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GGAAMMBBLLIINNGG HHOOUUSSEE Whether in the seediest quarter of the Settlement, or in the most expensive, exclusive quarter, the Gambling Houses are much the same at heart – intent on fleecing the unwary traveler. If a Warrior wishes to visit the Gambling House he must pay 50 gold to enter. Once inside, roll 1D6 to see what type of gambling is taking place.

TYPE OF GAMBLING (Roll 1D6)

1-2 Animal Matches

3-4 Dice, Cards & Coins

5-6 Pit Fighting

Unlike other Special Locations, a Warrior may visit the Gambling House as often as you like during his stay in a single Settlement. Each visit to the Gambling House takes up the whole of a Warrior’s day. If your Warrior wishes to participate in the gambling at this house, look up the appropriate sub-table below. If he decides not to participate, he can do nothing else in the Settlement for the rest of the day except roll on the Settlement Events Table. *Note: If a Warrior attempts to sell treasure or equipment while he is in a Gambling House, he only gets half of its regular ‘Sell’ value.

Animal Matches (Roll 1D6) Roll In a Town In a City

1 Scorpion Fighting Dog Racing 2-4 Turtle Racing Horse Racing

5-6 Cock Fighting Snotling Racing

Match Result (Roll 2D6) 2 Your Warrior wages 1D6x200 gold on ‘Sticky’, an extreme underdog who doesn’t even seem to make it out of his

cage before he loses! Cross off that amount from your Warrior’s Record Sheet immediately!

3 Your Warrior throws down 1D6x150 gold on ‘Mojam the Mighty’ who is ousted in the first round. Cross off that amount from your Warrior’s Record Sheet immediately!

4 ‘Hero’ should have been named ‘Helpless’ and your Warrior is grief stricken as he loses 1D6x100 gold!

5 In a bet that should never have been, your Warrior throws away 1D6x75 gold on ‘Lylam’ also known as ‘The Pit of Despair’.

6 ‘Kraco’ starts strong but then fizzles out like an Empire Wizard casting a fireball spell under a waterfall. Your Warrior squanders 1D6x50 gold in the bet.

7 Someone should have mentioned that ‘Sumanderin’ was old and decrepit BEFORE he killed over during the match! Your irritated Warrior loses 1D6x20 gold!

8 After a pleasant day at the matches your Warrior breaks even.

9 ‘Bausto’, the House favourite, comes through again! Your Warrior wins 1D6x50 gold!

10 Your Warrior picks many winning matches today and his total earnings net him 1D6x100 gold!

11 Your Warrior can spot a fighter who never gives up and therefore lays a bet on the little one they call ‘Templeton the Mad’. Sure enough, the little bugger comes out on top and your Warrior collects a tidy sum of 1D6x150 gold!

12 ‘Gorion Groundpepper’ is the long shot of the evening and your Warrior is feeling lucky! The crowd is stunned when Gorion destroys his competition and your Warrior smugly struts off with 1D6x200 gold in the wager!

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Dice, Cards & Coins (Roll 2D6)

2 After winning a few choice bets in a variety of games, your Warrior is invited upstairs for some high stakes gambling, which he readily accepts - he is, after all, already ahead a few hundred gold pieces! Unbeknownst to him, the group of ‘patrons’ he begins playing with are actually part of the ring of thieves who own the gambling house. They work a clever scheme which keeps the Warrior on the verge of success, only to have him fall just short of victory! Working against loaded dice, weighted coins, and crooked dealers, your Warrior is taken for almost everything he has. Roll 1D6 on the following table to see exactly what your Warrior has lost.

1 By the end of the nightmare gambling session, the Warrior has been cleared out of all of his gold and has even pawned 1D3 of his most expensive treasure items (discard them immediately)!

2-6 Distraught and downtrodden your Warrior gambles away all of his gold and one treasure item (chosen at random). Departing the Gambling House he vows to never gamble again… until next time.

3 As soon as your Warrior stepped into this place he should have sensed trouble. Seedy characters and sly criminals fill the gambling house, but your Warrior is too enthralled in the gambling excitement to even notice! Time after time your Warrior feels like his bad luck is going to turn up, only to lose once again. By evening’s end your Warrior finally forces himself away from the games, but not before he’s lost 200 gold per Battle-Level and one Treasure Item (chosen at random)!

