Author Topic: How do you handle the gambling skill?  (Read 1508 times)

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Offline Druss_the_Legend

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How do you handle the gambling skill?
« on: August 22, 2017, 02:56:53 AM »
How do you handle the gambling skill?

Games of chance. cards. dice etc.
How do you allow ur pcs to use their gambling skill. Can they influence the odds by use of their skill?
For play balance I feel there needs to be some limitations on this skill.
IT should have limited scope for generating extra wealth but maybe limit its use to 3 uses per day?

Offline juza

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Re: How do you handle the gambling skill?
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2017, 03:30:31 AM »
In my campaign I have a player that love the gambling skill. At the beginning I let him win small amount of money by having success on a gambling skill roll. Now I assume that sitted on the game table there can be also other or even others gambling NPCs so to win my player must be better than him/those. Often I put at the table a NPC with very good observation skill that can find out that my player is gambling, once the player was sent to jail, more often is attacked by other NPCs sitted at the table.
In this way a success on a gambling skill roll does not always mean to win the game.

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: How do you handle the gambling skill?
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2017, 04:20:20 AM »
In my campaign I have a player that love the gambling skill. At the beginning I let him win small amount of money by having success on a gambling skill roll. Now I assume that sitted on the game table there can be also other or even others gambling NPCs so to win my player must be better than him/those. Often I put at the table a NPC with very good observation skill that can find out that my player is gambling, once the player was sent to jail, more often is attacked by other NPCs sitted at the table.
In this way a success on a gambling skill roll does not always mean to win the game.

great! thanks for sharing this. Very useful.

Offline Spectre771

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Re: How do you handle the gambling skill?
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2017, 11:25:13 AM »
I have one player who uses Gambling to sucker players in.  If he rolls 100+ he's able to influence the games towards his wishes while making it look completely like the luck of the draw.  He allows the other player to win and win and win to lure them in, then takes them for a big score. 

It just so happens that he's trying to establish the first Gaming Guild but he's facing a ton of opposition from the Thieves' Guild in this matter as they feel it should fall under their prevue.  Stealing money is what they're all about.  It's made for some excellent side quests and plot twists within the greater campaign. 

I've been allowing him to use his Gambling skill to select the types of games to host and how to spot cheaters and his own ability to cheat like palming a card, stacking a deck, swapping in/out loaded dice, spotting loaded dice, etc.

In games of chance, it's a straight Gambling vs. Gambling roll.  In games that require a little thought like horse racing or a track meet, the Gambling will aid in weeding out the poorer choices.  For example, noting the humidity and temperature of the day, the condition of the track, the last time the person/horse raced, any injuries and so on.
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Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: How do you handle the gambling skill?
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2017, 12:47:37 PM »
I have one player who uses Gambling to sucker players in.  If he rolls 100+ he's able to influence the games towards his wishes while making it look completely like the luck of the draw.  He allows the other player to win and win and win to lure them in, then takes them for a big score. 

It just so happens that he's trying to establish the first Gaming Guild but he's facing a ton of opposition from the Thieves' Guild in this matter as they feel it should fall under their prevue.  Stealing money is what they're all about.  It's made for some excellent side quests and plot twists within the greater campaign. 

I've been allowing him to use his Gambling skill to select the types of games to host and how to spot cheaters and his own ability to cheat like palming a card, stacking a deck, swapping in/out loaded dice, spotting loaded dice, etc.

In games of chance, it's a straight Gambling vs. Gambling roll.  In games that require a little thought like horse racing or a track meet, the Gambling will aid in weeding out the poorer choices.  For example, noting the humidity and temperature of the day, the condition of the track, the last time the person/horse raced, any injuries and so on.

cool! great ideas here. cheers for sharing.

Offline Peter R

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Re: How do you handle the gambling skill?
« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2017, 07:54:33 AM »
I allow it to be used as a Lore skill to understand how odds are calculated or the probabilities for success and failure in games of chance. To influence the outcome the character has to state the intended objective and I give them an idea of the difficulty factor (this may not be accurate as there could be other skilled gamblers at the table).

With the difficulty factor they can choose to roll their skill or not. As the stakes increase the difficulties tend to increase with them as there tends to be more scrutiny of everyone involved in the game.

I don't agree with the idea of limiting a skills use. A skill is a skill and it can be used whenever the opportunity presents itself.

I do include the consequences of the players actions and gambling in the game session. In the past gambling has been used to provoke a fight intentionally as it was important that the characters were attacked (rather than being the attacker) for their plan to get inside a castle.
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Offline brole

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Re: How do you handle the gambling skill?
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2017, 02:25:06 AM »
I'd look at averaging skills and stats based on the type of gambling -  capping this average on the gambling skill total.

For random gambling such as card games combine character gambling skill with memory stat and math skill. Set the difficulty to absurd level or similar due to randomness. Give a bonus for the longer the player has watched the card draws ie. law of averages, card counting etc.

Gambling skill in companion 2 includes cheating to improve odds. In these cases I'd use a separate subterfuge skill roll such as sleight of hand and average with gambling to increase (or spoil) their chances.

For gambling such as horse racing combine the character's gambling skill with their riding and animal skills if they are able to directly see the horses and jockeys before the race begins. Set difficulty by the number of racers.

For gladiatorial contests use the character's weapon skills or lack thereof are as a modifier to the gambling skill roll. Maybe add other modifiers appraisal skill and detect magic of weapons and armour.
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Offline Grinnen Baeritt

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Re: How do you handle the gambling skill?
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2017, 10:48:28 AM »
I'd generally handle it (whatever game or sport it is) with an opposed gambling roll. However, that really isn't that exciting. Especially, when you consider several things involved with gaming, betting, gambling and determining the odds. This introduces possible options that can be included that don't just hand a player with a good gambling skill a big pot of free Gold.

I'm relatively familiar with RMSS, and that has a huge wealth of options you can introduce to make the gambling skill more interesting.

Quite often making a gambling roll might just be used to determine whether a character it's a good idea to play or not, and also determines their ability to restrict their own addictions!

Let's say it's *just* a game of cards. One vs One over a table with an unmarked set of cards.

First complication that could arise. Are both players equally familiar/experienced with that specific game?

In theory, you *could* make the gambling skill like a weapon skill and split it into several categories each relevant to a different type of card game ... however, that's a little too involved, even for Rolemaster... ;).

However, it's often simpler to use another skill to determine this. Say, like Culture Lore. If the player is from a different culture than the game then if they fail the culture lore roll they get the appropriate penalty to the opposed gambling roll.

It can be made into a far more complex answer, but the quick answer is that when gambling a player shouldn't *just* rely on the gambling skill alone there are other factors which allow for differentiation between the types.