Greetings Zero,
I was thinking about your assassination plot.
The whole idea is to get your player to role play
so I would approach the assassination attempt like
this. Instead of telling the player that there is
espionage or assassination action against him and
would he like to bid against it, I would do something
like have his Captain of the Guard come forward and
say,
"Your highness, I have noticed some areas that
need improvement concerning castle security. With your
highness's permission, I would like to change a few things
to better ensure your safety and that of your people.
Some of the things I was considering might cost some
coin and I might need some measure of your authority
also." (In other words Gold Bars and Regency)
This is the hook for your player. If he says yes to the
captain then he has given himself an avenue to bid against
El-Hadid. If he doesn't then the assassin is probably going
to have a much easier time of getting to his victim.
Now instead of just bidding on the action, I emphasize
role playing again. The Captain tells your regent that he
would like to hire additional guards (Gold Bars there) for
the castle and pass the word around the community the regent
would like everyone to be on the lookout for suspicious
activity. (Your ruler is effecting the people so Regency
Points are spent against El-Hadid here.)
Now on El-Hadid's part, the assassin sends word back
to El-Hadid and tells him that there are now more guards
around the castle and the people living around the castle
have suddenly become suspicious of any new people in town.
"Master, I will need coin to pay a couple of the guards
to look the other way (Gold Bars spent here) and the guild
will have to work a little harder smuggling me into and out
of town. (Influencing a Holding, Regency Points spent here)
This is the equivalent of round one of your bidding. Round
two of the bidding might involve, the Captain of the Guard
requesting to have some of the regent's most loyal men
transferred from another province to the castle (Travelling
Costs, Gold Bars) and having the regent's local guild see if
there is any word of plots against the throne. (Effecting a
holding, Regency spent here) Now things should go back and forth
like this with each regent making moves and countermoves against
the other until one regent decides he is satisfied with the way
things are and does want to spend any more regency on this
particular matter. Now like the rule book says if your regent
indulged the captain and succesfully thwarted El-Hadid by a margin
of 10 or more regency points, the the captain will have learned of
the plot; stopped the assassination; and learned that El-Hadid was
behind it. If El-Hadid was the winner, well then your regent is
going to have a nasty surprise waiting for him somewhere down the
road. This is just an idea of how I might handle the situation.
I hope it helps. -Michael Keeton