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[SIFRP PbP] Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying (Accepting Players Until 10/25)
Crono729
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."
So, I recently picked up a copy of the Green Ronin version of A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. It looks pretty neat, but unfortunately I can't find anyone I know who is interested in playing it. This is where you come in, internet!
Basically, I am looking for any number of people who would like to, at the very least, mess around with the system. I can't provide any specifics to how or when we would play at the moment, because I am new to role playing online. I am hoping to get a group of people together and as a group determine the best time and method of playing as a consensus.
There is also the issue of DMing, or as it is called in SIFRP "Narrating". I do not have any experience running games. I am, however, not dead-set on narrating. If someone else wants to narrate I will happily settle into the familiar and comfortable role of a PC.
Now, for the infodump!
Link to the quickstart pdf: http://grfiles.game-host.org/gr_files/SiF_Fastplay.pdf
-The game system is based entirely on six sided dice, and all "conflicts" are resolved by "tests".
-When you test an ability (fighting, intrigue, climbing, etc) you role a number of test dice equal to the governing ability +/- bonus test dice or penalty dice and sum the result. You can replace test dice with bonus dice you obtain from specialties.
-The game has an interesting insurance policy called "destiny points" which you can either spend, invest, or burn. Spending temporarily deprives you of the point for a small bonus, investing grants you benefits which act like feats, and burning them gets rid of the point permanently to alter the story (avoiding death, performing incredibly difficult acts, etc).
-There is no magic system present, reflecting the rarity of magic in Westeros.
-There are detailed systems for House Creation (including territory management), broad scale Warfare, and Intrigue (which covers things like forging alliances, diplomacy, not to mention cloak and dagger goodies).
-There are several game variations, including starting in different ages, Night's Watch games, non-House games, and a Game of Thrones variant in which each player creates and controls a house.
-If you have any questions about specific game mechanics, feel free to post them here/message me/email me and I will try to answer them as best I can.
Things I Hope to Achieve With this Thread:
I hope to convince some of you to play this game! Preferably, to play it with me. My hope is that we can get several people interested, and from there it will be a snowball rolling down a hill. Once we have a group of people who are certain they want to play, we can work out the basic stuff like when/how and what kind of game we want to play (standard, combat focused, non-house, etc).
Once the basics are in place, we would create a house as a group, then create our characters and attach them to the house accordingly and begin getting viciously and mercilessly fucked by GRRM's world. Then, and only then, will this thread be HUGE SUCCESS.
Mechanics Stuff:
[post=12044702]House Creation Mechanics[/post]
[post=12053560]Actual House Creation Rolls[/post]
Character Sheets
[post=12060018]Character Creation[/post]
[post=12092221]Equipment[/post]
Interactive Character Sheet
Information on the World of ASOIAF:
Citadel entry on the Stormlands
Political map of Westeros
A more accurate and interactive map of Westeros
A Huge, Detailed Map of the Whole ASOIAF World
Crono729 on
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I am intrigued by the idea of playing by post. Since it seems to be the method most prefer so far its pretty likely that's what we will end up doing. It opens up some interesting playing choices, however. It allows for groups of people to be doing things at the same time, to the extent of having several different houses controlled by players, or players from the same house seeking to build alliances with different lords at the same time, etc. I definitely like the idea of that dynamic.
With the decent amount of interest expressed so far, I'd like to start talking about what type of game everyone would like to run. Tomorrow sometime I will type up material on the different game types contained in the guide, as well as house creation rules since ideally that is the first step (even before character creation).
As far as rules go, I haven't yet played the game so I'm not sure what works well and what needs to be thrown out. I am in favor of a balanced, standard game where there are some characters specialized in intrigue and some in combat. If we end up having more than one house I think they should be limited to at least starting in the same region.
If anyone has actually played the game before, I would love input on how stuff works. Also, I just wanna reiterate I will try to put up material as it becomes relevant but if you'd like to see specific stuff from the rulebook don't hesitate to ask.
Game Types:
Standard - Players create a house which all PCs are a member of. The main goal of this type is increasing the prestige of your house while also gaining experience for the PC.
Adventurers - A game type which more closely resembles DnD, there is no house uniting the PCs. Instead, players do adventurey type things like explore ruins, go beyond the wall, form a mercenary band, etc. Rule changes include skipping house creation and strictly earning coin and experience as rewards, with no glory.
