Sam:
> ...available to PC's. Few NPC's have HP, according
> to the way things run.
Any of mine that do tend to also have a keyword of my own invention called "Recurring Villain". It isn't fully defined as yet, but it definitely includes "escape by the skin of my teeth", "have the last word", "pause long enough to hear hero's speech" (tends to counteract "coward"), "terminally loyal sacrificial sidekick" and a few other bits and pieces that have the same sort of effect. But all of these are cancelled out by the "third time is the deciding one" factor.
> Jane is right about the choice of which contest to
> use.
I'm not saying you *should* use Simple rather than Extended, only that it's a perfectly valid choice. I'd always go for the method that uses the minimum possible rules to model what's really going on.
> Meanwhile, Nic suggested a strategy by which a
> narrator can get a complete defeat.
If I want to inflict a likely Complete Defeat on a PC, I just attack them with some appropriate high-value abilities and augments. NPCs have brains too. If they want to take out the PCs, they'll study them, and ambush their weak points.
> No, I can't agree with you. 1 in 400 for a straight
> face off using
> swords for someone to *approach* death? I'm not a
> big simulationist, but that is pushing it.
In historical battles, people died. Lots of them. A lot more than 1 in 400 of participants.
But that 1 in 400 is only for an even fight. Who's silly enough to get into an even fight? If you want to win, you make sure it isn't even!
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