4 Your Warrior immediately gets on a hot streak and soon your Warrior is suffering from the gambling fever! Before too long your Warrior’s luck runs out and she is almost out of gold. In a desperate attempt at reclaiming her losses, your Warrior trades in a treasure item (chosen at random) for a gold advance.

Your Warrior is able to recoup some losses by the end of the night but her purse is still 100 gold per Battle-Level lighter and her treasure item is long gone.

5 Your Warrior sits down to play a confusing card game called “Mirror’s Twin” where the dealer gives three players two cards face up and only one card face down (called the “Dungeon”). The fourth player (referred to as the “Mentor”) has two cards down (called the “Wizard’s Apprentice”) and one card up. The “Mentor” may exchange one of his down cards at any time with the player on his right, but only if has not looked at his face down cards and only if the player on his right has not looked at his face down card. Players take turns playing the “Mentor” and the object of the game is to make an identical combination of two cards, although only two such combinations exist in the card deck! The dealer gives one more face down card to each player each round and bets are placed on the player who one thinks will make the elusive combination first. The game is fast and furious with players trying to quickly look at their cards before the “Mentor” calls “Fences!” which indicates that he wants to exchange cards. The mentor can call “Fences” on any other player on the table after three rounds have been played.

After a long drawn out evening, your Warrior finishes the game even with no gold lost, although he is mentally exhausted and somewhat bewildered. Once outside the Gambling House your Warrior realizes that he is missing one of his treasure items (determined randomly) which he believes was pilfered during the perplexing game! Cross it off your record sheet immediately.

6 Your Warrior tries her hand at coin tossing and loses soundly. She attempts some card games with approximately the same amount of bad luck. She bets on dice and seems to be on the losing end more often than not. When all is said and done your Warrior has lost 100 gold per Battle-Level. Cross off that amount on your Warrior Record Sheet immediately. If your Warrior does not possess that amount then she must sell off items and treasure to pay for her losses.

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Dice, Cards & Coins (continued)

7 Lady luck does not shine upon your Warrior this day and he loses 50 gold per Battle-Level.

8 Your Warrior enters into a bold wager with a local farmer during a heated game of dice. By the end of the game it is a draw: nothing lost and nothing gained!

9 After an exciting session of coin tossing you win 100 gold per Battle-Level!

10 You notice a tall man in a dark cloak is trying to place a bet in a game of dice, but no one will accept his wager. Strolling over, you deem that the item the man is trying to bet with could be of some use in the next adventure. Accepting his bet, you proceed to trounce him (and the rest of the table) for 50 gold per Battle-Level! In addition to your gold winnings, draw a Dungeon Room Treasure – it is the item the stranger wagered.

11 Your Warrior tests her luck in a few games, winning some coins here and there. Sauntering over to a table of dice, the Warrior has a go at it. Within an hour the Warrior has made a small fortune and an animated crowd is chanting her name with each dice roll! The gold piles high and even a few items are thrown in for good measure! In a rowdy finale your Warrior scores the “Double Dragons” and departs the Gambling House 100 gold per Battle-Level richer! In addition, make two rolls on the Dungeon Room Treasure Table!

12 Your Warrior enters into a high-stakes game of cards with some rich landlords and noblemen. For a nerve-wracking couple of hours your Warrior hangs on the edge of elimination. But as destiny would have it, he holds his ground and is soon making an incredible recovery! The field of players dwindles and eventually it is only your Warrior matching head-to-head with a rich noble. An eager mob of patrons looks on with excitement as the winner of the match will most likely secure a spot in Gambling House history!

With the nobleman’s funds running low your Warrior executes the bluff of all bluffs and soon all of your Warrior’s valuables are on the table as he tries to push the nobleman out of the game. In a confident counterstroke, the Nobleman orders his page to fetch an item of great value to cover the bet! With the tension in the room coming to a crescendo, your Warrior and the nobleman are each dealt their final card. Roll 1D6:

1-2 With a gasp from the crowd your Warrior is forced to lay down his “Hand of Death” which literally means he has nothing of value. The nobleman called your bluff perfectly and walks away with all of your gold and 1D6 treasure items (chosen at random) to pay the ridiculous bet! Your Warrior goes down in history all right – but as the biggest loser the house has ever seen!