Free Folk - Players take the role of wildlings beyond the wall. This type allows for more fantasy to be present, as it is beyond the wall where creepy shit happens. It is also flexible in the sense you can modify the house rules to work as a tribal system, where each PC is a member of the same tribe of wildlings. If you don't use the tribal system, rule changes are the same as adventurers.
Game of Thrones - Basically standard, expect each player controls a house and the characters attached to their house. Rule changes include house creation for each player, then player creation for that house. For each 10 influence the house has, that player creates one PC.
Historical - Standard, but set in a different era than the current timeline of post-Robert's Rebellion, pre-War of the Five Kings. Rules the same as standard, except for minor changes to House Creation.
Night's Watch - Standard, but everyone is a member of the Night's Watch. Players are (obviously) encouraged to come up with a story for how they ended up on the watch. There is nothing stated about rule changes, but House Creation would have to be adapted. I don't think it would be very hard to work out using Glory to improve the watch rather than a house.
House Creation:
Step 1) Realm - The method of randomly selecting the realm given is:
Roll
Realm
3
King's Landing
+5, -5,-5,+20 law, +5 population,-5,-5
4
Dragonstone
+20,-5,-5,+5 law, -5
5or6----The North
+5, +10, +20, -10 law, -5 population, -5, -5
7
Iron Islands
+10,-5, -5, +10
8or9----Riverlands
-5, -5, +5, +10 population, +5
10or11-Mountains of the Moon- +20, +10, -5, -10 law, -5 population
12or13-The Westerlands
-5,+10, -5, -5 population, -5 law, +20
14or15-The Reach
-5, +10, -5 law, +5 population, +5
16or17-Stormlands
+5, -5, +10 law, -5 population, +5
18
Dorne
-5, +10, -5 law, +10
Each realm has its benefits and drawbacks to your house's attributes (Defense, Influence, Lands, Law, Popuplation, Power, and Wealth)
To determine your house's starting attributes, you roll 7d6 and add or subtract realm attributes.
After the house's initial attributes are calculated, determine the age the house was founded. Age governs how many historical events have occurred to your house, which further alters attributes. Choices and number of events should be changed based when the story is set. Either choose or roll for
Roll--Founding----Events
1
Ancient
d6+3
2
Very Old
d6+2
3
Old
d6+1
4
Established-d6
5
Recent
d6-1
6
New
d6-2
Once the number of events is determined, roll 3d6 to find what event resulted in the founding of your house. There are both positive and negative events.
*Events modify several attributes and as such I will not put them all here. For further information on an event, just ask.
Roll-Event
3----Doom
-2d6 to all attributes
4----Defeat
-1d6 to all except for law
5----Catastrophe
-1d6 to law, population, power, wealth
6----Madness
+6 - 2d6 to all
7----Invasion/Revolt--- -2d6 to law, -1d6 to power, population, wealth
8----Scandal
-1d6 to influence, lands, power
9----Treachery
-1d6 to influence, law, +1d6 power
10--Decline
-1d6 to influence, lands, power, wealth
11--Infrastructure
+1d6 to any two
12--Ascent
+1d6 to influence, lands, power, wealth
13--Favor
+1d6 to influence, lands, law, power
14--Victory
+1d6 to defense, influence, power
15--Villian
+1d6 to influence, power -1d6 to law, population
16--Glory
+1d6 to influence, defense, law, power
17--Conquest
-1d6 to defense, law +1d6 to influence, lands, population, wealth
18--Windfall
+2d6 to influence, power, wealth +1d6 to defense, lands, law, population
When you have your founding event, work together with anyone else in the house to determine what exactly the event was. The more detail the better.
Repeat this for the remaining events in the house's history, and add all the bonuses or penalties accordingly.
Now that the house attributes are totaled, you can invest them in holdings. When you invest points in holdings, your total attribute remains the same but you allocate the points to a specific representation of that resource (villages, castles, troops, etc). If at some point you lose that holding (say, from an invasion) then you lose the points invested in it.
Land Holdings are the terrain and extent of your house's territory. Each holding has a cost based on the terrain type and is roughly 1 league (3 miles). Land can also be invested on features, additional notable elements which can be added to holdings for benefits such as flavor and defensive bonuses.
