Incidentally, this table demonstrates the designers preference for Houses to be from the more generic regions like the Riverlands and the Mountains of the Moon, than say Dorne or King’s Landing. The core rules provide a random table for this purpose, based on 3d6 roll. Players work together to develop narratives around the results of dice rolls in the house creation process, simultaneously establishing a shared background from which each player can build their own character.Ĭharacters initially determine the region of their House. Each player has equal say about the salient features pertaining to the house, through decision-making and dice rolls. House creation is a cooperative process which is undertaken in the first session of the campaign (Session Zero) and prior to the creation of individual characters. The Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying corebook details the rules of House creation at length, including extraordinary rich rules for the design of the House’s coat of arms and heraldry. The idea that Houses are effectively characters in the narrative is not just symbolic – each House has quantifiable attributes that reflect its strengths and weaknesses, a living history and agency within the gameplay context. The loyalty to a common House, whether through blood or coin, immediately involves the players in the world in a way that allows them to, quite literally, play the game of thrones. The recognition of the importance of the Houses is a masterstroke by the designers. It is the ultimately the story of feuding families, and the way in which an entire society is enrolled into and shaped by the forces of these feuds. This makes for a more cooperative experience, but also immediately pits the characters against their rival houses, creating the intrigue and scheming that the Game of Thrones setting is most notorious for.Īfter all, as the writers of SIFRP points out, the notion of house, lineage, and blood are endemic in the stories of Westeros, and it is the machinations of Houses as much as heroes that drives the unfolding history of Westeros. The focus on the House supplies players with a reason why they would be working together – as opposed to the old meet in a tavern trope – but further highlights the importance of not only improving the individual character’s fortunes, but those of the House as a whole. Unifying gameplay around the common House creates the basis for some of the unique character archetypes of the setting: hedge knights, sellswords, maesters, stewards, septons – archetypes that have obvious parallels with other fantasy settings, but are in some ways unique to Westeros and with deep resonances for those familiar with the world. It is certainly possible to ignore this rule, but frankly I think you would lose a lot of what makes this ruleset capture the feel of Westeros. SIFRP assumes that player characters are members of the same household in a minor House, and that they will each take on a role as a family member, retainer, servant or knight in that House. In many ways, the Houses themselves become characters in the story, but instead of being under the control of a single player, they are collaboratively controlled by all players working together in each other’s best interest.
One of the key ways that SIFRP captures the feel of the Game of Thrones setting is by devoting significant attention not just to the creation of characters, but to the creation of their noble House.
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This 32-page booklet gives you a taste of the rules, six pre-generated characters, and a short adventure so you can try the game out (noting that the Quickstart won the 2009 Gold ENnie Award for Best Free Product). If you are unfamiliar with the game, publisher Green Ronin has released a free Quick-Start Guide to the as well. Martin in his A Song of Ice and Fire novels. SIFRP is a tabletop roleplaying game where players take on the roles of characters guided by a Narrator in exploring the world created by George R. It is against this criterion that the unique features of Green Ronin’s Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Game (SIFRP) will be judged. Put most simply, players will want to play the ‘game of thrones’. But there is a certain something about that setting that would be missing. You could easily imagine using a map of Westeros and some lore and plot points from the novels in a generic low-magic fantasy roleplaying game like Dungeons and Dragons.
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There is a certain ‘feel’ that people will be looking for when they decide to play a tabletop roleplaying game based on the Game of Thrones television series or A Song of Ice and Fire novels.
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