So it's been a long time since I've run Ars and my game is going to heading toward a Grand Tribunal in 1228. I do have the Sub Rosa issue on tribunal running and it's got some great ideas. But the Grand Tribunal is so big I'd like to do something else with it. Who here has run a Grand Tribunal and what did you focus on? I'm thinking of laying out a timeline of events that will be occurring. Any idea's and suggestions would be appreciated. We're currently in 1225 so we have the regional tribunal coming up.
I should mention that this is a group (except for one player) that is new to the game. So I want to make it memorable and most of all fun. And for tribunal's in general one thing the Sub Rosa article suggests is minor magic items for trade/sell, etc.. is there a good list of items that can be used? I don't really have the time to sit down and create a whole bunch of them. I'd like to have minor helpful items for sale.
This is a great opportunity to consider the themes and tone of your saga, because there are many ways a Grand Tribunal can go.
An epic GT is appropriate for some sagas, but in others, an epic fail might work better.
Are magi contentious? About big grand issues or about lots of petty stuff? Do magi get nothing done and archmagi get nothing done on a grand scale? Is justice done or shredded, only this time on a grand scale?
Is the saga tone earnest? Black comedy? Wry? Something else?
Is the GT a contrast to the local situation, or the same stuff piled higher and deeper?
Do the events foreshadow, underscore, belie, adumbrate or merely interrupt?
I suppose you asked about logistics. But a saga is likely to have no more than one GT, and there's nothing quite like it to show how the Order actually works and what it actually is for a given saga.
Thanks this has already sparked an idea. Rhine magi trying to ally with some tribunals against other tribunals. I can see a great amount of work on the players part when several senior covenants want the new spring covenant to join them in voting against say the Stonehenge tribunal and then other covenants in the Rhine want to maybe ally with the Stonehenge tribunal. Who does the fledgling covenant side with? who are they will to lose favor with when the GT ends. After all once the GT tribunal is over the other magi get to go home, but the player covenant has to live with it.
You mentioned magic items for sale or trade. I don't have a Tribunal price list, let alone a Grand Tribunal one, but I do have a list of magic items for sale I developed for the annual Tailten Hermetic Faire in Hibernia. It may give you something to build on. Most of the items are culled from published sources.
I have been thinking about this myself as we will also head towards grand tribunal in 1228 shortly.
I see two issues that will come up. The covenant of Heorot has been established in Denmark. This is technically Novgorod Tribunal but they have attenden Rhine Tribunal meetings and act with support from the Ash and Oak guilds as thought they are a part of the Rhine Tribunal. The border needs to be agreed upon at hte Grand Tribunal. Novgorod does not accept that the Rhine is taking territory from them.
Second several magi from Normandy and Rhine Tribunals seek to form a new Tribunal, The Lotharingian Tribunal. This will also be brought up.
