How to Implement Gambling

[moveable feats]

I'd appreciate any input about how to run in-game gambling. This will be in the context of a larger festival. I want it to mirror the real world easy gains/big losses consequences. So far I've thought about basic contested rolls between me and the PC (ties go to the House). Or I could simulate a roulette roll with d100. I want it to be attractive/enticing enough for players to try it but still pose a real risk of losing gold.
How have you set this up in your games? What were some of the problems you encountered? Thanks for the advice!

[Chugger]

Get the hardcover book on Chult (tomb of annihilation?). In the City of Port Nyanzaru criminals are punished by the Death Race, and citizens can go bet with odds on who will survive. It's all in the book apparently.

The race starts, and the racers - condemned criminals - have to run a long deadly obstacle course that's in a stadium with stadium seats, bookies, venders selling lizard on a stick and what have you.

Stadium employees have all sorts of traps and deadly things they try to sling at or drop on the racers as they go by - giant bolders - spiked logs I think - and they just throw spears at them and stuff. (you roll for each contestant/victim and look at tables in the book to see if they survive the race (and thus win freedom, crimes wiped) - or if they die horribly and if so, how).

Such fun.

Do you know how to play craps? You have six-sided dice. Craps is easy, well basic simplified craps is easy. Just write down which bet is what and resolve it. You may want to only allow Pass Line bets at first. Players write down (or you do) how much they bet. The first player - the shooter - rolls 2 six siders on what is called a "come out roll". If he/she rolls a seven or eleven the players win. You pay them one to one, i.e. if Ted bet 2 gold you pay him 2 gold (and he keeps his 2 gold bet. The same shooter goes again or passes to the next shooter. Another come out roll is made, and again if it's a seven or eleven the players win. If it's a 2, 3, or 12 he's "crapped out" and all players lose - and I think the dice go to the next shooter (you take their gold). If the roll is a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 then a "point" is established. You write down the point. Now the shooter keeps rolling the dice ignoring all rolls except a "seven" or the point. If the shooter rolls the point, the players win - pay them one to one - i.e. if Susan bet one gold, pay her one gold (and she keeps the gold she bet) - if Bill bet 10 gold, pay him 10 gold (and he keeps his bet). If the shooter rolls a seven all the players lose, you take their gold, and the next shooter goes.

Real craps, of course, offers many more betting options than this and is pretty complicated but doable in DnD off a chart.

Blackjack - do you have a deck of cards? Blackjack's easy.

Or check this out:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/32ybjo/gambling_in_game/

[mephnick]

I've always used the simple dice game from the Witcher 2.

Make bets.
Roll 5 dice each.
Make bets.
Re-roll as many dice as you want.
Best "poker hand" wins (three of a kind, full house etc).

You can easily give a player who chose a rigged dice set, or cheating as a background feature an extra die to represent it (I had a charlatan in the group). Grant extra or less dice to represent whatever you want.

It's fun and most importantly, it's fast, because I guarantee everyone else at the table is bored as hell if one guy is gambling.

[No brains]

I thought proficiency in gaming sets covered gambling. Theoretically it should work like any other ability check. Any mental stat could be justified for a check. Intelligence could calculate odds vs winnings and illustrate the character making smart bets. Wisdom could account for knowing when to hold them and so on, including backing out when other gamblers are getting angry. Charisma could be useful for bluffing in poker or getting 'do-overs'/ double or nothings.

I also think there's specific gambling-related downtime activities. I think it's called carousing.

[Mister_Squinty]

A very simple and fast gambling method we used in an old campaign:

DM rolls 3d6 picks best 2, Any players wishing to gamble roll 2d6, high roll wins, House wins ties.

If a player is proficient in dice, they get 3d6, pick 2 as well. House still wins ties.

If the players want to cheat, they roll an extra die, which is added to their 2d6 total. Slight of Hand vs Perception check to avoid getting caught. (If you want to make it more cooperative/complex, someone could roll Deception vs Insight to distract the House, giving advantage to the cheater's Slight of Hand attempt).

To prevent events from stopping completely, our DM would only allow 5 rounds of dice to reflect an evening's gambling. Unless the gaming was an important story component, of course.

[moveable feats]

Get the hardcover book on Chult (tomb of annihilation?). In the City of Port Nyanzaru criminals are punished by the Death Race, and citizens can go bet with odds on who will survive. It's all in the book apparently.

The race starts, and the racers - condemned criminals - have to run a long deadly obstacle course that's in a stadium with stadium seats, bookies, venders selling lizard on a stick and what have you.

Stadium employees have all sorts of traps and deadly things they try to sling at or drop on the racers as they go by - giant bolders - spiked logs I think - and they just throw spears at them and stuff. (you roll for each contestant/victim and look at tables in the book to see if they survive the race (and thus win freedom, crimes wiped) - or if they die horribly and if so, how).

Such fun.

