Troubadour
We're trying to drum up interest in my Machiavel: Ambition RPG. The easiest way to get the gist of things is to go to that subforum, read at least the first post in the "Introduction/Character Generation" thread, and go from there. Basically, each person plays a baron or other important person in a multifaceted empire (based loosely on the Holy Roman Empire). It's a mostly "realistic" setting, very little "fantasy"—so far, at least; the main goal is to advance your position in society through politics, personal connections, and/or whatever other means suggest themselves. Existing players have baronies; new players may have them, or may start in other positions, with the option of obtaining baronies if they stay on. The "contest" is mostly for bragging rights, since we aren't exactly in a position to hand out cash… and to jump-start the role-playing aspect, get people to actually start talking to one another. Check out the intro material, and let me know if you're interested.