Last night was a session of RQG and diplomacy. Queen Samastina’s chief scribe negotiated a treaty with Prince Argrath, where:
- Esrolia recognises Argrath as hegemon of Kethaela, the master of war and chief judge of the lands.
- Argrath agreed to recognise his son with Queen Samastina as a member of his kinship group.
- Argrath agreed to defeat the Rhigos rebellion.
- Argrath gets 1/2 of Ernalda’s share of the harvest in South Esrolia.
- Argrath protects Esrolia from Harrek the Berserk.
- Argrath gets half the increase in toll and customs revenue in Esrolia.
The players were Vasana, Yanioth, etc. as the emissaries of Argrath. We also had three players handle Queen Samastina, Grandmother Jokerta, and Hunarados the Scribe.
What skills were useful or important? Orate, Bureaucracy, Intrigue, Charm, and Customs all turned out to be really useful. As did Truespeak. That got used a lot. And Honor. And a LOT of passions.
Note that they are warriors and adventurers, who have now been appointed emissaries. And are fishes out of the water. Sure, they could kill the chief scribe easily – but he ran circles around them. As a result, we watched as the “heroic diplomacy” that impresses Argrath & the Wolf Pirates ran aground in the intrigue and bureaucracy based diplomacy of Esrolia.How else do you think Agrath got stuck with clauses 2, 3, and 5? The players enjoyed it tremendously, and it makes a nice change of pace.
So part of the irony is, the chief scribe was a Priest of LM, but not much more than that. Not a lot of Rune Points (less than Yanioth at this point) – but he was REALLY good in skills that the players sucked at and are important for negotiations. So the adventurers- including two Rune masters – were thoroughly outclassed by a bunch of scribes. And enjoyed it greatly.
The adventurers have proven themselves in Argrath’s service, several have proven their extreme loyalty, and they have proven their skills and prowess. Of course they are the sort of people Argrath would send as his emissaries.