Hi all,
So, last night, the clock was ticking round on its inexorable march towards tomorrow. 9pm came and went and there was a hole in my evening. No thrum of the title credits, no blizzards in the cold, hard North and no wisecracks from my favourite witty Dwarf. Game of Thrones was well and truly gone.
Now I will be the first to admit that I was not the biggest fan of the TV series, especially after all of the changes in the last series (I'm a bigger fan of the books) but it did make for good Monday night entertainment and so I decided that I needed to replace it. I had given the online episodes game a go but it just didn't resonate with me, I have always been more of a strategy game player at heart. So when I heard that someone had turned Crusader Kings 2 into the world of A Song of Ice and Fire I knew I had to give it a go, and if you just take a look at the next picture you can see just how much effort they have put in.
To create George RR Martin's world in such detail requires an enormous amount of time and effort and as you click through the different provinces and family trees you begin to realise just how much detail has been recreated in this world. At this point I feel I should add a disclaimer to this post, if you aren't a fan of strategy games or those that are very action orientated then this game may not be for you. For example, you don't get to control or watch the battles as they take place although *SPOILER* if you watched last week's finale this might give you a sense of nostalgia. But if this doesn't bother you then the level of detail available in this game is definitely worth the effort.
So to start the game you can pick one of three eras to begin in, I will choose the War of the Five Kings as this will be the era that most readers and viewers will know. As you can see the creators of this mod have gone to the effort of providing us with a quick summary of the background to the conflict.
The game suggests some interesting characters that you can take command of but I don't see the character (or family) that I want to command, really there is only one option here, we need revenge.
That's right, I'm taking charge of Dorne! Unfortunately Oberyn himself is not landed (he holds no titles) so I chose to play as Prince Doran. A bit like Arya I have my list and I will see them all dead before I am done.
I boot up the game and straight away I know I have made the right choice.
Yes we will have our revenge, I will just have to beat Tyrion to *SPOILER* killing Tywin Lannister, but there is someone I must deal with first.
The Mountain killed Elia (and he could kill Oberyn if I don't act!) so he is the first name on my list. I have enough influence to have him assassinated without finding other interested parties but if I truly want to sow discontent in the Lannister holdings then I should look for those who will support my cause. And this is the beauty of the game, it is not canon and therefore every decision you make will make this your very own story, you can take the story in any direction you choose and even reach beyond the books towards the *SPOILER* War for the Dawn.
Now that the first die is cast I shall step away from the game and we can return to my story later, if you would like to create your own story you will need two things:
1. Crusader Kings II, the Paradox game on which this mod is based. Even if you don't want to play GoT this is a great historical simulator (starting in 1066 or early if you get the DLC) available for a great price.
2. Game of Thrones Mod, the mod that brings the world of ASOIAF to life. This is free to download and easy enough to install.
I look forward to sharing this story with you.
Cheers,
Jon
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