My cards won't, but my group might. An LCG isn't like a boardgame; you can't just own one copy and break it out whenever. To get the most out of a game like Thrones, you need multiple people all owning their own copies, and building their own decks.

Hmmm. I have around 8 decks that i built. With minimum of proxies. My AGOT works exactly like a board game. If someone of my friends who don't have their own cards wants to buiold a deck i just give him/her my binders and off they go. Easy peasy

... which I am sure you could get for a really good price from some who thinks the sky is falling like yourself.

NM - not trying to start an argument.

I'm also very excited about the announcement. My group started playing early this year and we've collectively invested a bit to build up our collection. I love the game, but there are glaring flaws due to the game's age that are best addressed with a reboot. My group's games are still slowed down by rules questions/debates/FAQ checking. I look forward to being able to enjoy the same game without needing to memorize arbitrary timing tables and arcane rules.

I applaud FFG's decision. They have retained a happy customer here.

Really? They're already made the first one - making the old cards incompatible with the new version. I'll take that $50 and invest it in a traditional board game that actually *will* be playable for as long as the components physically survive.

I love playing CCGs and LCGs, but just as CCGs lost me with ongoing requirement for pouring endless amounts of cash into them, it looks like LCGs are losing me because their parent company can't be trusted.

Are your cards going to magically dissapear after FFG publishes 2nd ed? They will be still there, i assure you, and you can play 1ed with your group till the end of time

It's true, one can "play 1ed with your group til the end of time," but the reality is, one probably won't.

It's an established fact Organized Play drives what people do with games and how they spend their time. We're not talking about a bunch of old grognards who want to dig out 1st Edition Panzer Leader and a six pack for the 7000th game because it's what they were playing in 1981. I have God knows how many old games lying around that I can't even get my dog to sit across the table from me to play, and many of them are still quite fun - even more fun than some of the stuff that replaced it (here's looking at you, D&D miniatures).

@Shikaku: I find your responses to the people who lament over dumping a significant amount of cash into a game FFG just killed to be incredibly pompous and more than a little uninviting. Those people have a legitmate beef whether you happen to agree or not and expressing a pretense of disbelief over the fact they're not willing to take part in a reboot edition of the game that has a built-in shelf life out of the starting gate probably isn't winning them to your cause of endless spending with a company that produces a product line designed to be monetarily worthless the minute it leaves the store and now playably worthless within 3-5 years.

You can call it pompous and arrogant all you want, the fact of the matter is they are crying over money you can't take with you when your gone that they spent on a game to begin with. They also knew full well that something drastic was going to happen regarding the game itself before they chose to spend the money. Am I a terrible person for not consoling them, rubbing their back and telling them everything will be alright, when I think they've lost perspective? I don't think so, but both of those are my opinions. I think players should be able to handle hearing an opposing opinion. We are an adult community and I would hope everyone is wearing their big-boy/girl pants. If that's uninviting to whiners, then I'm not losing sleep over it. There are plenty of other people who will start playing now to replace them. This entitlement mentality that the company somehow owes them anything more than what they already purchased (ink on cardboard and a framework within which to use said cardboard) is ridiculous.

Well, as a new player that spent a couple hundred over the last few months, this will end my interest in the game.

Just pisses me off. Anyone going to start a petition against it?

This is exciting news. I bought three cores and a couple of deluxe expansions a while back, and then realized I had a ton more money to spend and that the game was getting kind of clunky from its age/expansions, so I sold my cards. I loved how the game played with the core/deluxe boxes, though, so really looking forward to giving it another go in second edition.

I'm coming back for 2ed. Can't wait.

You can call it pompous and arrogant all you want, the fact of the matter is they are crying over money you can't take with you when your gone that they spent on a game to begin with. They also knew full well that something drastic was going to happen regarding the game itself before they chose to spend the money. Am I a terrible person for not consoling them, rubbing their back and telling them everything will be alright, when I think they've lost perspective? I don't think so, but both of those are my opinions. I think players should be able to handle hearing an opposing opinion. We are an adult community and I would hope everyone is wearing their big-boy/girl pants. If that's uninviting to whiners, then I'm not losing sleep over it. There are plenty of other people who will start playing now to replace them. This entitlement mentality that the company somehow owes them anything more than what they already purchased (ink on cardboard and a framework within which to use said cardboard) is ridiculous.

who said anything about consoling them or offering massages? Certainly no one deserves consoling for the reasons you sated but that said, being condescending doesn't accomplish anything either.

I do not play AGoT. But crowing over misfortunes of others is the meaning of my life, so I came here with my popcorn ready for some good forum drama. Disappointed I was expecting profanity, petitions, and capslocks. Not too much of that so far.

Seriously though, being your LCG brother (of the LotR persuasion), I give my cardboard condolences to everyone who feel bummed but this decision to switch to a new edition of your favorite game. This must suck, even if in the end it might get better in the future because new rules and the potential broad HBO bandwagon fan appeal. One thing I do not get are those condescending voices who downplay the sentiment of people who feel left out. We are fans here, are we not? The games are precious to us, even if in the end it is all cardboard. I like my cardboard quite a lot , you know.

Hmm what a bummer. Way to kill the game quick and easy in germany and screw your distributor there just two years after its release. Considering the tight pace of chapter releases and still five cycles left, which now probably never will see the light. I guess there won't be too many people happy about it.

But nevertheless i'd wish you the best luck with the reboot.

I may be getting back in on this with the new edition.

I started playing way back when the CCG version came out. Used to play a lot with our local meta (Sir Robb, Hosejaun and the other playtesters), had a core group of 10-12 guys that'd travel to tournaments all over the state and in WI. It was/is a great game, we just lost a lot of local players and didn't have anyone to play with so I got out around the LCG time.

