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A Song of Ice and Fire Forum Role-Playing Game


Olligarchy

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So... as some of you may already have found out, I am avid tabletop gamer and when this is combined with my love of A Song of Ice and Fire it's a potent mix indeed. However of late I've been having trouble with getting into games... mostly due to the distance of my RL friends and the difficulty of organizing such a complicated game over the internet.



So right now I am in a situation where playing the tabletop version is impossible due to distance, playing said system over forums is extremely difficult due to the complexity of said system and the general feeling of detachment from distance. I've also considered trying to get into MUSH, but I am not truly experienced in such matters and hence the idea has gone to the backburner. I have however come up with this crazy notion of either modifying or creating a forum specific version of a role-playing game that I could run or play on these forums for the enjoyment of people with similar interests.



Right now I am merely charting interest for such a project and wondering if there are people like me on these forums that would like to get involved in such a project, or at least play in a game with it once it is in a suitable state?



To specify: This will be a purely non-profit endeavour and will in no way attempt to lay claim to any property owned by prior RPG's or Martin himself. It's merely to bring the enjoyment of storytelling to other players. :)


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From what I can find out with a quick search the site is used for boardgames and A Song of Ice and Fire boardgames aren't listed in module list. However it supports adding modules and apparently Hex based RPG's are a very real possibility. It seems that we've found our basis. Now all we need is suitable rules. :) I figure the Green Ronin RPG rules might work with some work, but some people might not have the patience for said rules complexity so maybe something a bit more freeform might be possible? Thoughts?


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Well since you're not hellbent on using standard RPG rules...



Check my sig; I created my own version of Diplomacy specifically for use with GRRMs universe and the concepts of fealty and succession. It's part game, part dynasty simulator, part house builder, but mostly it's Diplomacy with an ASOIAF twist. And it's not an RPG so we have been allowed to host it here.



I used to run it, but I don't really have the time to start it up again lol, and though it was very very fun we only got a few years into the game. A large war, and then the really big one was just about to start into the second act when I got called away. I'm about to start running a new game that is less intensive to give as an ending to the diplo game, but now I might try and turn my Diplomacy variant into a game with Vassal as well



It was a natural forum game because people could send PMs secretly to eachother and arrange attacks together, you could send family members away to foster or squire and get them some basic training, you had generals that could be customized and upgraded over time and battles, you could hire assassins, host weddings and tourneys with prizes, and it even had a winter mechanic that never really got to be used. Each house had unique traits and the entire family was documented; a number of houses were extinguished over the course of the game and therefore a number of players pushed out by force. As I always say, it's not fun if you have nothing on the line ;D



http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/8656/g09y.jpg



That was our map



I'd also be down for playing the Green Ronin rules though, or some other more RPG flavored element. You mentioned tabletop though, which was pretty much my intention with Diplomacy, to create a tabletop GoT history simulator hehe.



There were numerous betrayals; one captive was forced to eat his own wife in some soup and then was murdered, then the guy who did that was made to watch a bear feast on his dismembered man parts and then was thrown to said bear while his enemy said, "Harrion Valenstone sends his regards" or something like that



Good times, though like I said it was too much for me to host.



Are there any other rule systems for ASOIAF you've run across like Green Ronin's? My main thing is I want to rule armies, take and make thrones, break and make alliances, in the true spirit of the Game of Thrones ;D


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I must admit to my eternal shame that I've never played Diplomacy before and hence am unsure how the game itselt felt, but that map lookes very, very interesting.



Right now there's only two official ASOIF/GoT RPG's. The Green Ronin one which you are already familiar with and the Game of Thrones RPG by Guardians of Order which is based on d20 system. The system itself was... d20 at core, with all that it entailed. Personally I didn't really like it. Then again I can put that under my undying hatred of all things d20.



Personally my grandest memory is of practically impossible on forums style "legacy" game where me and my friends each created Houses for ancient history and rubbed shoulders with people like Brandon the Builder and such. The game progressed roughly with one session (8h or so) equalling the life of a single head of house. We made it, after roughly half a year of gaming to the Conquest period and by then Westeros was practically unrecognizable. :D



I think the empire running part of Game of Thrones indeed my favourite too. Whilst the Green Ronin game has some of that, the "ceiling" of power you can achieve is sadly quite low and hence there's really no desire to advance oneself beyond a certain point. If we can figure out a system that could simulate this better it would indeed make a houses rise and fall in power quite... interesting to play out. Do you think we can design such a "supplement" ourselves somehow and simply stamp it to a pre-existing system, or should we simply change the parameters of Green Ronin system for example?



