If you folks want to pursue alliances and such, that takes an individual's action for the turn. Feel free to discuss things here; that's a great thing to do.
Also, I'm gonna go ahead and let you guys in on how the system I'm using works.
I have 2d6 here on my desk, or two six-sided die. I'll be rolling them for determining the results of player actions, factoring in any situational benefits and penalties you have (including personal traits). You will ALWAYS succeed on a result of two 6's, and you will ALWAYS fail on a result of two 1's.
After I've added up your penalties and benefits, I roll my 2d6. If your total result is a 1-6, you fail. If your result is a 7-9, you succeed with a cost. If it's a 10+, you succeed without cost.
I will also be rolling a 2d10 - which creates a scale of 1-100 - to determine things like random events and such. Once I have a random event in motion, it's up to player action to resolve it.
Let's use raiding as an example. Let's say that Mardox's character, Ardghal, is leading a cattle raid. The goal of a cattle raid is to go in stealthily, and since Ardghal knows we're best at nighttime raids, he decides to go herd up the enemy cattle at night. I factor in his Intelligent and Tactician traits, deciding that even though they're not stealth-related, they should give an additional +1, making his roll a total of +2. The enemy has no great weaknesses or strengths for a nighttime cattle raid, so I don't apply anything else to Ardghal's stealth attempt. Then, I roll.
I get a result of a 5+2=7. That's a success with a cost. Ardghal manages to round up a good number of cows and sheep before someone spots the raiders.
At this point I describe to Mardox what's happening in this scene. Ardghal knows that his raiders have a good lead on the enemy, but they're outnumbered, and the enemy is chasing them on horseback. He has a few different ways he can solve this problem, and I may make one or two ways obvious to him, but if Mardox devises some other way for his character to deal with the problem using his skillset, I'll let him make the attempt.
Ardghal decides to make use of his War-Mage magic to terrify the enemy into running away. It's night, and Ardghal is an imposing figure, and magic is a powerful thing. He's also a skilled, intelligent tactician, so I decide this, overall, merits a total bonus of +4. I roll the dice and get a 7+4=11, enough to count as a success without cost. Ardghal terrifies the enemy with a display of ghostly magicks and sends them scattering away. The cattle are retrieved bloodlessly.
Does this system make sense to you folks, or should I elaborate a bit more? I won't be telling you guys during RP what the dice results I rolled are, but I wanted you to understand the system I'm using.
