A Game of Thrones: Intrigue at Ravensmoor Keep (CLOSED)

Started by Zillah, April 16, 2013, 03:04:09 PM

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Zillah


Intrigue at Ravensmoor Keep

House Westbrook


Our Horns Sound the Hunt




House Westbrook is located in the area of Westeros known as the Reach, and is sworn to House Tyrell as one of their sworn bannermen. Its ancestral seat is called Ravensmoor Keep, and is several leagues directly south of Highgarden. Ser Manfred Westbrook is currently Lord of Ravensmoor – a stout, burly man just over fifty years of age, he served as one of Mace Tyrell’s chief lieutenants at the Battle of Ashford during the War of the Usurper. And like Mace Tyrell, he bent the knee to Robert Baratheon when the war was lost.

Ravensmoor is one of the richer Houses of Highgarden – not as rich as the Lannisters, but nevertheless, Manfred wields considerable power. As the War of Five Kings unfolded, Manfred offered financial support to House Tyrell, and his eldest son Robert joined up with Loras Tyrell, when Renly Baraetheon first made his claim to the Iron Throne. However, he has offered little in terms of men and swords as the fight for the crown of Westeros … but that has not prevented him from quietly amassing a goodly number of knights and soldiers behind the walls of his keep.

Lord Manfred says he is simply an old man, tired of war and blood.

Does he speak true?

Or does plotting and intrigue reign in Ravensmoor?




If the above was gibberish to you, then this probably isn’t the right game for you. If it made sense, though, and seemed interesting … then keep reading. :)

“A Game of Thrones: Ravensmoor” is a group RP based on the HBO series “A Game of Thrones”, with some canon from the books thrown in for good measure. It takes place directly after the events of Season 2 (or the book “A Clash of Kings”, if you like), and revolves around the members of House Westbrook and their servants and bannermen at Ravensmoor Keep. I’m not normally one for fandom-based RPs … but I’ve adored “A Game of Thrones” since I read the first book a very, very long time ago. I’ll make an exception for this one.

Westbrook is a name mentioned in the books in passing, but doesn’t feature at all in the events of the books or the television series – House Westbrook, for all practical purposes, is a blank slate. Ravensmoor is an original place that I’ve created as well, and the characters for this group RP will all be original as well. For this game, no one will be playing characters from either the books or the series! This RP is meant to be an original story, based in the world of “A Game of Thrones” – if that doesn’t interest you, my sincerest apologies, but it’s not what I have in mind for this.

Ideally, I would like to use the rules for the “A Song of Ice and Fire” RPG for this, but if that proves to be an obstacle, I’ll settle for going freeform instead.

Characters for this would be either members of Lord Manfred Westbrook’s immediate and extended family, as well as the servants of his household and his advisors. (Basically, at the end of the evening, all characters will be sleeping within the walls of Ravensmoor.) My thought is that this way, all characters will have a potential reason to interact with each other. This RP will also either be in the NC or Extreme sections of the boards, depending on the characters that might be made, and what their motivations might be.

For now, this is just an interest check – if this all sounds promising to you, then please just let me know either by posting here, or by PM. Also, in expressing your character interest, let me know what your rough character concept might be, and if you’d be willing to try this as a system game rather than freeform. (No right or wrong answer for the latter question, it’ll just help me figure things out.) If enough people seem interested, I’ll put up some sort of character template … and if not, no worries. I just thought I’d ask.

Thanks for reading. :)

Kolbrandr

#1
I'm actually a pretty big fan of SIFRP, I'd love for a chance to get to make some use of the rulebook and such (well, I'd love for a full out, everyone rolls out a house using the house creation system and goes all crazy from there sort of deal in some mythical ideal world where all my gaming wants come true, but this would be pretty cool of itself anyway). So yeah, would be happy to do this as a system game

As a very rough and brief concept, a younger son of Manfred's who had a harsh falling out with his father to the point of faffing off into the world as a hiresword that's fought up and down Westeros and some of Essos (probably earning his spurs while out at such, something of a mercenary knight thereby, depends what the creation points look like), a message from his father reaching him that shockingly (having never expected to hear from him again) makes no reference to their previous strain and simply asks him to come back home. So he's back, very tentatively, and wondering if this was some unconditional effort at reconciliation, or, eyeing all the troops gathered around, if his father simply has some use for him in mind in leading a warhost. Or, most potentially awkward of all, both at once.