Or is Diplomacy indeed the way to go? :dunno:


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Well we're both on the same page with the power ceiling problem; the big point of my game and your legacy one was that we could totally shape Westeros how we wanted it to, though within a ruleset so you can't step on everyone without them having the chance to do the same first ;D



At the same time I like to illustrate the power just a few figures and actions can have. I played a game called Cybernations for years that had its own living history. We fought in wars, and players got eliminated and such, people got conquered. Was a rough game, wars were started over things like espionage, and people got pulled into megawars due to complex MADP webs



I've thought of shopping around to other sites as well to try and find a host who would be interested. It doesn't really take a lot if you're good with figures, I just happen to be poor with them and my memory for numbers and such isn't really the best either, so whenever it came time to update the map it would take me hours and hours.



I'm about to start work on this new wargame that will give us some conclusion to the Diplomacy story, and then I can start thinking about hosting some grand big project again. We have the Westeros Battle Tournaments as well which are quite fun


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I've narrowed down the selection of system to either heavily modified UNI system used by All Flesh Must be Eaten/Buffy/Angel or a modified version of FATE. What do you guys think? Or do you have other systems you'd suggest? Cortex maybe?


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  • 2 weeks later...

UNI System is a rather simple "cinematic" system used by the RPG's for games I mentioned above. It's really freeform and been one of my favourite combat oriented systems for a long time.



Cortex was used to run Firefly/Serenity and Battlestar Galactica RPG's. It's a bit different than Uni, with each stat being a dice rather than a set bonus, but it has just as much freeform as UNI.



And I feel like I got lucky since I found these House rules. Seriously considering using them now. They allow for a more "designed" house creation and make things like warfare a bit clearer.


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Ah yeah those house rules are nice.



Well I'm definitely down, let's troll the waters for more players now :D



I have every intention of being a noble/diplomat type character ala Tywin or Tyrion, just saying ;D



Also I'll probably be a small house with looootsa money and maybe not very many men or other resources. I will buy my crown ;D


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I have wondered if a forum roleplaying game could work



I'd be interested to play with you guys, but I don't know how much time I can use for that game.


I am experienced in traditional role playing games but I don't have the slightest idea how it works online.


I can try and help you create the game.

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Ah yeah those house rules are nice.

Well I'm definitely down, let's troll the waters for more players now :D

I have every intention of being a noble/diplomat type character ala Tywin or Tyrion, just saying ;D

Also I'll probably be a small house with looootsa money and maybe not very many men or other resources. I will buy my crown ;D

Excellent notion. :)

I have wondered if a forum roleplaying game could work

I'd be interested to play with you guys, but I don't know how much time I can use for that game.

I am experienced in traditional role playing games but I don't have the slightest idea how it works online.

I can try and help you create the game.

There's a really big scene on PbP on Myth Weavers, but I figure we could try to organize this with "just" people from these forums. I know these said forums do not allow for PbP to take place within them, but we can gather people and get organized somewhere else.

Right now the really big question is how do we organize this? Leonardo already suggested just a big map Diplomacy style, and that might even work! We could leave GM:ng to a minimum (I can volunteer for said job unless we get someone either more experienced in this system, or more eager) and act as an arbiter on how players act. I imagine two "turns" for everyone: The Grand Map turn where the players enlarge their domains over the Map of Westeros. Wage war, indulge in trade etc, and then the Personal Turn where they get to play as a member of their house and take part in tourneys, attempt assassinations and arrange marriages.

Thoughts on this?

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^^On the same page as Treekid up there.



I'm on Myth-weavers as well and I think it would be a pretty good place to try this.


We could experiment with different forums for each segment of westeros, seperate things a bit, so it's not so hectic in just one forum.


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If you want me to, I can go bother my friends and see who wants to play with us.

They're big fans of the show, but none of us have gotten far in the books.

Is it too early to have my house filled out and ready for play already? Bar a few things, but almost ready.

It's good to have enthusiasm! If you have a house sheet ready you can just send it to me via private message on these forums and I can check it out. Are you using the house rules suggested above, or the "vanilla" ones? You might have to end up changing quite a lot when we iron things out, but a core concept is always good to have.

And friends are welcome, just make sure they post here or where ever we end up in the end so we can confirm their presence.

So... Vote. All of Westeros, or just a certain region for play ground? And what period in history should I work on?

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