I was playing as Aegon Targaryen in the Conquest War and I felt it lacked events, and especially dynamic ones to make history slightly different. The only choice is going East or West, and then attacking your ennemies in one order or the other which is great but could be better imo, to give this start as much flavour as the later ones.
I thought about two things which are inspired by the real history but would allow different results than the canon one, and would feel like you make a real impact when invading Westeros and you just don't simply replicate history.
1. Should Harrenhal be Harrenhal ?
We all know the story: Harren the Black built the greater castle ever, Balerion burnt him alive and destroyed the castle, this became a cursed place. But why should this happen this way? And why should it be Harrenhal?
In my game, I used Balerion to siege Harrenhal and the outcome was the most common one: the garrison was destroyed, I took the castle but the people in it were captured and not burnt. Still I had a popup explaining that Harrenhal got the "Castle Ruins" modifier.
However, when I sieged Storm's End, I had the outcome where everyone in the castle dies instantly: the king, his queen, his daughter and her husband. Balerion clearly did more job in Storm's End and yet this did not become a ruin. This would clearly make more sense if this was the opposite. Wouldn't it be possible to implement a chance of a castle to become a ruin when, let's say, the dragon has above 100 martial? This way an uninjured Balerion would have a chance to burn a castle to the ground and give it the Harrenhal modifier, but this could be no castle at all, several castles, or just one castle but a different one from Harrenhal? In my game, Harrenhal could still stand proud and Storm's End would become a cursed place, and I find that the possibility to have an impact on this would be totally badass.
Same goes for the field of fire in Hammerhal, if I remember correctly. You would have a chance to burn the ground when you use Balerion into battle and create other places like that.
I understand there would be a lot of problems. The option to rebuild Harrenhal would not exist and there would be an option to rebuild a Castle with the modifier "Castle Ruins", and I don't know how this is coded. Also there should probably be new places for dragon intel according to where Hammerhal and Harrenhal happened in this timeline and this may be even harder to implement but overall I think this would immensely add to the RP and give a lot more flavour to this start.
2. More events to decide the future of the great houses of Westeros
I know this is a whole new part of the game, but I would immensely like it if there was something done to make it feel more roleplay to decide the future of the different houses of Westeros and your Lord Paramount.
Historically, the Durrandon line died out apart from Argella, who married Orys Baratheon. Orys took their sigil and motto and became Lord Paramount of the Stormlands.
The Gardener also died out and were replaced by the Tyrells, while the Riverlands was given to the Tullys. This is very hard to recreate the feeling of a special choice that will have consequences during the centuries to come when you randomly give the status of Lord Paramount to someone who likes you and has decent traits. I would like a chain of events to recreate the several possibilities that Aegon faced.
Let's go back to my game and see the different scenarios:
All the Durrandon died: "The line of the Kings of the Stormlands has died out in fire and blood. Who would you like to become Lord Paramount under your rule?
- I will keep the title until I conquer the Seven Kingdoms or I see someone worthy of it. (you keep the title for now and you have an important decision available to go back to this scren)
- The best way to rule is to seek for the support of the local people. It should go to a trustoworthy Great House of the region. (what happened historically with the Tullys -- moderate opinion bonus with this House, slight opinion bonus with the other great houses of the region)
- Only someone who owes everything to House Targaren can really be trusted (what happened historically with the Tyrells - heavy opinion bonus with this House, slight opinion malus with the other great houses of the region who feel cheated)
- Orys is my most trusted friend and advisor, he should be rewarded with this title (the historical Stormlands fate - heavy opinion bonus with Orys even if you don't need it, he gets the sigil of the former house, maybe convert?, slight opinion malus with the other great houses because he's a foreigner but he seems to respect the old ways of the Land and its previous owners)
- Only Valyrians should have power under my rule (unhistorical choice, you give it to a Valyrian at your court, heavy opinion bonus with him but heavy opinion malus with the other great houses and deeply increased revolt risk)"
Obviously the Orys' choice would not be available more than once.
I defeated the Gardener but they are still alive: "The line of the Kings of the Reach now bend the knee after having resisted me. What should happen of them?
