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 Post subject: Gambling with core rules
 Post Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:49 am 
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n00b

Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:00 am
Posts: 1
I am playing the DoD campagin and have made a Gambler as my character. After all what good tabletop gamer doesn't like to roll the dice :D The problem that I am having is that I am too good at gambling and my GM doesnt like it. Using nothing but the gambler talent and my rolls I a massed 2 million creds in 5 mins, 4 rolls. Its not so much that he doesnt want to give me the money, he thinks that it becomes meaningless and messes up other peoples role playing. When you have a mechanic who would rather sleep outside on the street instead of paying for a cheap room, yet im throwing down alot of money on drinks at the cantina you begin to wonder why these two people are together. I have spent alot of time making this character and enjoy playing him. He has alot of skills and no ability to fight. This makes me have to think about and be creative to be helpful in a fight. My main abilitys have to do with money like being able to get airspeeders, costs to maintain our ship, upgrade our ship, I will soon have connections and be able to obtain gear for our whole party.

What I am looking for is help in game mechanics or even some GM rules for gambling, that help control that amount of money involed. I have listened to the Gambler build(which was fun becasue it was alot like mine :D ) And have listened to episode 36. Though i am looking for more how to play on with a lot of money. Some of the rules we are considering are
1. one roll when gambling even if you spend the day gambling you get one chance to see what you have won
2. The amount that can be bet is severly limited, the casino will only take bets up too 200 creds.
Thats really as far as i got. I want the game to be fun, I want others to be able to play there characters, but I dont want my build to be pointless, if I can only make 2000 creds a session I should have taken wealth and forgot the rest of it.

I have heard such great things about the forum community so i decided to test it out please tell me what you think.
Zykomende


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 Post subject: Re: Gambling with core rules
 Post Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:53 pm 
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Sith Lord
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Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 6:06 am
Posts: 3778
Location: Fargo, ND
What it really comes down to is getting the GM to challenge you effectively in games of chance.

What does the soldier crave? Tough battles where his skills can help him come out on top. What does the Jedi crave? A tough as nails dark Jedi or Sith that he can redeem or destroy.

You really shouldn't be treating these gambling encounters as "5 minutes, 4 dice rolls." The GM should also be ready to plop some threats into these encounters that are tailor made to make these situations challenging for you.

I'd point him in the direction of episode 144 - Never Tell Me The Odds in which Chris and Dave give the majority of the show's main topic to gambling.

As for the amount of credits? Well, there's plenty of ways that a good GM can use that as plot hooks. Maybe a player who thinks you cheated doesn't want to pay up. Maybe the house is "upset" that you took so much of their money and decides to "teach you a lesson." Maybe an angry player comes back later for "payback."

*shrug* Just some ideas.

Oh, and welcome to the forums. :)

_________________
GM Chris wrote:
Cyril's got it. ;-)


AsaTJ wrote:
Cyril wrote:
Only if I can call him one bad motheryubber in game.

And every once in a while, I am reminded why this is the best forum community on the Internet.


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 Post subject: Re: Gambling with core rules
 Post Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:46 pm 
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Youngling
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Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:18 pm
Posts: 27
Location: Clio, MI (Middle of no where)
Kinda makes me happy that my group isn't the only that has ran in to this problem. In my previous campaign that I ran the party got so many credits that they upgraded there ship so much that I basicly had to cut out Space battles because it was more of a speed bump then a real encounter. It was worse with the other GM wo runs SW:SE. He allowed us to buy and up grade the ship so much that we had no fear in space combat and became pointless. The GM also allowed us to not only gamble up to +10,000,000 credits but also only of the party members got Wealth talent on Crack (got 50% of Lando's Droid factories during the Vong Invasion, basicly a blank check). But we didn't have anything to spend the credits on since our ship was fully upgraded and We didn't want to buy a Star Destroyer

In my current game I went the other way where the Wealth talent isn't allowed (I want to party to be poor and hungry for work) and gambling isn't what it is in the book. Instead of rolling for gambling we play Pazzak (Blackjack) and Sabaac (Poker). This is to keep all the party members involved (1 play is the party others are other players). This works for us because I know the others wont cheat, plus I also told them if I catch then cheating there PC's get caught cheating :). I haven't ran in to any problems yet. It does slow down the game a little bit, but my players enjoy it and it doesn't happen every session (maybe once every 4 sessions)


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 Post subject: Re: Gambling with core rules
 Post Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:07 pm 
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Gamer

Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:11 pm
Posts: 128
Location: St Louis Mo
I have been biting my tongue trying to not reply to this thread.
But I have put a lot of thought into this subject, as I have a couple players like this. Also I work in the casino industry and was looking at the gambling rules just in awe of...... ooooh never mind.

