In all of the "Oscar vs. the great troll" examples, I suspect different writers are often picturing different scenarios. Where, when, and how the two come in contact will limit the number of reasonable goals for a contest, but even so there will be options.
>From what I've read of the rules so far, here is how I
believe things could work in a typical
encounter-�could someone confirm if these rule
interpretations are appropriate? I would greatly
appreciate it.
For example, Oscar is skulking through a troll warren, and encounters a great troll who is specifically posted there as a guard. Assuming Oscar is aware of the troll before he steps on it (not having darksense and all), he could start a contest with the goal to convince the great troll that he belongs there and that it should let him pass, using his repartee skill with an improvisational modifier. The troll might respond with his own chosen social skill, with his obstinate personality trait, with his sense of duty augmented with "fear of mother" (who told him to stand watch there), or he may decide that all this nattering is pointless and just attempt to shut him up with his maul. Very possibly the troll could start with one, then switch. For example, the troll starts with sense of duty, but realizes after a couple of exchanges that this little man is confusing him until he doesn't know what to think (i.e. he is low on AP), and decide to switch to using his 5W2 maul skill. The GM may allow the troll to defend with its maul skill with an improv modifier (don't let puny human talk!), and certainly he will attack with it. Oscar will have to choose an appropriate physical skill to defend with, but may choose to keep attacking verbally.
In the game world this might look something like:
Oscar: "Good to see you here, the last guard I checked on had wandered off chasing a rat." (low bid to check how sharp the guard is, wins easily)
Troll: "hunh, who are you?" (medium bid, fails abysmally, transfers APs to Oscar)
Oscar: "Oh, I'm checking on all the guards. Its important not to let intruders in you know. Good job, I'll be on my way now." (medium bid thinking that will be enough to win, gets marginal victory, but the troll is more obstinate than he thought and still has some AP left)
Troll: "Wait, me supposed to take anyone comes here to see mother." (troll augments with fear of mother, manages to score a tie)
Oscar: "My good fellow, that is silly, I'm here to check that you are here, if you take me to see mother then neither of us will be here, and anyone could walk through." (medium bid, wins, takes troll down to almost nothing)
Troll: "Shut up!" *swings maul at Oscar who leaps backwards and falls on his tailbone* (troll switches to maul skill to attack, succeeds, lowers Oscars AP dramatically)
Oscar: "Wait, listen to me!" (low bid to find out how well the troll can defend. GM rules that the troll is good at not listening to anything but the roar of blood in his ears when he is fighting, so can use his maul skill with a hefty improv modifier, ends in a tie)
Troll: "Rooooaaaarrrrr" *swings maul again, but more to knock Oscar around than to kill him since he isn't sure that Oscar isn't who he said he is* (makes a gamble of all his remaing AP and wins, but this wasn't much due to Oscar's previous verbal wins)
Oscar: "I'm a friend of Mother!" (gambles all of his remaining AP, realizing that against the maul he will shortly lose. If he wins and takes the troll to 0, it believes that he could be what he says, and Oscar can take a parting shot to cement that belief (meaning the troll won't follow up) with a higher level of win. If the troll stays just dazed he will let Oscar pass, but then have doubts and do something about it later. If Oscar fails, the troll doesn't believe him. If Oscar ends up transferring his remaining AP to the troll, it knows this can't be the case and is sure he is lying. The troll could then take a parting shot to leave Oscar quite badly physically hurt, then would presumably do whatever he is supposed to do with intruders (eat them, take them to Mother, whatever the GM decides)
Now, on the other hand, if the troll had sensed Oscar first (by far the more likely situation), it would have had the opportunity to choose the contest. It would likely have chosen either to capture the intruder (and could have chosen to open with either verbal or combat skills, depending on its preference, but its a great troll so most likely combat), or kill the intruder (using combat, although in certain situations magic might be appropriate). In the first case (capture the intruder) Oscar can win by either evading capture (dodge or similar), making the troll incapable of capturing him (combat or magic), or convincing the troll that it doesn't want to capture him (verbal and/or magic). In the last case, it could play out that troll is trying to either gag or knock out Oscar before he convinces it to let him go. Possibly a simple contest could convince the troll in this case not to use his maul ("If you hit me with that you'll kill me, and you want to take me alive!") or not to wound him ("A big troll like you can't keep me captive unless I'm also crippled? I guess you aren't as tough as you look."). In the case of the troll trying to kill him, Oscar's choices are somewhat similar, but his chance of using sneeky augments is lower, and the trolls penalty for defending against words with his maul skill would minor.
Well, as I said, that's how I understand it all to work. If I'm wrong in part or in whole, could someone PLEASE take the time to explain exactly where and why? I know it would help me, and I suspect it would help others.
--Bryan
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