[Ok, so I read the player guide, and it talks about using dice for your own gambling games. I go around Hydlaa and invite people to gamble, and what do they say? They say no! Come on people! This is RP! People ALWAYS gamble! (well, not always, but it's very common) Do it if only for the sake of RP! If you ever plan on having a long conversation, gamble while you talk! That's what people do! Ok enough ranting
[Ok, what I found is that one reason people don't gamble, is that there is no set system or game! Props to Miadon for making his house of gambling. Then what I realized is that every culture has a social game. I can be poker or bridge, but every culture has a game that people can sit around and play as friends, or go to tournaments for serious play. Yliakum has no cultural game. Yes, we have some who can roll a higher number games, but we need something more. So, what did I do, I sat down and made a game that all you need is dice that relys on more than chance. This is Vitaji. (Oh gods, that sounded corny
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=======Vitaji=======
Vitaji is a dice game. Players take turns rolling a dice (usually 6 or 20 sided) and betting in a series of rounds. The bets are placed in a central "pot" at the end of each round, and is won by the player with the highest score.
Vitaji revolves around a series of rounds. The number of rounds is decided beforehand, but is usually 5 rounds for d6 and 10 rounds for d20.
---Required materials---
A 6 or 20 sided die, although die of other numbers can be used.
A scoresheet
Recommended for 4-8 players but can be played in groups of 2-12+
---Game play---
Game play can be divided into two phases: the rolling phase and the betting phase. Before the game starts, players agree on the "ante" (the initial bet in order to participate) and the "interval", usually 1, 10, or 100 tria. (The interval is the set interval that bets can be made on--see below) The ante is traditionally ten times the interval. However, this can be adjusted to anywhere from having no "ante" (for casual games) to having the ante 100 times the set interval (for serious games). After these beginning steps completed, play moves on.
Technically, the betting phase is always before the rolling phase, but since most people do not bet before the first round, we will first describe the rolling phase. (If a maximum is set, betting is not allowed before the first round--see below)
---The Rolling Phase---
Play passes from the first player (decided by whatever means the players wish) to the left (clockwise). Players take turns rolling the die, recording what they rolled (a scorekeeper can be used). After all players have rolled, players have a chance to reroll. Rerolling progresses in the same order as normal play. Players have a set number of rerolls each game. This is usually 2 rerolls in a 5 round game, and 4 rerolls in a 10 round game (2 rerolls for every 5 rounds). Players may reroll as many times in a single round as they wish, as long as they have rerolls left. (It is possible for a player to save all of their rerolls for the final round.) When a player rerolls, he forfeits the previous rolls and must take the new result. (If the reroll is less the first, the player may not fall back on the first. They must accept the new result, or reroll again.) If a player does not wish to reroll, he/she simply says "pass" and play moves on to the next player. When all players pass in succession, play moves on to the next round.
---The Betting Phase---
Technically betting occurs during the beginning of each round. However, normally players do not bet during the first round (this is the purpose of the ante).
Betting progresses in the same order as rolling. The first player may bet any amount (betting zero is allowed), as long as it is a multiple of the interval (other restrictions may sometimes apply). Once a player has made a bet, all other players must meet it or forfeit both the game and all of their previous bets, including the current round. (This is a way for players to "drop out" if they are doing badly.) Players may also raise the bet to another value, as long as it is greater than the previous bet and is a multiple of the interval. A player may raise the bet only once each round. Once all players have met the bet without any raises, play moves on to the rolling phase.
---Scoring---
Scoring is done by simply adding the results of each round. The player with the highest score is the winner. In the event of a tie, the players involved will participate in a "sudden death" roll, where the highest roller wins. Some modifications allow for bonuses--see below.
---Common Modifications---
Often there are players that attempt to "lock out" poorer players by "inflating the pot." This is the practice of placing a very large bet in the beginning of the game. To prevent this, players often set a "maximum." The maximum is usually equal to the ante. Players then may not place a bet greater than the maximum times the number of rounds already played. This means that in the first round, since no rounds have already been played, the maximum bet is zero.
