Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
his serialization at the game level, however, can best be seen through the
use of plot cards. he irst turn of each round begins with each player secretly
selecting one of seven plots. Plots provide players with income, determine the
play order for the round, and establish unique abilities that shape the overall
structure of the round. In this way, plot cards shape the game structure through
narrative intervention.
Plot cards are directly tied into narrative moments from the HBO series. For
example, the “Dark Wings, Dark Worlds” plot reads “When revealed, cancel the
efects of your opponent's plot, then your opponent must choose and reveal a
new plot.” As indicated by the image of the messenger raven, this plot attribute
references moments in the show when the transfer of information can force
diferent sides to change their plans, and the phrase “Dark Wings, Dark Worlds”
is used to describe the ominous tidings they oten herald. Another plot card,
“Marched to the Wall,” references moments when characters are killed or die
as a result of being taken to the giant wall of ice guarding Westeros from the
Northern Lands. A third plot card, “he Kings Tourney,” describes a speciic
moment in the irst season when King Robert Baratheon declared a tournament
to be held to celebrate his appointment of Eddard Stark as Hand of the King.
During this “Tourney of the Hand,” the weaker Ser Loras Tyrell won the joust
against a much stronger opponent, Ser Gregor Clegane.
he original Fantasy Flight Card Game allows up to four players, each one
exponentially multiplying the complexity of the plots. Four plots playing at once
creates a networked understanding of key elements of the narrative; plots can
intersect in a variety of ways. By reducing the game to two players, the HBO
Card Game elides much of the networking potential of the game and reveals the
serialized narrative at its heart.
Serialization emerges from more than just how the game is played; HBO's
Game of hrones Card Game highlights individual player action as a constituent
of meaning, as “the players end up 'telling' a 'story' by juxtaposing the diferent
cards within play.” 37 In the HBO Card Game , players use the diferent card types
in a speciic order, in order to defeat the other player. Lancaster calls this a
narrative juxtaposition, as “the rules themselves help determine the meaning
of the cards' juxtaposition with each other.” 38 he order of attack matters to
the outcome, and the individual cards played in a particular order constitute
“mnemonic juxtapositions, [as] players create their own game narrative” through
their personal connection to the choice of cards they play. 39 Players lay down as
many cards as they can aford—each card comes with a cost, and the amount of
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