[PnP] Gambling Ho!

[Choinski, Burton]

In my legends game, the characters started off pretty much penniless.  They managed to get some odd coppers with some banditry, but finally they reached civilization.  They decided to have the best gambler take a bit of their money (he is EL 8) and try and spawn it up into a bit more cash.

At that time I did not feel like going the whole route of the Complex Gambling system, nor did the Simple system allow me to have "stakes".  For that first game I pretty much had them tell me their stake and roll 3d10+EL.  I rolled 3d10 plus a number based on rough EL for the crowd (given the cash levels involved).  At that time, I winged a payout based on how well they beat "the house", from 10-25% in general.  If their roll was less, their "stake" was reduced.

That had me thinking about working this concept a bit.  I want fast and simple, but also some excitement.  Comments, please on this (asap, since the second game is this Sunday).

Basically, I was thinking of formalizing the winnings/losses.  +/-10% for every 5 points.  Thus, beating the house roll by 14 points means you have a base winnings of 30%.

Next comes the "wild cards":
   If you win, and your highest die beats the house highest die: +25%
       ""    , and your highest "pair" beats the house highest "pair": +50%  (house needs to have a pair, otherwise only consider highest die)
       ""    , and your "flush" beats the house: +75%
   If You win, and your "three of a kind" beats the house's,: +100%.

Reverse this if the players are the loser.  A "flush" is a numerical dice sequence (1,2,3 or 7,8,9).

Example: The player has a good roll and beats the house by 9, giving him a base 10%.  In addition, on his roll he got two 5's (and a 7), while the house had two 4's and a 9.  He wins an additional 50%.  If the house had no pair he would have gotten no bonus.


This is very rough at the moment, so any idea to refine this would be good.  The "card" rules allow for spectacular wins and horrendous losses (a loss over 100% means the character needs to come up with the remainder, in items cash or a good beating. :)   

If you allow the "card" rules to always be in play it needs to be tweaked so that it is not possible to end up losing money even if you win the roll.

Are payout percents for the roll too low?  Should it be 25% per 5 points (thus fitting in more cleanly with the "card" payouts?

I initially figure these payouts based on an "average" gambling group for the night ("small").  For a "medium" sized group I was considering increasing the house skill by 1d3 and DOUBLE payout percentages.  For a "large" group I would increase house skill by 1d6 (or perhaps 2d3) and TRIPLE payouts.

An option I was also considering was a "double down".  Since the GM rolls for the house behind his screen, he knows what the house has.  In this case the player may take the standard payout for his roll, or may opt to roll "one more die" to improve his hand.  If he does, so does the house.  In this case, you need to add a "best four of a kind" to get 200%, but this does increase the chance of doubles and triples.  It might also eliminate your bonus as it gives the house a better set of cards.

I actually like this variant.  It adds a bit of the gambling "excitement" without being completely over the top, but any comments would be great.

 


_______________
Burton Choinski | Principal Software Engineer | ENOVIA MatrixOne
210 Littleton Road | Westford, MA  01886
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burton.choinski at matrixone.com
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