[DouglasCole]

Folks mostly have the right of this, with differences being well within “your table your rules” territory.

You can still maintain a Grip on somebody with no control points, that would be something like having a loose grip on stretchy clothing. Or just barely holding hands, without working any joints or applying any restriction. You can still do grappling techniques from this position, as well as something like if someone else grabs you, you don’t have any control on them, but nearly every self-defense techniques that I’ve ever learned starts from this position.

As far as attacking in the absence of control resistance, I would treat the minimum grab as zero. It is theoretically possible to attempt a move and wind up with a worse grip than what you started, but in a game situation that’s just mean. A successful attack should at worst have no result, and it would be better if something good happened as a result of that success. That’s the difference between a game, and a reality simulator.

In the presence of control resistance, I would allow the grapple to get worse with a negative control point roll. Somebody else pay points for that privilege, and that is the result of those points being spent.