- I shall not forgive their resistance, they are stripped of this title (heavy opinion malus with them, slight one with the other great houses - you get the same choices than above, except that Orys will not take their sigil and so the opinion malus will be heavier with the great houses)
- I shall be merciful, they can become Lord Paramounts of their former Kingdom (moderate opinion bonus with them, slight one with other great houses of the region)
Arryn surrendered before the actual fighting: "Same text than the current one with this choice:
- Of course I accept his reddition. He will serve me well (slight opinion bonus)
- I do not care about his reddition, I'll take his title anyway (you become a tyrant, puts you to the choices above)"
There may be a special option for the Kings or the Iron Isles and the River, to simulate the fate of their double crown: can they keep it, do you grant the 2 of them to the same person, to you grant it to 2 different people? A lot of possibilities, and maybe more unhistorical possibilities like "The Riverland have long ceased to be a kingdom of their own, they shall stay under the rule of the Iron Isles / they shall become part of another region / they shall be incorporated to the Crownlands" which will destroy the title of Lord Paramount of the Riverlands before it is actually created, and give different opinion bonuses and maluses.
There could also be a special possibility to give the Rock to the Lannister of Lannisport if you destroy the mainline but this is not so important.
And finally, the Orys Baratheon's wedding even if this should be quite rare: "The Wars they fought against you left X family weak, with only a woman at their head / as a legitimate heir. Maybe this is the opportunity to peacefully install a Valyrian at their head?
- Orys should marry this woman and make their line my most trusted followers (he takes their sigil, opinion bonuses)
- She should be allowed to marry freely with a Lord of her region.
As a final point, there could also be some traits gained or losed with the different decisions: you have chances of losing wroth and gaining honorable/charitable/just if you accept the reddition, humble if you say you will respect their tradition and let one of their lords rule, and overall chances to get/lose kind, wroth, cruel, arbitrary, just, honorable, ruthless and a way lot of traits according to your choices.
I understand that this is extremely complicated but this is something that would make this scenario way more interesting. I would have liked to be able to create these events myself as a mod but I'm completely unable to do so. Right now, I feel like Daenerys has 100 events to do things as basic as opening a door or turning right or left in Qarth, but Aegon cannot even chose properly what his seven Kingdoms will become under his rule. I assume few people play this startdate but it would make it a lot more interesting.
Tl;DR: Give more flavour to the Aegon bookmark with the possibility to impact the Seven Kingdoms and have meaningful choices.
I thought about two things which are inspired by the real history but would allow different results than the canon one, and would feel like you make a real impact when invading Westeros and you just don't simply replicate history.
1. Should Harrenhal be Harrenhal ?
We all know the story: Harren the Black built the greater castle ever, Balerion burnt him alive and destroyed the castle, this became a cursed place. But why should this happen this way? And why should it be Harrenhal?
In my game, I used Balerion to siege Harrenhal and the outcome was the most common one: the garrison was destroyed, I took the castle but the people in it were captured and not burnt. Still I had a popup explaining that Harrenhal got the "Castle Ruins" modifier.
However, when I sieged Storm's End, I had the outcome where everyone in the castle dies instantly: the king, his queen, his daughter and her husband. Balerion clearly did more job in Storm's End and yet this did not become a ruin. This would clearly make more sense if this was the opposite. Wouldn't it be possible to implement a chance of a castle to become a ruin when, let's say, the dragon has above 100 martial? This way an uninjured Balerion would have a chance to burn a castle to the ground and give it the Harrenhal modifier, but this could be no castle at all, several castles, or just one castle but a different one from Harrenhal? In my game, Harrenhal could still stand proud and Storm's End would become a cursed place, and I find that the possibility to have an impact on this would be totally badass.
Same goes for the field of fire in Hammerhal, if I remember correctly. You would have a chance to burn the ground when you use Balerion into battle and create other places like that.
I understand there would be a lot of problems. The option to rebuild Harrenhal would not exist and there would be an option to rebuild a Castle with the modifier "Castle Ruins", and I don't know how this is coded. Also there should probably be new places for dragon intel according to where Hammerhal and Harrenhal happened in this timeline and this may be even harder to implement but overall I think this would immensely add to the RP and give a lot more flavour to this start.
2. More events to decide the future of the great houses of Westeros
I know this is a whole new part of the game, but I would immensely like it if there was something done to make it feel more roleplay to decide the future of the different houses of Westeros and your Lord Paramount.