Sasha


Oh I want to play someone ......not sure who or what though . Though I should probably read the books first right ....

Smiles ... I could be a servant girl .

kckolbe

I haven't played the system in some time, but would definitely be interested.  Not sure on char concept yet.
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

Kythia

I'd be interested (and have a mild preference for freeform, but only a mild one).

Character concept isn't particularly fleshed out in my head.  What I have so far is a third (or even lower) daughter of Lord Westbrook.  Normally, not great prospects for a marriage even given the family's wealth - she'll inherit very little once sons and older daughters are taken care of.  But with the war she/her father/both are looking for opportunites.  In a war, what is an unassuming hedge knight and a decent match for her one day can become a war hero with massive prospects the next.  Or dead.  Its a matter of choosing right.
242037

Kolbrandr

edit- fellow deleted his posts I think.

kckolbe

Kolbrandr, would you be interested in my char being an older son, one more willing to follow the path of lordship?
Ons/Offs  A/A  Oath of the Drake
(From the Penis Game) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Penis
I love a wet nymph.  "Letting some guy have [her] just to have another woman is a losing trade"

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer(IC#2)
Intro Thread

ff

Zillah, nicely written intro. I like that you have the right amount of specifity; you told us exactly when and where in Westeros we were but leave lots of char/plot ideas.

I prefer free form and would be interesting in playing a female assassin or thief who (during the RP or before in her back story) maybe gets  captured or in trouble, and reduced to a de facto pleasure slave or whore or concubine.

Kolbrandr

Sounds all fine to me, kckolbe, though it's all up to the lady running really.

sansa

I'm not sure of the system but know much on GoT and could be interested. :D
O/O
Hello E friends. For those who've role played with me, I disappeared for a while due to lack of access to a computer and personal issues. Life has calmed down and I now have access to E and inspiration has struck me again. :)

Kythia

Hmmm.

Hey Prosak.  I guess I can understand why you posted the link to your idea.  Not sure I would have done but, yeah, I guess I can understand it.

In that last post, though, you seemed to have moved beyond advertising.  This is the thread for discussing Zillah's idea, expressing an interest, signing up etc.  It's not a general purpose "Discuss Running a GoT game" thread.  A discussion like that may be interesting to some and there is a seperate area for game GMs which is where I'd start looking for such a talk.

People reading through this thread can see Zillah's proposal, they can also - because of your link - see yours.  I think anything more might be overkill for one and, and I return to this, this isn't the right place for two.

In fact - and I haven't discussed this with Zillah so dont think I'm putting words in her mouth - you actually came across as a little rude.  I'm sure you didn't mean it but your post read a bit like "Hey, my idea is so much better than this one.  Why are you all wasting your time with it".  How would you feel if someone posted something similar in your idea thread?

Now, once again this thread is for discussing Zillah's GoT ideas so I'm not going to get into a conversation with you here.  But yeah.  Seperate GMs area for discussing the best way to run a game.  I'd certainly follow that conversation with interest if you start it up there.
242037

Marie Reynolds

I would be interested in this and well one step is already done a house name is created and the system use a cooperative house building method so that is always a added bonus about the system but a free form would not be a bad idea at all.

ff

I must second Kythia in that advertising one's own RP in another's RP request thread is a faux pas (although I see Prosak's deleted his replies in this thread so maybe my point is moot now). Prosak, if you are reading this and feel that it is polite behavior, then perhaps you could demonstrate your principles by posting a link and plug for this thread into yours?

Game of Thrones is very popular right now, with themes such as courtly intrigue and sometimes-Machiavellian sexuality which lend well to Elliquiy type RPs. It's very plausible that there might be several GoT RPs at Elliquiy, and the two thread premises are not at all duplicate. (I would be shocked if Prosak's thread were the first GoT proposal in Elliquiy's history.) There is no reason not to have multiple RPs in the same fan continuity going on at any given time.

Additionally, I had noticed that Prosak had actually previously semi-deleted his own thread: he zeroed out the text of the initial post, changed its title to 'Delete', and replied to the thread with a 'Hey GMs, please Delete'. To judge from the timing, it looks like once he saw this thread, he decided to resurrect his own. This smacks of me-too-ism and is also capricious towards those who had expressed interest in his RP; from their point of view it becomes hard to plan on whether they will actually have an RP come together. 


