A sentence on HQ p51 got me thinking. It's this:
"Modifiers should only be used to alter a character's target number to reflect unusual circumstances he helped to create, or has some control over."
First, this made me think that characters might be able to use unrelated actions or asymmetrical exchanges to *create* situational modifiers. So, for example, a character with "Ice Magic" might create a "Slippery" situational modifier in a contest which would then affect the target numbers of multiple targets (hopefully the bad guys!). You could do the same with a barrel of oil or turning off the antigrav in a space station. It would probably last only for an exchange or so, and give a bonus of +3 or +6 depending on narrative or success level (you could use the augment table, though that might be a bit powerful). The point is, it would affect the *situation* rather than an individual target, so could be used in any dice roll that exchange where it could be narrated. As a concept, what do you guys think of using unrelated actions to create situational modifiers?
Second, it occurred to me you could maybe structure this as an assist, subtracting RP from your teammates by altering the tactical balance of the contest. However, the assist rules as written suggest they work only against single recipients; to narrate the "Slippery" trick above, you'd have to have an assist affecting multiple teammates. So, I was wondering about using the multiple opponent penalty to allow multiple target assists. IE, for every person affected by the assist after the first, you incur a -3 penalty to your TN. This feels quite nice: you can still use the assist rules, and you can effectively narrate the "Slippery trick".
Lastly, it occurred to me you could just narrate the Slippery trick as a multi-opponent attack. In other words, you use your Ice Magic against *every opponent* in the contest, whether yours or that of another teammate. In this case you'd obviously suffer massive penalties (not too bad), but you'd also open yourself up to possibly huge RP losses, which feels kind of extreme. But you could do it in the RAW.
What do you guys think? I can see a case for all three of the above, and am thinking of enabling situational modifier creation and group assists in my game to allow for a tactical breakout of the 'silo-based' nature of group extended contests to narrate those "I help everyone" moments. I'm not specifically looking to create a house rule or variant, but it occurs to me at least some of the above is implied by the rules.
Cheers!
Sarah
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