"Losing!? No, my imagination will have me win!"...over the other player...

[talisman]

Hi,
What I would do (and I don't know how well this would work or not for you) is award bonuses for good roleplaying.  For example, instead of simply saying, I choke him, the player could say, "I scream obscenities as I throw my body weight on him and strangle him with all my might."  Well since the character is screaming, give him a +2 circumstance bonus on his roll.  Throwing his weight and the "all my might" bit are assumed and don't help his roll.

What about the other player?  "I reach for my weapon and strike him" isn't bad, but "I furtively grasp anything I can, grab it, and swing it into his face" is better.  You might even give him a +1 bonus for being so in character.

While this method isn't "fair," it does serve to bridge the rules vs. imagination gap, and if they trust your judgement as GM then it should be okay to do.  IDK, just an idea...

[Callan S.]

One thing about +2 is that it doesn't matter 90% of the time. I don't mean that as an exageration or figure of speach - it literally doesn't matter 90% of the time.
(On a side note, I ran a D&D game once where instead you got extra +1 or +2 damage, and if you missed you still kept that damage until you finally hit and applied it - that worked better, but still not exactly instant - the feedback loop (or as Ron seems to call it, reward loop) isn't immediately apparent)

Heh, but anyway, in terms of what resources I would assign based simply on my reaction to the prior written fiction, the 'assign a bonus ranging from +0 up to +2' I would have done. It didn't seem to be what the player was shooting for though. Perhaps if I had brought it up it would have worked out.