CHAPTER 6: HOUSE & LANDS EXAMPLE Chris, who’s playing a male character, invests 20 of the house’s Influ- With a Defense of 30, the group has enough resources to invest in a ence to become the first born. Nicole, who’s playing a female character, small castle. Chris points out that they have a lot of land, and invest- invests 10 points to become the first-born daughter. The group has 5 ing all of their defenses into one small castle means they will likely point left unallocated, which they intend to use during the campaign have a hard time defending their territory if it comes under attack. So as they engage in intrigues. instead of a small castle, the group selects a hall and a tower, position- ing each in different domains. Land Holdings Influence Holdings Lands describe the terrain and extent of your actual holdings. Lands may be forests, lakes, hills, mountains, coastlines, and more, all based Influence represents your social power, your presence in your region on where your house is situated and the terrain of your realm. Each and throughout all of Westeros. The primary investment for Influence Land investment is called a domain. Each domain is roughly a league (3 is in heirs, the children of the house’s head. Heirs are valuable in that miles). Your domains reflect only those lands that are under your direct they extend the will and presence of the patriarch, but they also provide control and not under the control of your banners, sworn knights, and means to improving the house’s standing through deeds and marriage. others in your service. Alternatively, you can reserve Influence to use as an expendable re- Domains each have two components, features and terrain. A feature is source. You can reduce your family’s Influence to modify the outcomes something found on that land such as a town, river, woods, or coastline. A of your House Fortunes roll. For every 5 points of Influence you spend, domain can have as many features as you’d like to invest. A domain with- you can add 1d6 to your House Fortunes roll. If reducing your Influence out a feature is barren, being a desert, scrubland, or waste depending on would lower the maximum Status, such characters take –1D to Status the realm. Terrain specifically describes the lay of land, being mountain- tests for each rank they have above the maximum until they raise their ous, hilly, flat, or sunken. A domain must have terrain and may only have Influence back to its original level or higher. one type of terrain, even if it has elements of other terrain types. Your character can also expand your family’s Influence, expending Terrain 2 points of the Influence resource to gain a +1B on any tests related to intrigues. Again, such expenditures reduce your family’s Influence. SIFRP recognizes four broad types of terrain. If you cannot afford to Resolve diminishing Influence as described in the previous paragraph. invest in a domain, your holdings are smaller than a league and extend Influence also establishes the highest Status attained by any member out around your primary stronghold. of the household. This character is always the head of the house (Lord or Lady). Limits on Status follow. Features Heirs A feature is some descriptive element or noteworthy landmark or place that merits attention and can provide additional advantages in Your investment in heirs opens up options for players to take the roles of the house’s heirs. Each investment creates a character of a particular Status. Influence does not limit the number of children a house can Table 6–5: Influence & Status have (otherwise House Frey would have an Influence of several hun- RESOURCE MAXIMUM STATUS dred!) but rather how many heirs with a significant Status you have. 0–10 2 HEIR’S STATUS* EXAMPLE COST 11–20 3 Maximum–1 First-born son (or daughter in Dorne) 20 21–40 4 41–50 5 Second son (or daughter in Dorne), Maximum–2 10 or first-born daughter 51–60 6 Maximum–3 Other children (not including bastards) 5 61–70 7 71+ 8 or higher *Minimum Status 3. Status 2 does not cost an Influence investment. Table 6–6: Terrain Costs EXAMPLE TERRAIN COST EXAMPLE With an Influence of 35, the group’s house is minor but significant, but it’s not as well known as some of the greater houses in the North. The Hills 7 The Rills players discuss whether or not they want heirs and if the players want Mountains 9 The Mountains of the Moon to play them. Both Nicole and Chris want to play characters of blood Plains 5 The Reach relation to the family. Neither Hal nor Steve are much interested, so Wetlands 3 The Neck 107 CHAPTER 6: HOUSE & LANDS Terrain & Features of the Lands of Westeros REALM TERRAIN FEATURES Dorne