Lush and thorough, A Game of Thrones: The Book of Ice and Fire provides fans of both the OGL d20 and GoO’s own Tri-Stat system to stand up and cheer about just as much as it gives fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire series something to drool over. A massive tome by any count—nearly 500 pages in the standard OGL edition—the game leads players through the process of creating characters (and even Houses) and then involving them in a variety of different play styles, from the traditional adventure to political intrigue and intra-family relations. The artwork is almost entirely original to the book, and features a wide range of artists and styles. Last, but not least, the book is packed full of information about the world, as any good sourcebook should. But some few tidbits therein are entirely brand new, provided by GRRM. While there’s a note that nothing is canon until it’s actually published, it’s unlikely that there’ll be much change to these fascinating historical details. The reviews (such as those found at ENworld or Gaming Report) have been uniformly very strong.
The RPG has been nominated for numerous awards, such as its nominations in the 2006 ENnie Awards for Best Production Values, Best Product, Best Game, and Best d20/OGL Product. It took the Silver Award in the Best Production Values, Best Game, and Best d20/OGL product categories.
Unfortunately, Guardians of Order went into bankruptcy despite this success, and as of December 2006 its founder, Mark MacKinnon, made it known that after all assets were sold that there would not be enough money to pay all money owed to contributors of the book. On April 24th, 2007 it was announced that Green Ronin Press had gained the license to produce an RPG set in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” setting with plans for a 2008 publication.