Terrain
Cost
Feature
Cost----Feature
Cost---Feature---Cost---Feature
Cost
Hills
7
Coast
3
Small City---40
Road
5
Ruin
3
Mountains-9
Hamlet
10
Large City---50
Stream----1
River
3
Plains
5
Small Town--20
Grassland---1
Pond
5
Lake
7
Wetlands--3
Large Town--30
Island
10
Woods----3
Dense Woods-5
Defense holdings are investments on land holdings which improve the defense of troops stationed there. Choices include superior castle, castle, small castle, hall, and tower. Defense bonuses are +10, +5, +3, +2, and +1 respectively.
Influence has a number of uses. Influence determines your maximum status ability, can be used as resource, or has holdings in the sense you invest influence to gain heir PC characters. You can spend 2 points of influence to gain a bonus dice on any intrigue test, or you can spend 5 to add 1d6 to house fortune rolls.
Heir's status--Influence Cost Example
Max-1
20
(1st born son)
Max-2
10
(2nd son or first daughter)
Max-3
5
(other legitimate children)
Law and Population do not have investments, instead they affect your House Fortunes roll.
Score--House Fortunes (Law)----House Fortunes (Population)
0
(-20)
(-10)
1-10---(-10)
(-5)
11-20--(-5)
0
21-30--(-2)
+1
31-40--(-1)
+3
41-50---0
+1
51-60--+1
0
61-70--+2
(-5)
71+----+5
(-10)
Power investments are banner houses sworn to you and troops under house control. A banner house is 20 power for the 1st house, 10 for the 2nd, and 5 for each additional house. When you invest in a banner house, create it as you would a normal house with 5d7 for attributes (also their max influence is your house's influence score).
Troops are also power investments. Troops have the same abilities as characters, but are representative of 100 men, 20 men on horses, or 5 warships respectively. In addition to normal abilities, troops also have a "Discipline" characteristic which you must beat with a warfare test in order to successfully issue them an order in combat. To increase a troops ability you must spend 20 experience, all abilities start at 2.
Training
Base Power Cost
Discipline
Starting XP
Green
1
9
20
Trained
3
6
60
Veteran----5
3
100
Elite
7
0
140
There are also troop types. Troops can be multiple types, all costs and discipline modifiers are cumulative. EXAMPLE: Green Cavalry Raiders have Discipline 12 (9-3+6), and cost 9 (1+5+3).
Type
Power Cost
Discipline Mod
Abilities
Archers
3
(+3)
Agility, Awareness, Marksmanship
Cavalry
5
(-3)
Agility, Animal Handling, Fighting
Criminals
1
(+6)
Endurance, Fighting, Stealth
Crusaders
4
(0)
Athletics, Endurance, Fighting
Engineers
2
(+3)
Endurance, Knowledge, Warfare
Garrison
2
(-3/+3)
Awareness, Endurance, Fighting
Guerrillas
2
(+3)
Athletics, Marksmanship, Stealth
Infantry
4
(0)
Athletics, Endurance, Fighting
Mercenaries
1 wealth
(+3)
Athletics, Endurance, Fighting
Peasants
2 population
(+6)
Animal Handling, Awareness, Survival
Personal Guard--6
(-6)
Athletics, Endurance, Fighting
Raiders
3
(+3)
Agility, Endurance, Fighting
Sailors
4
(0)
Agility, Awareness, Fighting
Scouts
2
(+3)
Endurance, Stealth, Survival
Special
4
(0)
Any 3 abilities
Support
2
(+3)
Animal Handling, Endurance, Healing
Warships
7
(0)
Awareness, Fighting, Marksmanship
Wealth holdings increase a variety of attributes and provide other benefits.
Holding
Cost
Benefit
Requirement
Artisan
10
castle forged weapons OR +1 defense OR +1 fortunes---Hold or larger defensive
Godswood
5
2d6 - 6 to house fortunes result
The North
Guilds
15
10% discount on goods
Small town or larger
Maester
10
House has a PC or NC master, +3 fortunes
20 influence
Marketplace--10
when fortunes adds to wealth, extra +1
Small town or larger
Mine
10
+5 on house fortunes
Mountains or Hills
Port
10
+5 on house fortunes, market extra becomes 1d6
Coastline
Sept
15
+3 on fortunes, gain PC or NC septon/septa
Hold or Smalltown or larger
So that is about the entire house creation process. There are build times for all holdings included in the rules but I didn't add them because they didn't seem pertinent to house creation.