3-6 The nobleman lays up his hand; a formidable “Majestic Column”. With the stare of a gorgon and a flick of the wrist, your Warrior tosses out his final card, completing a nearly impossible “Scorpion Blizzard” and defeating the nobleman! The onlookers go wild and the look on the nobleman’s face sends a warm feeling into your Warrior’s body that only another card player can truly understand and appreciate.

You Warrior wins 2D6x100 gold and in addition, draw an Objective Room Treasure to see what item the nobleman has forfeited to your Warrior! As the crowd swarms the Warrior with congratulatory gestures and embraces, the nobleman and his entourage storm off in a grand fury. Your Warrior has won but has also gained a very powerful enemy!

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Pit Fighting Roll another 1D6 to see if the pit fighting matches are legal or illegal.

1-4 Illegal 5-6 Legal

Match Result (Roll 2D6 and subtract -1 if the matches are illegal)

1-2 The Watch storms the Gambling House, arresting everyone and anyone in a crackdown on illegal pit fighting throughout the province. Your Warrior is among the patrons that get thrown into jail for 1D3 days and he (or his companions) must pay a fine of 2D6x100 gold to be set free.

3 The local constable is betting on ‘Caleb the Merciless’ who is defeated within seconds after the match begins. The angry constable declares the establishment closed due to improper licenses and certificates. He and his lackeys confiscate all bets and winnings from the patrons as ‘evidence’ and the Gambling House is shut down until further notice. The Gambling House in this Settlement is closed for the remainder of the Warriors’ stay and no one may visit. In the confiscation your Warrior loses 1D6x100 gold!

4 Your Warrior has a good feeling about a big, stout local boy named ‘Cornelius Cornmonger’ and therefore throws down 1D6x50 gold pieces on a wager for him to win it all. Cornelius is annihilated by his first opponent and that good feeling your Warrior has sinks to the pit of his stomach giving him a bellyache.

5-6 It’s down to six contestants and they enter into a final brawl to see who will be victor. Announce your choice of the winner and how much you will wager (up to 100 gold) then roll on the table below to see who wins the exciting final group clash.

1 Jauz Jurgesson 3 Mennetango the Handler 5 Zeno the Devil

2 Kygo Bonecrusher 4 Brank the Nutter 6 Thunderclap Thorson

If the Warrior picks the victor he wins 1D6 x his original bet. If he is wrong he loses 1D3 x his original bet.

7-8 It’s a field of brash, young stalwarts and your Warrior decides to bet on ‘Bandalia the Blade’ who delivers a crushing upset against her opponents. Your Warrior wins 1D6x25 gold per Battle-Level!

9-10 You put all your hopes into an exotic stranger from a distant land. His moves are awkward and his opponents seem unprepared for his odd rhythm and devilish style. By the end of the day, he is the last one standing and your Warrior rakes in a small fortune of 1D6x50 gold per Battle-Level!

11-12 In a blood-splattering winner-takes-all melee 10 opponents are thrust into the fighting arena at once! The stakes are incredibly high and the carnage is immense! Being wise in the way of combat, your Warrior has carefully chosen ‘Wulf of Ironshire’ to win due to the pit fighter’s good peripheral vision and his ability to both attack and defend well. He is the underdog due to his lack of one-on-one skills and so the payoff will be high if he wins. Eventually it’s down to Wulf and three other contestants. Roll 1D6 to see how it finishes:

1-3 Wulf uses his signature ‘Triangle Defense’ until two of the other fighters are defeated. Unfortunately Wulf must go head-to-head with the lone fighter who uses two weapons at once. Although he mounts a respectable defense, Wulf is no match for the other combatant and is defeated. Your Warrior still clears 1D6x100 gold per Battle-Level for Wulf’s 2nd place finish!

4-6 In an fantastic maneuver, Wulf fells all three opponents simultaneously avoiding a one-on-one scenario! Your Warrior pockets 1D6x100 gold per Battle Level and 1D3 rolls on the Dungeon Room Treasure Table!