I'm making this a main blog entry, because it's likely most of you readers have missed it. Just yesterday, a comment was posted onto one of my old blogs, dating back about five months ago.
That blog entry was a half-humorous blog entry about how obvious it is that Game of Thrones was inspired by a GURPS campaign, as all the GoT characters are so clearly point-buy characters whose strengths are offset by the buying of shitty disadvantages.
But in general, I've always made a point of saying how it's very obvious (and not a big secret) that Game of Thrones was inspired by two things: Martin's RPG experiences, and the English War of the Roses. I've been able to offer some insight into the latter, because of my background as an historian and the fact that I've been running my own War-of-the-Roses-turned-fantasy game, Dark Albion (though Albion is MUCH closer to the historical setting than Westeros is).
But anyways, what was posted yesterday really sent the point home in a big way, and was something I was in no way aware of in spite of my assessment up till now. It came from a commenter named Paul Pinkosh (many thanks, Paul), and is the following anecdote:
"Many years ago I was playing the old "Hundred Years' War" game on the
old GEnie network (which will let you know how long ago it was). I
played a French noble, and because the French crown screwed me over, I
decided to betray them. I made contact with the English side,
specifically the Crown Prince, who was the military leader. I built huge
estates up, gathered, resources, raised armies, and then transferred
them to English players.
This was all coordinated by the English Crown Prince. The player was George RR Martin."
So there you have it: George RR Martin, in a roleplaying situation, set in the era immediately preceding the War of the Roses, being a totally devious bastard.
RPGPundit
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