ETA - Also, the House's words and heraldry should be created along with every other aspect. There are guides for randomizing them, but that seems stupid
House Actions:
Once a month the house may decide to roll a house fortune. This is optional, but 1 fortune roll MUST be made every 3 months. If you choose not to roll, increase any house attribute by 1. Otherwise, the house's acting steward rolls a Status test (with bonus from stewardship, plus holdings modifiers). The house fortunes results is a table which I don't feel like posting which goes from 2 to 42, with anything higher than 42 a boon and anything lower than 2 a disaster. The low numbers are mostly negative, while the high numbers mostly positive.
Any character may donate gold or glory to the house. 200 gold dragons nets +1 wealth, while donating glory adds +1 to any house attribute.
In addition to a house fortune roll, the house gets an action every month. These include:
Manage Resources - You can "trade" some house attributes for another, most being 1:1 under good conditions and 2:1 under rushed conditions. The exception to this is wealth, which can "trade" to all attributes at 2:1 or 3:1 if rushed. There is no limit to the amount you can trade.
Begin Projects: You can invest house attributes to begin work on a holding.
Wage War: War with another house (this is when things go above and beyond a simple skirmish)
Host Tournaments: Your family can host local, regional, or grand tournaments by spending wealth. The larger the tournament, the greater the influence reward when its all said and done.
That was ALOT of typing.
Standard is fine by me too.
Haha, yeah it really is. By comparison, the character creation is far less rigid; the only time you roll dice aside from randomizing your character is when you do a status test to see how much money you start with. It essentially boils down to here is a list of abilities, here is a list of specialties, here is a list of flaws and benefits. You start with this much exp, this many destiny points, and have to take this many flaws based on your age now have fun!
Crono, would you want to create our house yourself, or would you prefer one of us does it? It looks like there are really too many decisions to be made to pull this off by committee.
I am starting to think up a concrete schedule on when we should have all the preliminaries done by. So far, it looks something (alot) like:
Wednesday (10/21) - Barring any objections, delays, etc this is when I will make and post the house information. I'll leave out heraldry and House Words because if nothing else that should be a group effort.
Sunday (10/25) - Last day for people to join, and the day I'd like to have character information by.
In the mean time, I will try to put up as much information as possible on the game. Either today or tomorrow I will get character creation information together so people can start planning ahead. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for online systems to use for the dirty work of the game (dice rolls, maps, etc) that would appreciated.
Sounds awesome!
http://greenronin.com/sifrp/2009/03/sifrp_character_sheet.php
Though without the book, or Crono's guide, making a character might be difficult.
Realm: The Stormlands
Realm Roll
Liege Lord: Renly Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End
Stormlands Description:
House Age and Events: Established house whose founding event was infrastructure, and second event was madness. The guide has, for an example, Aegon's Conquest as the founding era for an established house.
Infrastructure Description:
House Attributes:
Infrastructure as a founding event is good. I put the first roll into lands as it was the lowest starting attribute, and the second dice in influence because it seems to me that that is the most important attribute. Unfortunately, a madness event is not a good thing. Luckily, with the help of some benevolent dice it turned out helping more attributes than it hurt.
Defense: 41 (28+5+2+2+4)
Defense Roll + 5 Realm Bonus - Madness Roll + 6 + Thanatos' Defense Roll + The Crow's Defense Roll
Score Description:
Infleunce Roll + Infrastructure Roll - Madness Roll + 6 + Nion's Influence Roll
Score Description:
Lands Roll-5 Realm Bonus +Infrastructure Roll - Madness Roll + 6 + Adventfalls' Land Roll + Cynic's Land Roll
Score Description:
Law Roll + 10 Realm Bonus - Madness Roll + 6
Score Description:
Population Roll - 5 Realm Bonus - Madness Roll + 6
Score Description:
Power Roll + 5 Realm Bonus - Madness Roll + 6 + El Skid's Power Roll + Everyman's Power Roll
Score Description:
Wealth Roll - Madness Roll + 6
Score Description:
Note on score descriptions - The descriptions are supplied in brackets of 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 etc.
So those are the base attributes for the house. I haven't done anything with investments or holdings, because I figured I would wait to see what people think. From the looks of it there is alot of room for some backstory for the house. For instance, The house has plenty of power, defense, and law but is lacking in land and to some degree Influence. I get the feeling this house is a militaristic family hungry for recognition and expansion.
