George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire"

[Tywin Lannister]

Have you read it? Do you like it? For me personally, it is the best story I have ever read, even overtaking my twenty-year long Star Wars geekdom, and making me lose interest in The Lord of the Rings (this just to illustrate how excellent this series is).

The world in which this book series is set, Westeros (or the Sunset Lands, or the Seven Kingdoms), is perfect for 'The Riddle of Steel'. It's characters are pure excellence. I won't gush anymore, here are some links:

http://www.westeros.org  (an information source, with links to other relevant sites)

http://www.georgerrmartin.com (the author's site)

My nickname Tywin Lannister is, by the way, taken from this series.

[Jake Norwood]

This is a frequent sentiment around here. A simple serch for George Martin brought up 20 threads in the TROS forum alone, the most notable being "Books and Movies with the TROS feel."

There is another thread on RPG.net which also discusses this.

I haven't read them, however. They are on my list.

Jake

[Tywin Lannister]

There is indeed a thread on RPG.net, http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=742873#post742873.

Made by yours truly :-D

[Ashren Va'Hale]

wouldn't have thought that from your screen name... by the way, is it true about he gold thing? :)

[Brian Leybourne]

Ah, the old chestnut resurfaces :-)

Yeah, we've been known to discuss ASOIAF a time or two on this forum... And yeah, very good fantasy. That's assuming he ever gets around to publishing book 4 (three years now since book 3).

But I can't believe they gave the license to the Guardians of Order. They're going to publish ASOIAF in the tri-stat system (that's an anime/manga system for christs sake) and D20 (I've been stabbed 17 times in this fight, but it's OK because I still have 22 hit points left).

Sigh. Oh well, we'll just keep using TROS for ASOIAF games, as we have been for a while now.

Brian.

[Shadeling]

Ah, the old chestnut resurfaces :-)

Yeah, we've been known to discuss ASOIAF a time or two on this forum... And yeah, very good fantasy. That's assuming he ever gets around to publishing book 4 (three years now since book 3).

But I can't believe they gave the license to the Guardians of Order. They're going to publish ASOIAF in the tri-stat system (that's an anime/manga system for christs sake) and D20 (I've been stabbed 17 times in this fight, but it's OK because I still have 22 hit points left).

Sigh. Oh well, we'll just keep using TROS for ASOIAF games, as we have been for a while now.

Brian.

Brian, tristat is a generic rules-set. It is not anime/manga-that just happens to be what their first published products were. For example, they have one of my favorite super hero RPGs, Silver Age Sentinels. Not anime or manga.
If you read Guardians Press Release on the whole thing, they have quoted Martin, who praised GOO.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant, but I had to defend the game system, since it was brought up anyway.

[Brian Leybourne]

Brian, tristat is a generic rules-set. It is not anime/manga-that just happens to be what their first published products were. For example, they have one of my favorite super hero RPGs, Silver Age Sentinels. Not anime or manga.
If you read Guardians Press Release on the whole thing, they have quoted Martin, who praised GOO.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant, but I had to defend the game system, since it was brought up anyway.

Oh, sorry. Anime/Manga and Superheroes. Sounds like the perfect system for gritty low fantasy...

Anyway, I'm just playing devils advocate. I'm not interested in debating the tri-stat system and it's suitability with you. Lets just agree that you like it and I dont.

As for Martin's quote, if you know anything about the press and have dealt with them (as I have) you would know that they send you an already written quote and ask if they can attribute it to you. Happens all the time and has happened to me all three times I have been in the newspaper down here. Although it may be true that Martin likes GOO, it's just as likely he never heard of them before that quote was sent to him for approval. Knowing the press as I do, it's more likely to be the latter.

Brian.

[Shadeling]

Brian, tristat is a generic rules-set. It is not anime/manga-that just happens to be what their first published products were. For example, they have one of my favorite super hero RPGs, Silver Age Sentinels. Not anime or manga.
If you read Guardians Press Release on the whole thing, they have quoted Martin, who praised GOO.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant, but I had to defend the game system, since it was brought up anyway.

Oh, sorry. Anime/Manga and Superheroes. Sounds like the perfect system for gritty low fantasy...

