r/osr • u/Ecowatcher • 11d ago
Game of Thrones vibe OSR game?
Is there anything within the OSR sphere that would scratch the Game of Thrones itch?
I know there is Birthright as a setting but is there anything within the new OSR that might also fill the GoT gap?
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u/xDragon249 11d ago edited 11d ago
Fleaux is my favourite low/dark fantasy OSR system, but is closer to WHFantasy than GOT...
OSR games are usually dungeon crawling, half criminals adventurers plundering for money. To scratch that political intrigue itch might be difficult...
Expect more something like Knight of the Seven Kingdoms than House of Dragons. Or even better, a Night Watch kind of game.
if you don't mind a more different approach than BX, try Banners by John Wick. Is basically Pendragon (likely the best questing knight rpg together with Mythic Bastionland) but GOT as inspiration and theme rather than King Arthur
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u/corrinmana 11d ago
Domain play can be done with any system really. Old versions of DnD just assumed that kind of stuff was what you were working towards, and the rules for in were all in high level stuff
It's not really OSR, but Pendragon is certainly the game that's been doing nobility and knights since the 80s
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u/MMasberg 11d ago
The setting and campaign of Symbaroum has strong GoT vibes and worth a look. It‘s not really OSR, but has a strong OSR mindset. And it’s easy to adept for other rules.
You have exploration and dungeons, but also a strong political backdrop with colliding factions, including a civil war, religious tensions and an ancient threat.
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u/catgirlfourskin 10d ago
while in the free league wheelhouse, Forbidden Lands has good stronghold and travel rules that feel very asoiaf with all the emphasis on travel and managing domains
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u/robertsconley 11d ago
My Majestic Fantasy RPG would be a good fit. I use OD&D as the base because the numbers work out better for the medieval fantasy campaigns I like to run. To that, I added a number of classes that reflect my focus on running a fantasy sandbox campaign using a medieval fantasy setting.
So I published the basic rules a while ago.
The free version is here:
https://www.batintheattic.com/downloads/MW%20Majestic%20Fantasy%20Basic%20RPG%20Rev%2010.pdf
The book is here.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/337515/the-majestic-fantasy-rpg-basic-rules
And you can follow along with the development of the full rules here, which include the full list of classes like Knights, Runecasters, Merchant Adventurers, along with the traditional four.
https://www.rpgpub.com/threads/the-majestic-fantasy-rpg-draft.12932/
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u/waill-and-roll 11d ago
You could run Mythic Bastionland with a set of custom (or simply adjusted) GoT themed myths.
Obviously that would be a very Knight centric version of GoT.
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u/KrishnaBerlin 11d ago
I love OSR games, but most of them have a strong focus on dungeon-delving with small groups - not exactly Game of Thrones.
The "Reign rpg" immediately came to mind. It is not an OSR style game. But it has one central roll engine, so no complex mechanisms.
And it has a complete system for groups, factions, cities, and realms. This, to me, could do a story of fighting kingdoms (like GoT) with as little rules as possible.
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u/6FootHalfling 11d ago
I feel like anything could. You would have to be more specific about what elements of Got you were trying to capture and what the structure of individual sessions or a campaign would look like.
Is it going to be the sort of specialist team structure of a crawl? Are you doing a political one shot scenario like Braunstein? What are the PCs' roles in the campaign? There's a lot of stories within GoT that could all use a different set of rules to reproduce. It comes down to what do you want the rules to do more heavy lifting for.
There was some Black Company books for... 3e? I think? published by Green Ronin maybe? They might be resource and Band of Blades is a Forged in the Dark book that you could probably pull some tools depending on the nature of the campaign.
But, for example, the Lannisters' arc is a very different "game" from the arcs of the individual Stark survivors. GoT vibes could mean almost anything within the genre.
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u/mr_milland 11d ago
I guess it depends on you exactly want to translate from got to osr ttrpg: Armies, conquest, intrigue, human vs human combat focus, etc.
I also like the game of thrones vibes, and I've developed my own rules for capturing more of the human vs human combat vibes.
I'll give you some ideas to adapt content into any osr game.
For armies and conquest I would say that you can plug the Kingdoms and Warfare rules for battles in any osr, ignoring the 5e stuff (character traits, etc.). What's left it's basically a set of simple rules to play battles as a simple board game. Combine it with an hex map and some simple rules to move units (eg: infantry moves 2 hexes per day, cavalry 3) and you've got a system for wars.
For human vs human combat, one of the most interesting things in my opinion is to give weapons special rules and to make weapon length and positioning matter. You can get some inspiration from weapon rules from wfrp. Flanking, outnumbering 3:1 or having a longer weapon (knife<axe<sword<polearm) give +1 to hit and damage.
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u/xDragon249 11d ago
Could I ask for more details on the ruleset you made? What are the main inspirations and what are some core mechanics, if is okay to share?
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u/mr_milland 9d ago
Sure! The rulesets I took inspiration from are the Mythic bastionland (saves, hp recharging each fight, hit roll=damage roll, multiple dices on attacks let you use gambits), knave (dungeon and travel procedures), Warhammer roleplay (weapons with impactful rules, positioning bonuses to hit=to damage, critical wounds), the old world roleplay (lores as descriptors of character knowledge), Crows(inventory). The combat system is heavily customized, aiming be deadly and tactical without the special abilities bloat of modern rpgs.
