I took a stab at running IaWA, thanks guys for putting up with my n00bness.

~ The ghost of a tyrant king, strangled by his own daughter ~
~ A much-decorated company of the enemy's light cavalry ~
~ A demon-god of blood and vengeance, forgotten since antiquity, recently awakened. ~
~ The human servant of a mighty and unspeakable demiurge ~ (I think)

Erishti-Aya, the new queen who strangled her tyrant father, particular strength: The Queen's Word. Played by Cy.

Kadashir-Enlil, the demon-god of blood and vengeance, particular strength: Whispered Words of Madness. Played by Josh.

Zahir, the captain of the Karkesh light cavalry, particular strength: Shining Sword of Zor. Played by Alan.

In this wicked age, a demon-god awakes to a priest trying to bind him, but the demon's god will is too strong and the priest, to avoid being hurt, swears loyalty to the demon. The blood-smoke from the ritual draws the attention of Zahir, leading a cavalry through a mountain pass into the kingdom of the strangler queen, and, investigating, he meets the demon-god, who has taken the form of a man and joins Zahir's company.

Erishti-Aya is troubled - her vizier, once vizier to the father she killed, covets her throne. She wants peace with the revolting kingdom to the east, except that would be playing into the vizier's hands, and her chief general scoffs at the idea. She sends a diplomat in the general's company to try to reopen negotiations with the kingdom her father so mistreated.

Zahir's company attacks the fort guarding the pass, and I ran it wrong - I considered it a Zahir vs. Erishti conflict, when technically I should have created an NPC to be the commander of the fort.

(Though it's against the rules, I still kind of like it better my way - I thought of the stuff on the character sheet as being the player's narrative-power resources more than the character's in-game resources, and that would lend itself more to GMless IaWA also. And isn't that the lumpley principle in action? We tell a story and then roll dice when there's a "disagreement.") Erishti got some lucky rolls and won even though she couldn't use her particular strength. They negotiated Zahir's surrender, but the diplomat was killed, collateral damage, thanks to a certain demon-god.

And that's all I have time to write tonight, maybe someone else will finish off.

I agree: your call sounds more interesting to play. The real test is whether holding the pass was something the Queen was motivated to do. Often a leader or queen would have a Strength that _was_ their minions and kingdom, fitting your idea exactly.

Was this the Sept 30 meetup?

Yeah, Sept 30.

More interesting to play, particularly for Cy, who becomes more involved in the conflict and is the one negotiating. But who then is risking the damage...

The other option is to say: hey Cy, this is your fortress, do you care enough to roll to stop them?

If it's not important enough to the other person in the conflict to stop them, there's no conflict.