Historically, the Durrandon line died out apart from Argella, who married Orys Baratheon. Orys took their sigil and motto and became Lord Paramount of the Stormlands.
The Gardener also died out and were replaced by the Tyrells, while the Riverlands was given to the Tullys. This is very hard to recreate the feeling of a special choice that will have consequences during the centuries to come when you randomly give the status of Lord Paramount to someone who likes you and has decent traits. I would like a chain of events to recreate the several possibilities that Aegon faced.
Let's go back to my game and see the different scenarios:
All the Durrandon died: "The line of the Kings of the Stormlands has died out in fire and blood. Who would you like to become Lord Paramount under your rule?
- I will keep the title until I conquer the Seven Kingdoms or I see someone worthy of it. (you keep the title for now and you have an important decision available to go back to this scren)
- The best way to rule is to seek for the support of the local people. It should go to a trustoworthy Great House of the region. (what happened historically with the Tullys -- moderate opinion bonus with this House, slight opinion bonus with the other great houses of the region)
- Only someone who owes everything to House Targaren can really be trusted (what happened historically with the Tyrells - heavy opinion bonus with this House, slight opinion malus with the other great houses of the region who feel cheated)
- Orys is my most trusted friend and advisor, he should be rewarded with this title (the historical Stormlands fate - heavy opinion bonus with Orys even if you don't need it, he gets the sigil of the former house, maybe convert?, slight opinion malus with the other great houses because he's a foreigner but he seems to respect the old ways of the Land and its previous owners)
- Only Valyrians should have power under my rule (unhistorical choice, you give it to a Valyrian at your court, heavy opinion bonus with him but heavy opinion malus with the other great houses and deeply increased revolt risk)"
Obviously the Orys' choice would not be available more than once.
I defeated the Gardener but they are still alive: "The line of the Kings of the Reach now bend the knee after having resisted me. What should happen of them?
- I shall not forgive their resistance, they are stripped of this title (heavy opinion malus with them, slight one with the other great houses - you get the same choices than above, except that Orys will not take their sigil and so the opinion malus will be heavier with the great houses)
- I shall be merciful, they can become Lord Paramounts of their former Kingdom (moderate opinion bonus with them, slight one with other great houses of the region)
Arryn surrendered before the actual fighting: "Same text than the current one with this choice:
- Of course I accept his reddition. He will serve me well (slight opinion bonus)
- I do not care about his reddition, I'll take his title anyway (you become a tyrant, puts you to the choices above)"
There may be a special option for the Kings or the Iron Isles and the River, to simulate the fate of their double crown: can they keep it, do you grant the 2 of them to the same person, to you grant it to 2 different people? A lot of possibilities, and maybe more unhistorical possibilities like "The Riverland have long ceased to be a kingdom of their own, they shall stay under the rule of the Iron Isles / they shall become part of another region / they shall be incorporated to the Crownlands" which will destroy the title of Lord Paramount of the Riverlands before it is actually created, and give different opinion bonuses and maluses.
There could also be a special possibility to give the Rock to the Lannister of Lannisport if you destroy the mainline but this is not so important.
And finally, the Orys Baratheon's wedding even if this should be quite rare: "The Wars they fought against you left X family weak, with only a woman at their head / as a legitimate heir. Maybe this is the opportunity to peacefully install a Valyrian at their head?
- Orys should marry this woman and make their line my most trusted followers (he takes their sigil, opinion bonuses)
- She should be allowed to marry freely with a Lord of her region.
As a final point, there could also be some traits gained or losed with the different decisions: you have chances of losing wroth and gaining honorable/charitable/just if you accept the reddition, humble if you say you will respect their tradition and let one of their lords rule, and overall chances to get/lose kind, wroth, cruel, arbitrary, just, honorable, ruthless and a way lot of traits according to your choices.
I understand that this is extremely complicated but this is something that would make this scenario way more interesting. I would have liked to be able to create these events myself as a mod but I'm completely unable to do so. Right now, I feel like Daenerys has 100 events to do things as basic as opening a door or turning right or left in Qarth, but Aegon cannot even chose properly what his seven Kingdoms will become under his rule. I assume few people play this startdate but it would make it a lot more interesting.
Tl;DR: Give more flavour to the Aegon bookmark with the possibility to impact the Seven Kingdoms and have meaningful choices.
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