Hey guys. I have a problem with my gamers currently attempting to get as much money as they can by giving all their money to the charmer/gambler and then have him gamble at a sabacc game.

My instincts tell me that there should be some kind of cap or way to judge how much they can bet and how much they will get back. What's to stop player from putting in 10,000 credits and then getting back 20,000 or even 100,000 due to buy in from other players in games like Sabacc or pazzak?

Is it in a casino? Because casinos get kind of testy when somebody starts losing them too much money.

Is it with hard-bitten criminal scum? Because hard-bitten criminal scum starts getting testy when somebody starts losing them to much money.

Get rich quick schemes -- the best way to counter them is have the consequences rear their ugly heads.

Or be just be plain mean and stack the odds in your/casino/opponent's favor. ...what happens behind a GM screen stays behind a GM screen.......

Have them invited to the high rollers lounge

Edit: High Rollers = High Stakes ie lots of increases and upgrades, perhaps the buy in is very large too. Then create a suitable table of Nemesis to compete against. Make a story out of it. Then out of session say "you have had your fun, I would like to tell a different story now if that's ok"

yes, I would do the High roller option or have it be a "fixed" game.... Most Casinos would use electronic Sabaac decks, so they would have the odds skewed in their favor.

A Private game could do the same with an electronic deck, Or cheating through cameras, Dummy players, Skulduggery (card swapping), Signals of by standers. There are many ways one could cheat... And if the players are savvy enough to do this themselves, Remember that casinos have people trained to watch for people trying to do this very same thing against them.

Hey guys. I have a problem with my gamers currently attempting to get as much money as they can by giving all their money to the charmer/gambler and then have him gamble at a sabacc game.

My instincts tell me that there should be some kind of cap or way to judge how much they can bet and how much they will get back. What's to stop player from putting in 10,000 credits and then getting back 20,000 or even 100,000 due to buy in from other players in games like Sabacc or pazzak?

What stops a player from throwing down that amount? simple, no one can counter it when the table is a small ante table. If these guys are playing 5-10 creds a game and the player slams down 2,000, the others are just going to fold... or decide that his cash is worth more than his life and just gank the PC and take it.

Have them invited to the high rollers lounge

Where they get rolled by Lando.

his cash is worth more than his life and just gank the PC and take it.

oh this as well, definitely this

Have them invited to the high rollers lounge

Where they get rolled by Lando.

I was about to say - if you're playing with those kinds of stakes, you aint playin' at the penny ante table. The competition is going to be the hardest of HARD CORE. Big money rollers, lots of attention (you best be playing straight) and some people who will take it . . . . poorly if they lose.

Sure you can win a ton of cash - but you need to make them work for it. Hard.

What stops a player from throwing down that amount? simple, no one can counter it when the table is a small ante table. If these guys are playing 5-10 creds a game and the player slams down 2,000, the others are just going to fold... or decide that his cash is worth more than his life and just gank the PC and take it.

"Did you see that idiot at table four flash that big roll of creds? Yeah, get Lefty and Moe and the boys down at the Broken Leg. There's 500 bucks in it for each of us when we roll this chump when he leaves!"

- or -

"Yeah, get Light Fingers Louie up here straight away. Tell him he gets 70% when he walks away with this guys wallet!"

- or -

"Hey, did you see that big roller in the Cloud Casino? Yeah, the gossip around town is that he and his friends have a big bounty on them from Zupa the Hutt. I'll bet he gives a nice finders fee to whoever turns them in"

If you don't want to go the high roller route, don't give them 100% wins all the time, give them 10% of their bet, or 15% and if they want higher stakes, raise the difficulty on them hard.

Tables have bet limits, they also have pay out limits.

High stakes games will have buy-ins, where you have to put large sums on deposit to play in winner takes all stuff.

Casinos keep cheater and ban lists and talk to each other.

Your dealer in big payouts should be putting up a legitimate challenge in an opposed roll.

Casinos are run by people that are notoriously sore losers.

The gambling rules in "Under a Black Sun" and "Suns of Fortune" were intended to be for occasional RP. If a character is making gambling a large part of their character, I would dispense with those rules and take any of the suggestions given above.

RP Karma, baby.

I wouldn't "fix the dice" so that their games are rigged -- that seems cruel and will earn you no points from your players. Speaking about my group only, I can say that they *hate* being "gamed" when it comes to established rules.

But that doesn't mean the universe stops turning when they win at dice.

Instead of fixing their game, I would provide other "solutions" to the problem of the house losing so much cash to a bunch of unknown upstarts. To that: who owns the casino? Whose money is being lost? Surely they're upset at so surprising and substantial a loss, and might want to seek other ways to "reclaim" their funds.

Every "win" is an opportunity for a GM to introduce complications. Think of it as a "tax" or a tithe to karma.

In other (non-Star Wars) games, I always keep track of the total assets of the players and look to find ways to redress the excess, mostly as a way to encourage prudency and a kind of real-life element to their achievements. Do the players tend to carry a lot of cash around with them? As in real life, they will likely become the target of theft. Do the players tend to strut about with flashy gear and ships? They are likely then to get noticed by the wrong sort of people who will seek to check their visibility. Do the players own substantial property or ships, and aren't taking appropriate steps to safeguard it? You can guess where this is going.

The other important thing to consider: why are they doing this? Are they just greedy players looking to have Scrooge McDuck levels of money or are you actually being too stingy with the payouts for their day to day activities? This might be a band-aid covering up a much bigger problem. Sure you could stop them here, but that doesn't address the (potential) underlying problem.

Also, if they want to take the game in that direction, living the high-life - let them. Let them wear the fancy suits and massive diamond rings. Let them get beyond the velvet ropes of Studio 54 to rub elbows with the rich and powerful. As a GM, you couldn't ask for a better gift to screw with your players! Big money comes with Big Problems and a creative GM could go to town with that story angle!

That's the point of The Gambler ... but the films weren't about Lando sitting around a table... and neither should an EOTE session.

Don't forget that:

The House will have top notch security to prevent slicing etc

The House ALWAYS wins

Page 151 of the Core rulebook

There's always someone who wants to 'win' big bucks by killing the gambler, rather than playing a game