I like the new approach. Councils were a bit clumsy in 1e. Never used the rules as written. Now it is more about actual roleplaying. You even get a bonus success, if your tactic fits. Theoretically you could skip the die rolls and just give every player one success if they played it out really good.
For the outcome I don’t need a list. It all depends on what was actually talked about during the council.
Except that it wasn't explicitly for councils, where it's a gathering of (near) equals...
it was for non-combat encounters of all kinds. (1RE, p 185)
Tolerance was the number of skill failures before the encounter ends. Not
just social actions.
I found it just as useful for "entering town" as for "the court of ___"
It accounts for alienness and even racism.
2E changes,
No preliminary dice
Only one introduction
only one level of positive outcome
No more general use, only for attempts to influence
Number of attempts limit instead of number of failures limit
No modifications for status, valor, wisdom, or cultures.
Introduction determines attempts limit, rather than participation (which is sonorous with the change to only one introduction)
Things I much prefer about 1E:
Valor, Wisdom, Status determine tolerance, not rolls.
General use.
I plan to hang onto 1E's enounters, as it better fits the paranoia and xeophobia of the late Third Age, as well as the use of Valor or Wisdom to represent reputation.
I also much prefer the graded outcomes of 1e.
I may be unusual, in that I've always found the 1E Encounters flavorful, easily used, and intelligible, and literally do not understand how people can find it vague. And suitable for multi-goal encounters even.
I find "councils" to be redundant with the "Prolonged Actions" rules; IMO, the two should be combined, as councils literally is just a special case of the prolonged actions.
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