RedEve

Been hoping to play in a good aSoI&F game since I've read the books.

One question though, did I read it right that House Westbrook gave support to both the Tyrells and Martells? Did this not cause him problems?

"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Zillah

Should just be House Tyrell, with no connections to House Martell.

I've amended my initial post to reflect this; thanks for the catch, RedEve.

RedEve

That's fine Zillah, I just wondered about that. ;)

BTW, a few questions if you don't mind. :)

You mention that Manfred is old, but how old exactly do you see him?
Should he have siblings who are still living at his House?
I assume you would like for him to have children, how many would you allow maximum?
Boys or girls?
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

ff

One idea the Tyrell thing gives me is that my character could be a spy sent from Tyrell to keep tabs on Westbrook, alert to any disloyalty, possibly have instructions to do things / kill certain people if certain stuff happens. She'd be in hot water with he Westbrooks if they found this out (like she's caught attaching a message to a raven), or with the Tyrells if she fails to carry out her duties.

Like someone reads the message she was about to put on the raven, and they threaten to tell Lost Westbrook; they keep the written message and use this hanging threat to blackmail her into performing sneaky tasks and sexual favors for him/her.

Zillah

Quote from: RedEve on April 17, 2013, 12:44:27 PM
That's fine Zillah, I just wondered about that. ;)

BTW, a few questions if you don't mind. :)

You mention that Manfred is old, but how old exactly do you see him?
Should he have siblings who are still living at his House?
I assume you would like for him to have children, how many would you allow maximum?
Boys or girls?

I think I mentioned it in my initial post, but in case I didn't, Manfred is approximately fifty years of age. His first wife is deceased, and he's currently married to a woman from House Rhysling who's considerably younger than he is.

I would say he has somewhere between four to six children from his first marriage, all in their teens to mid-twenties, none from his second (yet). The exact mix of boys/girls is still TBD, but I would think it would be relatively even.

Manfred's widowed sister (younger, somewhere in her late thirties) lives at Ravensmoor. I have in mind that there's some juicy scandal involving her that Manfred doesn't like to hear discussed, but I haven't worked out the exact details for that just yet. The rest of his siblings live elsewhere - either married off to other Houses, or serving at Highgarden or King's Landing.

Zillah

Quote from: ff on April 17, 2013, 12:58:08 PM
One idea the Tyrell thing gives me is that my character could be a spy sent from Tyrell to keep tabs on Westbrook, alert to any disloyalty, possibly have instructions to do things / kill certain people if certain stuff happens. She'd be in hot water with he Westbrooks if they found this out (like she's caught attaching a message to a raven), or with the Tyrells if she fails to carry out her duties.

Like someone reads the message she was about to put on the raven, and they threaten to tell Lost Westbrook; they keep the written message and use this hanging threat to blackmail her into performing sneaky tasks and sexual favors for him/her.

Actually, the Tyrells wouldn't have much reason to spy on the Westbrooks - Manfred always has proven to be a loyal bannerman to Mace Tyrell. Even if Manfred is plotting against him - and who says he is? - he's given Mace no overt reason to distrust him. Despite not sending him men for his armies, Manfred is still very much supporting Mace Tyrell in other ways.

However, given when things are happening, there definitely are plenty of other people who might send spies to Ravensmoor. Given their distrust of the Tyrells (despite the fact that Margaery Tyrell is betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon), it wouldn't be out of the question for Tyrion or Cersei Lannister to be curious as to what Manfred is plotting. Also, Manfred might be someone to attract Littlefinger's or Varys's interest.

But if you're familiar with "A Game of Thrones", a spy sent to Ravensmoor would generally be a potential enemy or rival to the Tyrells (and by extension, the Westbrooks).

ff

Quote from: Zillah on April 17, 2013, 01:20:14 PM
Actually, the Tyrells wouldn't have much reason to spy on the Westbrooks - Manfred always has proven to be a loyal bannerman to Mace Tyrell. Even if Manfred is plotting against him - and who says he is? - he's given Mace no overt reason to distrust him. Despite not sending him men for his armies, Manfred is still very much supporting Mace Tyrell in other ways.

