I'm playing through all the HOMM games - after two months I've completed the major campaigns in I and II, most of the expansion campaigns in II, and am about halfway done with the individual scenarios in both.

Playing the original scenario "Betrayal" in HOMMII, I noticed several of the enemy heroes and towns were named after Game of Thrones! Queen Cersi, Baelish, Arya, and several locations. Cool!

Just thought I'd share =)

Unless these are new custom maps you downloaded, they were not inspired by the game of thrones. GoT is new HoMM2 is a lot older then the books.

The first book in the series was published in August of 1996, while HoMM2 was released in October of the same year, so unless the map was made last-minute the names probably weren't inspired by the book. However, the HoMM2 expansion was released a year later in 1997, so if the map was released with the expansion then it's quite possible that whoever made it did draw from A Game of Thrones for the names of some characters and locations.

The Gold version of Heroes of Might and Magic II was also bundled with twenty or so user made missions and I believe Betrayal was one of them. Still, nice find! I doubt I'd have noticed that myself.

I loved that map! It was a joy to explore, and the disappearing sulphur made it a real challenge.

Sadly I was never able to complete it, since it would always crash at some time when it was one of the computer players' turns; the yellow one I think it was.
I've tried the map on different computers and the more powerful computer I got the faster (as in number of turns) it would crash. :-(

Is "Dead Dragons" bundled with the GOG version?

yes, it is included as an "original map" in the GOG Gold version - i think i counted close to 75 maps not including the campaign; this game is huge!

i almost WISH Dead Dragons would crash on me because it is painfully difficult! i've tried three or four different strategies and if i don't get pounded out in the field looking for the castle i need to take to win, one of the superhero enemies dimension doors to my place and wipes the floor with ANY size army i leave. aahh!! i thought after i beat alteris 2 i was in the clear =)

There's another map in HOMM II with GoT influence: Plains of Aekon. I just noticed it today and was trying to figure out how the f this was possible. For some reason I thought HOMM II was an early 90s release but after realizing it was indeed late 1996 I guess one of the developers was taking a liking to George R.R. Martin's creative mind.

When I noticed the terms "Dothraki" being used I did a double-take, then realized the barbarian town was indeed called Vaes Dothraki and the strongest barbarian hero was named Khal Drogo (though the Khaleesi was also a barbarian hero but killed herself off fighting a wandering mob???).

Anyways just thought I'd share this find as well.

I've found the credits of the Gold version:

Aleksei Andrievski: Clouds of Xeen, Great War II, Wizard's Land 1, Wizard's Land 2, Wizard's Land 3
Charles Watkins: Ghost Planet, Colossal Cavern
Grayson Towler: Betrayal, Gates of Hell, Plains of Aekon, Slayer Legacy, The Road Home
Greg Schneider: Grim Reaper, Dead Dragons
Jonathan Watters: Alteris 1, Alteris 2
Julia Skipper: Roc 'Round the Clock:
Lance Wood: Leopoldville
Peter Mayewski: Merry Men
Phil McCrum: Dungeon Below, Go Ask Alice, Mire Straights, Riddle Me This, Sudden Siege
Rich West: Black Forest
Timothy Duncan: Last Hope, Ludicrosity, Quadruplets, Threedom, Thunk
WongSui Jau: Family Reunion

Plains of Aekon was too made by Grayson Towler, the guy behind the Betrayal map. I am guessing there are more Game Of Thrones nods in Gates Of Hell, Slayer Legacy and The Road Home.

If I recall correctly, Gates Of Hell is a multiplayer map rather than a scenario, it can be played in single player by creating a hot seat multiplayer game, then, right at the start you save the game, go in the main menu and load the game in single player mode rather than multiplayer mode. The other players will be controlled by the AI. I believe the difficulty level can be tweaked, like in the first game, by giving yourself an handicap while you select the rules of the multiplayer game.

It's also worth noting that Timothy Duncan's Last Hope and THUNK were the first and second missions of a seven missions long campaign. The remaining missions are available online.

NM

Looks like three map mapers missed the chance of eternal fame: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic/cd49LRgCwzM

Very interesting info, thanks. Yeah, it's a bummer these people didn't respond. What I absolutely loved about Gold Edition is those fan-made maps of extreme quality. Still treat Charlie Watkins' Ghost Planet as the total favorite.