Have you ever incorporated gambling games in your RPG?

[EbbTide808]

Hi everyone, first time posting here. I'm looking to put together an adventure/adventures incorporating gambling games. Coins, magic items, esteem, blessings, or other rewards might be on the line. Or maybe the direction the plot takes is a direct outcome.

Here were a few ideas I had off the top of my head:

• straight forward casino games with in game stakes
• A racing game with multiple skill checks / rolls along the way, maybe with the opportunity to buy or earn advantages as part of the race mechanic.
• Make the game fantasy scale, (example: Use the whole of the ring city of Sigil for a giant Roulette game)

How have you used gambling in your games? I'd love to hear what you've done, or any ideas or recommendation you might have. I'm DMing D&D 5E, but I think the question is easily system agnostic.

 

[Deathstrike]

In the campaign I'm running now, one of the NPC's runs a sort of secret underground gambling den out of his home. The PC's need to know the week's password to get in. I have a book of dice games, and they and they really enjoy playing them. It's an easy way to make a few coins. Sometimes we just sort of handle the matter abstractly, and I make an arbitrary roll to see if they win or lose, and than we move on. Sometimes we roleplay it, and play dice games. Grab an old Hoyle book.

 

[EbbTide808]

Cool. How do you determine the payout?

 

[Morrus]

You could literally just use straight card game rules, and let players make opposed skill checks to "cheat" (not cheat, precisely, but you play, say, poker, and if you win an opposed skill check you get a bonus card or something, which gives you the advantage).

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

If I recall, the Advanced D&D Dungeon Masters Guide had a section on that. I remember that they were fun and players enjoyed it as a diversion to test their character's luck.

 

[Nytmare]

There's an offshoot of the Red Dragon Inn board games called "Gambling I'm In!" that's a series of dice and card games that were specifically built to be able to be played with 3rd Ed characters. I own it, and have played the game a handful of times, but I never bothered trying to integrate it into a game of D&D. It should fold into 5E without too much fuss.

http://slugfestgames.com/games/rdi-gii/

 

[psiconauta_retro]

Three-Dragon Ante is a D&D gambling card game that plays like poker (in it's own way), which is very cool and that has already built-in mechanics to make it part of any D&D game (I'm not sure if it was meant to be used with 3.5e or with 4e but it can be seamlessly used with 5e or even with other systems). The theme of the game is obviously appropriate but it is generic enough to be used with different settings and it can be customized even more to fit your own desires if you have the 2 different decks (Original & Emperor's Gambit). I really like this game on its own and as an in-game game, I highly recommend it!

 

[Nytmare]

Three-Dragon Ante is a D&D gambling card game that plays like poker (in it's own way), which is very cool and that has already built-in mechanics to make it part of any D&D game (I'm not sure if it was meant to be used with 3.5e or with 4e but it can be seamlessly used with 5e or even with other systems). The theme of the game is obviously appropriate but it is generic enough to be used with different settings and it can be customized even more to fit your own desires if you have the 2 different decks (Original & Emperor's Gambit). I really like this game on its own and as an in-game game, I highly recommend it!

Damn my traitorous brain. THIS was the game I had been talking about, not "Gambling I'm In." I guess after a decade of no play, all of the "drunk adventurers playing cards in a tavern" games kinda blend together.

 

[Emerikol]

When I was really young and much less DM wise, I was DMing a group that wanted to gamble. They bugged me until I finally relented. I used standard card rules and promptly proceeded to clean the entire party of all their gold and magic items. That ended the clamoring for gambling in game. I felt a big guilty sending them out naked but only a bit.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I do dice poker, straight roll against roll from my players or by creating a river by rolling one dice and increasing bet.