Ronin Round Table: Joe Carriker on Game of Thrones

What’s In Store: A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Game of Thrones Edition

We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from the rare folks who’ve had the opportunity to take a look at the Game of Thrones Edition of our Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying system, and had even more enthusiasm from folks who are looking forward to seeing what’s in the new edition. So, in the interest of both answering questions and whetting appetites, we thought we’d talk a little about what you can expect in this upcoming book.

Presentation: First and foremost, the Game of Thrones Edition is a big, fat hardcover book, weighing in at 320 pages. We’ve updated some of the layout to better accommodate the material, and even changed out little things like the title font.

Errata: One of the great things about producing this edition of our core rule-set is the opportunity to make some corrections and additions to the system. A couple years worth of heavy play by a fantastic fanbase has provided us with plenty of things that needed correcting, clarifying or just plain revision. What the various ratings in Status mean exactly, for instance, and clarification on the use of certain Abilities and Benefits. Additionally, we’ll be offering a free PDF with a full listing of the errata we’ve updated so that those who are using older rulebooks can still have access to these changes.

Updating: We’ve also taken this opportunity to update some of the rules, based either on later designs that we feel work better, or new revelations to the way things work from further books in the series. For instance, the jousting rules from Peril in King’s Landing not only make for a more in-depth reflection of the excitement and variety of techniques in jousting, but helped us better reflect some of the setting’s assumptions about jousting, as seen in both A Song of Ice and Fire series as well as the Dunk and Egg stories.

Likewise, with the release of A Dance of Dragons, we got a better perspective on how "warging" or "skin-changing" works, and so we’ve updated our own Benefits that cover those techniques. As part of this, we’ve gone back and redone some of the Benefits to more accurately reflect those sorts of changes. As an example, we’ve changed Ward from a Benefit to a Drawback. For those who are curious, here’s the new Ward Drawback:

Ward

You were given over to your foster House by your birth House, as surety against future aggression.

You were sent to your foster House by your birth House as part of either a pact against aggression between the Houses (in which case there is likely a member of the foster House who is a Ward of your birth House), or as part of the defeat of your birth House. Your Status is based on your position in your birth House, not on the foster House.

You take a –1D on all Persuasion tests with both your birth and foster Houses; each assumes that you speak from a position of favoring the other, and is therefore less likely to heed what you have to say. Additionally, should your birth House take any kind of overt action against your foster House, you may be slain in retribution.

SIF_RPG_GoT.jpgNew Art: We’ve got some great new art for this edition, starting with the fantastic new cover piece by the amazing Michael Komarck. There are also some great surprises inside, as well, including a fantastic piece of Balerion the Black Dread, one of the last of the great Targaryen dragons. If you’re interested in that, check out the cover image over at the Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Facebook page.

Ready-to-Run Adventures: Finally, we’ve also gone ahead and incorporated not one, but two adventures that Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying fans love: Journey to King’s Landing and Peril at King’s Landing. We’ve taken the steps to make sure they’re just as solidly updated and corrected as every other piece of this book. The inclusion of these two pieces means some neat additions to the core book, even for those who don’t necessarily want to run the adventures themselves (or have already done so), because we’ve added all the additional stock Narrator characters that were originally in Peril at King’s Landing to the selection of Narrator characters in Chapter 11, for instance. It also means that the corebook now includes a map of King’s Landing, as well as a description and map of the infamous Inn at the Crossroads.

Of course, don’t take my word for it. You can see all these changes and more for yourself when the PDF goes live next week, right alongside the print version pre-orders. We look forward to seeing what you folks think!

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Luck Powers

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Luck PowersFighting crime, stopping disasters, and saving the Earth: it just takes a little luck. Okay, it takes a lot of luck. Fortunately (see what we did there?) Luck Powers gives you the tools to create characters with incredible good luck, who can also be a jinx on their foes. From Probability Control to Narrow Escapes and Lucky Shots, and more. So ask yourself … are you feeling lucky? The powers of the Earth are yours! For M&M Third Edition.

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Luck Powers

Ronin Round Table: Chris Pramas on GAMA Trade Show

Last week Hal Mangold and I were in Las Vegas for the GAMA Trade Show (AKA GTS). GAMA is the Game Manufacturers Association and it runs the only real trade show in tabletop gaming. It’s a chance for us to talk to our partners in retail and distribution and promote the company and our upcoming releases. It’s also a show that has changed some over the years.

I went to my first GTS in 1996. It was in Atlantic City that year, and as I was living in NYC at the time it was a short ride to attend. I was getting my first company going and it was a learning expedition. This was a time when the internet was becoming more important, but most retailers were not getting their publishing news from it. There was thus a lot of key information being transmitted at the show. It was also a great place to make big announcements. New games and new licenses were commonly revealed and promoted at GTS. You often saw new games announced at GTS in March and then released at GenCon in August.

