How would a game keeper handle in-game gambling? What happens when a character wants to hit a gambling den and do some gambling. Here's an idea that came to me while watching a poker tournament on TV this weekend. 

Luck is the skill that decides who wins. Gambling is the skill that increases winnings and mitigates losses.

In abstract situations ("My character is going to sit down and gamble for a couple of hours to see how much he can win.") have the character put up a stake.

Have him roll Luck. If he makes his Luck roll, he wins. If he fails his Luck roll, he loses.

Now, have the character roll Gambling. If he succeeds at his Luck but misses his Gambling roll, he breaks even. If he makes his Luck and makes his Gambling, he keeps his stake and wins half again as much money. If he makes a special (impale) result, he keeps his stake and gains twice his stake amount as winnings. If he criticals his Gambling, he keeps his stake and wins four times his stake.

If he fails his Luck roll but succeeds at his Gambling skill, he only loses half his stake. If he gets a special on his Gambling, he loses a quarter his stake. If he gets a critical on his Gambling roll, he comes away having broken even.

If he fails his Luck and fails his Gambling, he loses his stake.

If he fumbles his Luck roll, don't roll Gambling. He loses his stake. If he criticals his Luck, roll Gambling as above, but the worst he can do is double his stake.

If he succeeds at Luck but fumbles his Gambling, he breaks even (he had the best cards most of the time, but somehow he was telegraphing his cards and never seemed to come out ahead).

The character rolls once per hour, and he can change his stake each hour.

Example: the character puts up $100 as a stake. He fails his Luck roll, but makes his Gambling roll. He loses $50. He continues playing, putting the remaining $50 as a stake. He makes his Luck roll, and criticals his Gambling roll! He keeps the $50 and wins $200, giving him a total of $250. He puts up $100 for his third round. He makes his Luck roll but fails his Gambling roll. He breaks even, keeping his $100 stake. He goes for one more round, putting up his $100 stake. He fails his Luck roll and fails his Gambling roll. He loses the $100. After four hours he calls it quits. He's won $50, which isn't a bad 4 hours work for the 1920s.

If the character is in a tournament situation, things are a little different. Roll Luck and Gambling for everyone in the tournament. Characters are ranked per round. The ranks are as follows:

• Critical Luck

• Special Luck

• Successful Luck

• Failed Luck

• Fumbled Luck

If more than one character fits in the lowest rank, have them roll their Gambling skill, using the same criteria. The character with the lowest roll is eliminated. (If two or more characters match low roll, flip a coin or roll a die to see which one is eliminated.) The eliminated player loses their stake. The stake goes into the pool.

(You can even assume the players with the tied rolls are all eliminated.)

Do this again for each round, until one character remains. The first round takes 1 hour, each succeeding round takes half an hour.

Example: six characters are in a poker tournament with $100 stake each. One character is involved with 5 NPCs. Roll Luck for all characters. An NPC criticals his Luck, the PC and another NPC get a Special, an NPC gets a regular result, and two NPCs fumble. The two NPCs roll Gambling. One NPC succeeds, the other fails. The NPC who failed his Gambling roll is eliminated. His $100 stake is in the pool. One hour has passed. Continue until all the characters but one are eliminated.

Note: If you want to run an extended tournament, try this. First, figure out how many tables are in the tournament. Figure on 6 characters per table, and half the table moves on. Run three rounds for each table involving a character. Continue until you have one table left, then play the normal tournament rules. Normally the top three on the final table, or even everyone at the final table, will win something. In an informal tournament, the prize money will be the stake put up by each player, with a cut going to "the house". In a modern setting, there may be a prize well above the total stake from all players. One option is to figure out the prize pool and give half to the first place winner, a third to second place, and a sixth to third place. (Or half to first, quarter to second, an 8th to third, and the rest to the House; or any other way you want to do it.)

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Allan Goodall
www.hyperbear.com
www.hyperbear.com/cthulhu