Bizaare Gambling Games

[papa_laz]

I'm writing my campaign in a homebrew world comprised solely of monstrous humanoids, as such I'm trying to make things quite different to the standard fantasy world. At the moment I'm writing up a gambling den and I'm looking for some bizarre, violent, sadistic,wacky, absurd or just plain creepy gambling games or things for players to bet on. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Leif]

Here's one..

In keeping with the mentality of the typical Ogre, how about a game of War where the winner of each "hand" gets to slug the loser with all of his might, and the loser has to just take it on the chin/other body part. The winner is the one who wins the last hand, or, alternatively (and probably more commonly), the last one conscious.

War: each player has half of the deck of cards stacked in front of him, all cards face down, and each "hand" is where the players turn over one card each, the higher card winning the "hand."

To escalate the game, add weapons for the players.

Just a thought....

Hey, Papa, aren't you the one for whom I drew up a map for an underground "den of iniquity"?? How'd that work out for you?

 

[papa_laz]

Hey Leif, I really like your card game. Its suitably diabolical. I remember requesting some descriptive text for an underground pit fighting establishment, but don't remember receiving a map. I still haven't started the campaign, just working a way on it gradually whenever I have time. My players are of the opinion that it will never happen.

 

[Leif]

Yeah, you're right, it wasn't a map, it was just a word picture. But, if memory serves, a map could be easily made from the description.

I'm glad you like the card game. When you do get around to starting the campaign, do you think it would be possible for me to get an "honorable mention" as Creative Assistant to the DM?

I really enjoy doing things like this, so if you need any more stuff, feel free to just click on my profile and send me an email from there. If you want to, that is. I'd also be very happy to hear how the game goes, when you get it suitably ready.

 

[Leif]

Another Thing to Bet On....

Since you also were looking for sadistic and creepy instead of just merely violent, how about the ol' Knife-Throwing at the scanily clad lady? Bets could be taken, at varying odds, on 1) how close the kives would come to her without breaking skin, 2) how many throws she would survive, 3) where the first knife to break skin would hit her, 4) any number of other details. To add another layer of weirdness and/or to shut-up the rabid feminists, have the "target" lady be secretly invulnerable to being pierced by non-magical blades, either through some item she wears, some magical oil applied to her skin, or even just a spell.

 

[papa_laz]

Haha, how bout I put in an NPC named after you? Though theres no guarantee he won't die a gruesome death at the hands of psychopathic PCs. If I get stuck on anything else I will definitely send you an email. I suppose my main problem is motivation. Running a home brew world using only monstrous humanoids which I've had to modify to be playable is something of a daunting task to me, and new challenges are constantly cropping up. As such I'm a little hesitant to run the campaign without being 100% sure I've got everything covered. Funnily enough I've yet to put my campaign world on plots and places for official review by enworlders, but if your interested in reading it I have it up online here.

http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/dermal_plating/200298/

I think its quite original and I've had a fantastic time writing it. I would love to hear your opinion of it. I probably have another 5-6 chapters worth in my book which needs typing up.

 

[Leif]

An NPC named after moi??? That sounds like a great idea, thanks! Oh, and Leif rhymes with "chief," not "chafe," by the way. And, really, I'd be at least a little bit disappointed if my namesake npc didn't irritate the pcs enough to make them attack him fairly soon after meeting him!

I don't expect that I'll get a chance to take a look at the stuff on the link until this evening, but I'm very interested to check it out. Thanks!

 

[Set]

Something we used to do at recess in Oklahoma was play 'chicken' with boot knives. The two challengers would stand a few feet part, facing each other, and one would throw his knife so that it stuck in the ground between the boots of the other, and then step back a step. The other would throw, then step back a step, etc. until one of them chickened out, usually when they were standing several yards apart (and both would be standing with feet pretty darn far apart!).

Playing catch with knives (or razor-tip arrowheads, on hunting trips, while drinking Coors) was also popular.

'Racking' (two parties kicking each other in the nuts as hard as they could, until one party gave up) was another one that was more fun to watch than play. [Although, when you nail someone hard enough that both of their feet leave the ground? You get picked on less...]

I've heard of, but never seen, 'Irish boxing' where two guys take turns punching each other in the head as hard as they can until one quits (or is knocked out).

Arm-wrestling over live scorpions is from some movie, but I'm sure some nutjobs somewhere have actually done it.

More medieval 'fun and games' could involve holding a hot coal from the hearth for longer than the other guy, or stripping shirtless and taking shots at each other with whips or slender branches until someone gives up would also fit the theme of 'crazy things people do on a dare.'

Some sort of sumo like wrestling game where the circle was surrounded with caltrops, so that anyone who stepped (or fell) out of the ring got many tiny ouchies, would also fit a barbaric theme.

Russian roulette with a crossbow could be amusing. Since a crossbow doesn't have a revolver, it could use a Repeating Crossbow with 1 sharp bolt and 7 padded ones that just sting slightly, and the dude you are playing the game with gets to fire the crossbow at your chest (and hope you get the sharp bolt and he gets the padded ones!).

 

[Leif]

Now THOSE are some quality ideas! I forgot all about the knife-throwing game. I believe that game is known as "mumblety peg" in some circles.

 

[papa_laz]

Wow. I feel I've had such a sheltered childhood in comparison. Worst we ever did was play British bulldogs or occasionally dead arm. I am liking the Russian roulette idea. I'm thinking possibly some sort of system which turns a crossbow around a table, and takes a shot at each person sitting there. I'm sure this could be combined with scorpions somehow.