TheRPGSite

Dear forum,


I bought my "Song of Ice and Fire" rulebook about half a year ago and since then every once in a while I wrote down some ideas for a sandbox campaign setting. From what I get from the rulebook the system wants you to think BIG, as in playing intrigues on the highest level in kings landing and seeing kindoms rise and fall and that is what I try to get my players into. I relied on a lot of wrestling characters and their gimmicks when working on the story, as wrestlers act over the top gimmicky and a lot of them are easy to put into a Westeros-Setting. Plus I already got a picture in my head when thinking of them.
So here's the basic plot so far:
The players are sworn to a mighty house in the riverlands whose heir is Lord Owen [-> Owen Hart]. He is the son of a very old Lord who is about to die soon. Unfortunately Lord Owen is infertile, BUT he has a son. His wife was impregnated by one of the player's characters. Every player is supposed to have a "dark secret", which should make the story more fun and intriguing and this is one of them (haven't figured out the others yet).
This son is the only legit heir to the throne and it is an open secret that Owen's son is not his but only the player and Owen's wife know the actual truth.
Still Owen did not care about the gossip and legitimised "his" son - as he loved his wife and it's the only offspring in sight. Owen also got a sister who wants to seize the throne and she drives her husband Kevan Nash [-> Kevin Nash] of house Nash to seize it for her. So at a tourney or banquette Lord Nash publicly questions his sister in law's faithfulness in marriage. A duel follows, Lord Owen dies and the the house is left with a infant heir whose legitimacy is questioned.

War is about to follow as soon as the old lord dies and the players have to figure out a way for their house to come out on top when the dust has settled. The whole thing is supposed to resemble a "Game of Thrones".

So that's the setting.

My problem is to work out a way to make my players feel comfortable with the world and give them a proper motivation to care about the house they are supposed to have sworn loyalty to. How would you try to motivate the players to fight for their house?
I am happy for every hint and advice!
:)

And in case you already played a Westeros-set RPG let me know what you liked about the setting, what encouters you expect in it and what you did not like a bout the game!

Thank you in advance!

Quote from: MES;933029War is about to follow as soon as the old lord dies and the players have to figure out a way for their house to come out on top when the dust has settled. The whole thing is supposed to resemble a "Game of Thrones".

My problem is to work out a way to make my players feel comfortable with the world and give them a proper motivation to care about the house they are supposed to have sworn loyalty to. How would you try to motivate the players to fight for their house?
I am happy for every hint and advice!

So... Two great houses going to war. Sandbox. Can't help you with the Owen Hart thing, not familiar with WWE at all. Can help you with the SOF&I storyline though...

The players should belong (or start) as members (or allies) of one of the following Riverlands great houses: If your game occurs before the GOT HBO series, the dominant house, is House Tulley. If it is after the red wedding, then House Frey rules the Riverlands.

Before the Red Wedding
House Tulley is allied with House Stark in the North and they are successfully pushing back the armies of Tyrion Lannister and are making steady progress towards taking King's Landing, and the Iron Throne. In addition to beginning play as a member of any of the houses of the Riverlands, the players could also start as members of any of the following houses as well;

House Baelish of Harrenhaal (Yes, Peter Baelish, the Lord who is infatuated with Kathryn Stark and her daughters). House Blackwood, House Strong, House Towers, House Qothrys, House Lothton, House Errenford, House Charlton, House Darry, House Fisher, House Goodbrook, House Whent.

The Players could also be from any of the following houses of the North; House Stark, House Ashwood, House Bolton, House Cassel, House Cerwyn, House Condon, House Dustin, House Flint of Flint's Finger, House Flint of Widow's Watch, House Glenmore, House Glover, House Holt, House Hornwood   House Ironsmith, House Karstark, House Lake, House Lightfoot, House Locke, House Long, House Manderly, House Marsh, House Mollen, House Mormont, House Moss, House Overton, House Poole, House Reed, House Ryswell, House Slate, House Stout, House Tallhart, House Umber, House Waterman, House Wells, House Whitehill, House Woolfield.
As well as any other of their allies or Bannermen.

After the Red Wedding
After the execution of Ned Stark by the Lannisters, the North declared war on the South, and invaded the south with the help of House Tulley who led the Riverlands Houses in a successful campaign with the North led by Robb Stark defeating the armies of the South including the Lannisters in multiple battles. Things were looking pretty grim for the south, but not all of the riverlands houses and houses of the North aligned themselves with Robb Stark. House Frey and House Bolton had been insulted by House Stark, and forming a secret pact with the Lannisters and the armies of the South conducted a Coup de Etat, and overthrew House Stark and House Tulley in a backstabbing event known as the Red Wedding. The Army of the North, Leaderless after the betrayal of the Red Wedding, was easily destroyed in a series of battles, and the political environment changed considerably. With the Red Wedding, House Frey violated an ancient custom of hospitality among the Lords of Westeros, and are now mistrusted, and not well regarded anywhere outside of the Riverlands.