Hills, Mountains, Plains Coast, Community, Island, Road, Ruin, Water Dragonstone Hills, Plains, Wetlands Coast, Community, Grassland, Island, Road, Ruin Iron Islands Hills, Plains Coast, Community, Grassland, Island, Road, Ruin King’s Landing Plains Coast, Community, Grassland, Road, Ruin, Water, Woods Mountains of the Moon Hills, Mountains Coast, Community, Grassland, Island, Road, Ruin, Water The North Hills, Mountains, Plains, Wetlands Coast, Community, Grassland, Island, Road, Ruin, Water, Woods The Reach Plains Coast, Community, Grassland, Island, Road, Ruin, Water Riverlands Hills, Plains, Wetlands Community, Grassland, Road, Ruin, Water The Stormlands Hills, Mountains, Plains, Wetlands Coast, Community, Grassland, Island, Road, Ruin, Water, Woods Westerlands Hills, Mountains, Plains Coast, Community, Grassland, Island, Road, Ruin, Water Table 6–7: Feature Costs FEATURE COST EXAMPLE first domain. Settling on a hamlet increases the domain cost to 21. For the other 25 points left to lands, the group decides to add two Coast +3 Stony Shore more inland wooded domains, each costing 8, for 16 points, and an Community HAMLET +10 Winter Town inland plain for 5 points. To make things interesting, they place a SMALL TOWN +20 Mole Town ruin (+3 points) in one forest domain and decide it is an old holding once held by the First Men, complete with a weirwood tree in the ARGE OWN L T +30 Gulltown heart of its crumbling hall. SMALL CITY +40 Lannisport ARGE ITY L C +50 King’s Landing Law Holdings Grassland +1 Much of the Reach Unlike other resources, Law does not have holdings for investment. In- Island +10 Bear Island stead, your Law resource describes the extent of your authority over your lands, specifically as it applies to drawing resources from your lands Road +5 The Searoad with minimal loss due to crime, banditry, and villainy. Maintaining a Ruin +3 Oldstones high Law resource helps reduce waste and loss, generating the full po- Water STREAM +1 Much of the Riverlands tential of Wealth and allowing your Population to grow. But if you let Law lapse, you derive less and less of your resources, and your Popula- RIVER +3 Tumblestone tion growth shrinks until it can actually diminish. From the following, POND +5 Much of the Neck find your modifier to your House Fortunes roll. LAKE +7 Long Lake Law House Fortune Modifiers Woods LIGht +3 Sunkenwood LAW SCORE HOUSE FORTUNES DENSE +5 The Wolfswood 0 –20 battle as described in CHAPTER 10: WARFARE. Costs are in addition 1–10 –10 to the terrain cost. 11–20 –5 EXAMPLE 21–30 –2 The group has a Lands resource of 46, which is considerable given 31–40 –1 their status. They’ve already come up with the history, so the Narra- tor recommends the PCs choose a spot near the Bay of Seals. So the 41–50 +0 group chooses their first domain to be plains with light woods and a 51–60 +1 coastline. The plains cost 5, light woods +3, and coastline +3, for a 61–70 +2 total of 11. Nicole suggests the group establish a community, but she agrees it would be unwise to invest all the house’s resources in their 71+ +5 108 CHAPTER 6: HOUSE & LANDS EXAMPLE whom they are sworn, and betrayals, while uncommon since the conse- quences can be so severe, can and do occur. The players’ house has 17 Law, indicating they have problems with The relationship between you and your vassal is much the same as wildlings and brigands. Each turn, when they make their House For- your relationship between you and your liege, meaning that as you are tunes roll, they take a –5 penalty to their result. sworn to provide military and financial support to your lord, so, too, is your banner house. The benefit of the banner house is that it can be called to lend military assistance when in need, grant you 1 Test Die on Population Holdings your Status Tests for House Fortunes (for each banner house) and can Like Law, you do not invest Population Holdings. Instead, your Pop- even receive House Fortune results if desired (see facing page). Howev- ulation describes the density of people that live on your lands. The er, they are not blindly obedient, and though they are sworn to you, their greater your Population, the more people occupy your lands. Popula- interests usually come first. Furthermore, if you want to keep the loyalty tion, again like Law, modifies the outcome of your House Fortunes; of a banner house, you must also support them and their conflicts, even however, more people bring more opportunities for mishaps. Simi- if doing so would interfere with your own plans. larly, fewer people mean greater chances for trouble to brew in remote Your banner house (or houses) begins loyal to your family, and their corners of your lands.