I'm halfway through the first book, and though I have found a few minor glitches (which might just be me misunderstanding it), nothing had struck me as being strange until I found the Simple Contest full explanation (pg 127/128)
I don't know if this has been pointed out before, but it's the first time that I've seen a game system ask to roll for a Wall !!! Not only does this seem very odd, but it also doubles the number of rolls required to get a result, and (although I have not yet played the game) I think I will have trouble explaining to a player that the wall actually won ! I know, it should be translated as the fact that the _character_ lost, but is still a bit bizarre. But there is more...
Supposing that climbing is going to be a tense part of the scenario (not the aforementioned wall, but maybe the Condor Crags or Griffin mountain, if you see hwat I mean :-), this could well be an extended contest instead of s simple one. Now (added to the fact that I will need two rolls for every "phase" of climbing), wouldn't it be strange to have the cliff face "attack" the player once every two turns ?
Actually, I think that the extended contest works well there as, on his turn, the character can chose (using the size of his bid) whether to be careful or reckless, and I can adjust the difficulty of the climb by assigning bonus, handicaps or edges to reflect ease, difficulty or equipment / special danger (like crumbling rock or ice). Having the PC's AP diminish would mean fatigue, increase would mean a morale boost, having the Cliff's AP decrease would mean progress and increase would mean sliding back or having to go back down to choose another way upward. Everything is fine so far.
But I don't see why the cliff face should "retaliate", especially on a turn to turn basis. Unless the rock is somehow animated (which it could be, by the spirit of the mountain or whatever), this still seems strange to me. Moreover, I don't have the faintest idea what bids the cliff would make ? The standard 3 AP ? Why ?
Hoping that someone can
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