So I've been working up a little scheme for my PC's. Since they're such a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and I'm such a gambling man, I've thought about putting the two together and giving them a chance to get there hands on some serious loot, or lose it all of course. I think Sabaac is perfect for this scenario but I don't want the card play to overshadow the dice mechanic. A little summary of the Sabaac rules is there are two pots the Sabaac pot and the Main pot. Intially everyone antes into the Sabaac pot and the Main pot after which two cards are dealt and another phase of betting begins. Before betting a player may draw/dismiss a card, or place a card face up in their disruptor field. The Sabaac pot in now closed and all future bets go in to the Main pot. After each round of betting, there is a chance for a "Sabaac Shift" to occur where the values of all cards not in a disruptor field are changed. After 4 rounds of betting (the building phase) the pot can be called. Winning conditions are having the total value of the cards in your hand equal 23 or -23 which is known as a "pure Sabaac" which wins both the Main pot and the Sabaac pot, or with an "Idiots Array" which is having the "idiot" card (value of zero) a 2 of any suit and a 3 of any suit (making it 023). The "Idiots Array" trumps the "Pure Sabaac" and also wins both pots. If no one has a Pure Sabaac or an Idiots Array, the player with the hand closest to 23 or -23 wins the main pot and game play continues. So my idea so far is this:

1) Build a Sabaac deck with two standard poker decks (jokers removed) making for a total of 104 cards, then remove 32 cards at random and place 4 jokers back in to the deck (the "idiot" cards) for a total of 76. With spades and clubs as negative values, and diamonds and hearts as positive values, and jokers being zero.

2) Make the buy in for the Sabaac pot their most valuable asset (their ship).

3) Have the GM (me) roll a Despair dice after each round of betting with Despair meaning a "Sabaac shift" occurs and they draw new cards from the deck for all cards not in the disruptor field.

4) Have them play against a Hutt crime boss, a Black Sun Vigo, and a couple Dandy gamblers, with opposed Charm, Deceit, maybe even intimidation checks when the PC's try to raise/bluff against the other players.

5) The PC's may spend Destiny points to draw new cards or perhaps even use them to cheat (a couple idiot cards up their sleeves with appropriate stealth checks i.e.)

6) Force sensitive players may use the force die to mind trick opponents to believe the card values are different than they really are. ( i.e. the two light points roll would Add two points to the "perceived" value of any card, dark side rolls would Subtract from it)

7) Figure out what to do if my PC's go in to their normal murderous "Terms of En-rampage-ment" mode, and try to blast there way out with the money.

If anyone has actually run a Sabaac game, I'd be very interested to hear how it was done. All advice is welcome. Thanks!

Well, i certainly wouldn't require them to pony up their ship if you haven't run these rules before. Until you've played with them, you don't know if they're any good. It seems fairly okay at first glance, but I can't really judge.

It does seem like it would take a long time, so you need to make sure your players like the idea. Games-within-games can be tricky. Some people like them, some people want to just roll a Gambling check and move on.

There are rules for Sabaacc in "Under a Black Sun," a free adventure HERE. It's a bit faster, and I would say it represents several rounds of gambling at least for a single roll. There are rules for other games in some of the other books. I want to say Fly Casual, seeing as it has the Gambler spec.

Oh wow, that's a great link, thanks! I'll definitely keep that in mind. Also they stole their current ship, I'm sure they'd just steal another one, pretty sure I even have an adventure book for it.

I would setup some different table amounts (100s, 1,000s, 10,000s) to represent skill and risk for the PCs because unless this is a plotted game, the PCs probably won't want to risk much on a card game.

That's a great idea, thanks Oden! Maybe start out no stakes while in hyperspace en route, flesh out the system more, then work their way up when its not just a half brained pursuit. I figured, generally, the PC's would have the advantage no matter what because of destiny points, even with the Sabaac shift. My main concern is when they get to the tables on Nal Hutta, and I throw out the Dandy Gamblers and their "All the Luck in the Galaxy" ability, where two force points is equivalent to a despair. Too many Sabaac shifts could easily ruin the game and alienate the crew.

There are several sabaac deck pdf/printable props on tinternet, they use a ton of ink (natch) but the effort is worth it. I made the card back with MS Publisher, downloaded an aurabesh font. It says on the back of each card - Souvenir of Cloud City Casino Bespin. I wouldn't know how to use a physical deck along with the Destiny points... maybe use a destiny point to change a low card for a high one or make an opponent switch a high scoring card for a low one etc.

Har! Souvenir of Cloud City Casino Bespin, that's hilarious! I'd feel like Lando Calrissian with a Colt-45, or a DL-44-45 in the Star Wars cannon. I'll have to look that up, I work in an office so I can get The Man to spot me the ink.

After a LOT of searching on USB memory sticks I eventually found the pdf... PM me your email and I'll send it to you. I couldn't find the original link or I'd have posted it....

1 or 2 of the images are slightly off centre or the corner numbers, but tbh the whole set looks pretty neat