Okay, how about a poker game, where one of the players is playing to lose, but making sure that the wimpy looking guy wins, so that he can mug him afterwards. Okay, in this instance, the winner will have a chance to make a sly exit, so the mugging would become a separate scene, so that avoids the problem. I'm sure there are other examples where one might happily lose a contest that you don't care about the outcome of.
What about delberately losing a contest, in order to lull the opposition into a false sense of security? That's what is happening in the example above. One could say that this would have to be achieved by winning a contest using a "deceive" ability against the opponent's best "spot deception" ability, but this way the opposition (who may be a PC) gets to know that they are being deceived.
Someone asked earlier about the "I know his gun isn't loaded" situation, and I don't think this was resolved adequately. Let's say the other guy is trying to win an "Intimmidation" contest, augmented with his "I've got a gun" ability. He really thinks he has got a loaded gun, but I know he hasn't. The intimmidation ends with both of us thinking we have won, but I know I'm right. I can then choose to poke his eye out, which he won't expect, or to let him carry on thinking he won. If he doesn't try to use the gun during the subsequent fight, say I snatch it from his hand, he may never realise that he lost. I can't think of a way to cover this kind of situation.
Sub-question: How could I use the fact that I have a gun as an augmentation to intimmidation? I think either using a "gunfighting" ability or a "bluff", "deceive", or "acting" type ability would do.
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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