Jonathan,
Nice review. Providing a summary of what you see as the strong points and weak points is always helpful.
I think the abstract damage aspect of conflicts--the ability to wear down a character whom you can't harm physically by other means, such as the suggested taunting and such--is one of the trickier concepts to introduce to people who are used to standard superhero RPGs. In some ways I find it similar to the "Inappropriate Cliche" rules for RISUS (
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm), except that there's no real clear guidelines on what Qualities might be appropriate.
This is something I wished had more examples in the book, specifically examples of how someone might use a completely non-combat Quality or Power to overcome a physical opponent. The best examples I've come across spring up now and then on the T&J Yahoo group (
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/truthandjustice/) in discussions of actual play.
Does your group have any good actual play examples of asymmetrical conflicts like this (ie, the clever guy using Shatneresque Courtroom Lawyer to overcome Mighty Man's Invulnerability)?
Thanks for the review.
Doug