Do you know how to play craps? You have six-sided dice. Craps is easy, well basic simplified craps is easy. Just write down which bet is what and resolve it. You may want to only allow Pass Line bets at first. Players write down (or you do) how much they bet. The first player - the shooter - rolls 2 six siders on what is called a "come out roll". If he/she rolls a seven or eleven the players win. You pay them one to one, i.e. if Ted bet 2 gold you pay him 2 gold (and he keeps his 2 gold bet. The same shooter goes again or passes to the next shooter. Another come out roll is made, and again if it's a seven or eleven the players win. If it's a 2, 3, or 12 he's "crapped out" and all players lose - and I think the dice go to the next shooter (you take their gold). If the roll is a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 then a "point" is established. You write down the point. Now the shooter keeps rolling the dice ignoring all rolls except a "seven" or the point. If the shooter rolls the point, the players win - pay them one to one - i.e. if Susan bet one gold, pay her one gold (and she keeps the gold she bet) - if Bill bet 10 gold, pay him 10 gold (and he keeps his bet). If the shooter rolls a seven all the players lose, you take their gold, and the next shooter goes.

Real craps, of course, offers many more betting options than this and is pretty complicated but doable in DnD off a chart.

Blackjack - do you have a deck of cards? Blackjack's easy.

Or check this out:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/32ybjo/gambling_in_game/

I knew this was the right place to ask for advice! This is super helpful, thanks!

[moveable feats]

If the players want to cheat, they roll an extra die, which is added to their 2d6 total. Slight of Hand vs Perception check to avoid getting caught. (If you want to make it more cooperative/complex, someone could roll Deception vs Insight to distract the House, giving advantage to the cheater's Slight of Hand attempt).

To prevent events from stopping completely, our DM would only allow 5 rounds of dice to reflect an evening's gambling. Unless the gaming was an important story component, of course.


I love the cheating option. It never would have occurred to me. Thanks!

[greenstone]

In the Harn system, mass combat has paired rolls - glory and survival. You could take a plus on either one but that would give an equal minus to the other. I.e. +3 on Survival gives -3 on glory.

I think the same should be available for cheating. If you want to push it then there is more chance of getting caught.

If you are cheating then pick a number from 1 to 10. You gain this modifier to the roll to determine who wins the game. You must then make a DEX\Slight of Hand roll with a penalty the same as the modifier. This is opposed by the dealer's WIS\Perception.

As for the gambling roll, purely chance-based systems would just be one roll. Most games of chance are weighted slightly towards the dealer, so I'd say something like roll d20 - 11 or below, house wins, 12 or above, gambler wins double their stake.

If the game is skill based (for example poker), I'd say a contested CHA\<Gaming Set> roll.

[Kane0]

Make bets.
Roll 5 dice each.
Make bets.
Re-roll as many dice as you want.
Best "poker hand" wins (three of a kind, full house etc).

Extra die for those proficient, two for expertise.

It's fun and most importantly, it's fast.

Ooh, I like this.

[mgshamster]

Spend 4 gold, roll 1d6. Your result is how much gold you won that [unit of time].

If you have proficiency in gambling, it costs 3 gold. If you have expertise, if costs 2 gold. If you're a charlatan, you get an extra die.

[Beleriphon]

Ooh, I like this.

Eh, its Yatzhee.

[Thrudd]

You could actually play craps, and have players bet their characters' gold on it. The roulette is another idea, but use a digital RNG to get a random number from 1-37 (or 0-36).

Characters with gambling proficiency could roll against some DC you set to let them either take back or cut in half a losing bet (their character would have known better), to increase their winnings (for the same reason), or to win instead of losing by cheating (sleight of hand) - or in craps, to actually alter the result of one or both of the dice.

Of course, fail the cheating roll by more than 5 (or fail at all, whatever you want), the cheater gets caught and trouble ensues.

[Biggstick]

This is copy-pasted directly from the UA-Downtime. It is easily applicable if you want to make the event take a much shorter amount of time.

Gambling
Games of chance are a way to make a fortune, but perhaps a better way to lose one.

Resources.This activity requires one workweek of effort from a character, plus the character must risk at least 100 gp to a maximum of 1,000 gp, unless you decide that gambling is a big enough business to support larger wagers.

Resolution. The Player must make a series of checks, with a DC determined at random based on the quality of the opposition that the character runs into. Part of the risk of gambling is that you never know who might end up sitting across the table from you.

The character makes three checks: Wisdom (Insight), Charisma (Deception), and Charisma (Intimidation). The DC is 5 + 2d10, generating a separate DC for each check. Consult the Gambling Results table to see how the character does.

Gambling Results.
0 successes = Lose all the money you bet, plus accrue a debt equal to that amount.
1 success = Lose half the money you bet.
2 successes = Gain one-and-a-half times the amount you bet.
3 successes = Gain double the amount you bet.

Complications.
Gambling tends to draw a variety of unsavory characters. The potential complications involved in it come from run-ins with the law and various criminals tied to it.

D8
1. You are accused of cheating. You decide whether you actually did or were framed.
2. The town guard raids the gambling hall and throws you in jail.
3. You accrue a debt during the game, one that your opponent insists you pay by taking on a task.
4. A noble in town loses badly to you and loudly vows to get revenge.
5. You own a sum from a low-ranking member of a thieves guild, and the guild wants its money back.
6. A local crime lord insists you start frequenting the lord's gambling parlor and no others.
7. You have a reputation for good luck, leading other gamblers to hound you to team up.
8. A high-stakes gambler comes to town and insists that you take part in a game.



Personally, I'd suggest allowing Players to use other skills if they can give you a good enough reason to use another skill instead of one of the three listed. Proficiency with a set of dice or cards or any gambling set would be a skill proficiency I'd allow as well. As for the complications, roll on it if you'd like, or if your Players actually should receive one. I've used downtime activities often in my campaign, and ones are rolled so rarely that I just dole them out when I think it will be interesting now.