A Game of Thrones Card Game

As I continue to go to conventions and writing conferences, I tend to meet a great deal of interesting people.  Mainstream folks might consider the people that I meet to fall firmly into the “dork” or “geek” category.  I have the fortune to at least possess a rudiment of social grace, so I can move comfortably between the dork circles and the real world.  Occasionally, however, I’ll see something in the subculture that catches my interest.

One of the attributes of nearly any science fiction or fantasy loving person is an attraction to a good RPG-style game.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Dungeons and Dragons (it can be fun with the right crowd, i.e. one that doesn’t take it too seriously), preferring to spend my energies in this direction with sci-fi themed games.  (As an aside, the current d20 system for Star Wars is a great example of a well-orchestrated, campaign-oriented RPG.)

As many of you know from my own blogging efforts here, I can be a sucker for George R. R. Martin’s work.  When I discovered that the group I was with at Vericon was going to be playing the Game of Thrones card game, I’ll admit to being intrigued.  The card games that have come out previously, centered around the major sci-fi franchises or set in major fantasy worlds had never really appealed to me.  Their implementation seemed to be ludicrous, with needlessly complex rules that were engineered to stir up debate and argument in the course of play.  In this particular case, the game is set in a relatively simple set of rules.  The game mechanics are similar to Risk or Axis and Allies, but there is enough room for a complete personalization of strategy and tactics.  In short, you never know what you opponent is going to do to do you until its done.  It leaves room for a tremendous amount of surprise, especially when you have victory snatched from you at the last minute through the turn of a card.  The game is an RPG only by courtesy, instead feeling more like a complicated game of Stratego.

The cards themselves are true to the source material, featuring the strengths and weaknesses of the characters and families as portrayed in the books.  The art work is equally impressive, lending a credible air of solidity to the game.  In many cases, the artist had captured my exact picture of a given character or location from the novels.  My only complaint with a game like this that depends so much on strategic and tactical thinking is that a random event can completely undermine an entire game’s worth of work. 

I would recommend that you check out the Web site related to the game and see if you might be interested.  Apparently, they are about to start their tournament season.  While I will never enter the competitive “scene,” I do intend to keep a deck or two handy to relax over a game with some friends who enjoy strategic thinking as much as I do.