Hi there.

We (myself and my wife) received this game for Christmas, being big fans of the TV show.
We played through a couple of times and sort of understand it, but there are a couple of questions we've got that aren't clarified in the rules.

1: The Discard pile. Do we ever get the discard pile back? I know certain allow you to go through it and remove characters, but does it ever get put back on the bottom of the deck and "recycled"?

2: Duplicates. I had a duplicate in play, and forfeited one to save the character. Does it go in the discard pile, or the dead pile? I argued about it, because the rules state any character in the dead pile are dead and can't be in play, but in the discard pile, I may be able to return the duplicate.

3: Bran's ability. Bran has the ability that when he's killed, he can return to the Stark player's hand. Is there any counter to this? Playing as a Lannister, everytime I won a military challenge, Bran was killed (it is the defeated players choice, right?) and returned to the hand, only to be brought back next turn. I tried one of the "Lannister choices which character to die (Paying the debt)", but the same thing happened. The only way I could kill any other character was to have a plot card with a claim value of 2 or more.

4: Renown. Every time a Renown character wins a challenge, that character gains a power token. Does this have any effect on them as a character? Ie: Does it increase their base stat, or give them the power attribute if they don't already have it? (and if it does increase the base stats, does it go up on every power icon?

5: The strength number. This one number affects all the attributes the character has, right? So Hodor (4) really is able to kill Jaime Lannister (3)?

That's all we've got so far. Thank you for reading

1. Discard pile doesn't get recycled (unless a card effect specifically says so). When your draw deck is empty, it's empty.

2. Cards that are discarded go into the Discard Pile. Duplicates are discarded , not killed, so they go in the Discard Pile.

3. Attack with Gregor Clegane - Bran cannot defend against him. How did "the same thing happen" when you used "A Lannister Pays His Debts"? Did you choose Bran to die instead of another character?

4. Renown doesn't do anything but give you more power toward winning the game. It does not increase Strength. It is also lost if the character dies.

5, Hodor would win a Military challenge against Jaime, but Hodor cannot kill Jaime, because he cannot Attack, and only Defenders have to kill their characters for Claim if they lose.

Remember, you don't win by killing your opponents' characters - you win by gaining Power!

Bran's power (pt 3) is not clear - can you clarify in more detail?