Anyway, I plan on getting back in and hopefully restarting the Twin Cities Meta.

Interesting news. My thoughts on what we know:

The good:

Two more factions: I assume Arryn and Tyrell. Three (Tully) - 1 house for each region would have been perfect; but this is better.

Elimination of Influence: Taxation phase and increase in gold effects made this unnecessary. I actually preferred the CCG/Westeros early days when characters had to be knelt to pay all event costs.

Increase in Gold Curve: hopefully coincides with a wider range of character strengths too.

Elimination of Moribund: Excellent. Looking forward to new timing.

Reduction of Keywords: I'm hoping they eliminate the house specific keywords, and just keep renown, stealth and maybe joust or deadly.

The Bad:

They still have Agendas. I fall on the side that believes these are extremely hard to balance, and don't really open up the game as much as others think.

Draw Cap: My gut says it is a mistake to eliminate this. Hopefully I'm wrong. The only way this works is if they get anti-draw effects that are as "cheap" as draw - in the past, any anti-draw cards have been overcosted for the ability/effect.

Plots: Having played in the early days when 2 copies of a plot were legal, I think it's a mistake to go back to this.

Other items I'd like to see:

Far fewer house specific events. Most events should be neutral in nature. Each house should only have about 1/4 of the number of events that are house specific as they do now. Hopefully, these are the 'slots' eliminated to make room for the new factions, or they can be replaced with more unique characters, locations or attachments.

I hope they keep a limited number of dual-house cards. I would generally make the ladies/wives, and kingsguard types dual house.

I hope they keep the sub-houses as traits (House Bolton, House Florent, House Harlaw, House Hightower, etc). In that vein, I'd like to see the 8 "main" houses treated more as regions, and for their cards to get a "House X" trait as well (give Eddard, Robb, Jory Cassel & Maester Luwin the "House Stark" trait) and have card trigger of the "House X" trait.

I hope they keep the sub-houses as traits (House Bolton, House Florent, House Harlaw, House Hightower, etc). In that vein, I'd like to see the 8 "main" houses treated more as regions, and for their cards to get a "House X" trait as well (give Eddard, Robb, Jory Cassel & Maester Luwin the "House Stark" trait) and have card trigger of the "House X" trait.

I've actually turned this into a bedtime prayer. It'st just obnoxious that some houses are Traits , even Great Houses in the case of House Tully, while others are represented with faction banners. The whole concept should be unified.

However, I am of a different mind as to just how it ought to be unified. Actual members of a given house bear that lineage in their name: Eddard Stark , Cersei Lannister , Robert Baratheon . Joffrey Baratheon and his siblings are Lannister by blood, but everyone believes them to be Baratheons at the outset of the story, which means that mechanically they should be treated as Baratheons.

What I'm basically saying here is that these names could become design space for effects that care about them; for instance, a new version of Bones of a Child could give the attached character a penalty, with an additional effect if the attached character is a Targaryen. Doing this is easier than giving House Traits to everybody that belongs to the house in question. Army cards that belong to a specific house could also have that house in their name as well, to get around the complication of them not having specific soldiers' names in their card titles. The only thing that would need to change from 1E to make this work effectively would be to give all characters their actual name as their card title, e.g. Sandor Clegane instead of "The Hound," Petyr Baelish instead of "Littlefinger," Brynden Tully instead of "The Blackfish," etc. Characters who change their names are an exception to this. e.g. Arstan Whitebeard does not belong to House Selmy, and Alayne Stone does not belong to House Stark. They have discarded these names and lineages in favor of new ones.

I'm returning with 2e. Cardpool for 1e was far too much and all the problems Nate listed in the letter he wrote were spot on.

I know that Nick and I are both looking forward to 2nd edition - we've even started talking about bringing back The Cast in the Darkness to celebrate the new edition!

I pretty much agree with LoB here. I was never a fan of rotation, but the cad pool had become a little unwieldy after all these years, and I support the decision. I am more likely to turn up at local tournaments next fall when the game has become somewhat manageable - though I doubt I will ever be a really competitive player again.

I won't miss Influence, wish Agendas were going as well. I do look forward to the two Plot thing coming back - though Valar had better be still excluded.

Hey look: these new baords have spell check!

Sweet!

I'm definately coming back for this. I haven't played much at all since the CCG ended but this is a great opportunuty for me to get back in and a few other guys here in Sweden are planning on doing the same thing.

So great to see some old names still around. Hi Stag Lord!

oh, ingsve, welcome back!

I played my first game of GOT 2nd. I played with a friend Wall/Baratheon vs Martell/Targayen (out of the base set) and it was pretty imba. Martell/Targayen had NO chance versus my Wall/Baratheon. Did you try this combination? For us it was absolutly no fun.

Not all combinations are created equal out of the base set. Also one core set produces a lot of variation--what is one-sided for a couple of games could be a blowout the other way the third time around.

Hm, ok. For me the replay value isn't very high. Perhaps I'll give it a second chance, but I'm not sure.

One core set isn't supposed to provide a complete game experience. The game is constantly expanding with new cards coming out monthly. One Core Set doesn't even let you use the Duplicates rule very much, which is enormously important.

I gave it a second chance with the core set and the first expansion that's released. Didn't get me. There are so much better LCG out there. Will abandon this one.
For me it's ok that a core set don't provide the whole game experience. But when with the core set it is simply not playable it's a disappointment.

One chapter pack is not enough to change the balance of a single core set. It's tiring to repeat, but yes, it IS PLAYABLE out of a single core set. They had entire Playtest teams going over the single-core environment. If you're having one sided blowout games then keep experimenting with which combinations do or don't work. Change up your plot deck choices. And to top it all off, you're judging "so much better LCGs" with their larger card pools against a single core set and that just isn't realistic.