Re: Re: Argument overridden

From: Paul Andrew King <paul_at_...>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 07:56:14 +0000


> >If it was a wrestling contest would you have the same problem ?
>>Wouldn't the change of AP's reflect gaining (or losing) holds that
>>would restrict the other character's actions ? My point is that the
>>attacks ASSUME this sort of effect and getting repeatedly worn down
>>to being on the point of losing is going to have SOME effect - what
>>else does the loss and transfer of APs MEAN in this contest ?
>
>You normally don't need to "psych yourself up" or "fix the problem first" to
>perform an action,

If the problem gets in the way of that action, then you do.

> or to put it another way, you can do that *as part of*
>your action - "His insults have made me mad, I'm going to charge my horse
>into him"; "I slip from his double nelson and do a reverse scissors leg-lock
>on him"; "My fear of the Crimson Bat is strong, but my comrades need help, I
>charge in".

Assuming that this fits with what has gone before.

>
>As a Narrator I might inflict a penalty on the ability used, or might
>require a higher AP bid than "normal", basd on the preceeding actions, but
>I'd rarely say "you can't do that until you psych yourself up". And, of
>course, the action is not final until the dice are rolled and the AP moved
>around.

Do you apply this equally to physical limits ?

>
>Just because someone has lost AP to a certain type of attack *doesn't* mean
>that the attack form did it's "normal damage".You mentioned fighting a
>tentacled thing a number of posts ago - no, losing AP to it doesn't
>necessarily mean that you are bound up in it's tentacles- unless someone
>specified that's what happened.

Well that will depend on the actions and the rolls - but it is certainly something that CAN happen, and that is really all that is needed to make my point.

> Loss of AP in that contest could mean that
>you spent fruitless effort and fatigue and found no opening to thrust your
>sword into just as much as "it's got a hold of you". Even if the
>player/narrator running the Tentacle beast said "It's entangling you" and
>won a good bid (or did a Wound-for-AP transfer), I'd still let the other
>player say "I get out of the tentacles and run away (or dodge, or attack, or
>whatever), though perhaps with some sort of penalty/Bid restriction.

They're still going to have to do an action which somehow involves getting out of the tentacles.

>
>Your way seemingly pre-empts actions - "you have to psych yourself up
>first". I prefer to say "Yes, you can do that, but you have a penalty" and
>let the dice decide if he gets away/attacks/whatever.

Well that would depend on how severe the problem is. I've no issue with including fixing the problem as part of an action or using penalties in some cases.

-- 
--
"The T'ang emperors were strong believers in the pills of 
immortality.  More emperors died of poisoning from ingesting minerals 
in the T'ang than in any other dynasty" - Eva Wong _The Shambhala 
Guide to Taoism_

Paul K.

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