Friday, January 18, 2019

How Do Wizards Gamble?

Y'know what I really like in my city supplements? Terse evocative mini-dungeons, 10-15 rooms or so. Modular things that you can use for whatever reason suits your blackened little dungeon master heart. 3's a good number of dungeons in a city. Or one big one.

Le Restaurant Tranquille is a good high level mini-dungeon*. Ergo, the next two should be lower level things (1-3 for low or 4-7 for mid). What's a versatile dangerous place that we can adapt to be far more dungeon-y than such a place in a sane locale would be? How about a casino? What do horrible corrupt wizards use a casino to gamble on?

I'll tell you what: anything they want. Anything.


"Oh what a shame, it appears you've run out of years, Mister Smith. Goodbye!"
*I wrote this weeks ago, and since then LRT went from having, like, 15 rooms to having 50. So.... Crap.

Let's baseline assume that any speculative currency from that d100 list (see link) can be gambled on, up to and including Secrets, Memories, Years of Good Health, Alliances, Languages Known, Firstborn Children, Awkward Conversations, Relatives, Brains In Jars, etc. etc. etc.

Let's assume Spellgold can also be gambled on (also see link), potentially allowing a lucky lowly cretin to double or nothing up to a level 9 spell.

That leaves a few questions.

Who're the dealers? Who's the House?
What do sick and twisted minds gamble on?
And how do we leverage these to dungeon-ify our casino?

I give this transaction 2/10. Not enough child sacrifices.

Saint Manti's

(The Manticore)


The 14 5/8th's Street Gang doesn't allow other gangs into their speakeasies, so if a criminal wants to gamble their earnings, they need to head to Saint Manti's, also known as The Manticore. It is a den of blasphemy, depravity, and opportunity. Anything can be yours at Saint Manti's, provided you're willing to gamble it away.

"Oracles, Prophets, and Cheaters will be fed to The Manticore"
- St. Manti's Management

That doesn't stop people from trying, of course.

Manticore Idea Dump

- Saint Manti's was the very last church in Wizard City. They couldn't afford the rent. Every last thing in the church (including the congregation) was repossessed by the new management.

- New Management being a three-headed giant, a very drunk devil, and the most boring, ruthless, and deadly accountant to ever walk the earth.

- Smal, Mal, and Al occupy the same body of broad and tall proportions. Smal sees and hears only the past. Mal experiences the present just as you and I. Al can only witness the future. All three of them are very very confused. They deal with cheaters and oracles.

- The Master of Games is drunk. Also he's the devil. Or one of them, anyway. Use either title. There's a betting pool a hundred years in the making to guess the devil's true name. You too can buy in, if you risk your soul. Pot's up to forty-two souls!

- Dublina Cors is the most boring and dangerous money changer you'll ever meet. She looks and talks like a long-nailed thumb, but there's no currency she can't convert. Has a master's degree in transmutation, but couldn't get a job after graduation for health reasons. Took the job after selling her soul to pay for student loans.

- Patrons play dice on the altar. Tell dirty jokes in the choir. Burn cheap incense in dirty old shoes and swing them about like censers. The nave is a gambling den. The narthex has cashiers.

- "The Manticore" is, in fact, the last remaining statue of St. Manti, vandalized and dressed up to give him all the proper appendages of the monstrous beast. St. Manti had a very stern wrinkly old man face, so it lends well to the new look. Known for his grim rebukes of liars and cheats, the statue still has the power to discern the untruthful - his open mouth bites down on swindlers. The Master of Games enjoys cooking and eating the severed hands.

- Currencies and betting varies wildly from day to day. Roll a few times to see the top three currencies presently being used, and which games are being played. Do this every time you come back. For example:

Today, people are betting: Secrets, Years of Bad Health, Personal Freedoms, Screaming Books, and Patents.

By betting on: Hangman, Mo-RON pit fights, City Council Meetings, Dice With Death, and "Blackjack!".

- Integrated Dealer/Betting Currency/Game Type/Patron/Thing Happening table. Ex:

An octopus is taking bets of...
Ironically cursed objects, on...
Interns remembering and performing lines of a saucy play, with...
That is definitely three children in a trench coat, and...
Nobody understands anything that's happening, but they're rolling with it.

- Infinity Hotel tie-in

- Random encounter generator based off of Craps, rolled by players.

- Llamas.

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