At the end of our last gaming session, the players found a space casino. (It’s a long story.) Anyway, my question for you is: How you would handle gambling in Uncharted Worlds?
At the end of our last gaming session, the players found a space casino.
At the end of our last gaming session, the players found a space casino.
I will respond to my own question but by no means is this the “best” idea. Right now, I am thinking of handling wealth gained through gambling in a way similar to suffering damage. I will make a custom Move and a series of statuses, similar to the wound system but instead of wounds it is all about wealth. For example, the 10+ could result in a status like “Giant Pile of Chips”, “Big Spender” or “Moneybags” or some such, and the 6- results in statuses like “Penniless”, “Broke” or “Destitute”. The 9-7 result is a little vague for me right now. Maybe 7-9 is just breaking even.
I want it to be a bit of a challenge and suspenseful but they should be capable or winning big or losing big if they keep at it.
I’d make it a pick list custom move. So when you gamble with disreputable types, roll +nothing (gambling, right?)
On a 10+, pick 3. On a 7-9, pick 1.
• You make some money or a useful contact
• You don’t piss someone dangerous off
• You don’t give up any incriminating info on yourself
• A fight doesn’t break out
That’s not perfect, but along those lines.
Love it!
Would it work for the players to like ACTUALLY play games of chance at the table? What you could do it take the lowest player winnings, call that 0, up to double that is +1 forward to acquisition, up to triple that is +2 forward to acquisition, etc
Or maybe just give first place winner +2 forward, second place +1 forward.
You could make it hold too instead of forward, but I like the idea of immediacy – you have to spend it here before you leave.
Oh, for it to be proper gambling, the PCs need to put something up as their stake in the games. Do they have some cargo that they are willing to put up as the stake? And the greater the value of the cargo, the greater the danger of losing.
A Class 1 cargo isn’t much of a loss, but a Class 3 cargo is. Second, are they willing to put up something for collateral to get a
+1 bonus on “bet”. A trader with a Class 3 outfit could put it up as collateral, as that outfit is something like a bespoke suit, worth thousands of dollars or woolongs. 🙂
And finally, I think certain career types do affect the outcome of the roll, as we all know, gambling is a skill, not luck. 😉
So, PCs with the Commercial, Clandestine, or Scoundrel careers can add their Expertise bonus to the roll. Everyone else, no bonus. And for results:
13+ Win triple the class of goods wagered and pick 3 from below.
10-12 Win double the class of goods wagered and pick 3 from below.
7-9 Break even and hold 1 from below.
6 or less, lose the good wagered. If collateral was also used, you are now in debt to the person or faction you lost to.
– Winnings include a deed to some form of property.
– Person who lost now owes you a debt.
– Loser accuses you of cheating.
– You win some sort of map or system chart to something special.
– Loser’s collateral is a starship. Mostly working. Mostly.
– Pay off financial debt to a Faction.
– Incur a new debt to a Faction.
– Attract the interest of the local mob boss that runs the casino/gambling venue.
– Winnings consist of a comparable class of goods wagered, but are contraband.
And you can add to this list.
It also doesn’t hurt to list the games of chance versus the games of skill.
Chance:
Pachinko
Slot Machines
Video Lottery
Video Poker
Bingo
Keno
Fan Tan
Chō-Han Bakuchi
Chance with Elements of Skill:
Craps
Sic Bo
Baccarat
Blackjack
Roulette
Skill:
Poker
Mahjong
Pai Gow
Dominoes
Hanafuda
Most card games
Eric Farmer The custom move looks like its good for just spending some time at the tables (and where “make some money” is represented in the fiction, rather than mechanically). But how to handle a high-stakes game? A face Adversity on +Influence?
Larp Wellington If the game is truly high stakes, you’d want to spend some time on it. Include all the players: how do they hear about it? how do they raise the cash for the buy in? What do they learn about their opponent? What might happen if they lose? If they win?
It’s a whole scenario with lots of moves made.
I agree. If it’s just to make some quick cash, go with a simple roll.
However if it’s something along the lines of Casino Royale, or Oceans 11, then make an entire adventure out of it.
OP here. You guys have some great ideas. Much better than what I had in mind. Thank you. Very glad I asked. I revised my approach to gambling and this is what I am thinking after all of your feedback.
First a little background on my campaign. The players are lost in space, attempting to get a vaccine to a distant colony before it expires. Their warp engines are powered by a fictional element, Argonite. Most adventures are the player characters trying to gather Argonite from wherever they have ended up after the last jump.
In the upcoming game, they have discovered a space casino called “Rocko’s”. Rocko’s casino has all kinds of fancy chips used for gambling but the high rollers use Argonite chips. So naturally the characters will be interested in getting a hold of one of these high roller chips but need to either win them — or steal them.
They also need a Data point about the local system to make their next jump. This comes into play on the chart below.
Rocko’s also has high-end stores, hence the addition of Cargo. They could win some Cargo and go shopping with an Acquisition roll.
I figure that the casino would be willing to extend the players a line of credit in exchange for some collateral… The most valuable piece of collateral they have is their ship, of course.
I’d like the casino to be otherworldly, so I am avoiding defining the games and leaving them to player interpretation. They might just play poker or roulette or some such but I want to encourage creativity.
Anyway, here is the Move thus far. It is sloppy but, man, it sure is interesting.
————————————————————————Gambling at Rocko’s
When you gamble at Rocko’s, roll +nothing… unless you decide to cheat. if you cheat, explain how you will cheat and select the appropriate stat:
On a 10+, pick 3. On a 7-9, pick 1. 6-, the Narrator makes a Hard Move involving the loss of an Asset, a Starship or some other valuable.
• You make a useful contact
• You don’t piss someone dangerous off
• You gain +1 Cargo – What is it?
• Increase your pile of chips. Gain one of the following Wealth statuses:
-Small Stack of Chips
-Medium Stack of Chips (can only be selected if you already have a Small Stack of Chips)
-Large Stack of Chips (can only be selected if you already have a Medium Stack of Chips)
-Rocko’s Argonite Quartz Chip (can only be selected if you already have a Large Stack of Chips)
• No one notices that you cheated
• A character who lost now owes you a debt.
• You win some sort of map or system chart that provides 1 Data Point.
• You can afford to buy drinks, food, escorts and to generally live large while at Rocko’s.
• Loser’s collateral is a starship. Mostly working. Mostly.
• Win back an Asset that you previously lost while gambling.
I like how you created the move. I was going to point out that you can’t get a Rocko’s Argonite Quartz Chip until I realized that the PCs will be making multiple rolls. So a failure can involve previous winnings.
You could offer them a chance to make that last win no matter what, by offering them the choice between the listed hard move, or giving them a bad result that only works if they’ve been cheating: They make that last win, but are now banned from Rocko’s Casino for the rest of their time on the world. They only get one choice from the list, and it can’t be “No one notices that you cheated”.
I personally would look at it this way.
Unless it’s specifically gambling over the MacGuffin, you gamble as a career, or you’ve got some kind of problem, usually gambling is more of a social event, and most of the time you’re not wagering anything you can’t afford to lose. You’re at the baccarat tables because that’s where the guy you want to talk to is. So in keeping with the “only roll if it matters” principle, gambling usually doesn’t get a roll.
My take.