If your game starts after the Red Wedding, then your players could choose to be from the following houses;
House Frey of the Riverrun, House Lannister of Lannisport, House Bolton from the Dreadfort, and House Charleton, House Goodbrook , and any minor house of the Westerlands including House Algood, House Banefort, House Bettley, House Brax, House Broom, House Crakehall, House Doggett, House Drox, House Estren, House Falwell, House Farman, House Ferren, House Foote, House Garner, House Hamell, House Hawthorne, House Jast, House Kenning of Kayce, House Kyndall,  House Lefford, House Lydden, House Marbrand, House Moreland, House Myatt, House Payne, House Peckledon, House Plumm, House Prester, House Sarsfield, House Sarwyck, House Serrett, House Stackspear, House Turnberry, House Westerling, House Yarwyck.

Also any of the minor Lannister houses including; House Algood, House Banefort of Banefort, House Brax of Hornvale. House Brax is one of the more powerful houses sworn to Casterly Rock. House Broom, House Clegane of Clegane's Keep, House Crakehall of Crakehall,  Members are regarded as being uncommonly strong and robust, including the knight Ser Lyle Crakehall, called "Strongboar". House Estren of Wyndhall, House Farman of Fair Isle, House Kenning of Kayce, House Lefford of the Golden Tooth, House Lorch, House Lydden of the Deep Den, House Marbrand of Ashemark, The current Lord of Ashemark is Damon Marbrand. His son and heir, Addam, is a childhood friend of Ser Jaime Lannister. A capable commander and was made commander of the City Watch of King's Landing. House Payne. Ser Ilyn the King's Justice and Podrick, squire to Tyrion Lannister are from this house, though Podrick is from a lesser branch. House Prester of Feastfires, House Serrett of Silverhill, House Spicer of Castamere, The house is seen as an upstart house. They descend from a spice merchant and a witch-woman famous in Lannisport for her potions. House Swyft of Cornfield, and House Westerling of the Crag.


If I had to guess, Owen Hart would be from House Clegane.

Quote from: MES;933029... My problem is to work out a way to make my players feel comfortable with the world and give them a proper motivation to care about the house they are supposed to have sworn loyalty to. How would you try to motivate the players to fight for their house? ...

Since Westeros seems so full of unlikable people, especially many of the lords, I'd probably just have their house have a pretty nice proportion of actually likable and fairly trustworthy people, and have the players start with some fairly supportive connections, relationships, and situations. Hopefully that would provide several natural reasons for them to like their house and be willing to fight for it.

Also there is at least a lot of common tribal loyalty and there tends to be a fairly large amount of other-tribe enmity/distrust, and tales of scumbaggery leading to distrust of others, so that too seems like natural motivation.

Seems like more than enough motivation. If the players become disloyal fools in such a setup, I might likely find them to be hopeless on that score and let them have whatever fate they earn, which is usually my approach anyway.

In Westeros, a noble could acknowledge a bastard, but only the King can legitimize an heir.  The child of a cuckold, that's a different thing.  The kid would have a better chance of being somehow legitimized in the mother's original house or the PC Father's house, then they would Owen's line, of which he has no blood tie.  Of course the house's banner lord and the king's opinion on the child's legitimacy are what's most important.  Very few banner lords are going to want a bannerman who is too weak and subject to constant challenge of legitimacy.  

A Lannister might as a means of keeping the bannerman squarely under the thumb, the Tullys are probably more straightforward, Hoster and the Blackfish aren't going to be too impressed with all the nonsense going on.  A lesser house under the Freys though, then it makes sense, Old man Frey would allow it just as a perverse joke.

Thanks for your suggestions. Riding my bike gave me some fruitful thoughts. I think it seems best to let my players to describe their houses themselves and the way they are related and /or connected. This way I would not have to lay out family ties for them but with them and the feeling for the setting grows naturally.
@gamedaddy
thank you for laying out a lot of the "SOIAF"-plot & backbround. That's quite something, however I am not planing to let my players play actual meta-plot. I ll just use the westeros setting first and maybe use the meta-plot of Lannisters, Tully and other houses on top of that. I want my players to identify with THEIR house at first.

And no: Actually Owen is just the character that came to my mind, because the real Owen Hart died a young tragic death and I the character gets me into the right mood to write a plot around him.
Kevin Nash on the other hand always seemed like a legit and cocky a**hole. That's why I am planing to use these characters. Besides: Their names sound like they come from Westeros to me.

One thing I will warn you about is that the rules are easily broken and if you have a smart minmaxer they will cause loads of trouble. Might be best to limit ranks and insist on using the training rules from the book to avoid the worst excesses.

Quote from: Hermes Serpent;933088One thing I will warn you about is that the rules are easily broken and if you have a smart minmaxer they will cause loads of trouble. Might be best to limit ranks and insist on using the training rules from the book to avoid the worst excesses.

Agreed.  

Also go to the Green Ronin site and get anything Chronicles you can find.  Just like Dragon Age is the licensed product and AGE is the generic system, Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying is the licensed product and Chronicles is the generic system.  There are lots of cool House and resource expansions there for the Chronicles system because GR can just make as much of that stuff as they like without the Bioware stamp of approval.  Also a lot of houserules by forumites.

Thanks for the hint - thankfully my group always plays very balanced characters! ;)

If you got any further advice or experiences you like to share with the syste and setting you are very welcome! :)