A Video Game of Thrones

Disclaimer: I am making no money from the writing of this fanfiction and I in no way, shape or form own the original masterpiece

Authors Note 1- You might notice that this story has a similar video game system to the Naruto Video Game Plot story written by gentlemankitsune. I have asked and received permission to use such elements. That said, his stories are amazing, and well worth your time to read.

Authors Note 2- Jon's ancestry will be changed, and the story in general will follow a somewhat different path – it will be alternate universe. Read the chapter to find out more!

Authors Note 3- This story will eventually have romantic elements and might end up as a harem fanfiction. Opinions would be appreciated.

Chapter 1

Jon Snow had never been one to believe in myths and legends, not until that day.

Jon Snow had always felt slightly alienated from the other Starks, but that changed that day as well.

The day had been slightly more painful than normal, but he had known that the direwolf pups were meant for his half siblings. He had been glad for them, had smiled to see Arya's excitement in particular. He could not deny any of them their happiness due to something as petty as envy, or was it jealousy?

No, he decided, it could not be jealousy. Jealousy implied that he had bad feelings towards them, but this was clearly not the case. Envy it was then, for yes, he did covert the family and security that they shared. The direwolf pups were yet one more way in which the siblings would be linked, and he would be excluded, Jon had thought. Better him than one of the legitimate children, one of the true Starks to be placed to the side. It was for the best.

That was before he had found the sixth direwolf pup, before he had met Ghost. The outcast albino pup was like him, the one who was always on the outside with no clear place to go. Jon had been given a noble's education despite his lower status.

Ghost had, in Jon's opinion, beautiful white fur, and clear intelligence showed in his eyes. But that same white fur had singled him out, just as Jon stood out. They were undoubtedly similar in circumstance, and maybe that was the cause of their bond. They were the same.

And they were content with each other's company, whether Ghost would be curled up by a fireplace as Jon studied, or running through the forest with him, on a hunt for prey. Then Ghost had found it, lying in the snow, and brought it to him.

The book was old and battered, and strangely undamaged. Despite having lain in the snow for some time, enough at least for snow to cover the tracks of the original traveller, the book pages were dry, if somewhat chilly. The leather binding also displayed no sign of wear, which was perhaps even more unusual since Ghost had carried it back in his mouth. There should have at least been tooth marks on the cover...

But with the hassle of their return, and the general fuss being made over the pups such things were easily overlooked. It was only when Jon had returned, and the evening meal had been served, that the book, now in his cloak pocket, came to mind once more.

His growing awareness of the fact that something was not right started with an unfamiliar sensation, a tingling in his spine, followed by a series of clicks, and the chiming of bells resounded in his ears. It was unsettling to say the least. Then the madness spread, the toll of the bells drowning out all other sound. The tingling feeling spread over his body, eventually reaching his eyes.

Jon could only gasp as the world around him came to life... the light that the book was now emitting made his surroundings even more vibrant, a whirlpool of colour. Brighter than any candle the books glow reached new heights as it slowly floated towards him.

Disorientation and confusion, alongside panic impaired his usually sharp judgement, and Jon reached out, the tip of his finger making contact with the cover of the book. The luminous artefact flared, and the light swirled around him, entering his body with a jolt of power. As his vision finally cleared Jon found himself standing in front of a screen... with writing on it?

Are You [Male] or [Female]?

The seemingly nonsensical question caught him off guard and words failed him for a moment before he spoke out loud, due to his shock more than anything else.

"Of course I am male, and what is this thing?"

[Male] Selected: Is This Correct?

[Yes] or [No]

A tentative hand reached out as Jon hit the [Yes] button in agreement.

The screen faded, and a sigh of relief left his mouth, only to turn into a groan as another screen, filled with even more writing appeared.

Please select your Distant Ancestry: Parentage is Pre-Selected

Jon's mouth went dry. No matter what kind of magic this was... if it told him the name of his mother then... he would finally know. He would finally be able to name the woman who birthed him... he would finally gain some closure on the matter.

Maybe he felt the loss of a mother too keenly, but in Winterfell it was evident that Catelyn Stark only tolerated him, and while he would never regret being brought up in the Stark household, he knew he would never fully belong. Perhaps his mother's family would be the same, perhaps not, but he would no longer be tormented by his father's silence.

[Mother]: Lyanna Stark

Jon tried frantically to calm himself down! Could his aunt be his mother... no, the Starks were no Targaryens! It was just not possible that his father had slept with his sister... but that in turn was disturbing, since if his mother was Lyanna Stark, then who was his father? A quick glance further down the page answered that question.