Anyway, I'm just playing devils advocate. I'm not interested in debating the tri-stat system and it's suitability with you. Lets just agree that you like it and I dont.

As for Martin's quote, if you know anything about the press and have dealt with them (as I have) you would know that they send you an already written quote and ask if they can attribute it to you. Happens all the time and has happened to me all three times I have been in the newspaper down here. Although it may be true that Martin likes GOO, it's just as likely he never heard of them before that quote was sent to him for approval. Knowing the press as I do, it's more likely to be the latter.

Brian.

But Brian, do you think Martin cares so little about his work to just throw it away to some random company.
Remember, generic rules systems can be tweaked for many styles of play-look at GURPS.

At any rate, since this is the TROS board I will say I feel TROS is fine for the books.

[Brian Leybourne]

But Brian, do you think Martin cares so little about his work to just throw it away to some random company.
Remember, generic rules systems can be tweaked for many styles of play-look at GURPS.

You're assuming that he had any say whatsoever in the decision. I don't see why he would, most authors don't own the rights to their own work, the publishing company does. Authors with more clout might have a better shot at influencing that decision, but even the likes of Stephen King don't get much say over who gets the rights to his books (for films, in his case) and although a good author, GRRM isn't exactly in the big time (yet).

So, I'll bet you pennies to pound notes that his publishing house sold the rights to the RPG company who offered them the most money and then told him to play nice. After all, if GRRM had a say in things, and wanted a generic system, he surely he would have gone with GURPS since he's worked with them before on the Wild Cards stuff and it's FAR better known and used than Tri-Stat.

Anyway, this thread is supposed to be about TROS, so I'll revert back to that - TROS works very well for a "Seven Kingdoms" style game.

Brian.

[Ashren Va'Hale]

I am with brian on this one 100%, thats just not right for AOIAF to be done tristat or d20, neither fits it as well as TROS could have. I may buy the books for setting but there is no way in hell I could ever use tri-stat for that! (I may use it for ARMY of Darkness RPG however!)

[Shadeling]

The last I will say on this, since it is diverting off TROS, here is the link to the press release:

http://pub175.ezboard.com/fguardiansoforder44269frm0.showMessage?topicID=34.topic

Seems to me Martin is the one who wanted it, not the publishing house.

Just read it.

Want to continue any debates, lets do it off the list. But lets get things back to TROS now.

[Ashren Va'Hale]

irregardless of what martin said, until hes played tros his decision making process must be considered flawed at worst incomplete at best

[Brian Leybourne]

Yes, I have read that before. Refer to my previous post. I seriously doubt Martin had the slightest input into the decision. It was monetary, and decided by the publisher. And unless US press is very different from the rest of the world (which I doubt) that quote was written for him. But yes, I agree, lets drop it.

Brian.

[Amy1419]

Yes, I have read that before. Refer to my previous post. I seriously doubt Martin had the slightest input into the decision. It was monetary, and decided by the publisher. And unless US press is very different from the rest of the world (which I doubt) that quote was written for him. But yes, I agree, lets drop it.

Brian.

Part of my job is to work as a marketing assistant. The marketing director is in charge of all of the marketing and press for the city in which I work. She has been in the press/media industry for over 20 years. Here in the US I guess the press is a lot different than where you live. She has never in those 20 years been handed a quote and asked for her approval to attach her name to that qutoe. She works with international and regional newspapers, magazines, and television stations. She writes all of her own quotes, stories, and press releases. If anyone wants a quote from her they call, arrange a time to speak with her, and do a short interview in which she answers their questions. Then when the article comes out we make sure to get the published item, and see what parts of her interview they used. Now she may not be a famous author but she does the press for the entire city, which is one of the biggest tourist destinations across the globe. I doubt that any person would be so willing to give away his name to whatever came across with no regard to it at all. I'm sure money is always a factor but I'm sure he also wants to keep his fame and not sell out to something that will create less draw and interest in his works.
I'm sure this will not be settled unless you heard from him directly face-to-face that it was his quotes and his decisions. Since that will not happen let us just agree that his books are good and for those interested in the rpg, they have one more title to look forward to.

[Tywin Lannister]

So does anybody use Westeros for TROS? Can you tell me about it?