I see two problems. As you have experienced or can read, if you hit the I win of credits button it takes some of fun from the game. I would say it is a two person problem here. GM/DM and player/s.

As a player you are responsible for some of the game too. GM'ing for 6 to 9 people is a lot of work. He/she is behind the screen trying to think ahead and remember little details. If they are a good guy/gal they want you to have fun and be part of the story telling and making. I like to try and get the players to be a part of telling and making the story. It can be the hardest thing to do at times and the easiest others. But back on track. As a player when you are in such deep role-play and gambling in game world..... why is it when you have 400k (probably 10 times the creds you need) do you roll again? Maybe it is caught up in the moment or the ability to say you did it. Really it is not a big deal. just a little more work for the GM.

Now to the GM. As I have a couple players like this... I have put a lot of thought into. Take Ep1 DoD. I combined the bar and the casino ( for ease of use and it made snse to me) and had all manners of gaming in it for my wealth totting Noble and the other 2 who just like to gamble in game world. But I took several precautions. I was going round by round. I modified the story of DoD and change how it is playing out a tad. The gambling waas fun and used to get info from the other players.
But precautions for the gambling fever frenzy were put in place.

1 time limit... I was going to give them a big leash in time while they try and find someone to get in touch with Maya for them. If the gambling got out of hand well their chance to meet Maya and do a little side excursion would be over and she comes rushing into the catina and breaks up the gambling.

2 min max stakes limits.... I figured the description of the station for this area is a little run down. So lower stakes limits. for player vs player I did 50 to 200c. With option one to help if it gets out of hand.

3 the cheaters..... I know my group if few rounds of gambling goes on and they are make persuasion checks to lossen lips.... and all the sudden the player who appears to be the best says lets raise the stakes!?!? And if they agree and I say ok roll a perception check. Usually the fight begins or they get snookered and bow out of the game (and I get some of the creds back).

4 the ringer... I made an NPC gambler a big noble skill monkey with ability to level/scale him up or down fast depending on the PC's. Plus he has a couple of Soldier thugs nearby for muscle. If they go a few rounds and he beats them each time.... again usually enough to start the fight or they bow out gracefully.

5 the plot hook... if I am feeling like using it for a hook. I let them win the big money might even help them get extra. Now the player who is the big loser... is a new enemy. Tries to steal it back or worse kill the big winner.

house game options to control gambling
1 The house accuses them of cheating.... not wise to draw attention to yourself in the middle of a mission.

2 The house cheat!!! ..... Since I do the gambling/wisdom check as such. Oh mr PC you wish to gamble give me a d20+your wisdom mod. then I factor in the cheating from a -2 to -5 for how bad the house wants to keep their money.

3 again plot advancement as before that interupts the gambling. Fight, the npc they are looking for shows up, the Stormtroopers come in snoopying around and appear to be looking for someone.

4 Again plot hook... the house sends guys to retrieve the creds. Thinkocean's eleven sort of. Every uncovienant time for the PC's... say in mid battle with a mediocre fight... the collection thugs see an advantage and try and grab the one who won the creds. Poor noble is not a hand to hand fighter is he? They can whish him away if not for the other PC's but now they must divide their resources to save him. That mediocre battle becomes little harder to a lot harder. Also I drop suttle hints so the other players see that so and so big winner might have brought a whole new can of worms to their party. I as a player would enjoy the increased realism of never knowing when they might try again. Looking over our shoulders all the time. but that is me.

Now games of chance I just simply do not use. As it is lopsided to the players advantage.
I figure House games covers everything but poker like games and such. Even horse/pod racing is house... as most good race tracks play the odds off and take the vig.

So I hope I answered your question, I know they are not game mechanics per say... but they could help avoid this situation.

But I think best advice is now that you know how this ends up affecting the game and fun of the game... you as the player just don't go this far anymore. Just get enough cash to do what you need to do with the creds and maybe a little extra. But do not try and win enough to buy a 10 ship fleet of cruisers. As you can see in my game I expect my limits and boundaries to be pushed to the max. I have several highly creative and sharp guys. So in my game you can do it, and I will be ready to try and handle it, but not all GM's are alike.


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 Post subject: Re: Gambling with core rules
 Post Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:09 am 
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Gamer

Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:11 pm
Posts: 128
Location: St Louis Mo
After going over the Gambling rules a few dozen times and talking to others who work in the casino industry with me. I think I will just adjust the result chart for House to make it more realistic. Then Games of Pure Chance might say only can add the +2 from the Scoundrel Fortune Talent: Gambler to the roll.

Plus use above mention ways to add excitement or slow down the craziness.


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