[Father]: Rhaegar Targaryen

Was this real? No, Jon's mind promptly answered it could not be real. His father was Prince Rhaegar Targaryen... his mind raced through the possibilities... Could he have been born when Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna, and following her death been entrusted to – here he paused. He couldn't call Eddard Stark father now, could he – for he was Jon's uncle...

Furthering the pain Jon was experiencing was the knowledge that he could not confront Ned Stark about it. How could he walk up to the man who raised him and ask if he was the child of the woman who he had thought of as an aunt, and a deceased prince? Especially with no evidence save for the fact that some screen had showed it to him.

But the thought of the screen set him thinking. The Targaryens had been magically gifted, that much he knew for sure. It... Would explain the presence of the screen, should he be one... He decided to read further, hoping for some sort of hint.

[Distant Ancestry]:

Choice of [Baratheon], [Tyrell], [Lannister], [Greyjoy], [Martell] and [Tully]

The list was astounding... the only main houses not included were the Starks and the Targaryens, and that was most likely because his parents... yes, his parents... were from those houses. But why did he get to choose? No-one could choose their ancestors... unless they were sent back in time, like in some of the more unrealistic tales a minstrel had told him when younger.

But since the screen was not moving, no matter how hard he tried to punch it or escape from it – his efforts were in vain. So, resigned to his fate he started to choose. Tully was automatically discarded, he did not want to be related to Catelyn Stark and cause chaos in the household. One of the things he admired about Catelyn Stark was her genuine love for her family, and he was not going to force her to pretend to care for him out of familial duty.

Baratheon was out as well. Dealing with royalty was the last thing that he currently needed, with his newfound Targaryen status. This left him with Tyrell, Lannister, Greyjoy and Martell. After some deliberation he decided that he should at least know something about the house he chose, which excluded Martell, and since the Lannisters were suspect in the death of Jon Arryn he excluded them also. Even if Ned Stark was not his father he still held great respect towards the man, despite his anger at being kept in the dark about his parentage.

So he had narrowed it down to House Tyrell and House Greyjoy. Tyrell was involved in intrigue, but Greyjoy was present at Winterfell, in the form of Theon. He was not intending to talk about the strange nature of the book to anyone, he wanted to keep a low profile and to that end Jon decided he would choose Tyrell. At least there were none of them in the near vicinity.

Distant Ancestry: [House Tyrell] Selected: Is This Correct?

[Yes] or [No]

Pressing [Yes] once more took him to another screen, but one with different content.

Traits: You have [1] Stark Trait, [1] Targaryen Trait and [1] Tyrell Trait

Heritage Traits [3/3] [Fixed]

Stark: Skinchanger: You have the ability to assume the consciousness of an animal, +10 perception due to slightly enhanced senses, but -10 to Willpower because of your animal instinct influencing you slightly.

Targaryen: Dragonborn: You gain resistance to fire, and the ability to control dragons with +30 Spirit at a cost -10, Strength, -10, Endurance and -10, Intelligence, because the incestual relationships that have kept the abilities strong are not particularly healthy.

Tyrell: Growing Strong: You begin with -15 to all skills (unless they would become negative), but gain an extra 5 skill point's every time you level up and an extra merit point every 3 levels. Your rate of learning grants you +10 to Intelligence, but -20 to Wisdom, as your confidence can impair your judgement.

Jon groaned, not that anyone could hear him but he felt the need to vocalise his frustration. He didn't understand what the screen was going on about; just that he was now a skinchanger and that there was some sort of points system going on? It was a bit like a score, or something, so the higher he had in, say, Intelligence - the cleverer he was...

Next up was what he had been waiting for; an explanation as to what the scores for Intelligence and Perception and Willpower actually meant. As he watched some of the numbers changed, probably taking the bonuses and penalties of his traits into account.

Tutorial: These are your primary attributes. They are scored out of 100 and each represents your raw talent in an area. They may only be increased through Achievements or by using Attribute points. 10 Attribute points are gained every time you level up.

That was confusing as Jon had no idea whatsoever as to the nature of a level.

Tutorial: Levelling Up: as you complete quests experience points shall be granted. Once you have accumulated enough you can level up, gaining skill and attribute points, as well as a merit point every other level.

Experience: 5150/1000:

Level Up? [Yes] [No]

The yes button was pressed and Jon's level rose from 1 to 5. Now that Jon had points to spend, he was able to examine the attributes closer. This did not make any sense, at least to him, but he had to do something... and following the instructions, at least for now seemed like they way to get out of the... rather complex situation.

