BlackJackal Dice Game, for your RPG Gambling Pleasure!

 Today's Blogpost is about a simple dice game to throw into your games when the players are feeling lucky. It's quite simple, and is a good mix of luck and skill, in my opinion. It plays very similar to blackjack, only with d12s instead of cards. Here are the rules:

• One person is the dealer, this is most likely the house, but a player with a particularly large sum could take this role as well.
• First, the Players put in their bets. You can decide if the table will have a minimum or not.
• The Dealer then rolls 4d12, dropping as many dice as it takes to get below 25. They then reveal one of the dice.
• The Players now decide if they want to add more to their bet or fold. Again decide if there should be a minimum.
• The players now choose how many d12s they would like to roll. There is no maximum, however if they roll above 24 they lose.
• The goal of the game is to get above the dealer without going over 24.
• Finally the Dealer reveals their whole dice pool. If the Dealer wins they take the bet, if the Player wins the dealer matches what they put in.
• If anyone gets a perfect 24 that's called a BlackJackal, and they get the entire table's bets, on top of what the dealer owes them. If multiple people get a BlackJackal, then they split the pot evenly.

And that's it! This is a pretty popular game at the Travelling Alchemist, you can find many adventurers losing their hard-earned loot at our beer stained tables. Some shifty fellows even like to bet secrets and rumors in lieu of money. 

If you want to have the players roll for a skill check on top of playing the game (for example Savage Worlds has a gambling skill), have them make the check. If they succeed let them add or subtract an extra die after their initial roll, to signify their character correctly calculating the odds. If a player wants to cheat let them make the skill check, then change the face of a die if they succeed.

However you play I hope you have fun, and Happy Gaming!

Using PC Theme Songs to Showcase Your Heroes

So today's blog post is about giving the PCs of your rpg campaign theme songs. Obviously, this isn't for every game but if your running a game where the PCs are supposed to be badasses, reminiscent of action hero movies and the like this may be the perfect fit. Especially if music is important at your table.

Juan Giménez

The setup would be quite simple. During your session zero have each of the players choose a song they think represents their character well. This might work better for a modern or cyberpunk setting so that the players can choose recognizable songs that wouldn't clash with your playlist. Add these songs to your playlist. Now you can decide how long you want your playlist to be. If you only play music during combat then you'll probably want it shorter, but if you play music the whole session you'll want it longer, maybe around 6 hours. When a PC's song comes up give that PC some sort of bonus. 

A few ideas may be:

• Give them a static bonus to their next turn (IE a +3 bonus to all rolls in D&D 5e)
• Let them auto-succeed on their next action
• My favorite, let them describe how the party gets some sort of edge in the scene they're in because of the PC's badassery (IE letting the PC describe how they use their stealthy skills to sneak past a security system, how they smooth talk with a crime boss, etc, etc)

Finally, my favorite use of this mechanic is what I call "The Blaze of Glory". At any time the player can either ask the GM to play their song or pull out their phone and begin playing their theme. When a player does this they take control of the scene and describe how they overcome the obstacles, defeat the villain, whatever. But at the end of the scene or song, that PC dies in a blaze or glory. This can create super impactful moments where a PC makes the ultimate sacrifice, all the while the song that highlighted so many of their achievements plays in the background.

Let me know if you use this in your own games or one-shots, and how you would modify it for your own use. Until next time, this is Drew of the Travelling Alchemist.