Re: When does the contest begin?

From: Benedict Adamson <badamson_at_...>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 13:39:19 +0100

Roderick and Ellen Robertson wrote:
..
> You can have however many augments as you can cram in before one side says:
> "And now I present my case to the the jury and lawspeakers" or "I order the
> Phalanxes forward" and roll a non-augment action. [Benedict's] idea is that the
> whole Augmentation process can be handled as an Extended Contest, so all
> those augments are not "free", but are Unrelated Actions in an on-going
> contest. So the contest might be:
>
> Players: "We find out what Orlanth did in this situation" (Roll 'Heortling
> Myths' for an augment to 'Heortling Customs')
> Narrator: "Oddi Silvertongue gets his whole clan behind him" (Roll
> 'Relationship: Clan' for augment to 'Orate').
> P: "We appeal to our chief (Roll 'Relationship: Chief' for augment)
> N: "Oddi's cousin the lawspeaker uses the the 'Locate Evidence' feat"
> P: "Bother, if he's got a lawspeaker we better do something - I know, we
> recruit Heorry the Humakti and his Truth magics (roll "Relationship:
> Heorry")
> N: "Oddi's cousin steps before the moot and presents his case"
> P: "Aggh, we're not ready!"
> N: "Too bad, he's going to trounce you if you piddle around with more
> augments..."

...
> If it's not a player-vrs player battle, the narrator can impose a "augment
> limit" simply by cutting to the chase and declaring "Oddi steps forward and
> submits his plea to the Lawspeakers" - If you haven't managed to get all the
> augments you were hoping for, that's too bad. Of course, the players can
> also pre-emptively start the action, hoping to cut their opponent's augments
> short.

...

One concern is that there can still be a Narrator chosen transition from the 'augmenting' period to the 'contest proper' ("Oddi's cousin steps before the moot and presents his case" in your example), which can appear arbitrary, as Michael says.

I was thinking about this last night. One way around this problem, and keeping with the 'cinematic' style, would be to allow augmentation using flashbacks. It could work like this: N: "Oddi's cousin steps before the moot and begins to presents his case"
(start of contest, attack using Heortling Customs) P: "Fortunately, we found out what Orlanth did in this situation" (A flashback, roll 'Heortling Myths' for an augment to 'Heortling Customs')
N: "Oddi Silvertongue begins waxing lyrical on the merits of his case"
(Attack using Orate).
P: "Our lawspeaker correctly sets out the relevant laws for this case, showing Oddi's claim to be unjust." (Attack using Cite Precedence)

Either side may make Flashback Augments, at the Narrator's discretion; generally this should only be when that side has had plenty of time for preparation. Any number of Flashback Augments are permitted, but once a side has performed any other type of action, they may perform no more Flashback Augments. That is, Flashback Augments must be at the start of the contest, but you may choose to (continue to) make Flashback Augments while your opponent attacks you.

Probably not suitable for a novice Narrator, and I can think of situations where it would work badly, but something to add to the Narrator's tool kit.