Contests (Opposed Rolls)

[platimus]

Originally Posted by Skarg

Again, I think it's really valuable to appreciate the difference in the chances of "upset" results between counting auto-success/failure, or not, and learning to think about the situation represented and what is appropriate.

example: Gambling. Most games of chance retain more or less of a chance element no matter how different the skill levels are. In this case, I would at least allow auto-success failure at the usual thresholds, or likely even increase the odds of pure luck deciding the outcome of a simple game.

example: Arm wrestling. This is a pretty direct contest where there is very little that can happen to allow a much weaker person to defeat a much stronger one. Unless it is a very drunk and chaotic contest, ST 9 should not beat ST 18 even 8-9% of the time (as would be the case if you allow auto-success/failure to count). In this case I would not allow auto-success or failure to count, reducing the odds 9 beats 18 to under 1% (probably meaning the 18 was caught by surprise or slipped or something that should not happen often at all).

I mostly agree with this and is actually what I had in mind. For something like a poker contest, I'd use the 3/IQ vs 3/IQ method (modified by skills). For something like the arm-wrestling, I'd use my 2d6+ST vs 2d6+ST method. As an autonomous, self-aware being, I'm fully capable of deciding on the fly which method to use, what constitutes a critical success/failure for either, and what effects might come of a critical success/failure...or if any of that is even important.

And sometimes a tie is great and need not be resolved immediately. Suppose you had a two guys wrestling over control of a turnstile that controls whether or not a drawbridge get raised. Each time they tie, the bridge stays where it is and might give the invading side time to cross it.