Charles Corrigan:
>According to the rules, for one any one task (or problem) and ability
>combination you may only roll once - blow it and you must either use
>a different ability or wait until your ability increases. See "No
>Repeated Attempts", p126
I've looked it up now, and thought some more about it. This rule obviously does not apply in all cases. If you swing at someone with your sword and miss, does that mean you can't try again?
Also, the rule in question is located under the heading of "Ability Test", _not_ the more general section of "Tests", which could be taken to mean that it doesn't apply to contests. Or it could just be an example of poorly organized text.
It seems pretty clear to me that "No Repeated Attempts" does _not_ apply to exchanges within an extended contest. It could conceivably apply to the results of the whole contest, though. But that seems a bit strange, too - just because somebody beat you once, you can't pick a fight with him again?
I'm unsure about simple contests, too. In most cases, failure is it's own penalty. To put a twist on the example on p.128, if you're trying to climb over the city wall before the watch catches you, failure could lead to a chase through the streets instead and then if you succeed at that and wait a while for things to cool down, you could try the climb again.
The stated purpose of the rule is to maintain suspense, and most contests have enough of that since they're performed under a time limit or have serious consequences for defeat (like physical damage). Simple ability tests, on the other hand, are defined as being used precisely in those situations where there's no real pressure, nothing of great importance hanging on the result. For that kind of roll a rule of "no retries" makes sense, because otherwise it'd be the same as an automatic success.
Oh, and BTW, the "or wait until your ability increases" is your own addition, Charles. It's not in the book. :-)
Bright indications singe
cool undisciplined hours
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