Taking a break from my normal project, I've been playing with a concept for a conflict resolution based on a mixture between Poker and Blackjack.

You can find a pdf of the rules here:
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~benjzim1/FolieSpectaculaire.pdf

The setting is Fae, the now-deserted land of the faerie, which is rediscoverred by the patients of a mental institution in France.  Insanity is power in Fae, and so the patients discoverred that they had certain unique abilities at thier disposal.

But more on that later, as I've not really written much of any of that, yet.

The conflict resolution system is detailed on pages 9 through 11, and that's what I want to focus on right now.  it'll also probably help to read over the character creation section, at least the part on the stats.

I'm wonderring if you think the current system provides a sense of rising drama, as well as looking for any general oversights I've made.

I don't want to do any more work until I'm sure this is solid.

Any other comments you think it'd do me good to hear, I'd be happy to read, but the conflict resolution system and whether or not it's balanced and dramatic is my main concern.

Thank you for your time,
Benj.

For convenience, here's the rules from the PDF

Hubris is a resource traded to activate conflict, and can be spent in other ways.
Tantrum is a guage from 1 to 10, and has no purpose, except as explained below.
Destiny, Heart, Mask, and Legacy are each a set of three attributres that are different for each character.

A single, unopposed player has the ability to do as he wishes in Fae, as long as he has the Hubris to fuel his actions, it’s only when a character comes up against adversarial forces that dice must be rolled.
Conflicts in Folie Spectaculaire are resolved with twelve-sided dice, or d12’s.  Whenever the rules refer to a die or to dice, they mean d12’s.

The Wager
Once one character spends the point of Hubris to initiate a conflict, he makes a wager of how much of his pride he’s willing to put on the line in the form of a Hubris wager.  The more Hubris is wagered, the bigger and more important the competition is, and the more traits can be used in it.
The other character(s) can then meet that wager, putting the same amount of Hubris on the line or raising it.  If, at any point, a player is unwilling to meet the wager, he loses all wagered Hubris and is pronounced the loser.  The exception is if the character has no more Hubris to wager.  In this case, he may stay in, but cannot raise.

The Threshold
Once the wager is decided, each character adds as many applicable attributes as the Hubris wager from his Mask, Heart, and Destiny.
The higher a threshold is, generally, the better, as you’ll be trying to outdo your opponent while staying under the number.

Flaws
In addition to these traits allowed by the Hubris wager, a character may add any of his applicable flaws by subtracting another flaw and acting it out in a way detrimental to the character’s goal.

The Conflict
Now that all characters involved have their Thresholds established, the person who initiated the conflict can decide whether to go first or last, and the actual conflict begins.
Play moves counterclockwise around the table.  Each player, on his turn, may chose to roll one die, adding it to his conflict total or to stay where he is.
The goal is to get your conflict total as close to your Threshold as possible without going over.
Specifically, you want to get your Conflict Total higher than your opponent’s.
The first person to chose to hold ends the conflict, and the highest conflict total wins, unless another character makes a Desperation Move, below.  A character who has held this conflict may not make a Desperation Move.

Legacy
At any point during a conflict, you may spend one point of Hubris to add a legitimate component of your Legacy to the Threshold.  This must be done in a turn that you roll dice.

Desperation
If your opponent has held, and your Conflict Total is beneath his, you may chose to make a Desperation Move.
By expending one Tantrum, you may now roll your die as many times as you wish in a row.  In addition, if you roll over your Threshold, you may keep the higher Conflict Total.
However, a roll made this way, counted as a failure, will not earn your Tantrum, below.

The Outcome
Once all players have gone around the table holding, conflict ends.
The character with the highest Conflict Total under his threshold is the winner of the conflict, and may impose some story effect on the losers of the battle.
Characters who stayed under their thresholds but did not have the highest Conflict Total each gain one point of Tantrum for each character that scored more under their respective Thresholds.
Characters who went over their thresholds fail at the conflict and get nothing in return.