Unisystem Westeros

UNISYSTEM WESTEROS

You are the Westerosi to swear your sword to this site since February 25, 2005.

These are notes for playing in the continent of Westeros, from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords), using the Unisystem, the RPG engine from CJ Carella's WitchCraft and Armageddon games, published by Eden Studios.Thanks to David Goodner and Thom Marrion for their help.

UPDATES

April 25, 2005
Changed Blood of Giants and of the First Men,
altered the cost of Greensight

April 5, 2005
Added character points and
a link to my campaign

March 31, 2005
Cleaned html, removed Weapon of Choice,
Literacy now costs one point

QUALITIES

DRAWBACKS

SKILLS

HOUSES

LINKS

CJ Carella's WitchCraft is copyright CJ Carella 1996-2005. CJ Carella's WitchCraft is a trademark of CJ Carella. CJ Carella's WitchCraft is published under exclusive license by Eden Studios. The CJ Carella's WitchCraft trademark is used without Mr. Carella's or Eden Studios' permission and neither of those parties is responsible for the content of this site.

QUALITIES

Characters in a Westeros campaigns should be built with 70 points in the following distribution:

Attr: 20 Qualities/Drawbacks: 15/10 Skills: 35

Blood of Giants
2-point Physical Quality
The character allegedly has a giant among his ancestors. He is usually stronger than a normal person and able to reach a level of physical strength that cannot be matched by his peers.
A character who possess this Quality has +1 STR and one level of Hard to Kill. Additionally, he can reach up to level 7 in this Attribute. However, the character also has the size to match. All characters with Blood of Giants are taller than the average height for their constitution by one foot (30 cm).

Blood of the First Men
1-point Physical Quality
The blood of the First Men runs strong in you, strengthening your soul and giving you an extra five Essence points. This Quality is a pre-requisite for some of the Supernatural Qualities, like Greensight and Skinchanger. A character who possess Blood of the First Men usually has black hair and eyes.

Greensight
2-point Supernatural Quality
Pre-requisite: Blood of the First Men
As a consequence, you sometimes experience prophetic dreams, visions of things to come. This Quality works exactly the Psychic Vision one in the Buffy RPG.

Knight
5- or 8-point Social Quality
There are two sorts of knights: hedge ones and house ones. The former are wandering fighters that take temporary service with one lord or another. The latter can either be hedge knights that swore their sword to a specific lord, or a noble member of the house that took the vows. Hedge knights have Status 1 and are trained (level 1) in the Sword, Shield and Lance Hand Weapons, and in riding a horse. House knights, depending on the case, have proven their mettle or were just better trained. They have one more level in the Status Quality and in each of the skills. However, they also have a Major Obligation (-2) to their lord. Knights are also expected to follow a strict code of conduct, akin to the third level of the Honorable Drawback. However, this is not an universal truth and, as such, it is not included in this package.
Knights of noble stock gain neither the Status bonuses nor the Obligation Drawback, since both are already included in the Noble package.

Literacy
1-point Social Quality
Unlike the vast majority of people living in Westeros, you were taught how to read and write.

Noble
4-point Social Quality
Nobles gain Literacy and Status 2, but also owe an Obligation (-2) to a House. Their upbringing gives them the Nobility, History and Stewardship Knowledges at level 1. For 5 points, the character is a noble from a minor house. In order to belong to a family with more clout, an additional cost must be paid. However, bear in mind that a character’s influence over his house is inversely proportional to the power of the latter. So, a character might be the heir, or even the lord, of a minor house, but only the second cousin of the true hier of a great one. If the Chronicler wishes to allow higher ranking nobles, he may charge extra points. The opposite -- characters with lesser influence -- can be handled in a similar manner by giving discounts to the Quality’s price.

Landless House: -1. You get a title, and not much else (5 points).
Minor House: 0. Can occasionally lend you some men at arms, and actually has a little name recognition outside its own lands (10 points)
Major House: +1. Has considerable influence within its realm (20 points).
Great House: +2 (30 points)
Royal House: +3. Rulers of Westeros (35 points)

Renown
1-point/level Social Quality
The character's actions have made him famous in the Seven Kingdoms. Taken as a Quality, Renown represents a good reputation, while as a Drawback , a bad one. Note however that, depending on circumstances, they may have opposite effects. A noble knight who is known to show no mercy to criminals may have its Renown affect negatively a group of raiders who have taken him captive. This Quality’s levels add to (or subtract from, if it’s a Drawback) social Tasks where the character is recognized. In order to find out if a reputation is known, roll 1D10 and add the recognizer’s Intelligence, plus the recognized’s Renown level (it doesn’t matter if it’s positive or negative) and the appropriate Recognition Modifier. The Photographic Memory Quality adds 2 to the roll.

