Gaming & Gambling

Make use of your gaming set proficiencies!

Sample file Variant rules for in-game card, chess, and dice games by Vladimir Arabadzhi

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, the dragon ampersand, and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright 2016 by Vladimir Arabadzhi and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. GAMING &GAMBLING

INTRODUCTION THE ORDER OF GAMING ROUND The following rules could be used to simulate any game 1. Characters choose one of the strategies in secret. or competition, like dice, Dragonchess, playing cards, Three-Dragon Ante, etc. 2. The strategies are revealed and the strategy bonus is determined.

RULES 3. Characters make their rolls. 4. A player who rolled higher, adds 1 point to the score. The idea behind the system is that one of the five abstract If his or her roll is at least twice as high as an oppo- gaming strategies is chosen by the participants for each nent’s, add 2 points instead. round of the game. Any strategy is stronger than two other strategies, and weaker than two other ones. 5. The first player, who gets 5 points, wins. An appropriately chosen strategy could provide a +2 or even a +5 bonus to a gaming roll: VARIANT SCORE LIMIT d20 + Ability mod.1+ Prof. bonus + Strategy bonus To quicken the game you could reduce the score limit from 5 to 3 points. Keep in mind that this also increases the randomness of the final result.

MULTI-PLAYER GAMES The same rules could be applied to games played by more than two people. In that case, the strategy bonus is a sum of all bonuses over opponents’ strategies. If a couple of characters rolled the same highest value, each of them gets appropriate points. If more than one character reaches the score of 5 simultaneously, the game might result in a draw. Alternatively, these characters Samplecould file play one more round to determine the winner.

CHEATING The character might try to cheat, performing a Dexter- ity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by an opponent’s Interrelation between gaming strategies Wisdom (Perception) check. On a successful check, the character gains advantage on the next gaming roll. If his check is twice as low as an opponent’s Wisdom (Percep- STRATEGY BONUSES tion) check, his cheating is revealed. The DM determines A B C D E consequences and penalties of the revealed cheating, de- A — A+5 A+2 D+2 E+5 pending on the in-game circumstances. B A+5 — B+5 B+2 E+2 The second and following attempts of cheating by the C A+2 B+5 — C+5 C+2 same player will have disadvantage. D D+2 B+2 C+5 — D+5 E E+5 E+2 C+2 D+5 — HELPING AND DISTRACTING

RANDOM GAMING STRATEGY FOR THE NPCS Depending on the type of a game, the character’s friends might try to help him or her in some way, or distract the d10 1–2 3–4 5–6 7–8 9–0 opponent, providing advantage or disadvantage accord- Gaming Strategy A B C D E ingly. The DM should decide what check or contest is 1The ability used for the most of games is Intelligence. appropriate, based on the given description of the action.

GAMING &GAMBLING 2 Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. Gaming & Gambling EXAMPLES

TWO-PLAYER GAME OF CHESS FOUR-PLAYER GAME OF DICE

The cunning halfling thief Garret Tealeaf plays against Goblin boss Gor-Thak plays dice with his minions. the mighty dragon Decahedrus to save his life after the Frankly, he is the only one here who is proficient (+2) in thief was caught right in the dragon’s lair. this game. The score limit is set to 3 points. Garret’s Intelligence score is 15 (+2), but he is not pro- ficient in chess. Decahedrus’ Intelligence score is 16 (+3), Below you see that Gor-Thak’s and Bhar’s strategy D and he is proficient in chess (+6), to the total of +9. gives them a +5 bonus over Krag’s strategy E. Grook’s is lucky enough to choose the strategy C, achieving a dou- ROUND 1 ble +5 bonus over Gor-Thak and Bhar, and a +2 bonus Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result over Krag, to the total of +12! Garret: 0 C +2 2+2+2 6 ROUND 1 Decahedrus: 0 E 0 8+9+0 17 (+2) Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result Gor-Thak: 0 D +5 20+2+5 27 (+1) ROUND 2 Krag: 0 E 0 6+0+0 6 Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result Grook: 0 C +12 3+0+12 15 Garret: 0 B 0 14+2+0 16 Bhar: 0 D +5 15+0+5 20 Decahedrus: 2 A +5 6+9+5 20 (+1) In the second round Gor-Thak gets a tripple +2 bonus, as everyone else chose the strategy E. ROUND 3 ROUND 2 Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result Garret: 0 B +2 17+2+2 21 (+1) Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result Decahedrus: 3 D 0 5+9+0 14 Gor-Thak: 1 C +6 19+2+6 27 (+1) Krag: 0 E 0 3+0+0 3 Grook: 0 E 0 18+0+0 18 ROUND 4 Bhar: 0 E 0 11+0+0 11 Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result As Krag rolled at least twice as high as any of his op- Garret: 1 A +2 18+2+2 22 (+2) Sampleponents, file he wins 2 points for the 3rd round. Decahedrus: 3 C 0 2+9+0 11 ROUND 3 ROUND 5 Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result Gor-Thak: 2 B +2 8+2+2 12 Garret: 3 E +5 15+2+5 22 (+1) Krag: 0 D +7 17+0+7 24 (+2) Decahedrus: 3 A 0 11+9+0 20 Grook: 0 A +5 3+0+5 8 Bhar: 0 E +7 4+0+7 11

ROUND 6 Both Gor-Thak and Grook got a double +2 bonus over their opponents. Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result Garret: 4 D 0 8+2+0 10 ROUND 4 Decahedrus: 3 D 0 6+9+0 15 (+1) Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result In despair Garret tries to cheat (Dexterity (Sleight of Gor-Thak: 2 C +4 12+2+4 18 (+1) Hand) vs. dragon’s Wisdom (Perception)), successfully Krag: 2 E 0 10+0+0 10 stealing one of the figures from the board, getting advan- Grook: 0 C +4 8+0+4 12 tage on his next gaming roll. Rolling 20 he wins the game! Bhar: 0 E 0 11+0+0 11

ROUND 7 In the end Gor-Thak wins the game, grabbing the last of his minions’ possessions. Participant Strategy Bonus Roll Result Garret: 4 E — 20+2+0 22 (+1) Decahedrus: 4 C +2 10+9+2 21

EXAMPLES 3 Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. Gaming & Gambling