> If the action cannot win the contest, then keep the AP bid low so it
> cannot win the contest.
Every action should have the possibility of winning the contest (within AP limits). That is my "implicit expectation". Every action I take has the possibility (however unlikely) of becoming a Crit-Fumble 3x Transfer in my favor. The AP bidding limits are based on how reckless or cautious I act in my description. The narrator and I then agree on the bid number based on my *description*, not on whether the action should win the contest or not, which is why I am opposed to "Fix it, then you can advance" type solutions. "You can't win the contest that way, I won't let you bid enough to do so" is bad GMing. "Explain to me how this advances your cause/justifies your AP bid" is better.
> Remember that a 3x transfer requires a
> *fumble* by the other party
Gosh, how could I have forgotten that? Wow, thanks for pointing it out.
> Simply forbidding actions that are about improving the position ready
> for a strike would seem to rule out a lot of low AP bids. I'm not
> happy about something that seems to say "no, you can't bid that low"
I'm not forbidding anything. If the *player* decides to "Circle around to get the sun at my back - 3AP" that's *his* decision, not mine. If the player wants to spend a round just getting up, that's his decision. If he wants to augment himself instead of attack, that's his decision. It's not the narrator's job to *force* him to improve his position.
If the player wants to jump across the hedge and hack through the beast's neck, then I want to see something more than 6 AP (Unless he's only got 8 points to start with...), and if he insists that he's only bidding 6 AP, then I may just restrict him to jumping without the hack - based on his description *and* how reckless (or not) he's willing to be (so he doesn't get to augment his Leap with his Sword). But if he gets the 3x transfer, then he gets 18 points and more power to him. If the beast can be defeated by losing 18 points, then his leap somehow defeated it. Do I care that leaping "shouldn't win" the contest? Not at all - perhaps the beast felt secure while it was a hedge away from the hero and now it decides to flee. Or he landed on its gouty foot. Or he actually *did* manage to hack at it while sailing through the air.
And if you don't think a mere "positioning" action can win fights, I refer you to the Italian Condotierre and sieges throughout the ages.
RR
It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has
done what he has done.
- Richelieu
Powered by hypermail