GAMA Trade Show also used to move around the country from year to year (as did Origins, the summer convention that GAMA also runs). The idea was to give various regions of the country a chance to host the show, so local retailers would have an easier time attending. This went wrong at the notorious 1998 show in Miami, which was a ghost town. The show might well have died after that, but in 1999 it moved to Las Vegas and has stayed there ever since. This gave the show some much needed stability, and the allure of Vegas as a destination has certainly not hurt.

In the early 2000s GTS regained its luster, and the d20 boom saw a lot of new companies attending. By 2003 nearly every other booth was selling d20 books of some sort. Things continue to change though, and the show we attended last week was different than those of a decade ago. For one thing the number of RPG publishers in attendance was much smaller, since so much RPG publishing is focused on electronic distribution, POD books, and direct sales now. The number of big announcements has also decreased. With news sites, social media, and blogs, info now travels so fast that there just isn’t a lot of oomph in timing an announcement for a show with a few hundred attendees.

At this point you may be wondering why we still attend GTS. Some of my colleagues have asked me the same question. The answer is that we still find it valuable to have face time with retailers and distributors. I do see them at shows like GenCon but such conventions are hectic and not conducive to sorts of discussions we have at GTS. I get sales numbers from our distributors but that doesn’t tell me how things are going in individual stores. I want to get sense of how things are on the ground in gaming communities all over. I want to know what’s working for them and what’s not working for them, from Green Ronin and other companies as well. And of course we want to promote our game lines and our upcoming releases, and doing this can give us some valuable feedback as well. I discovered at GTS, for example, that A Game of Thrones Edition of A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying was the book retailers seemed most excited about. I answered more questions about that than anything else, and showed off the printer’s proofs continuously throughout the show. (We had hoped to have advanced copies of the finished book to display, but naturally they showed up two days too late.) I had figured that with the release of A Dance with Dragons and the second season of the HBO show coming soon that our new core book would do well, but it was nice to see that reinforced.

GTS is also a good place for deal making, networking, and brain storming. Whether it be in formal meetings, casual drinks, or dinners out, a lot of business and collaboration happens at the show. There’s something about being face to face that cuts out a lot of the bull. I came back from the show with several fresh prospects that should lead to good things for us. I don’t know that they would have happened via e-mail when I’m in my head down, day-to-day mode at GR HQ. I should also add on a personal note that it’s just nice to see my friends in the game industry and have a chance to hang out after hours and catch up.

At the end of the show, I signed up for a booth for next year’s show. It is different than it used to be, but it’s still a valuable event for Green Ronin. The enormous caipirinhas I make sure to enjoy on every trip are just a bonus!

Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: A Game of Thrones Edition PDF Preview

Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: A Game of Thrones Edition PDF PreviewThis May we are releasing A Game of Thrones Edition of A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. This is the new core rulebook for the game and it clocks in at a hefty 320 pages. Want to know more about what’s inside? Then check out this PDF preview, which has the full table of contents and introduction. You’ll be able to get the PDF and pre-order the physical book the first week of April, when the HBO show comes back for its second season. Winter is coming!

SIFRP: A Game of Thrones Edition PDF Preview

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Earth Powers

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Earth PowersPowers as solid and strong as bedrock. In the third part of our elemental powers set, we look at Earth Powers, control over soil and stone, and taking on those properties to become as strong and tough as the Earth itself. Hurl rocks and form stone armor, shape earthen and stone barriers, ride waves of dirt, and move through the ground as if it were water. The powers of the Earth are yours! For M&M Third Edition.

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Earth Powers

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Speed Powers

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Speed Powers

Faster than the eye can see, perhaps able to outrace light itself: Speed Powers are all about moving and reacting fast. Zoom from one side of the world to another in the blink of an eye. Defy gravity, running up walls or across the surface of water. Even vibrate your body to pass through walls or travel across time and other dimensions! Accomplish a week’s work in an instant, and have the villains in jail before they even realize you’ve moved.

For M&M Third Edition.

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Speed Powers

Ronin Round Table: Joseph on Licensing

Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying: A Games of Thrones EditionOver the past couple of weeks here at the Ronin Round Table, we’ve been giving a look at some of the hard work and creativity it takes to successfully make and market an RPG based off someone else’s IP.

(For those who are just now getting caught up, Chris Pramas talked about licensing in general, Jon Leitheusser discussed making games in the DC Universe and Will Hindmarch touched on Bioware’s Dragon Age setting for table-top games.)

For those who may not know me, I’m the developer for the Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying line, another of our games set in a licensed setting: in this case, the world of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

A Song of Ice and Fire is, in many ways, perfect for a game universe. It is sprawling, both in terms of actual geography, but also in its politics, its cultures, its history and its opportunities for bravery. Individual heroes can and do make a difference here, on every scale you care to look at the setting, and that’s a recipe for great gaming.

Probably the trickiest part of this whole creation process is what I like to call “dancing with canon.” Every setting has a canon of some kind, that body of lore that reflects what has decisively happened in the setting. As time goes on, these settings develop fan-bases who know this material as well as they know real-world history (better, for some of us).