Resources
2-points/level Quality or Drawback

Destitute (-10): Has the clothes on his back. He’s lucky to scrounge a few coppers a month.
Miserable (-8): Personal wealth of about $100 stags worth of property (including the clothes on his back).
Poor (-6): Personal wealth of some $2 dragons in property.
Hurting (-4): Personal wealth of about $4 dragons in property.
Below Average (-2): Personal wealth of $20 dragons in property.
Okay (0): Personal wealth of $50 dragons in property.
Middle Class (+2): Personal wealth of $150 dragons in property.
Well-off (+4): Personal wealth of $1,000 dragons in property.
Wealthy (+6): Personal wealth of $2,500 dragons in property.
Rich (+8): Personal wealth of $5,000 dragons in property.
Multimillionaire (+10): Personal wealth of $15,000 dragons in property.

Each additional level adds an additional $15,000 dragons in property.

Skinchanger
5-point Supernatural Quality
Pre-requisite: Blood of the First Men
     Certain individuals have the power to merge their consciousness with an animal, like the Greenseers of the Chidlren of the Forest were reputed to do. The process is called skinchanging and those capable of it are skinchangers, although the ones who bond specifically with wolves are referred to as wargs. In order to merge, the skinchanger must have a close association with an animal. The latter can be a pet, a animal used for a long time or one the character has trained or raised from infancy. Once the bond is formed, the skinchanger can attempt the merging at any time. He must make a Simple Willpower Test to skinchange and the animal must be within a radius equal to the skinchanger’a Perception plus the animals’s Willpower. Skinchanging costs 3 Essence per hour.
      While merged with the animal, the skinchanger sees, hears, and experiences everything the creature does. He can also control the bonded animal if he wishes. Should the animal die while joined to the character, he must make a Survival Test or see his own Life Points and Essence Pool reduced to –5 each. If he succeeds, his pools drop to half. In any case, the skinchanger experiences great pain.
      Skinchanging can sometimes happen unconsciously. This is common in skinchangers that are not aware of their ability. They usually experience the skinchange through dreams. The process has a long lasting effect in the bonded animal, which behaves more inteligently, receiveng a +1 to its Intelligence. Some skinchangers become addicted to it and can waste away, forgeting to retun to their real bodies to eat and drink.

Status
1-points/level Quality or Drawback

Level Post

-2 Wildling

-1 Criminal

0 Freeman

1 Captain of the guard, hedge knight

2 Lordling of minor House, House knight

3 Lord of minor House, lordling of major House, landed knight, White Guard

4 Lord of major House, lordling of Great House

5 Lord of Great House, lordling of the Royal House

6 Lord of the Royal House, The Hand of the King

7 Prince of Westeros

8 King of Westeros

Valyrian Weapon
Variable Social Quality
Brought to Westeros by the survivors of the Doom of Valyria, these weapons became much more than implements of war. Valyrian weapons are now a symbol of status and many houses' most treasured possession. It is believed that 200 such weapons exist in Westeros. Valyrian steel weapons give +1 to Hand Weapons rolls dues to their balance, increase the Damage Multiplier by 1 and halve a target's AV. Optionally, a Chronicler may allow a character in possession of such weapon to have a +1 bonus in social situations. To own a small Valyrian weapon (small knife, arrow- or spearhead) costs 1 point. A medium-sized weapon (large knife, short sword or axe-head) costs 2 points. A large weapon (broadsword or battle axe) costs 3 points. A huge weapon (greatsword, halberd or the like) costs 4 points.

LINKS

Other sites that can help your campaign.

A Gathering of Heroes - A campaign run using this rules.
Westeros.org - THE reference site for A Song of Ice and Fire.
Amoka - A fantastic site with paintings of most major characters from the novels.
A Game of Thrones RPG - The page for the official game from Guardians of Order.

This A Ring of Ice and Fire site
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is owned by Fred Furtado.

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Well, enjoy it! And if you want, you can drop me a line at fred@planetfred.net or leave a comment at the PatchComm.

Last Update: 25-Apr-05