However, given when things are happening, there definitely are plenty of other people who might send spies to Ravensmoor. Given their distrust of the Tyrells (despite the fact that Margaery Tyrell is betrothed to Joffrey Baratheon), it wouldn't be out of the question for Tyrion or Cersei Lannister to be curious as to what Manfred is plotting. Also, Manfred might be someone to attract Littlefinger's or Varys's interest.

But if you're familiar with "A Game of Thrones", a spy sent to Ravensmoor would generally be a potential enemy or rival to the Tyrells (and by extension, the Westbrooks).

Ya after my post I was starting to think the same thing - maybe a spy from a different major house like the Lannisters would make more sense (and even if Lord Westbrook had found out the Tyrells were spying on him, if he's their bannerman, killing or threatening him could just get him in hot water). Perhaps she was sent there when the Tyrells were aligned with Renly, and after he died and the Tyrells aligned with the Lannisters and engaged Margaery to Joffrey, my girl became a bit more of a sleeper agent, but has stayed around awaiting further instructions and-or to check on continuing loyalty.

Maybe my girl was 'planted' when Littlefinger visited Renly and Margaery; she had traveled with him and then split off to find work with the Westbrooks. If she had been working for Littlefinger, it 1. insinuates she might be a former whore and 2. begs the question of whether she's most loyal to the (Lannister) crown or to Littlefinger personally. Or having her be Tyrion or Cersei's creature works too, it seems like something either of them might do.

I'm currently halfway through book 3 (Storm of Swords) and have watched the first two seasons, so I am 'caught up' through this RP's timeframe. Of course, it's complicated so I might still get some details wrong. I've been doing the books as audiobooks so if I misspell some names, that's why. I know how to pronounce them though!

RedEve

The Dornishmen might also send a spy...

How old are you thinking for the second wife? :)
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Zillah

How old is the wife? Not very. ;) Somewhere in her late teens to her early twenties; possibly younger than some of Manfred's children.

I was envisioning that she'd belong to a small and relatively poor House in the Reach - probably the second daughter of the ruling Lord there. There may have been rumblings about that House's loyalties to Highgarden, and perhaps flipping its support to Casterly Rock and the Lannisters. To reaffirm the ties between that House and the Tyrells (its seat is at some strategically important location), Manfred marries the daughter, possibly at Mace Tyrell's insistence.

The daughter most likely won't ever bear the heir to Ravensmoor, but for her and her House, it's still a significant social step upwards, and gives their poor House the possibility of accessing Lord Manfred's vast coffers. For House Westbrook, it cements an alliance, earning them the continued gratitude of Highgarden ... and Manfred gets a young, nubile girl to be his bedwarmer. ::)

(I imagine this would be one reason why Mace Tyrell and his bannermen aren't concerned why Manfred hasn't left Ravensmoor to join their vanguard. "Why would he want to leave that pretty little vixen of his ... ?")

I haven't decided yet if Manfred has simply married his second wife out of a sense of duty to House Tyrell, and considers his wife to be more of a daughter ... or if he has more amorous affections and intentions towards her.

Looking at the possible Houses that are available to use (and haven't been written about in the books with any sort of detail), House Pommingham would be a good candidate for the second wife.

RedEve

I suppose it's too early to apply for that role?
If not I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for the role of young Lady Westbrook.
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Lirliel

I'm also quite intrigued, though I do not have the rules, perhaps somebody has them somewhere I can.. 'acquire' them.

Anyhoo, my idea as far as my playing character went. I was thinking perhaps starting as a Hedge Knight, come a 'knockin to Lord Manfred's door in search for a place at his court. Perhaps the man has come with Kolbrandr's son.

Just throwing ideas out there.
"Jealousy would be far less torturous if we understood that love is a passion entirely unrelated to our merits."

"A minute of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection."

Zillah

Your tentative interest is noted - yes, you can stake claim to the role, should we move forward. :) Two other players have expressed interest in playing Lord Manfred's sons, which is fine, so I don't have any issue with someone else expressing interest in the wife.

Also, keep in mind that I'll most likely be playing Manfred - if that's a problem, just let me know.

Lirliel -

A hedge knight would be a wonderful addition. As a point of note (for you, and for everyone else), this RP would be starting shortly after the Battle of the Blackwater. I imagine some heroes from that battle who fought under the banners of Casterly Rock and Highgarden against Stannis Baratheon would be returning to Ravensmoor around this time.