This week's theme was originally suggested to be Poker, but unfortunately that seems too specific. So instead, these encounters will focus on a more general Gambling theme. This includes such things as a tense social encounter for a game of poker, a fight with effects determined by astral gambling, and an Oogie Boogie's Casino style fight in an arena filled with randomized traps. I won't doubt for a second that this is the most complicated series of encounters I'll be doing for a while.
Encounter 1: Tells
Difficulty: Deadly for level 9Monster Roster: 1 High Elf Mage, 4 High Elf Knights, 3 High Elf Commoners, 1 Bugbear Chief, 1 Werewolf, 1 Orog
In this encounter, the players are involved in a gambling game with an Elven mage, perhaps in the Feywild. The players want something from the mage, who is likely nobility, and have thus decided to join in a gambling game akin to poker in order to see if they can win it from the mage. In this case, we will be making the desired reward a kidnapped commoner from the Material World, who has been made a slave of the Elven mage; and the players have another NPC with them, a relative of the kidnapping victim who the Elven mage would appreciate being able to enslave. Neither NPC has been bet at the moment.
At the start of the match, the Elven mage is playing with the Bugbear Chief, Werewolf, and Orog. When the players first arrive, they are all taking a short break for food and drink before they return to their game. Every player in the game wants something from someone, and the players can learn this through varying skill checks. Hence, I present the Social Stat Block, a stat block listing the character traits, flaws, and goals of the various players as well as how high of a Persuasion or Deception check is required to convince them of something, and how high of an Intimidation check is required to cow them into submission.
Oklin Knuckles, Bugbear Chieftain
Appearance: Nervously twitches
Trait: Loud and nervous
Quirk: Visibly shakes and furrows his brow when thinking too hard
Ideal: Domination
Flaw: Easily angered
Goals: Win money from Markwin, assassinate Markwin
Gold: 39
P. Perception: 13
Insight:13
Persuasion DC: 13
Intimidation DC:18
Bludor Gutrender, Orog Mercenary
Appearance: Many traditional tattoos
Trait: Relaxed
Quirk: Eats when he's stressed
Ideal: Calm
Flaw: Touchy about being kicked out of his tribe
Goals: Make some money, look for a wealthy employer
Gold: 400
P. Perception: 12
Insight: 12
Persuasion DC: 12
Intimidation DC:17
Jacques de Marlouis, Werewolf
Appearance: Rugged, side-burned; like a skinny, young Hugh Jackman
Trait: Friendly
Quirk: Gets a crick in his neck when annoyed or losing
Ideal: Hedonism
Flaw: 50% chance to go into a Rage (as Lvl 1 Barbarian) and take on Hybrid form when he runs out of money. Targets whoever he feels was responsible for his loss, such as a cheater.
Goals: Have some fun, make some money, go home
Gold: 139
P. Perception: 17
P. Insight: 11
Persuasion DC: 14
Intimidation DC: 19
Markwin Rootfire, Elven Mage
Appearance: Two different eye colors
Trait: Creepily friendly
Quirk: Smiles when he's confused or winning
Ideal: Beauty
Flaw: Believes all things and people to be property of someone else; touchy about his scar
Goals: To keep the NPC slave, and enslave the players and their NPC companion
Gold: 356
P. Perception: 15
P. Insight: 15
Persuasion DC:15
Intimidation DC: 20
If your players roleplay particularly well and give a compelling argument or act behind their Charisma checks, give Advantage to the Charisma skill roll; if a player says something which specifically backfires or would somehow anger the person they are speaking to, give them Disadvantage.
The game is played abstractly; the game begins with each player rolling 1d20 against the NPC players. Higher results reflect better opening hands; lower results reflect worse opening hands. A maximum of 6 players are allowed into the game at any one time.
From here, treat the game as a combat round. Initiative doesn't much matter; but do keep in mind that one round of the gambling game takes 18 seconds, or about 3 combat rounds, so if one of your players decides to start sneaking around elsewhere, they can take 3 turns for every round of gambling.
Players can bet as much of their gold as they like; much like poker, each player must match or exceed the lowest bet among all players. Also like poker, a player can choose to opt out of betting a higher amount if they believe they can't win, at the cost of giving up what they bet so far.
