early books that there was more magic in older times. Because it's meant to be about "bringing the magic back".

He said 'monsters'. Undead and Giants are not such, being separate categories.

Say what?

 

[Jd Smith1]

not sure about the books but the Children of the Forest at least qualify as Fey if not Elves.

There's not enough description in the books to render any real ruling.

 

[Jd Smith1]

The godswood & weirwood trees within come up very early in the first book where bram or someone has a history lesson on them. You may not understand the significance till later but I'm pretty sure bran had an interaction with them in his pushed off the wall coma, Ned Stark's Valaryan steel sword was magical.Ghost summer & th other pups are direwolf pups & I'm pretty sure bran exhibited some pseudo druidish powers with his pup summer then.

The godswood & weirwood trees aren't anything special, just a legacy pagan religious place crafted by men.

Direwolves were common enough to be Stark's House symbol, although they had been pushed into the Gift long ago.

Valaryan steel isn't magical; it is its construction which is special, proven by the fact that Ned's sword was remade into two small, ordinary weapons.

Bran didn't exhibit any unusual abilities until late in the fourth or fifth book, when he crossed the Wall. He is more a psyker than a Druid (as D&D sets them).

 

[macd21]

"I would like to play a campaign influenced by Game of Thrones. It will still have magic and monsters but the characters will be regular people in a medieval land."

A campaign influenced by Game of Thrones does not mean a campaign set in Westeros. And playing "regular people" is most definitely vague in this context, especially since it is preceded by affirming the existence of "magic and monsters". An elf running a shop in Eberron or even Greyhawk could equally be regarded a "regular person."


Off the top of my head, I recall at least Melisandre shadow babies, the resurrection of Beric Dondarrion, and the Alchemist Guild spells. This is definitely not the level of D&D's magical ubiquity, but the original premise also said that magic would be a part of the game.


Ummm... Wights. Giants. Others.


Sure, but this is not somehow mutually exclusive with elves and dwarves.

And despite all of the above, I would assume that a GoT inspired game featuring regular people would not include elves, unless the GM specifically said otherwise. Just as I would assume it wouldn’t include Vulcans or vampires as player characters, until the GM said otherwise.

A GoT inspired campaign could have elves in it. A Birthright campaign, for example. But it’s not a default assumption for a GoT game. I frankly assumed the OP’s example was entirely fictional because it was pretty ridiculous. The idea that a player would hear ‘GoT campaign’ and respond with ‘I’ll be an elf’ struck me as an absurd hypothetical, not something someone would actually do.

And ultimately this argument is irrelevant, because it doesn’t matter if there were crossed wires when the GM made his pitch. The GM clarified that it was a human-only campaign. There was no longer any confusion. Yet Player 4 insisted on playing an elf. Which again, strikes me as absurd.

 

[tetrasodium]

The godswood & weirwood trees aren't anything special, just a legacy pagan religious place crafted by men.

Direwolves were common enough to be Stark's House symbol, although they had been pushed into the Gift long ago.

Valaryan steel isn't magical; it is its construction which is special, proven by the fact that Ned's sword was remade into two small, ordinary weapons.

Bran didn't exhibit any unusual abilities until late in the fourth or fifth book, when he crossed the Wall. He is more a psyker than a Druid (as D&D sets them).

They were much more subtle early on. I think the coma experience included a dream/out of body experience as a spirit/psychic projection that was later discovered to be more than just a dream but can't remember who it was on. He could communicate with animals but that was tough to show on tv. In the books bran crossed the wall searching for his ancestor the (three eyed crow then guiding him) because powers got dialed up to 11 & were causing him problems

Valaryan steel was absolutely magical. There were only a tiny number of smiths even capable of forging a blade with it, the blades were shaper lighter & so on than any other weapon... and critically later on it hurts white walkers. Just about everything valaryan was magical & usually of the artifact grade. The fact that an extremely skilled & specialized smith could melt down the two handed sword ice & forge two smaller swords from it doesn't change that.