Consider the following scenario from the Game of Thrones RPG: you get tasked with infiltrating a secure location, and beforehand you assemble a proper uniform — gauntlets, boots, cape, and helmet — to gain access. This sequence conjures up the same sort of tension as watching Tywin Lannister and Littlefinger’s conversation at Harrenhal in the current season of the show, or reading the duel between The Red Viper and The Mountain That Rides from A Storm of Swords. There’s a lot at stake, and one mistake could turn the whole affair catastrophic; but this time, you’re in control of this tense situation. You walk up to a guard at a checkpoint, and he asks if he knows you because you seem familiar to him; to this, you reply that you have a very common face that elicits such a question often. Except, as noted earlier, not only are you in disguise, but as part of that disguise, you had put on a full helmet that completely envelops and obscures your face.
That kind of moment embodies playing Game of Thrones, where the occasional moments of intrigue and interest get stymied by bizarre little gaffes, mistakes, and janks. Why is there a conversation about the look of my face when I have a helmet on? It’s not an instance of randomized NPC chatter that delightfully skips over the detail of whether the player is wearing a helmet or not — it’s a specific and scripted moment in a mandatory story quest that somehow got past the game’s writers and testing.
