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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Nov 2014 : 17:54:07
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Hi all. So, I recently got into a hypothetical discussion with myself that revolved around a no-limit, hugely high stakes casino/set of card games set in a drow city. The specifics of why and where don't really matter (1360's, 2e, Eryndlyn/Ched Nasad/Sshamath, if you're really curious), nor does the game. What I'm interested in is what people would be wagering.
Gold and gems are obvious, but really, once you get to a certain quantity, they become boring. So I'm looking for other things people could wager. The table would have more races than just the drow, too; I'm thinking at least the duergar and svirfneblin, and possibly some of the more exotic races like mind flayers or maybe a dao.
I've come up with some ideas: duergar weapon shipments, lizard or rothe breeding stock, local real estate like warehouses, the ever-popular slaves, and magical writings (spell books, or just very rare books of theory). But it seemed like such a rich and varied topic that I wanted to open it to the assorted CK brain trust.
So, if you were populating a gaming table with the rich and the ruthless, a la Casino Royale or Courtship of Princess Leia, who would you have, and what would they be wagering?
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Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
Edited by - Hoondatha on 24 Nov 2014 17:59:25
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4685 Posts |
Posted - 24 Nov 2014 : 19:08:36
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| Well one could wager their life or the life of another. There might also be offers of personal service. Secret information like location of a portal, activation words for magical items. These things though clearly can not be revealed in advance (clearly a penalty would need to be applied if a claimed bet is less then claimed). |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 24 Nov 2014 : 20:44:19
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Prized weapons/magical items/art
Gourmet cuisine
Patrol service/Construction services/Magical services/Spy service/Sexual favors/etc., with a renowned specialist/slave/etc.
Land rights/deeds/titles
Renegotiating/transferring pre-negotiated duties and responsibilities
Transferring the remaining contracted services of a fiend/demon |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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SaMoCon
Senior Scribe
USA
403 Posts |
Posted - 24 Nov 2014 : 21:04:38
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The desperate and small-time would be what shows up around the table for the "safe" version of gambling compared to the cut-throat maneuvering in politics and warfare that the big shots actually gamble their holdings, their lives, and their continued family bloodlines on every day. A game for them would be... trite in comparison. Gambling for high rollers is about the thrill of risk for otherwise safe and secure lives. The rich and powerful of drow cities are surrounded by risk with the threat of death even coming from within one's own family.
So what would show up? Trade merchants who have come up short in their cargo returning a smaller value than what was anticipated, contracted caravaners who need money to replace lost or stolen cargo before delivery (usually under pain of forfeiture in a drow city!), thieves looking to pawn stolen wares into better assets, fugitives laundering valuable but identifiable items into anonymous commodities for their escape, bottom-feeder nobility broken of any aspiration to climb the ranks, disenfranchised faction leaders looking to increase their cause's treasury, spies paying attention to the riff-raft for the likeliest candidates to question or turn, and the down & outs chasing the illusion of "becoming rich." That's quite a motley crew of motivations that are not limited to drow but open to any race that may wander in under such pretenses (except the bottom-feeder nobility as that must be drow).
The wealth coming in across the table is varied accordingly. The merchants will be trading in commodities they didn't/couldn't sell plus the shortfall in currency in an attempt to turn a profit. Those unfortunate caravaners have their remaining cargo plus personal assets to wager as they usually have nothing left to lose - win it all back or be enslaved/die/die horribly. Thieves and fugitives have portable trinkets, valuables, and art objects certain to fetch good prices but indicative of the actions for which they are hunted. Lesser nobles have lesser value trinkets, valuables, and art objects as the greater value items are likely gone from prior calamities/indiscretions and any items of true worth would be larger and more difficult to hide (furniture, transport, slaves). Down & outs would have any meager earnings plus the possibility of found items from any picking & scratching whether that is searching the refuse of nobility (i.e., old flatware thrown out) or harvesting a chance find in the caverns (i.e., a rare patch of exotic mushrooms or valuable chunk of geode crystal). Rebels and rabble-rousers sometimes have funding from powerful interests that seek to use them as cat's paws in their own plans and may have some good items. Spies have easily traded goods and illicit items sure to bring a pretty penny to help get close to marks and sway their thinking.
Unless you were going the route of "what if" where the drow behave more like the Kardashians and the Hiltons, Mind Flayers are analogous to O.G. pimp daddies, magical portals whisk in bearded wizards, holy-roller clergy with young acolytes in attendance are escorted to the tables, and the other underdark races are caricatures of nationalities lampooned in Casino Royale (the 1967 film). I'm assuming even with this set up you want realistic wagers of things more valuable than gold and polished crystals. Contracts for trade routes, claims on potable water sources, supplies of renewable food, and control of a source of ventilation all represent items of vital interest to survival underground (air, water, staple food, and variation to supplement staple food). Beyond that are artifacts kept from the Fall, access to political prisoners, favors of devils/demons, specialty-trained slaves (sages/scholars/professionals/craftsmen), participation in certain ceremonies, and debt markers for favors enforced by a powerful third party. |
Make the best use of the system that's there, then modify the mechanics that don't allow you to have the fun you are looking for. |
Edited by - SaMoCon on 24 Nov 2014 21:07:30 |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2014 : 18:09:30
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Those are some good ideas, everyone.
My thoughts behind this game is that drow are known to love spectacle. Wild parties are a favored entertainment, and a lot of their games have a very high stakes and a cruel twist. There's that game of "trust," with two drow levitating over an abyss, for instance.
So it seems logical to me that at least among some drow high stakes card games would be of interest. It's a chance to dress up and be seen, and, much like Siddhartha, gamble huge amounts to show everyone else that you can. Obviously, wealth and slaves would likely be the main wagers, but being the drow, I figured there'd be plenty of other creative ideas. I was curious what the rest of the Keep could come up with. |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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jerrod
Learned Scribe
157 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2014 : 13:29:58
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| Drow are known to use gems,scrolls,magic items slaves,trapped souls,and adamatine coins. Ilithids trade in scrolls,psionic items,slaves,magic items,jellied eye-balls...just to name some basic currency |
I haven't been here in years but I used to be DARKFLAME MILLITHOR(DROW ARCHMAGE of wildmagic |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2014 : 15:25:57
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Aside from normal items, I do like souls trapped in gems. Another option would be favored servants, slaves, warriors, etc trapped bodily and shrunk down in a small glass bubble, gem, bottle etc. Break the item they return to size etc.
Don't forget bloodsports. Fighting pits, arenas, or whatever you want to call them. I'd think those would go hand in hand with any drinking pit. |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2014 : 16:01:05
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I'd forgotten about the jellied eyeballs part of illithid currency. Now that's money that would have a rather hefty exchange rate penalty...  |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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High stakes game in a drow city
