A
EXAMPLE OF WHY THREAT STINKS....
Conan ventures into Thulsa Doom's mountain alone. He fights the guards at the mouth of the cave, and buys some Threat. But, his heroics pay off, and he enters the cavern complex.
Inside, Conan runs into a squad of more guards. Again, Conan pushes his luck, buys some more threat, and takes 'em all out.
Now, Conan players sees the Threat Pool. It's too high for the player's taste. All of a sudden, bold, risky Conan is now backing off from those heroics, becoming more conservative.
So Conan becomes....cautious.
So, the GM sees the total, spends the Threat Points on bringing out Thorgrim and Rexor, Doom's right hand men, who proceed to capture Conan.
If Conan hadn't been so heroic earlier, the GM would not have the points to activate these two, strong NPCs together. But, because Conan was risky and heroic, he pays for that heroism now by having to face two of the strongest NPCs in this scenario, shay of Thulsa Doom himself.
Time passes, and Valeria and Subotai are worried. They go after Conan, even though they said that they'd stay behind.
So, as Valeria and Subotai approach the mouth of the cave in search of their missing comrade--when they should be concerned about the situation at their utmost--the players are actually pretty calm and lackadaisical about their entrance into Thulsa Doom's fortress--the place that swallowed up their friend.