Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jun 17, 2005 9:15:19	My PCs have just entered into a contract as free gladiator for a Noble House. They're entering the lists to investigate a series of mysterious deaths that have been plaguing the arena. Their patrons House has been especially hard hit. Now as expected the PCs have an interest in betting on themsleves. No one in the arena knows what they're capable of so they think they should be getting some decent odds at first. Not unreasonable. Now should they be allowed to get rich? They recently came into some money so they have something to bet with, but even with the Pelfre taking 10% and the Templars taking 30% and their Patron earning 50% of their take that'll leave them with a 30% take on their bets. I'm just wondering if I should put a limit on how much they can bet, and what sort of odds should be offered. How have the rest of you dealt with this sort of thing?
#2 gilliard_derosan Jun 17, 2005 11:42:52	My PCs have just entered into a contract as free gladiator for a Noble House. They're entering the lists to investigate a series of mysterious deaths that have been plaguing the arena. Their patrons House has been especially hard hit. Now as expected the PCs have an interest in betting on themsleves. No one in the arena knows what they're capable of so they think they should be getting some decent odds at first. Not unreasonable. Now should they be allowed to get rich? They recently came into some money so they have something to bet with, but even with the Pelfre taking 10% and the Templars taking 30% and their Patron earning 50% of their take that'll leave them with a 30% take on their bets. Am I missing something? 100% -10%-30%-50% only leaves 10%... I'm just wondering if I should put a limit on how much they can bet, and what sort of odds should be offered. How have the rest of you dealt with this sort of thing? I haven't handled it in my games, but I have played in some... Basically do like horse racing style odds. Start out with like 2-1.. so if they bet 10, they profit 20 on their bet, for a total of 30 for the payout. Well known gladiators who are successful might eventyally get down to 3/5, or even 1/2, so that a 10cp bet returns 16 or 15 total, respectively. This is assuming you let them bet on themselves, which I wouldn't, since they could always conspore to "throw" the bets. As for betting on NPCs (this can go for players as well). Simple, Roll 3d6 to get a total. If they are "favored" and have low odds, you divide this number by 10, or list it as such 3/10 down to 18/10 (or 9/5 as the case may be) The other end of the scale, the underdogs and longshots could have straight odds 3/1 up to 18/1 You could even work their way down the scale. Very first match you give them straight odds. You roll 8, so you give them 8/1 odds. They bet 9cp, their profit is 72cp plus their 9cp bet back for a total of 81cp back if they win. Now, they are going to start getting lower odds. So you roll again. Say you roll a 3. This time you can give 3/1 odds. Or, of you roll higher than the original 8, say 13, you can give them 13/2 odds. On 3/1, if they bet 7cp, their profit for winning would be 21. If they bet 7cp on the 13/2 odds, profit would be 45.5cp Next time you roll a 10, and so decide to give them 10/3. You can work your way up the second bracket as they continue to win (lowering their odds), and if they lose, you can increase the odds again. If they go to a new town where there is a favored gladiator already, then they might get slightly better odds here, even if they are the known champion of "whatevercity" Now, another thing for betting on themselves. Maybe the merchants handling the bets aren't willing to take much money from them, since they are not established in the betting circles. Or maybe, depending on the wealth of the city/town or whatnot, they have a hard cap for everyone, say no more than 1000cp on any given bet, unless you are a Noble, Templar, the SK, or members of one of the merchant houses or the like. Smaller towns may have smaller caps, and the richer towns may have higher caps. Or, maybe you can find a noble or member of the merchant who are willing to place the bet for you, in exchange for 10-30% of the profits. You can go any number of directions with this.
#3 zombiegleemax Jun 17, 2005 13:16:25	How did the romans wager on gladitoral events?
#4 kalthandrix Jun 17, 2005 13:57:49	How did the romans wager on gladitoral events? I think that most of it was individual wagers, but they also had people that were in the business. It would have been simular to todays betting- you give the up-front wager and get a marker you could use to collect if you won. I read something about this years ago when doing a report on the roman empire, but I do not know IIRC.
#5 jon_oracle_of_athas Jun 18, 2005 10:52:39	Am I missing something? 100% -10%-30%-50% only leaves 10%... You read him wrong. The Pelfre takes 10%. The templars take 30%. That leaves 60%. The PCs' patron takes half of the remaining 60%, leaving 30% of the profits for the PCs.
#6 kalthandrix Jun 18, 2005 11:06:24	You read him wrong. The Pelfre takes 10%. The templars take 30%. That leaves 60%. The PCs' patron takes half of the remaining 60%, leaving 30% of the profits for the PCs. That is still a heavy price to pay- but in Athas, I think it would be perfect. The PC's get some xp and a little cash, but not too much so having a group become full-time gladiators is such a swell idea.
#7 ruhl-than_sage Jun 18, 2005 11:43:55	That is still a heavy price to pay- but in Athas, I think it would be perfect. The PC's get some xp and a little cash, but not too much so having a group become full-time gladiators is such a swell idea. They could always lose the bet or even die. Even with odds that payout well if they win I don't think that it's such a swell idea. Plus you can throw in assassins hired by rivals and other sorts of intrigue.