[Gamer Gig]

The Pitch
I'm hoping to recruit a few replacement players (2-3 likely, but possibly more if I get enough apps that wow me).

The original players of the game built House Cassius, and for various real life reasons, several players have had to drop the game - unfortunately, several of their characters happened to be those in a position to lead House Cassius (Lord Ortan, Lady Kara, and Ser Arlan - the heir).

I'm continuing to run them as NPCs (for now), but as I don't want to lead everyone by the nose, the game is looming on feeling a bit directionless. I am planning on bringing one of the background threats to the House more to the fore very soon (in a bid to solidify at least one of the threats), and the young house will need all the valiant (and perhaps underhanded) defenders of her honor it can find.

Although the game deals with the fate of House Cassius, the setting is primarily (now going to be) in and around the siege camp of Storm's End, so suitable characters should be such that they have a reason to be there, and preferably with some reason to be in the "inner circle" or confidence of either Lord Ortan or Ser Arlan (his heir). Decisions affecting the entire house are made OoC by everyone, but ensuring characters have a link to the "inner circle" gives them an IC reason to push certain options should they wish.

You are certainly free to read up more detail on the current characters, happenings, and movers-and-shakers in the forums, but a brief summary of the House Cassius household:
- Lord Ortan Cassius (former PC, now NPC) - once a knight and master-at-arms for House Calgar, betrayed Lord Calgar when the lord tried to rebel with Robert instead of remaining loyal to the crown
- Lady Kara (former PC, now NPC) - born of House Calgar, and now wed to Lord Ortan to provide some "legitimacy and continuity" in the lordship of Cider Bridge
- Ser Arlan Cassius (former PC, now NPC) - Ortan's younger brother and heir until the lord and lady produce offspring; currently commanding the House Cassius forces at Storm's End
- {Ser Randyll Cassius} (former PC, now deceased) - Ortan's cousin, a boisterous grand melee champion, recently murdered in his tent
- Naseerah Qorgyle (PC) - Guest of Ortan, sheltered by House Cassius as a favor to an old employer of Ortan from his days serving in Dorne
- Ser Leo Tyrell (PC) - Sworn sword of House Cassius and nephew to Lord Mace Tyrell, the unofficial "procurer" for House Cassius.
- Ser James Blackburn (PC (?)) - The massive captain of the guard (haven't heard from the player in a while, so he may get NPCed)
- Roddick Cassius (former PC, now NPC) - Another of Ortan's cousins, recently returned from the Free Cities)
- Matthos (PC) - Ser Arlan's squire, good at not being noticed
- Ser Audrey Qorgyle (NPC) - Naseerah's cousin and sworn sword of Ortan
- Maester Steffon (NPC) - a maester that entered Ortan's service at the beginning of the siege

Applying
Since so much of the groundwork of the house has been laid, new applicants would need see how best they can fit into that structure. That said, there is still a fair bit of flexibility - the wide open nature of the Cassius family before Ortan was raised to nobility allows for more Cassius cousins, uncles, aunts - even closer kin like his father or younger siblings (note that only young siblings would actually get into the inheritance chain, but other family would at least get positions of influence in the house). In addition, most of the titled household retainer positions haven't really been fleshed out (captain of the guard and maester have been "taken", but since the maester hasn't really done anything yet, if an applicant want to be the maester, it's easy to retrofit).

I'm not looking for character mechanics just yet - those can be worked out after players have been accepted to the game. When the time comes, I'm trying to stick to the rules as published in the A Song of Ice and Fire RPG: Game of Thrones edition by Green Ronin.

For those interested, I'm mainly looking for a short background for your character, including stuff such as (but not limited to) goals, motivations, virtues, vices, how they came into House Cassius' service, etc. You can post your interest/applications in this ad thread. If you want to tie your background into one of the existing PCs, I suggest you PM them first. Tying into an existing NPC is much easier (I'll let you know of any conflicts). There is no real requirement to tie into any existing character, other than "we both serve House Cassius", but it certainly can't hurt.

Also, there is decidedly no "niche protection" in this game - you very well all could be knights, or brooding mercenaries, archers extraordinaire, or whatever. If the backstory interests me enough and I think it'll improve the game, then you're in.

I do hope for nearly 1 post a day, but I'm realist enough to know that real life gets in the way, so the occasional skipped day doesn't phase me too much.

I'll leave the thread open for about two weeks, but I may start accepting players before that if the apps wow me as much as they often do.