I want my character to have a gambling problem, but am undecided on if i should make it an addiction from SR4A or Poor Behavior: Compulsive from RC.

I'd like to hear opinions.

Thanks Dumpshock!

A compulsion, for me, would mean acting on something present that provides a stimulus. "Hey guys, there's a card game going on. Tell Mr. J that I'm in the pisser and will catch up with you guys in 5." You do it because it's within reach.

An addiction, again for me, means something you actively seek out to engage in. You seek to put it in reach because there's a psychological or physical craving.

Though some might say that if you're gambling compulsively, you might have an addiction. I suppose it's just a matter of degrees and how you want to portray it in your story.

I did something similar, and I made it a Mania (essentially, an addiction to something nonphysical), modelled on Media Junky - for the mechanics side, I just had him spending a lot of time on "matrix gambling sites", generlly breaking even ... justified by having bought up a related knowledge skill ("Games of Chance", specialised in Card Games). I would then roleplay him as consistently making small bets (1-5¥) with other runners about various minor details ("four nuyen says the Johnson's 'friend' is a hardbody tryin' to look like an accountant or sommat", while on the way to a meet), etc.

Why not take both the Compulsion and the Addidction. To model a real hardcase, require both to be bought off at the same time. Ala in-patient rehab during an out of game downtime.

I wouldn't model gambling as an addiction, it fits better as a compulsion...
Also, a burnout addict end up dead, a burnout gambler end up broke.

I like all of this, except for having Card Games be your Game of Chance specialty is like having Torture be the specialty on your Etiquette skill.

Also, there are plenty of ways for a burnout gambler to end up dead. And plenty of plot hooks in that.

I don't think most GMs would be cool with you taking Addiction and Compulsion for the same thing. I realize there's a distinction, but there's also significant overlap. I mean, maybe like, Moderate addiction with Minor compulsion or something of that nature, but that would probably be better modeled by just taking a Severe case of either.

Hm. There's really not a lot of info on gambling in SR books, that I can remember...lots of stuff about BTLs, bunraku, novacoke, and other vices, but...I mean, imagine the sort of new ways of gambling they'd invent in the Sixth World.

Since it's bound to come up with the character, how do you handle gambling itself? Unless I'm missing something, there aren't actual rules for it...

To simulate rules you could say...use Logic + any salient knowledge skill (cards, bingo, black jack) vs. an opposed test by an NPC.

Or you could also simulate gambling in other ways. The rules for Russian Roulette are simple enough...

A simple system to cover a whole night of gambling could be: Losses = (2D6 - Hits[appropriate Skill]) * Stakes.

Maybe multiply the result by some factor for critical glitches and critical successes and throw in a +/- 2 to the 2D6 for particularly hard/easy opponents.

All depends on how detailed you wanna go.

Dakka, that is a beautiful, simple solution. I reserve the right to change my mind after trying it out, but so far it looks great!

If you play straight up...
You use [relevant knowledge skill] + Edge, even purely chance based games have some probability theory you can apply.
If you're not playing fair... Well, that's what palming is for.

Had a guy hustling his way into a mobster casino, he burnt alot of edge to walk out with a profit.
The notoriety he got for free.

It depends on how central it is to the plot of the mission. I've had games where it has been the central focus of a particular mission, and so we actually took a night and roleplayed over a game of poker. That story in particular was using a different rules set (it was more "Spy-centric"), but it could work for some games of Shadowrun.
You could also simply boil it down to a few dice rolls. Maybe add a character's Edge attribute to an appropriate knowledge skill as a dice pool bonus. I would probably use a simple Opposed Extended Test, with the winner being determined as either first to a certain total score, or maybe the person with the most hits after a certain number of rolls.
You could also make a hybrid of the two ideas. If you wanted to have a game where the team is infiltrating a casino (to get close to a target) or maybe a shady underground deal centered around a poker game. Do some roleplaying, play a few hands of cards (with some dice-rolls to augment the action) and go from there. If some of the characters are more skilled, you could give them bonuses for good dice rolls. For instance, a threshold 2 Gambling (or Card Games/Probability possibly even Statistics) allows the player to redraw a card for each net hit, or something like that. That could represent a character's ability to predict cards over several games (assuming you only play a hand or two and the characters would be playing more). Add on top of that a few Judge Intentions, Composure, Con, + Etiquette rolls to modify the pot/how people bet, and you can simulate a prolonged set of games.

Um ... no?

Card games, versus Dice games, versus Slots, versus Roulette, versus ... hmm, Pachinko would be especially appropriate for SE Asia.

No different than Pistols (Heavy), or Pistols (Revolver), IMO.

RAW, Gambling aka Ludomania is an Uncommon Mania (AU p. 164 Mania/Phobia Table)

Some games are simple luck (the big wheel, Slots, and other games with very little human element), you wager and hope I'd say Edge handles that well enough. Use an applicable Knowledge skill as a Teamwork Test, add hits to the Edge Test. Add up the 1's and subtract them from the Hits, 1's<Hits= loss of wager while Hits<1's= win, multiply the wager by the net hits.

Other games have a physical human element (Craps, Roulette, and similar), I'd say you get a choice of wager classes. Each class having a threshold and wager multiplier. High Risk (5, x10), Middle ground (2, x2), or Low Risk (1, x1). Only one roll is allowed per wager, if you miss the threshold you lose; make the threshold and multiply the wager by the net hits as above then multiply by the wager class multiplier.
Roulette - Agility(NPC's)+Edge(PC's)
Craps - Agility(or Thrown Weapons, Exotic Ranged Weapon)+Edge

In most card games you are playing against the other players as much as you are playing against the dealer/house. Here, I'd use complementary knowledge and social skills as Teamwork tests, have each player roll the complementary skill tests to build-up a dice pool. These games typically have a buy-in amount as opposed to a wager, you win by collecting the other player's buy-in funds.

• 5-card Stud
• 5-card Draw
• No-Limit Hold 'Em

Each card game would have a different number of betting cycles during which the players roll their social/knowledge skills. Whichever player accrues more net hits in each betting cycle sets that rounds bet, up to the maximum for the game (say, net hits x a percentage of the buy-in), and rolls the rounds net hits adding net hits from this test to the ending Logic+Edge test.

Racing, both animal and vehicle, can also fall into the realm of gambling. I'll think on this and get back to you all.