I think the first game post will go up either tomorrow or Saturday. I'll elaborate on other points soon.
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Done.
Please bear in mind that I have never run a PbP game so if this all sucks, don't blame me
too much.
As for skills, if there's any reason you should know more about a subject, I'll let you know about any circumstance bonuses that you get. As for social skills, I expect your attempts to be written out as opposed to just saying "I roll diplomacy" or "I bluff him." Diplomacy attempts will be approached from the same perspective as is detailed in Rich Burlew's system linked to earlier, but overall the rules will remain the same. Look at it like offering to bargain. You've got a proposal and you're trying to get the other party to accept that proposal. If your words are harsh or don't offer a reasonable proposal, you're going to take a penalty (or rather, success will be more difficult). If the other party has something to gain from your proposal or you're particularly persuasive, you're more likely to succeed. The actual rules don't change besides a couple circumstantial bonuses here or there, but you're less likely to completely fail on a really well-written plea just because you got a crappy roll, and you can't just win an unfriendly king over just by saying "Well, your palace doesn't smell
too much like manure" and getting the right roll. Don't get me wrong, your skill rolls still affect your chance of success (a good roll on the manure-palace line means the king thinks you're making a joke at the expense of his rival's palace, for instance). I think this is fair and doesn't generally over-complicate things.
Remember, Karma is definitely in place. This is merely an extension of that existing system.