Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
But if you're actually trying to defeat a foe by force, cultural conventions of this sort play a much smaller role. If you were trying to incapacitate someone who'd threatened the life of your children, let's say, and you were able to get him in a choke hold, I doubt you'd be thinking about whether that was a legal move! (This shouldn't be exaggerated; there are wars where certain weapons are avoided because neither side wants to be the target for the other side using them—poison gas, for example. There's a conventional aspect in that. But the conventional aspect is much less.)
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There's a huge variety of physical conflict, from thumb wrestling to global thermonuclear war. There are also a variety of lethal combat situations where cultural conventions absolutely apply, such as lethal or injurious judicial duels, examples of which can be found in the Talhoffer Fechtbuch.
Likewise, there's a huge range of argument scenarios, from formal debate at schools, internet discussions like this one, political arguments where bring your own set of facts to the table, or distorting others' arguments is perfectly valid, or at least common.
Having some sort of victory point mechanic for intellectual pursuits enables those less skilled in actual rhetoric or debate (or arguments over the finer points of fictional skills like hyperdimensional space travel or the philosophy of necromantic magic) to participate fully and show incremental progress in the same way that a hit point or incremental damage mechanic allows it for physical combat. Or heck, one could adapt such to a footrace, and I've already adapted it to a contest of strength: the
tug of war.
Personally, I'll go on record as noting that yes, it could be done, it will have some benefits relative to other methods, but those benefits will be more than offset by adjustments to Quick and Regular Contest Mechanics. But I think that there's utility there in a point-accounting method that can't be dismissed out of hand generally, though obviously specific preferences rule the day in specific games for specific tastes.