In story terms, many of the better adaptations don't directly follow the famous stories of their original media. The authenticity of the story and world, as well as the game's ability to function as a playable product can all come into conflict, creating the paradox of the perfect adaptation. This became a far bigger authenticity issue over the course of the game, and the heroes ridiculously found themselves battling the Balrog next to Gandalf, or finishing the game with a direct fight against Sauron, a villain who derived power from his lack of physical form and confrontation. This indicated how willing The Third Age was to take liberties with the source material.
In The Third Age, the game that Game of Thrones most reminds me of, the elf character Idrial casts all manner of different spells, corresponding with how most RPGs work, despite the relative lack of regular magic in the Lord of the Rings novels and films. At this level, it's relatively minor nitpicking, but it can escalate throughout games. While a two-handed weapon wielding Hedge Knight and sword and shield combo-focused Landed Knight makes a certain kind of sense, these restrictions are opposed to the show's depiction of Ned Stark and Gregor Clegane. Yet some of the choices conflict with established imagery from the novels and HBO series.
Fans of the show will immediately recognize the Water Dancer, posed like Arya's memorable teacher Syrio Forel or the Sellsword, reminiscent of Tyrion's deadly right-hand man Bronn. The Magnar's dual weapons look great as a visualization for readers of the books. There are six classes in the game, and some of them will trigger immediate reactions for fans. Cyanide's Game of Thrones demonstrates this almost immediately in its character customization screen. %Gallery-154087%One of the main problems with adapting something into a game from another medium is that it's essentially impossible to keep the adaptation completely true to the spirit of the source material. It keeps pace with some older, competent adaptations like last generation's Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, but it falls well short of the very best adaptations, namely, Betrayal At Krondor. The Game of Thrones RPG from developer Cyanide struggles to deal with both, succeeding in some respects, while failing at others, as pointed out in the Joystiq review. There are two major, though interconnected, issues for video game adaptations: authenticity and pacing. But adaptations can be difficult to execute successfully. Improvements in technology and more licensing meant that adaptations of different media, specifically film, have become more prominent over the course of game history. It may not be a stretch to say that many early RPGs were attempts at playable novels. And all you need to do is look at the elves, hobbits, orcs, and trolls of early and more modern RPGs to see the Lord of the Rings influence. What is Dungeons & Dragons if not an attempt to simulate Lord of the Rings? Many other role-playing systems, both tabletop and electronic, are built off of the D&D model, as well.
The role-playing game structure is, in many ways, built as an adaptation.