Narratives and Databases in Game of Thrones - Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games - page 140

Although not technically a “board” game, as it does not use an actual game
board, the HBO Card Game is a simpliied version of a diferent game, Fantasy
Flight Game's Game of hrones: he Card Game , which does use a board, and,
in turn, seems to straddle the vast geographic strategy of he Board Game and
the individual character intrigue of the HBO Card Game . Based on Martin's
novels, the Fantasy Flight Card Game is a “living card game,” meaning that the
base set comes with a number of cards, but expansion packs (which are released
periodically) build onto this base set. hese types of living card games, also called
collectible card games, highlight the serialized nature of cult media products like
television or fantasy book series. 3 he HBO game simpliies the living card game
by reducing the number of players (from a maximum of four to a maximum
of two), lessening some of the complexity of the original game, adjusting some
card text, and streamlining the rules. In many respects, the complexity of the
living card game is more akin to he Board Game than it is to the HBO Card
Game ; with both being based on the more complex book series rather than the
simpliied (but still complex) television show, this makes some sense.
In this chapter, I expand on my discussion of participation in paratextual
board games to look at the importance of not just an individual's activity in
regard to gaming, but also how gaming its within a larger structure of an
interconnected culture. 4 Game of hrones , the irst in George R. R. Martin's A
Song of Ice and Fire series (which, at the time of writing, is still uninished), is a
vast fantasy epic that details the struggles between seven kingdoms in a ictional
medieval world. With hundreds of characters and thousands of relationships
embedded within the 5,000 page series (with two more 1,000  page topics
on the horizon), there is much lineage complexity in the topic series. While
simplifying the novel in some ways, HBO's Game of hrones still retains one of
the largest casts on television as well as the complex backstory for many of the
characters. he television story is told from multiple locations and follows many
of the main characters throughout their adventures in and around Westeros.
In he Board Game , players take on the role of one of these Houses, controlling
the progression of House armies and attempting to take over the continent.
Like Arkham Horror, which uses multiple elements to tell the story, he Board
Game emphasizes a database of possible narratives. Families are more important
than any one person, as it is the complex nonlinear interactions between the
Houses—the networked relationships of individual elements—that help develop
the paratextual game play. In contrast, in the HBO Card Game, players control
individual characters and play out more intimate combat scenarios. he HBO