For example: The ante and the interval are set at 100 and 10, respectively. The maximum is then set at 100. During the second round, the maximum bet is 100. In the last round of a 5 round game, the maximum bet is 400 (since 4 rounds have been played--remember, the betting phase actually precedes the rolling phase)
There is also a system of bonuses. A common bonus is the "triple." If a player rolls the same number three times in a row, the player may either 1) add the number that was rolled to his score as a bonus 2) double the value of his next roll or 3) receive an extra reroll. Another bonus is the "sweep." If a player manages to get the same number every round (rerolls are allowed) he/she automatically wins the game. This is extremely rare and usually is only possible in d6x5 games (6 sided die for 5 rounds).
There is also Team Vitaji, where players group into teams of 2 or more. The team with the highest combined score wins.
A rarer version called Super Vitaji uses a 100 sided die for 50 rounds. In this version, each player has 20 rerolls. This is version is usually not seen outside of professional tournaments due to the highly stressful and analytic nature of such long games. In these tournaments, players usually do not play with real money, each player getting a set number of "points" at the beginning of each game to keep play focused on skill. Most tournaments feature an even longer version for their championship games, the most famous being the d1000x500, which is usually played over a few days.
(NEW)
---Tournament Play---
Professional Vitaji players participate in a variety of tournaments, sponsored by various guilds and gambling houses. Players are usually seeded into spots. In each round of the tournament, players are traditionally grouped into games of 4 players each (or 8 if it is a Team Vitaji tournament). The players do not play with money but are given a set number of points each round of the tournament. In each round, the groups usually play 3 or more games. The top 2 in each group advance (top 4 in the case of 8 player games) to the next round. The players who advance win prize money, which steadily increases with each round/tier.
Tournament organizers usually offer an extensive system of side bets [lets just say something like betting on horse races. If you don't know what that is, look it up here (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling#Gambling_on_horse_races) Just replace the word horse with player.]
---Strategy---
Coming soon!
[I have no idea what strategies will come out of this game. The only thing I can think of is definetly reroll if you will fall more than x points behind the lead, x being the highest value on the die. Betting strategies--I really have no idea]
---Scorekeeping---
Over the years, scorekeeping has become necessary as longer and more complex games became the norm. Here is an example scoresheet from a d20x10 game
1 2 3* 4 $ [Or whatever symbol they use for tria]
1 13 8 15 17 100
2 11 3,12 11 14 20
3 2,12 19 7 19 10
4 3,1,14 19 17 15 30
5 1 6 12 11 90
6 (30) 13 1,19 12 150
7 - 1,15 7 15 250
8 - 4 5,16 5,2,9 380
9 - (0) 9 11 500
10 - - 12,18 2,8 850
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
- - 131 131 2380+2380+(1030+0)+(250+30)=6070
16 16
20* 15
The above example was taken from a professional game. The ante and the interval were 100 and 10, and the maximum was 100. Players 1 and 2 dropped out at the 6th and 9th round of betting, respectively. Rerolls are indicated by the numbers after the commas. After the period of normal play, there was a tie between players 3 and 4, who then participated in a sudden death match, which also resulted in a tie. To resolve this, they simply rolled again. The $ row idicates the amount bet each round, while the numbers in parentheses is the amount each player bet before dropping out in that round. The first round bet is the ante. The numbers on the last row are calculation of the total value of the pot. Intresting to note is that most bets usually do not approach the maximum until the final rounds.
NOTE: This is an example of a serious professional game. Casual games are best left at d6x5 with an interval of 1 or 10, and usually do not have as large returns/losses.
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---History---
Vitaji shares much in common with an old Diaboli game called Torpki. When the Diaboli arrived, the game gained much populatity as a tavern game. However, it never made much success as a professional game, as many viewed it as a simple game of chance. Xacha historians trace the transformation of Torpki to modern day Vitaji to the city of Ojaveda, where the game was wildly popular. A small group of Enkidukai added the round and reroll system to Torpki and renamed the game Vitaji. Vitaji gained immense popularity, and slowly evolved into the game that it is today. While Torpki is still played today, Vitaji has largly supplanted it in both the professional and casual scene.
[If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts, that would be appreciated. No replies yet.
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