Feel free to throw in ideas on the nature of the house, and just as importantly the events that shaped it. If someone has a cool idea for what madness struck the family, or wants to spin a story about how the house was born as a result of peaceful expansion and affluence that would be great. Perhaps Aegon's Conquest lead to an era of prosperity in Westeros, and as a result of the houses that were destroyed resisting the Targaryens needed to be replaced? One possible avenue is the fact that the Baratheons themselves were raised by Aegon after he defeated the Storm Lords. Perhaps the house's founder was a trusted lieutenant of the Targaryen bastard Aegon raised?
Something tells me that the land was built up, but the ensuing madness of... whoever was ruling basically shafted us and forced the land into disrepair. I vote we start reclaiming the surrounding land by knocking some heads!
We don't have the Land to afford any kind of town except for a Hamlet.... can this be upgraded later?
We could get a mine (we'd need hills or mountains) or a port (need a coastline). Or maybe an artisan if we invest in a castle.
edit-
EDIT: The table on the thread has 6 for Madness.
I am using a modified table for results. I got it from the Green Ronin FAQ and updates, as supposedly it takes more of a bell curve approach to results vs rolls.
I've also been doing some research into the Stormlands, and the lack of coverage in the books is turning out to be a bit of a double edged sword. There is a nice section in the The Citadel's Concordance about the Stormlands which has some information on the terrain of the Stormlands (The Citadel is an excellent knowledge base for Westeros in general). I'll throw some links up for those intrested.
Citadel entry on the Stormlands
Political map of Westeros
A more accurate and interactive map of Westeros
Looking at the maps, I think the Dornish Marches would be a great place to situate the house. They are smack dab in the middle of the Reach, Dorne, and the Stormlands and their location and history as a battleground between the houses could account both for the lack of land and the martial prowess of the house.
ETA A quote from So Spake Martin, a correspondence with GRRM: "For thousands of years, the marcher lords were the first line of defense against Dornish incursions, so they have strong martial traditions and some strong castles (SSM: 1)"
What kind of Land stuffs should we get if we go with that?
http://icefire.d20.cz/public/agot/svet-bar.pdf
According to the guide, the Stormlands can have any terrain or feature. Another positive of starting there. I am going to say based on the interactive map, the Marches are either hills or mountain
Also, I updated the creation results post with descriptions from the guide on what each score relatively means.
We've got 24 Influence here, which means the maximum Status our house can have is 4. I was looking to play the firstborn daughter, which according to the chart in Chapter 6, states that I would cost 10 Influence points. Now, I'm assuming here that we're going to have a firstborn son (and heir) who will already cost 20 Influence points. That only leaves us with 4 here. Does that mean I'm not significant, and will only start with a Status of 2?
And a Targaryen supporter would be a nice fit, not only for the paranoia that followed, but also the lack of land. I see the house as a smaller one that suffered not only from a Lord who succumbed to madness, but also the predations of those who defeated them. A house laid low, but so much more eager to claw its way back up as a result.
As written, a first daughter would not need an influence investment. Only characters of status 3 or higher require investment. And yeah, there looks to be a valid complaint that the Max Status does not match up with the status table provided on pg 65. I would wait on planning out ranking members of the house, however. I think that definitely requires discussion amongst players.
I am going to try to get character creation info up tonight as everyone seems to be chomping at the bit.
I have also decided I am going to allow turn 0 resource management, as per the House Action. There are limitations on what can be traded for what:
Resource
Exchange
Rate
Influence
Law
1:1
Lands
Defense
1:1
Population
Power
1:1
Power
Influence, Law, Population--1:1
Wealth
All
2:1
The rules as given do not allow exchanging defense or law for any resources. However, I am going to allow exchanging 1 defense AND 1 law for 1 land to signify expanding borders at the cost of reducing the defensibility and control over house lands.
Personally I'm leaning toward a schemer, probably not a member of the family, but an adviser of sorts.
The Infrastructure even is the house's founding event. I can see having the madness event be having to clean up after the previous lord's foul ups. However, having both events occur at the house's founding lends to a pretty boring couple of hundred years in between, no?
Well, those roles sure, but I meant more like roles in our House. Lord, Lady, heir, master at arms, maester, speton, etc, etc.
Specifically though, I was going to go for an young lady (15 or so, depending on the Lord's age) who is a sort of schemer/diplomat.
A man... does everyone need to be related to each other?