Compulsive Gambling... Deadly?

[PseudoFenton]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

If you restrict yourself rigidly to never using modifiers higher than +10 or lower than -10, then you can't give good answers to really extreme questions.

True, although the usual trick to get out of this is multiple independent modifiers that stack. Combat can be penalised by poor lighting, uneven terrain, unideal stances, improvised weapons, and attempting to pull off more than one untrained stunt at the same time - resulting in penalties far exceeding -10 due to them all stacking.

So nothing stops you saying that a bet that risks your life is a +10 bonus to resist, and a bet with little or nothing of value being won also gives a +10. Any bet which you can assess the odds of (with a gambling or statistics roll no doubt) will grant bonuses or penalties based on your odds of success. While bets offered suspiciously out of the blue (ie not in a gambling area or on a normal gambling activity) is a +2, with a further +3 if you don't even know the person. With perhaps up to a further +5 if you've already performed a lot of gambling today (so you've had your fix or have become burnt out).

So using this method, a bet from a stranger (+3) who has just walked up to you on the street (+2), after you've already had a day of playing poker (+5), offers to bet all of your worldly possessions (+10) against a penny (+10) with the winner determined by who doesn't die (+10) whilst playing Russian roulette with five bullets (+10) - so requires a roll against your Compulsive Gambling with a +50 bonus. Safe to say you succeed unless you wish to engage in said bet for RP purposes (which really ought to award character points in this case, should you survive).

[Faolyn]

Just to add to what everyone else is saying, even most magic (other than the really powerful stuff, like Charm) can't make a character do something suicidal, so unless the character also has On The Edge or Depression, or lives in a world where resurrection magic or tech is easy to come by, or has a really good reason to believe he would win (or an appropriate Delusion), a roll shouldn't even be necessary--the character will just say no.

That being said, if the character has Super or Ridiculous Luck, or something similar (a god that answers to his every whim), or maybe Compulsive Gambling or Overconfidence at 6, I might make the player make roll anyway, perhaps with a bonus.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Faolyn

Just to add to what everyone else is saying, even most magic (other than the really powerful stuff, like Charm) can't make a character do something suicidal, so unless the character also has On The Edge or Depression, or lives in a world where resurrection magic or tech is easy to come by, or has a really good reason to believe he would win (or an appropriate Delusion), a roll shouldn't even be necessary--the character will just say no.

That being said, if the character has Super or Ridiculous Luck, or something similar (a god that answers to his every whim), or maybe Compulsive Gambling or Overconfidence at 6, I might make the player make roll anyway, perhaps with a bonus.

Russian Roulette is a better than 50-50 proposition if the other guy goes first so the modifier should be based on three criteria, the extreme nature of the stakes if you lose, his confidence in the honesty of the player when it comes to the game and whether you even want the "prize" if you win.

Russian Roulette is a pretty reasonable proposition if the two participants are actually out to kill each other anyway. A proposition of Russian Roulette from a total stranger you don't even want dead, with no reason to think you'll die anyway if you refuse would have such cumulative modifiers that success would be guaranteed in resisting the compulsion for even the most hard core compulsive unless the pot was sweetened with say winning a vast fortune if your opponent dies.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

If you restrict yourself rigidly to never using modifiers higher than +10 or lower than -10, then you can't give good answers to really extreme questions.

The next step after -10/+10 is "Don't even bother rolling". Self Control is either 6, 9, 12, or 15. More than -10 on any but the last is meaningless. +10 means that you only fail on a 17 or 18, regardless of your SC.