I think the community’s failure (yeah, I’m using that word, I realize it’s loaded) to create a Game of Thrones “hack” is really interesting. This morning I read every hack since 2010. None of been finished. For a property that is as popular as GoT, it’s clear many people want one. And it’s not just this community. Going back to Birthright, pre-GoT, the noble houses battling it out for the throne has been an dream of the RPG community at large.
I guess I’m just curious in other’s feeling on the subject.
My own thoughts are that the subject matter of noble houses competing politically is simply narratively difficult in any medium. Even in ASOIAF (a arguably successful example), the premise breaks apart fairly quickly into a bunch of solo characters running about the world. It “splits the party”, so to speak.
gonna sub in for now and hopefully have thoughts later.
Well, there’s a couple of medieval hacks and Dark Ages was meant to be the “anti-GoT”.
Eh. Don’t want to speak towards intentions, but Dark Ages is pretty much GoT.
Via Lumpley: “It’s a fantasy version of Apocalypse World. It’s a pretty political blood-and-war kind of fantasy, inspired by Game of Thrones, Centurion, Vikings, Black Death and others.”
How successful it is is another matter.
Google scup
I feel like you’d need a lot of Burning Wheel type things on top of the PbtA system to make it work.
You also need better non-combat PVP moves that I don’t think any PbtA hacks tend to do real well.
Without playing it, I think Fate’s House of Bards does the style failr well (mimicking House of Cards, not GoT)
Edit: DramaSystem does this successfully IMO
The biggest problem for me across all of them is one of geography. Watching GoT and to a lesser extent Vikings, or reading The First Law books, the “PCs” are spread out.
I’ve got the SCUP playtest and have listened to the actual play.
I’m wondering if you couldn’t do a game of Microscope but with a timeline for each character and the ability to have some events span multiple timelines….
Sure. I’ve thought about Ars Magica troupe play, moving from place to place, from sets of characters to other sets. But then it sort of violates the Czege Principle, where the PCs might and probably would end up moving against their other characters politically.
http://astormeternal.com/
Chris Mitchell I’m with you on the geography problem being a big one to surmount. I wonder if there might be something to learn from how Undying handles big lapses in time… skip over a lot of stuff and get straight to the tipping points.
Alternately, you might have different “scales” of moves, some that operate on the seasonal/annual/regional scale, with results that zoom play in to very localized, moment-to-moment scenes.
Another challenge is the sheer number of different characters and points of view to juggle. Troupe-style play might sort of work, with each player having one or two “main characters” they play in each geographical locale/faction, and a shared pool of supporting characters that can be picked up and played by anyone else.
Huh. Didn’t know they reskinned AW:DA. Some cool ideas, but it doesn’t solve the core issues.
Marshall Miller Even better: Microscope:UNION is made for playing out a big family history culminating in some important scion. It seems easy to use it to create “houses” for this purpose.
Huh, imagine hopping back in time to show your guy’s great-grandfather forming an alliance with House Other when on the previous turn there was a conflict scene between the two.
Edit: And thinking of Families and playing influential houses has reminded me that Legacy exists.
Jeremy Strandberg Yeah, like the scene that’s on now in GoT. S3E6
Arya and the Brotherhood without Banners meets the Red Woman. In my mind, Arya is the only PC in that scene. Hmmm. Let’s do it like this.
Stannis Baratheon
Robert Baratheon
Ned Stark (PC)
Roose Bolton
Tywin Lannister
Tyrion Lannister (PC)
Cersai Lannister
Robb Stark (PC)
Joffrey Baratheon
Gendry
Sansa Stark (PC)
Margaery Tyrell
Daenerys (PC)
Jorah Mormont
Viserys Targaryen
Theon Greyjoy (PC)
Khal Drogo
Jamie Lanister
Brienne of Tarth (PC)
Sandor Clegane
Bronn
Davos Seaworth (PC)
Jaqen H’garr
Varys
Petyr Baelish
Jon Snow (PC)
Arya (PC)
Samwell Tarly (PC)
Catelyn Stark (PC)
Bran Stark (PC)
Missandei
Shae
Melisandre
Gilly
Tommen Baratheon
Roose Bolton
Tormund Giantsbane
Ygritte
Daario Naharis
Jeor Mormont
Talisa Stark
The PC marks are if they are a POV in the show so far.
Chris Mitchell – I have a work in progress that I am playtesting now and might fit your needs. If you drop me an email at davide.pignedoli@gmail.com I can send you a link – have a look and let me know if this might suit you…
Obligatory Burning Wheel mention and sub.
sub
I like BW and have played a few campaigns in it. It’s fun, but not what I’m looking for.
Chris Mitchell can you articulate the issues with AW:DA, particularly the ones Storm Eternal doesn’t solve? I never actually got as far as playing AW:DA, other than making a character, but I know Vincent Baker ceased development.
Because from a distance, it looks like it’d work.
Yeah, I like that you’re acknowledging your provocation here, but I think there’s a good difference between “the community has failed in producing what I want to play” and “the community has failed/this hack doesn’t exist”. I’ve read play reports of TSE that seem exactly along the major themes and scope of Game of Thrones.
Well, here’s Vincent himself: http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=7125.0
I’d say that the rights system isn’t what it wants to be. It’s written in the most Vincentese way possible, so it’s sometimes hard to tell. But basically, a PC group of a Wickerwise, a Troll-Killer, and a War-leader is just not the source material. It’s a game. It is playable. I just think the instances of play that arise out of the table by me telling the players it’s a GoT game brush against the outside scope of the rules and sometimes dive off.
It needs to stray much farther from AW.
I think the source material is a board game where you also play out scenes. I’m not sure it would even be enjoyable.
I think that those are probably some reasonable complaints from Vincent about his own game. But like, A Storm Eternal came out of hacking and hacking and hacking the earlier game into the game they wanted. I don’t think any of the things you want sound insurmountable.
And the idea of grafting Burning Empires level campaign structure onto something like this sounds like it could be really fruitful.
GoT is just nasty in a way that even CoC is not. Why would you want to play it?
I’m still awaiting to see if freebooting venus does the trick. The snip bits suggest it may be the fantasy setting Vincent Baker was looking for. I do not know what his current intentions for the game are.
Hmm. I think I have my own solution. Thanks, guys.