On Intrigue

To get into the tournament Lord Turin will need to bribe the herald to put his name on the list. This will be an Intrigue encounter. Before I do this I will create two new character's for Turin's companions that are following him in this rash decision. They are,...
Arn Pyke, a baseborn born son of some lord of Pyke, Arn has found service at Stonetide. His quick wit and sharp eye made him a close companion to the Lord. He has become the youngest captain in the history of House Stif. He earned his ship through daring and no man aboard would say a word of ill towards the young man. They say that he must be a hero reborn to have such skill at such an age.


Magnus the Bold, or Bold Magnus, has been a companion of Turin's since he was a child. The Lord's elder by a few short years, his advice is always readily desired in the hall of Stonetide. Even in his aging years he has command of the raiders of Stif, his hair has long since receded from his brow and the men call him Magnus the Bald - though never in his hearing. Though his health has begun to suffer he is still a fierce fighter and a worthy foe on the field of battle.


Turin lands his ships just up the coast from Durand's port, and the three of them make it to the tournament without incident. They arrive at the tournament, Arn slips off to enter the archery contest while Turin fins the herald, with Magnus as his squire.

Turin finds the herald and thus begins the Intrigue encounter.
Intrigue encounters run a lot like a combat encounter with various steps and actions to be taken.


Step 1: Type.
Since this is a small encounter with an immediate effect, this is a Simple Intrigue.

Step 2: Scene.
Location: Tourney grounds.
Participants: Herald, Turin, and Magnus

Step 3: Objective.
Service, Turin wants the herald to add him to the list.

Step 4: Dispositions.
Choosing the starting dispositions of all characters in the encounter. Since they are all strangers in this encounter everyone's starting disposition will be indifferent. This gives everyone a Disposition Rating (DR) of 4 and a deceit and persuasion modifier of +0.
Turins intrigue Defense is 10 and composure is 6 Composure is like health for intrigue encounters, when its at 0 you lose.
Heralds defense 6 and composure 6
Magnus will just be assisting Turin, and providing a +1 to his checks

Step 5: Initiative.
Intrigue initiative is a Status roll. Turin 18, Herald 8

Step 6: Technique.
Turin will be trying to intimidate the herald
The herald will be trying to convince him to calm down.

Step 7: Roleplaying.
This is where the narrator can give bonuses or negatives for the characters roleplaying. This can be bonus die or penalty die or a flat numerical bonus or penalty. Since this is a test game I will not try to roleplay myself against myself.


Step 8: Actions and Tests.
We will come back to this in a second.


Step 9: Repeat.
Repeat form step 2. I will be keeping this simple for the first intrigue and none of the characters will be changing their starting choices.

Round 1:
Turin uses Shield of Reputation to increase the Heralds disposition using his status(6). 6d6 = 20 against the defense of 6. The herald is now amiable with a DR of 3 and a deceit modifier of 0 and a persuasion modifier of +1.

The herald tries to Influence Turin. 2d6 = 8 against a defense of 10. He fails.

Round 2:
Turin intimidates the Herald. Persuasion(3)(Intimidate 1B) = 14(2 degrees of success). Success works the same as in combat multiplying the damage dealt which is based on Turin's Will score(2). 2*2 = 4 - 3 for the DR of the herald. a total of 1 damage is dealt to the heralds composure bringing it to 5.

Herald, Influence. 7 vs 10 fail.

Round3:
Turin intimidate 19 v 6 (3degrees).
2*3-3 = 3
Herald composure = 2

Herald Considers this change of events. He will get a +2B next turn.

Round 4:
Turin intimidates the herald. 17 v 6 (3 degrees)
2*3 -3 = 3.
 The Herald is defeated!


Turin got lucky this time, if the herald had had a few higher abilities this would have gone poorly. Hopefully he won't have to run into many more intrigue encounters. Yet, for now Turin gains entrance into the tourney and has bribed the herald to let him tilt against the final entry for the daughters hand.