"Other than that sage advice, I generally allow players to resolve as much action as they prefer in one round. Up to and including actions that would end the contest if successful, if they can bid enough to bring that about. Your example gives that as the case. If, in fact, they cannot bid that high - if subtracting the AP bid from the opponent will not end the contest - then I generally don't allow that to be the goal of the declared action."
That's a very cool point. To be honest in my games we've never tied the numbers to the narrative in quite that way before, and I can see it's something we've been missing out on. I guess in our case we've often let the abilities used define the contest, rather than defining the goal of the contest first and then deciding on the right abilities to achieve it. We've always tended along the direction "I use my 'Climb' on that Tree, therefore my goal is to climb up the tree", rather than "hey, I'm going to shin up that oak tree and try and get a better view of the burning town with the Crimson Bat sat on it... now what ability should I go for?" I guess as usual it's a mindset infected by a hangover from RQ-style task resolution. Darn, it's hard sometimes to winkle out these habits... ;-)
Thanks everyone for the hints & tips - as ever humongous amounts of Good Stuff for my "Remember This Stuff" folder!
Sarah
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