The new episode is up here.

Seven years ago, Eric Lang gave us a wonderful state-of-the game article detailing the House Identities and Themes.

Join us as we discuss this article as it relates to todays game....

Do today's Houses have distinct Identities and Themes?

How have they changed from the CCG era 7 years ago?

Do we hear from our FFG Designers enough to let us know their current and future intentions and plans with the Houses in regard to identities and themes?

Dobbler said:

When I come back home I will listen for sure... THX for these ;-)

In the current game, the houses still have identities, but they don't appear to be as strong as the were in the past for some reason.

Part of that could be the intimidating idea of an infinite card pool from a design perspective. How many more power grabbing cards can the current card pool take before Bara Rush becomes so consistent it's too much? How much more target kill can you give to Stark? Revenge effects or powerful events for Martell? etc. Certainly unique character rules ( i.e. I can only ever have in play 1 Robert, so which is it?) and a limited number of event slots in your deck, minimize this effect. But, will that provide enough variety in deck builds(i.e. which Robert is best for my deck?), or will people just gravitate to the most cost efficient, less situational cards?

CP cycles like AToR and KL were good because they introduced a mechanic, and then house themes were explored within that new mechanic. If your power grab (not intending to pick on power grab here) is based on Summer effects, hopefully less of those effects will synergize with future power grab cards, limiting the amount of power grab you can stuff into one deck.

Sometimes the mechanic doesn't even have to be new. For example, the House of Thorns expansion back in the CCG kind of looked at every house through the lense of the intrigue challenge. A House of Talons introduced effects based on how much power you had on your house card, etc. These weren't new game play mechanics, but there were new effects based around specific aspects of the game. The current Brotherhood trait theme (no power on your house) is another good example.

Recently, DotN made some attempts to futher develop AToR and KL themes, but was very grey, and BwB focussed on alternative house themes. While that may be another avenue of developing cards in the LCG, perhaps that's why things feel unfocussed for me at the moment.

Setting house themes around a mechanic (or CP cycle theme) has its own issues. Are 6 CPs enough to solidify each houses theme around that mechanic? Does the game begin to feel gimmicky, having new mechanics each CP cycle? Does my deck feel based around a house, or a CP cycle mechanic? I certainly was feeling some of this when the KL cycle was released right after AToR. At the time, we were getting the new Shadows mechanic, and I still felt like the seasonal mechanic from AToR was incomplete.

These are all interesting questions, and I would LOVE to know FFG's take on card development in the LCG. What attempts are they making to make sure house themes out shine CP cycle thems? Or, do they not see that as an issue?

Perhaps they haven't even figured out what their approach is? Whether they do, or don't, I think putting your ideas out there for other's to see is a healthy exercise. Not only does it help your audience see what they might not have been seeing, it helps development take a hard look at what exactly they are doing to keep the themes of Westeros alive in the game, one of the games MAJOR strengths.

Another great episode, guys.

I already said two episodes ago that I would be interested in hearing an interview with someone from FFG, but I will repeat that request aagain since you asked for it. Like Will, I also don't play Magic very often any more (haven't played in about fifteen months), but I still read Mark Rosewater's articles regularly and occasionally look at other coverage (especially podcasts). Now for me, you guys are starting to fill that same role of weekly content for AGoT.

I think I prefer Dobbler's Dating Disasters, mostly because they generally have coherent narratives.

Nice episode. Is there a way we can let FFG know that many people would like this, without it being a burden on them? Maybe just an e-mail that we all can send to let them know that we'd like an in-depth article once or twice a month. Who would we e-mail about this?

Solid episode! I loved the topic. I too would like to see a similar article from Nate/Damon this year after GenCon (or anytime, really).

Also, I agree with Schrecklich...much prefer Dobbler's Dating Disasters for the same reason (no offense).

Good episode:

Thoughts back to my experience with Ice and Fire Block I started playing between Crown of Suns and Valyrian

Stark: Dead on about 2nd best save house. Between Nymeria, the attachment on stronghold locations, and Karhold most local Stark decks saved from Valar almost as good as Greyjoy.

Targ: Burn was much nastier because it was mostly Marshalling phase. Nothing is more discouraging than watching 7-8 gold worth of characters getting "burned to death before you ever get to challenges. Every turn! Thank God burn has evolved in the later CCG, LCG era.

Greyjoy: I like where their cancel evolved in Valyrian and later. Don't remember much of their Ice and Fire cancel. Agree that they REALLY miss access to mass removal, both character and location.( ~They need Storm Raiders back!) A little bit more renown to help their Unopposed theme would be nice as well.

It would be interesting to get a peak into the mind of the game designers....but I'm not sure I would want to write that article right now if I was in their shoes. Seems to me that there are a vocal minority who are certain that they know what's good for the game and whatever Nate is designing isn't it....Maybe the article would give them some perspective. Who knows. Interesting thoughts.

Enjoyed the show (as usual)!

I think it would be GREAT to have an interview with someone from FFG on the show, and I would very much like to see "designer's notes" or whatever from time to time on the FFG website - not just "card of the week" or tourny announcements.

Thanks again for the PodCast.

Yeah, even just a yearly "State of the Game" address would be pretty wicked and a great chance to tease a few upcoming products and events, but something like a Quarterly design journal along with the Cards of the Week would be fantastic!

Good episode.

+1 to having state-of-the-game addresses. ~I need to have more official things to complain and annoy everyone about.

+1 Dobbler's Dating Disasters

Good episode, though Gold Tooth Vaults does see use. However it's only going to happen in a clansman deck as a way to shrink your hand size. Plus it combos great with Greedy Councilor.

Does FFG have a customer service/care email address? IF so we could probably send emails to it asking for a design journal once every month or two.