That was the whole start of the gambling topic on the G+ post before it got turned into more of a discussion on how to create gambling rules. The rules on gambling in the book doesn’t talk about what should be at stake, so I was wondering what everyone else was using. I went back and forth in my head on whether to use lifestyle, cash dice, or resources. On that post (which you posted in) someone pretending to be the creator of the game chimed in and said that they stake cash dice on the outcomes of the gambling games mentioned in the book. After giving it more thought, I agreed that using cash dice was probably the best thing to use. With the games of skill table, you’ll find that lifestyle cost will also be affected in some of the results. The thing with gambling is, sure you might walk out of town with more than you brought in this time, but the odds should be in favor of the house and the majority of the time you be leaving with less than you started.
Actually, it’s not the feeling of gambling to the player I’m trying to capture. That’s already represented in the book as is. In the book you choose a game and the players play those games. The feeling I’m trying to capture is the one where the feeling of gambling is from the character’s point of view. As a recreational casino poker player myself, I know that a more skillful card player will more successful than someone who doesn’t have poker playing skills. A character in torchbearer with a high manipulator skill should be better at bluffing and controlling a poker table than someone with a low manipulator skill, yet this isn’t represented in the current rules.
Last month, I called off work and went to the casino to play in a poker tournament. I went in at noon and paid my $100 entry fee. A few hours later, and some bad moves and/or bad beats later, I lost the tournament. I took a break, ate some food, and used the restroom. I returned to a cash game and sat at that table for the rest of the night trying to win back my tournament money and the money I lost in my first few hands at the cash game. I finally did it though, I left the casino at midnight with all the money I lost and no more. I spent 12 hours gambling and at the end I was mentally exhausted but I broke even. Technically however, I didn’t really break even since I had to call off work to go, thus my lifestyle cost increased by +1.
The point I’m trying to make is, sometimes while gambling, the best that you can do is to break even.
In the game of chance, the idea is to let fate decide if you win or lose. I wanted something quick and easy to represent a game of chance. So things like losing more than your stake or increases in lifestyle isn’t really represented here. However, in the game of skill part, I’m trying to capture that exact feeling. On the table there will be things like losing more than your stake and increases/decreases to lifestyle maintenance. That’s the plan, just trying to fill in all the blanks on the table and make sure they are entertaining and capture a lot of the feelings involved with skillful gameplay.