Arm Wrestling

[Mean DM]

Just bought TFT. Its just what I need. Only problem is that I cannot figure out the Arm Wrestling rules (Opposed DS). The example on page 6 has me stumped. I understand the progression through round 2, but am lost form there. How does Lydia's DS of -3 turn into a DS of 6 for the ogre with a win of 6? What am I missing? Also, how does the DS of 5 (ogre) in the firth round go to a 13 with a win of 9. Help

Mean DM

[Morrus]

Yup, here goes:

The important thing to remember is that with each opposed check, the difference is applied to the leading character's DS. So if the leading character wins the difference is added to his DS, whereas if the trailing character wins, the difference is deducted form the leading character's DS. This means that you can geta "to-and-fro" situation where both hover around the 0 mark if they are approximately equally strong, and eventually Constitution will decide who wins unless one or other gets lucky early.

Round 1) Lydia wins by 5, so her DS increases by 5 (to 5).

Round 2) Ogre wins by 8, so Lydia's DS reduced by 8 (to -3)

Round 3) Ogre wins by 6, so its DS inceased by 6 (to 6)

Round 4) Lydia wins by 1, so ogre's DS reduced by 1 (to 5)

Round 5) Ogre wins by 9, so its DS increased by 9 (t0 14, not 13 as I miscalulated when writing the example).

Since the ogre's DS is currently 14, and the Target Number for arm wrestling is 20, he needs to beat her by 6 in the next round to win the match.

[Mean DM]

I think I got it now. Each player starts the game with a default DS of zero.

But what if she lost by 5 in the first round? Would it be DS -5 Lydia or DS +5 ogre?

Mean DM

[Morrus]

Well then, this stage:

Round 1) Lydia wins by 5, so her DS increases by 5 (to 5).

Would change to:

Round 1) Ogre wins by 5, so its DS increases by 5 (to 5).

The rules are the same for the ogre as for Lydia!