This is a good thing, generally: capturing the imagination of those who partake in the setting’s media to such an extent that they seek out and remember elements of history, small traditions and cultural nuances, interrelationships between characters and all the other aspects of a setting so clearly make that setting feel real, to some degree. This provides immersion for that fan, who becomes even more invested in the setting.

Working with A Song of Ice and Fire requires, on some level, being one hell of a dancer. There is plenty of wonderful canon to be absorbed and interacted with. In fact, when it seems like there’s possibly “too much” for any one person to keep track of, we are fortunate to have wonderful resources like the Wiki of Ice and Fire, for instance, a place where a dedicated core of fans have taken it upon themselves to make a record of the setting: an incredible boon not just for those of us who create the RPG, but for those who run and play it.

Of course, one of the difficult places in interacting with such a complicated and nuanced canon lies not in what has been said, but what explicitly hasn’t. Certainly, there are always aspects we haven’t seen, just because they haven’t shown up in the narrative: the “words” of some of the Houses of Westeros, for example, or full geographical details of the continent of Essos.

The other sort, though, are the setting’s mysteries, things left unsaid because there will be a time and a place, important to the narrative, to speak of them. They are often the keys to major plot-lines and characters. A Song of Ice and Fire has plenty of these sorts, covering historical events, character backgrounds, unrevealed motivations and allegiances and even the metaphysics of the setting itself, such as how various forms of magic work, how magic influences the land itself and the creatures that can be found in it.

Though I’ve been a developer for other game lines before, those elements were often left to my discretion as the developer. I’m sharpening a whole new set of skills here: walking the gauntlet of settings with active mysteries in them whose solving is not up to me. In an effort to provide the maximum utility for our players, our preference is to skirt those sorts of issues when we can. To do so often means focusing on the elements that come directly into game play while avoiding the origins or implications thereof.

As an example, with the publishing of A Dance with Dragons, we learned more about the “warging” ability some characters in the series have, to greater or lesser degrees. We have since updated aspects of our rules set to better reflect those narrative revelations (in the forthcoming Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Game of Thrones Edition). While sharpening how they mechanically impact the game, we have tried to remain as hands-off as possible when it comes to the implications of some of those revelations, particularly with regard to the background involving the Children of the Forest, how those powers interact with other seemingly supernatural abilities in the setting, and the like.

For a lot of our setting work, we try and focus on “filling in the blank spaces.” There are many areas of the world that are still described in broad strokes, without much detail. Such areas provide some creative playground for our design work. As we did for the Chronicle Starter, if we decide to create a few new minor Houses, we have a good idea of how such Houses work, in the various realms of Westeros. As such, we can fill in some blanks, making assumptions that provide us just enough of a frame-work to construct something that is useful to our game’s narratives without necessarily strong-arming an already-existing House into that role.

Of course, part of the allure of playing in this setting is the fact that the Narrator is under no such restrictions. We as game designers and publishers may carefully skirt areas of uncertainty, the individual stories told at the gaming table by the group playing this game can go in any sort of directions its players are interested in taking it, which is one of the major appeals of playing in this or any licensed world.

In the end, though, this process is more fun than it is work. As a fan of Mr. Martin’s setting and writing since I picked up A Game of Thrones a double-handful of years ago, the opportunity to help bring that world to other gamers is a delightful challenge, one which those who created our Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying system rose to capably. I look forward to plenty of chances to do the same.

DC Adventures Heroes & Villains, Vol. 2 PDF and Pre-Order

DC Adventures Heroes & Villains, Vol. 2Now available for pre-order in our Green Ronin Online Store, it’s DC Adventures Heroes & Villains, Vol. 2! This long-anticipated book completes our look at the Heroes & Villains of the DC Universe, covering Lady Shiva through Victor Zsasz. Pre-Order through our online store and we’ll offer you the PDF version for just $5. Pre-Order through a participating Green Ronin Pre-Order Plus brick-and-mortar retailer, and they will give you a coupon code good for the PDF version for just $5. Or, if you just prefer pixels, you can get just the PDF version for $20.

Pre-Order DC Adventures Heroes & Villains, Vol. 2 today!

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Water Powers

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Water PowersSome might think so, but Water Powers are no laughing matter: water covers three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, makes up the majority of living organisms, and is something we depend upon to survive. Control over this element ranges from the destructive power of tsunamis and water erosion to suffocating spheres and high-pressure blasts. Survive in the ocean depths, form hydrokinetic objects, and summon aquatic and elemental creatures that obey your commands with the powers of water! For M&M Third Edition.

Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile: Water Powers

DC Adventures Heroes & Villains, Vol. 2 PDF Preview

To go along with our continuing series of Designer Journals for DC Adventures Heroes & Villains, Volume 2, here’s a PDF preview that includes the Table of Contents (Lady Shiva through Victor Zsasz) and the Introduction.