A player can use a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to cheat, increasing their initial roll result by 2 each time they succeed at doing so. The roll is made against the other gamblers passive Perception scores, and failure will often result in the cheater being accused of such, in which case the Knights in the room will kick the player out of the game. On a natural 20, the player can increase their own roll result by 4, and decrease the roll result of one of their neighbors by 2.
At the end of a round, once all players have made their bets, each player rolls 1d20, adding their initial roll result as a modifier. Whoever gets the highest roll wins the pot.
The ultimate goal of the encounter is to find a way to retrieve the enslaved NPC without starting a fight. The most obvious solution is to get Markwin to bet the slave, and then win the slave; however, since normal combat-style rounds are going on outside of the game (and the players around the table are liable to break out into violence with the right social maneuvering), there are a variety of other possible solutions, not least including Enchantment and Illusion magic.
Encounter 2: Devil's Hand
Difficulty: Hard for level 17Monster Roster: 1 Pit Fiend, 2 Vrocks
This encounter is a bit simpler, but does require that all players know how to play poker. The concept is simple: the players play poker against the DM, using chips of all the same value, with a total value of 20 chips. After each round of combat, the players play a round of poker; once the round is over, a round of combat is played. So on and so forth.
Each chip can be spent to add +1 to any roll, up to 3 chips per turn. When a player spends a chip, it automatically goes back into the pot.
At the end of the encounter, the player with the most chips receives a Rare magic item of their choice; the loser receives a Cursed magic item of the DM's choice. If the DM is the loser, then all players receive a Charm of their choice from the DMG, or may negotiate a new Charm with the DM. The winner still receives a Rare magic item of their choice. If the DM wins, then all players receive a Disease from the DMG.
Encounter 3: The House Always Wins
Difficulty: Deadly for Level 5Monster Roster: 1 Banshee, 3 Ghouls
Trap Roster: 3 Crossbow Traps, 1 Flame Pit, 1 Rotating Platform, 1 Flame Trap, 1 Pushing Trap
This encounter is the most traditional in this particular post, consisting only of a room with themed traps and random effects. This one in particular is directly ripped off from Oogie Boogie's lair in "The Nightmare before Christmas," because frankly it is the first thing I think of when I think of gambling based battlefields. The second thing I think of is the Casino Zone from Sonic 2, which I might make into a dungeon sometime.
The rotating platform takes up the center of the room. It is a 60 by 60 feet circle, with a 10 by 10 feet hole in the center. This leaves just 25 feet between the outer edge of the circle and the hole in the center. The platform is suspended over a pool of burning pitch, which deals 10d10 fire damage to anyone who falls into it and fails a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw; on a successful saving throw, they take half damage. Of course, they will also take this damage again for every round they spend in the fire, and the platform is raised 5 feet off of the ground, so anyone who falls down there is likely to die at some point or another without help. The platform rotates 90 degrees on initiative count 20, losing ties.
The three crossbow traps are arranged in a line at the northern edge of the platform. They will shoot on initiative count 20, losing the initiative tie to the rotating platform. The crossbow traps attack whoever is straight in front of them, and cannot turn to aim elsewhere. Each crossbow has a +5 bonus to hit, and a +2 bonus to damage rolls.
The flame trap is located at the western edge of the rotating platform, and forces all enemies in a 15 foot cone to make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d10 fire damage on a failed save and half damage on a successful save.
The pushing trap is located on the eastern edge of the rotating platform, and forces all enemies in a 10 by 10 feet area directly in front of the trap to make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, taking 2d10 bludgeoning damage and being pushed 20 feet on a failed save, and taking half damage while being pushed to the edge of the traps area on a successful saving throw. This trap rolls initiative normally, with no bonuses.
The Banshee's natural flying speed and incorporeal nature give it a serious advantage here, while its Horrifying Visage allows it to force the players into the path of various traps. Meanwhile, the Ghouls ability to paralyze players and drag them into the traps makes them much more powerful than they might be otherwise.
Conclusion
This was a fun one! I definitely need to clean up my design for social encounters, but hopefully I've given enough detail to make that first encounter workable. I hope you'll come back next Sunday for the next round of encounters! Please, feel free to suggest desired themes for new encounters in the comments below, and have a wonderful week!
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