I'm about a year into a Pendragon campaign with some friends (we just got to the Anarchy, last session was the Battle of Saint Albans) and I've been thinking about returning the favor. Thing is, I don't want to just do a repeat of the Arthurian Cycle, but something that has always been a foundational part of what got me into tabletop roleplaying.Game of Thrones.Have you ever seen someone do this successfully? Use the Pendragon system to run a campaign set in A Song of Ice and Fire? I'm enamored with the idea, but I'm also wise enough to recognize it will be a *lot* of work developing things like Westerman cultural values or Book of Manor style improvements to your estate. I've got plenty of time to work on these myself, but if you or someone you know has experience with this, by all means!As for the game itself? There's plenty of places to set it. My friends think Robert's Rebellion is "too late," and I'm inclined to agree. Pendragon is at it's best when you're oscillating between savagery (Uther), the flowering of chivalry (Boy King), the peak of nobility (Tournaments) and the slide into degenerate nostalgia (Twilight.) That feels more like we'd start during the War of Ninepenny Kings, though if you have any suggested starts, by all means!
>>98165909No advice for you but I've been thinking of running an asoiaf campaign to use and I've been debating what system to use.Why are you thinking Pendragon and is it an easy system to learn?
>>98165953>Why are you thinking Pendragon and is it an easy system to learn?Pendragon is an easy system to learn, but there are a *lot* of moving parts. At it's heart, it's a game of d20 blackjack where you want to roll under your skill's value; for example, if I have a Boating skill of 14, I want to roll 13 or below for success. Hitting your skill's number *exactly* is a critical success, and a nat 20 is a fumble. There are many other rules for Pendragon and how you can add or lose numbers, but that's the core of it.Anyway, the reason I am thinking of Pendragon is because it's quite simply the only system that can actually capture the feeling of Game of Thrones. A Game of Thrones campaign, at it's core, is an episodic series of quests, feasts and intrigues where the PCs develop their family name throughout the years and participate in the world-changing events of the setting. You want a system that allows you to move through history quickly, pause and focus on specific events, and then judge how well your family is doing throughout it all.[1/2]
>>98166012The official GoT system has some very fun bits, like the House Creation mechanics, but I've tried running it and had to give up by session 05 because it's bad. I don't know how else to describe it but that. It's just not a good system and quickly falls apart when you put even a bit of pressure on it. There's a running meme with Game of Thrones that starter characters can usually be stronger than The Mountain, or better at swordplay than Jaime Lannister. It's not an unfounded meme.Pendragon, by contrast, is clean and intuitive, and orders you to make characters driven by their Traits and Passions. Pic related is my current character's sheet. When your knight is presented with a moral decision, you're often asked to roll on relevant passions or traits to see what your character does. One of my friends famously pointed out doing this caused her character to kill another player character, who had offended their honor at a feast. These sorts of incidents are not uncommon in Pendragon. There is also an in-depth estate management system built around owning a collection of manors (though most only have one) which means most of your wealth and prestige is built around your duty to your lord, further emphasizing being a "Ride or Die" unless a better opportunity presents itself. Every session is meant to see a year go by, in which case you're doing quests, managing your Estate or otherwise improving yourself - until you die, of course, and then your heir takes over.Apologies if it seems like I'm rambling, it's still rather early and I haven't truly formulated my thoughts on the matter. [2/2]
>>98165953>>98166012>>98166025One last thing I want to say before I go off and get back to work on the yard, but Pendragon is *not* recommended if you want to play a "traditional" campaign. Pendragon is explicitly meant to be generational, and focus more on integrating your character into the ongoing story of the setting (Arthurian myth or, in this case, Song of Ice and Fire) and experiencing the epic highs and lows of the plot as the world moves around you. You can certainly be a hero, but Arthur *will* die at Camlann just like Robert *will* die to the boar. It's an utterly unique sort of campaign and does a great job making you feel the "romance" of the era. I can't tell you how much I hate Saxons.
Honestly, you want to start in the reign of Aegon Dragonsbane. 153AL.Last dragon dead, the King is a morose fool, the only competent person is his brother, the Hand of the King, Viserys II, who is keeping the realm together in spite of feuding nobles.After a plague, his son Daeron the Brave takes over, glory and young king, here we go! Four years of Dornish War, earn glory! However, golden boy king dies and everything goes to shit!Baelor, his brother is religious zealot, ten years of him being a right up pain in the ass.He dies, the only competent Targaryen takes over, the old Hand of the King, Viserys II.But. A year in, the crown passes to Aegon IV who is strong and cool! And it turns out, he's a hedonistic ass, so we get the flip of tone again.Lasts for 8 years and his whoring ends up causing the Blackfyre rebellions!Basically, true to Westeros, this period is a study in how many things can go wrong in the span of a single declining dynasty, but you change the vibe a lot between these Kings.- Peace and Intrigue after the Dragons are gone. The dynasty of Targas is fragile but filled with potential.- War and glory, but you really wish you had dragons. Players can earn stuff.- Stay resistant in the face of overwhelming zealotry and a crazyass king who is about to rip away what the players have earned.- Have a short breather with a new potentially cool king... before he turns the Realm into his own brothel and his syphilis brain makes him crazy and his actions set up the realm for the Blackfyre Rebellions.If the players want to continue this? Go into the Blackfyre Rebellions.
>>98165909What worldbuilding elf slave?
>>98166025Very smart. You can loot a bunch of estate stuff from the ASOIAF RPG.Also, the battle system has cavalry scale walls. It is kinda ass.
>>98166195Why do you do this? What do you get out of intentionally trying to make /tg/ even worse than it otherwise is?
>>98166073I like this idea, and it goes brilliantly with comparing Daemon Blackfyre as the campaign’s Mordred. He is a strong, vigorous young man with a beautiful wife and seemingly all the right makings of a strong king. Mordred embodies that in Pendragon as a similarly strong young man who professes how things were better in “the good old days” and we need to bring back war and bloodshed. It’s actually a brilliant way to point out the hypocrisy of sword rattlers because the players remember how bad things were during the Anarchy, but the knights only know Arthur’s reign.
>>98166195What time and manner of your suicide?
>>98166278>>98166328Mod status?
I have nothing to add here, but you have a great idea and you seem to be objectively right on all points, I kneel.