Strength – How strong you are
Endurance – How much stamina you have, and how much pain you can tolerate
Dexterity – How agile and fast you are
Intellect – How clever you are
Perception – How aware you are of your surroundings
Willpower – How determined you are
Charisma – Your ability to charm people
Wisdom – Your ability to read a situation, social or combative
Fate – Your luck and role in the scheme of things
Spirit – Your raw magical power

All of his scores were low compared to their maximum of 100. His highest score was spirit, which was pretty useless since he had only ever seen a painting of a dragon, and he doubted that one would suddenly appear in Winterfell ready for him to command. Not to mention that that would be practically inviting the Baratheons to kill him for being a Targaryen.

Points to Spend [50]

Jon, who remembered the penalties to his original scores given by the Traits, had realised that his scores had gone down overall by exactly 50 points, and therefore thought it best to return them to their original levels. So Wisdom gained 20 points, and Strength, Endurance and Willpower each gained 10.

Attributes: Physical

Strength [19]
Endurance [15]
Dexterity [19]

Attributes: Mental

Intellect [12]
Perception [27]
Willpower [25]

Attributes: Social

Charisma [14]
Wisdom [22]

Attributes: Supernatural

Fate [21]
Spirit [37]

His low intelligence was annoying, but the priority was for no-one to find out about this. And suddenly becoming weak would rouse a lot of suspicion. That finished, yet another menu popped up. This one contained a long, long list of what were labelled skills, and highly specific ones at that.

And almost every single one of them, thank you Tyrell trait, was at zero. Only a handful of skills had anything left. All of these had the same maximums, as his attributes, which did not really do anything to help Jon feel any better. The ones that he had still got some remaining progress in were...

Northlands Lore: 8/100
Westerlands Lore: 2/100

Archery: 21/100
Swordfighting: 44/100
Fist Fighting: 18/100

Hunting: 22/100
Tracking: 16/100
Survival: 14/100

Armour Wearing: 12/100

That was it? Jon had spent years dedicating himself to training his fighting prowess, and he was only that good? He was 17, and was capable enough... so why was he... like this...

Tutorial: Spend skill points to raise your skills immediately or, unlike statistics, they may be increased through training in the said skill. Having a teacher who has a high skill level will give bonuses for the amount of skill points gained/spent.

Points to Spend [100]

A full 15 points went into Swordfighting so that it would be restored to its former level, since he practiced it every day he had to reach his original level again. But unlike with his Attributes, Jon did not have enough points to restore his losses.

So he settled for placing 10 points on all of the other skills he had a score in, and then glanced up and down the list to see if there were any other useful ones. He could not imagine ever having a use for alchemy or gardening... Since he had Ghost now, he spent the remaining 5 points on Dog Training.

Next up were the Merit points that had been mentioned earlier.

Merit Points: [3]

Current Merits:

Skinchanger
Dragon Master
Fire Resistance

Apparently Merits were a permanent bonus, and he had been granted his current ones by his traits. While that sounded good in theory, most of them had conditions that had to be met before they became available. Some of the conditions were ridiculous, and some near impossible. But that did not matter, since he only had four of them unlocked.

Dragon Speak: Allows the player to talk to dragons in their own language
Condition to unlock: Be a Dragon Master

Prophetic Dreams: Random dreams will give a glimpse of the future
Condition to Unlock: Targaryen Blood, 35 - Spirit

Eye of the Sky: Unlocks Aerial View in Battle Mode
Condition to Unlock: 25 - Perception

Ice Resistance: Gives resistance to the cold
Condition to Unlock: Reside in the North for over 10 years

Of them all only the first one appeared to not be useful, making his choice easy. There were no dragons left to speak to. The others could be useful, though he was wary of having prophetic dreams, knowing the future could be dangerous. Because there were other, more useful Merits yet to be unlocked, he selected [Eye of the Sky] and [Ice Resistance], saving one point for later.

Jon soon discovered that the now disappeared screen would appear again whenever he opened the book. There was also now a title on the cover as well, simply stating...

A Game of Thrones

Jon Snow [Level 5]

Somehow Jon had a feeling that everything was just beginning...

End of Chapter 1

So, this was just something I came up with after starting to watch season 1, I hope you enjoyed it. I am still not sure if this is a one-off thing or if it shall be added to my list of active fanfiction.

To continue I will need a beta – and I cannot currently find one... Also pairing wise, which girl/s would you like Jon to have a relationship with in the story?

Reviews are adored and will encourage continuation of said story, just please be polite.

Thanks for reading!