Gambling in Bulldogs!
Yesterday was the second Bulldogs! game for my gaming group. So far, we’re having a blast! Two of my players wanted to do some gambling while at a pleasure palace planet—you know the type, if you want it, we got it type of place. Unfortunately, only one of the players actually had the gambling skill!
So to accommodate the player with no gambling skill, I broke the whole thing into a social conflict!
Gambling 101
As a social conflict, there are more things that can be done besides gambling rolls. Just like any social conflict, manoeuvres, attacks, defenses, and blocks are all options for you. Almost all social skills can be used, but take great care in allowing contacting, leadership, and trading.
Setting the Stakes
The first thing you always do when gambling is setting the stakes. From my reading of the rules, if the stakes are equal to your resources, you are gambling for a resources aspect, but if it’s greater than your resources, you’re gambling to raise your resources.
So you set the stakes for the pot. The stakes also serve as the difficulty of any navel-gazing manoeuvres. Why is this you ask? Simple. The higher the stakes, the more unnerved you’re going to be, and the more others will be scrutinizing what you do.
Assemble the Players
Now that you have the stakes set, it’s time to assemble the other players. To keep things easy, just use the minion rules found on pages 78-79 (for those of you who don’t have Bulldogs! yet, here are the full minion rules).
Once you have the number and type of players, don’t forget to choose their species! This not only gives some colour to the table, but also gives you RP cues on how to play them. Heck, to make things interesting, give each one a species aspect that can be invoked/compelled during the game!
Play the Game!
Now that everyone is assembled, it’s time to gamble! From here on out, treat it as any other social conflict. Gambling, intimidation, and even resolve can be used to inflict stress. Most of the other skills can be used for manoeuvres and blocks.
Each time around the gaming table (IRL) is akin to one time around the (gambling) table. Each time one of the minions are taken out, they are removed from the game. Player characters can take consequences to stay in the game. They should be related to luck, finances, or their frayed nerves. Really, just as long as it makes sense for a gambling-related consequence.
Taken Out
As has been stated before, once taken out, an NPC is just out of the running. Per the minion rules, once enough of them are removed, the GM is rolling at a lower bonus. For PCs, if the stakes are equal to their resources, they get a negative resources aspect. If the stakes are above their resources, their resources is decreased by 1.
That’s It!
So that is how I winged a full-on gambling session for two PCs. What do y’all think?
