Cyvasse is the chess-like board game described in George Ah Rah’s similarly chess-like A Song of Ice and Fire novels, and I’m given to understand that somebody’s ‘translated’ it – that is, drawn up a full set of rules and designed pieces gleaned from the spaces between Martin’s words. Moreover, I’m told that advances in the study of magic now enable us to print out those same pieces and play the thing ourselves.
Completely absurd. Am I supposed to believe any of this?
The unofficial adaptation of Cyvasse is the work of Arian Croft, lead designer of tabletop game specialists Ill Gotten Games.
“Working with my good friend (and studious Martin scholar) Nate Stevens, I adapted the game to include everything mentioned in the book into a rules set I found believable for a game made during the emulated time period,” wrote Croft, “while also keeping the games in mind that Martin has mentioned as inspiration during interviews.”
I wonder if old George talks a lot about XCOM in his transcripts? Or perhaps he cites Jagged Alliance? Download the game here to find out. Simply print it off, follow the instructions and serve, as everything is in Westeros, with copious quantities of red wine.
There’s lots of room for fine-tuning yet. Croft has asked for suggestions on rules adjustments and variants, which you can provide here. But what do you think? Has he grasped the essence of the game readers first saw played in their heads?