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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8423544" data-attributes="member: 16814">Let me try again, because I don't think you're seeing the point.  Let's say I have 0 stress and attempt to sabotage the airlock.  That's going to be assessed as a STR/Heavy Machinery check (most likely).  The GM frames in the airlock and you make the check.Now say you have 8 stress.  Same airlock, same attempt, same circumstances.  The framing is the same as the 0 stress attempt, but now there's a chance of a result that causes a character to flee from the situation.  Why?  Because the only thing different here is that the character is carrying the stress with them, but that's not being reflected in the framing of the challenge -- it's not fictionally more difficult for them to complete the job, if anything it's easier, but there's not a chance that this airlock sabotage will terrify the character into fleeing.This discontinuity between the character's likelihood of a stress reaction and the framing of the challenge is, well, off.  If we imagine trying to shoot a xenomorph, well that framing is carrying the weight of the entire potential panic results -- xenomorphs are terrifying, and low stress is just being cool in horrible conditions.  The airlock, though, is being fragile and volatile in the face of a mundane challenge.  There's no threat at the airlock, no chance that this harms you, so the only explanation for the reactions isn't being overcome by the terror of the moment, but rather a mental breakdown.  I dunno, I have no problem with playing characters that have mental breakdowns in the face of the terrifying and overwhelming, but I'm a bit off in having an experienced mechanic suddenly having a mental breakdown during a routine operation.  There's ways to justify this, sure, but it's all post-hoc and not at all tied into the fiction as it's being presented.  This is the discontinuity.</blockquote>

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