Re: Clarifying Combat/Extended Contests

From: philip.hibbs_at_...
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 14:39:56 +0100

>"I discuss with the carls (*using "discuss"*), while
>dodging the spit attacks of the eurmali (*cannot reasonably
>roll against my discuss ability, so what must I do?*)"

There's absolutely no reason why you can't use one ability to act and an entirely different ability to defend against another participant's actions. You can debate with "discuss" and defend against the spit with "agile" or "stoic" or whatever.

Here's an outline procedure:

  1. Actor decides what he is doing
  2. Actor decides what ability is most appropriate for this action
  3. Referee applies appropriateness modifiers
  4. Defender decides what ability to resist with, optionally describes reaction
  5. Referee applies appropriateness modifiers
  6. Both roll
  7. Switch roles and repeat

In the first action of the first round, steps 2 and 4 determine the starting APs, modified by steps 3 and 5.

Note: The defender should always have knowledge of what the attacker is doing in stage 4, but the narator may, I suppose, say "Something's moving in the bushes - what ability are you going to react with" if the character has failed to spot them.

Philip Hibbs http://www.snark.freeserve.co.uk/ Opinions expressed may not even be my own, let alone those of any organisations, nations, species, or schools of thought to which I may be affiliated.

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