Ok, I'm not a Game of Thrones fan. Tried the show a couple times, but just could not get into it. However, I feel that you don't have to be a fan to enjoy this game. I found the game to be interesting and fun, but I will have to say that it seems to be a bit more complex than I care for in my games. The cards are beautiful and easy to understand. Fantasy Flight always does a fine job with a game's presentation. I did read the rules and had quite a number of questions once I had read them. Thankfully, I have a friend that had played the first edition of this game and with his help, we were able to get in a few games of it with his help. Btw, I had never played the first edition. After our third game (we only played 2 player) I felt I was finally getting the hang of the game. We did have to keep referring to the rules and those are fairly clear and doesn't take long to look things up.