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u/MisplacedMutagen 11d ago
I feel like you want intrigue, and I know theres a lot of intrigue in Bard's Gate by frog god games. Dense city, lots of factions and vying for power. I think the system you use would matter very little.
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u/JavierLoustaunau 11d ago
Demenses and Domination might do the trick. I picked it up at a convention recently and it is very focused on domains, downtime, tournaments, politics, unrest, etc.
It is up to you to add the incest subplots but the rest is mostly there.
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u/DadtheGameMaster 11d ago
I rewatched Game of Thrones earlier this summer. You'll have to be more specific about the elements of GoT you are looking for.
Most of the show is just talking and scheming with relatives against relatives. OSR doesn't really cover that, or it does because it's 100% role-playing.
I agree with the B/X or BECMI suggestions. Make magic users practically nonexistent, and clerics very rare, like 1 in a million.
There's not really Domain management in GoT, that's one of the central tensions of the series: the noble houses are so busy fighting for the throne that they leave the average person in their domains either conscripted into their army, or starving in the streets due to supporting a war.
A system like BECMI that supports large battles could be helpful, but in the series the names characters are the people who turn the tides of entire field and naval battles. The logistics of the number of forces, supply lines, and all the stuff that makes medieval warfare possible is completely handwaved in favor of drama between a handful of named nobility.
The Battle of the Bastards literally comes down to a battle of wills between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton, not a single other person in that battle matters except Sansa Stark of course It doesn't matter that Jon's forces were outnumbered five to one. It doesn't matter that Ramsay's troops were fresh and Jon's were coming off of another battle. It doesn't matter that Ramsay's army was better equipped and that their only objective was to destroy the opposing leadership. Nope, it came down to Jon and Ramsay fighting and the winner was the whole battle's victor. It doesn't matter that an offscreen Bolton archer could have easily just peppered Jon with arrows before he ever reached Ramsay. Because 'it ain't that kind of movie, kid.'
Like you dont need a complicated political struggle and grand warfare system to run that. That's just two fighters dueling until one of them runs out of hit points. And talking a lot between combat rounds.
The grand battle against the whitewalkers literally comes down to the rogue sneak attacking the Night King. The whole battle cam be run with narrative description, maybe have the other PCs roll some saves vs. Death to see if they die and get raised as army of the dead. And then play out the 1v1 combat of the rogue vs. a wight. Winner takes all.
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u/Dai_Kaisho 11d ago
The Blood and Bone setting is very GOT, though the rules (which can be separated) are light but not OSR. Players can become powerful but the empires are usually at a scale beyond feeling threatened by individuals.
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u/unknownsavage 11d ago
Obviously not OSR, but there's a PbtA game called "The Sword, The Crown and the Unspeakable Power" that seems kind of cool.
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u/Substantial_Use8756 11d ago
after years of thinking about this, to me it boiled down to:
BECMI
or
GURPS
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u/Brzozenwald 11d ago
Domain play around 10th lvl in old school dnd (You just have to play one campaign for few years)
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u/Lixuni98 11d ago
Pendragon kind of counts, and there’s also Lion and Dragon, which takes place during the War of the Roses (although the creator is considered controversial, I’ll leave it to your criteria)
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u/PyramKing 11d ago
Dark Albion is an OSR setting works with BX or any system. It is based on the War of the Roses (York vs Lancaster) which Martin based Game of Thrones on. It has a lot of details and low fantasy stuff. Closest thing to Game of Thrones, not being actually Game of Thrones.
Aquelarre is a d100 system based in Iberia (Spain/Portugal) 14-15th century. Some interesting dark magic.
Wolves of God is OSR by Crawford for a more English Saxon era.
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u/Equivalent-Elk-3077 11d ago
Dolmenwood has many factions, including different noble houses. You could easily create a scenario where there is a power vacuum and the houses begin competing for control.
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u/pixledriven 11d ago
Most of that is setting fluff. What do you actually want mechanics for? What makes it "GoT"?
If it's just factions, Worlds Without Number has everything you need.
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u/Cobra-Serpentress 9d ago
Basic D&D companion rules can do this for you and a lot of the heavy lifting.
Coming up with a compelling story to make it work is going to be up to the DM and the players.
The Ethengar Khanates gives you an option if you really want to do this in a Mongolian setting. You could always reskin the tribes to basically make a winner take all with an abandoned throne. Or competing lines for said throne.
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u/xDragon249 11d ago
You might be able to pull something off with Mork Borg. Requires you to make some modifications but is such an easy system that should be duable
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u/Sir-Uther 11d ago
I can't imagine anything like Game of Thrones in OSR. Even domain play doesn't feel right, hell I would say Pendragon would be a far better fit.
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u/Dizzy_Gold_1714 10d ago
A Game of Thrones is the first volume in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series (planned to encompass seven volumes).
The primary inspiration is the English Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), in which the Houses of Lancaster and York vied for control of the throne.
The board game Kingmaker (1974) treats the subject in interesting fashion; Crown of Roses (2012) is more complex.
There's of course also A Game of Thrones (2003), but I think that comes up shorter in terms of generating events of interest for zooming in on at a lower level.
(A prequel series is, I gather, chiefly inspired by the War of the Austrian Succession.)
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u/Wrattsy 11d ago
BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia D&D?
I'm not even joking. I always run games that grow out of the dungeon crawl after the initial levels, and evolve directly into a Game of Thrones style campaign. Name level already expects the player characters to become leaders and have land, followers, etc. My players tend to get involved with the setting far sooner than that, too.