Intrigue

This Skill allows one to know what is going on at court. Everyone has access to gossip, but hard work and clever conversations help to pry out the real facts. The Intrigue Skill is needed to know who to ask, when to ask them, what to say to them to learn of a secret, and how to sift truth from lies. Intrigue is not used to poison people in secret, to foment rebellion, or to assassinate rivals. Such dark practices must be roleplayed, not left to random die rolls. Personal contacts cultured through long, often secret relationships Thus,even a young Sir Mordred, with his remarkable Intrigue Skill, already has contacts among most of the noble families of Britain. Many modifiers may be applied to an Intrigue roll. For instance, trying to find out secrets in a castle whose entire staff has been briefed on a plan, and who agree with its intent, likely imposes a negative modifier. A resident who is sympathetic because both he and the characters are from the same homeland, on the other hand, might give a positive modifier. A normal castle or court situation, with nothing unusual going on, gives no modifiers. Success with Intrigue indicates that you learn something truea special and important fact known only to you and the direct juncture orseen by accident or discovered in a lost note). Failure indicates nothing new was learned, while a fumble means that a close contact lies, or is thought to have lied, to you. The Gamemaster can exploit this uncertainty at his leisure. A successful Intrigue roll accrues Glory if facts critical to the characters’ success in a scenario are gained.