I want to have some decks laying around (ideally one for each house) for some friends to pick up and play with now & then.

In this case though, the players won't be LCG vets - maybe they've played MtG/Munchkin/etc at one point but are strictly casual and would be more playing GoT out of enjoyment of the novels or show. What I'm mostly trying for are decks that somewhat capture the scale, atmosphere & storylines of the books rather than anything that's going to be competitive at the local game shop (obviously I want them to be mutually competitive amongst each other tho).

So a good variety & balance in characters/events/etc, nothing too complex in the mechanics department, stuff that gives a nice narrative "feel" for each house, etc. Any suggestions for deck sizes (I'm thinking a little bigger than the usual 60), ratios of card types, and/or chapter packs/cards would be most welcome.

I like the idea and the request. However, as I thought about it... I thought, "THAT'S HARD!" I didn't think it would be initially but as I contemplated it, I realized I couldn't do it quickly.

I have run several learning events for AGoT and i have found that decks with less then 60 cards to be better then those with more. I would also include many copies of the charicters that new players will know form the show or novels. New players feel more comfortable with things they know. Also i found focusing on only a few mechainics in each deck very useful. Dont put shadows, and an agenda and gold producing carectures and things with deadly all in one deck...chose a few themes like deadly or gold and put lots of cards that have that theme in the deck so that players dont have to try and learn 20 things their first game.

Finaly new players seem to generaly like mellee more then joust if they come from a boardgame background and joust more then melee if they come from MTG.

Blancing the decks takes alot of time and effort and you should play test with them a bit. I wish i still had the deck lists i used kicking around and i would just send them to you....but i lost them when my hard drive exploded on me.

I can vouch for the balance and fun that darknoj's decks were. I would definitely keep some things out, like location hate or lots of direct kill. People don't want to play things and then just have them get toasted. Effects that need to be timed properly or they fail, probably not a good plan. Try and keep it a character meat grinder. Play dudes, swing with them, use some brothels or whatever. The bread and butter. Like Endless Endurance would be a good card: easy to use, gives them +2 str. Then they can recycle it if they catch on. Really big text boxes are intimidating, so avoid them. Personally I would keep the shadows and the agendas (other than say Knights of the Realm) out of it entirely. Stay low on icon removal. The kinds of things you see in the core; kneeling, a little burn, renown/vigilant, stick with the classic house themes. Vanilla is great - all those guys like Knights of the Tumblestone and Riverrun Messenger (I think?) are perfect for learning.

I know when I first started playing I was using Stark because it is my favourite house in the novels, and when I was playing Eddard and Robb with Jory and Arya it was great. So characters like Tywin, Cersei, Robert, Dragons, those real iconic ones are great to stick to - even if they are sub-par-for-the-course in a competitive meta. The one thing I can recommend is to have Bran Stark (LoW) in there. Because its just so perfectly flavourful if they have seen the show of read the book they will know "thats the kick who got tossed from a window!"

If you are looking for something with minimal effort, you might consider just using the "sample" decks that are included in the core set and each deluxe expansion. They tend to be well balanced and focused more on new and/or casual players.

Thanks for the excellent advice guys, I'll keep all this in mind. Pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking far as keeping the mechanics simple, using easily-recognized characters, etc.

Right now what I'm working with is the core set and each House's deluxe expansion, but I'd like to add a few chapter packs into the mix... can anyone recommend packs with cards good for this approach?

And yeah, no Shadows, no Agendas, but what about the Seasons mechanic? That adds some nice flavor IMO, but again keeping it simple might be the priority...

Always love people who try to be nedly.

I'd avoid the seasons mechanic if I were you. Not that it isn't cool, but you need to use cards that depend on it more so than not. If you don't, it defeats the purpose.

If I were you, I'd stick to using unique characters if you are trying to keep these decks to being more thematic. A lot of the non-unique characters exist for competitive deck building uses.

For example - you should probably put Daenerys in with her 3 Dragons and potentially her Dothraki Queensguard with Khal Drogo.

Stark, toss in the whole family, including Bran, Sansa, Eddard, Catelyn, Robb, and Arya. Probably include the direwolves to be more toward family completion. Jon Snow and Ghost is another pair you may want to include.

The whole Lannister family. Maybe mix and match which sets they come from. Jaime, Cersei, Tyrion, and Tywin. If you are interested something a little more thematic, perhaps Tyrion with some of his key Clansman as they may be familiar characters to your friends.

Baratheon has a few different directions I think considering the clash of the kings. If you wanted to keep it simple, you could mash the family into one like the Core Set has it set out. Or you can try and throw together the key characters that go along with Stannis, like Melisandre, Selyse, Ser Davos Seaworth, Dragonstone, etc. With Renly, perhaps the Knight of Flowers, Margaery Tyrell, the Rainbow Guard(I think that's Renly), Maester Lomys, Highgarden etc. I'm sure you can figure out Robert Baratheon and his characters etc.

Greyjoy is another family mashing with Balon, Alannys, Asha, Vicatarian, Aeron Damphair, Theon(or he can be in Stark if you want), Euron Crow's Eye, Iron Island locations, and Warship locations.

Martell you can build something that revolves around revenge and losing challenges. I'd recommend keeping Doran Martell and Harmen Ullor out of it from Princes of the Sun considering they aren't very good, but maybe having The Red Viper, Ellaria Sand, Darkstar, Doran Martell(The Grand Melee CP specifically), and Areo Hotah would help. Orphan of Greenblood, although not unique, is sort of part of the theme as well.

I don't really know what else to say to keep them all competitive, casual, and character familiarity at the same time. There are tons of unique characters that will be familiar, so maybe you should be the judge on that.

I got a few friends into the game by purchasing two of the core set and using these decklists: ( http://www.cardgamedb.com/forums/index.php?/topic/207-4-decks-built-from-2x-core-set/ )

After 5 or so games a couple wanted to start building their own decks and trying out new ideas they had. I thought they fit the ideas of the hoses well, especially Lannister and Baratheon. Targ and Stark seemed a little weaker than the other two, but you could always tweak them a bit depending on how they perform.

Yeah, those decklists are a pretty good starting place. I consulted them quite a bit when I was first starting out last fall.

I think orclrob had a good suggestion, using the suggested decks from the expansions. Or modified versions of them, depending on your card pool. Pretty much all those decks have some thematics running through them. Tullys and Knights and Dragons, oh my. I think slotting in as many recognizable characters as you can will also help. Weenies are all well and good, but if you're sitting down with people who are playing because of the theme, then they'd probably rather play Cersei than House Payne Enforcer.