A Clash of Kings: The King is Dead/King of Siam GoT re-theme
Driving the plot of A Clash of Kings is the death of Robert Baratheon, creating a power vacuum for which there are three contenders:
- Stannis Baratheon backed by the right of succession as Robert’s eldest brother and the power of Dragonstone (in the East) - Yellow
- Renly Baratheon, Stannis' charismatic younger brother, backed by the might of Mace Tyrell in Highgarden (in the south) -Green (or blue)
- Perhaps replace with Rob Stark, so all the home territories aren't next to each other? Reflects the Scotts in Base tKiD. Doesn't make sense politically though.
- Joffery Baratheon, Robert’s (assumed) son and heir to the throne, backed by the financial and political juggernaut of Tywin Lannister in Lannisport (in the west) -Red
Perfect for our three political factions and favored home territories.
- For thematic reasons, Winterfell should never start the game with any red cubes.
The players take on the role of members of Robert's small council in King’s Landing (Varys, Petyr, and Pycelle), sending envoys and political agents across the realm to convince the great houses to pledge their strength behind the would be kings, while privately infighting for each King’s favor.
Meanwhile, Balon Greyjoy has seceded from the realm calling himself the King of the Iron Isles, and is taking advantage of the political and military chaos to pillage regions too divided to fend for themselves. Should enough of Westeros burn, the victor will not be the council member who tore realm apart in their idolatry of one man, but rather but rather the council member who managed to reach across the political divide and organize the military strength of the entire realm against the pirate threat.
Consider cubes not just as generic politicos carpetbagging around to influence regional votes and being invited off the map to join your campaign… think of them as the key players from the show. That red cube sent to House Arryn asking them to pledge support for Joffery? That’s Tyrion. The Yellow cube moved from Winterfell to the Stormlands to swing the vote to Stannis? That’s Cat Stark asking Renly to abdicate his campaign. That moment when Red wins at Riverrun and removes a bunch of cubes from the board as it locks in... well, I have a mental image of how that scene goes.
The board would be the 7 Great Houses that aren't pirates, and the Crownlands.
Concerns:
-It makes no sense for the Greyjoys to be able to raid House Arryn, or the Crownlands thematically.
-House Tyrell touches almost everything. Might have to cut them back on the map and replace their northern territories with Crownlands, so they can’t touch House Tully, and so Lannisters can touch Crownlands.
-Starks and Arryns touch only one other territory (they’re both Scotlands). Maybe have Arryn and Stark touch by water region?