BACKGROUND:

One of the major NPC's in my game is a Failed Jedi/Gambler, who uses Receptive Telepathy & Mangify Senses to gather information on what his opponents Sabacc hands are (he doesn't have TK, and doesn't overtly cheat unless absolutely necessary, and then only with normal Gambling skill).

Last night, finally, my players got to the casino on Hosk Station (their base of operations for this campaign), and sat down to play Sabacc.

Now, I didn't have any Sabacc cards or rules off the 'net, and frankly I found the gambling simulation rules in the resource pool a bit too complex & number crunchy for my taste, so I figured out a quick-and-dirty simulation system that can be tinkered with to account for the legendary Sabacc rules variations, but is still basically simple and even enjoyable (at various points in the evening, the players were putting actual character interaction and plot advancement on hold to play more Sabacc, which told me that whatever I did was working well).

This also allowed DuKane (my NPC) to use his Force Abilities to watch the game without disrupting the flow, and also allow players to use Gambling skill to affect the outcome.

CAVEAT:

This is purely something I threw together, and though it worked well, it is by no means a complete simulator.

BASIC RULES:

<*This is basically an adaptation of Yahtzee or Poker Dice, but with a few SWRPG-specific refinements*>

Each player needs 5 6-sided dice; these are NOT normal skill dice; they represent your sabacc hand, and should be kept seperate from the dice you may use to use your Gambling skill (a different color, preferably).

STEP 1:

Each player antes up (the ante varies depending on the agreed upon limits at the table).

Each player then rolls their hand (their 'Come Out', to borrow a term from craps) behind a screen. Hands are scored poker style (2, 3, 4, 5 of a kind, 2 pair, full house (3 of a kind and two of a kind), straights (1 through 5 or 2 through 6)).

STEP 2:

Any character with Force Powers (such as Receptive Telepath or clairvoyance) or who wishes to cheat (with a Very Difficult Gambling roll) or who had prepared the playing area before hand can attempt to see other players' hands. They may make one attempt per player per hand, and may do it either at this time or later.

STEP 3:

Each character can now raise the pot if they choose. The chance goes around the table once, poker style (IE, raise, check, see etc.).

If a character wishes, they can try to change any or all of their dice with a gambling skill roll against the following difficulty numbers:

Change:	Difficulty #
1 Die	10
2 Dice	15
3 Dice	20
4 Dice	25
5 Dice	30

When making the skill roll, the player declares if they're playing it 'straight' or if they are 'cheating'. If they are using external aids such as a skifter device, they are automatically cheating.

'Straight':

• If the player succeeds, they re-roll the die/dice they choose.
• If the player fails, they cannot re-roll any die/dice
• If the player gets an extra re-roll for each '6' they roll on the wild die (IE, if they roll 2 sixes in a roll on the wild die, they can reroll their chosen number of dice up to 3 times). They must keep whatever they roll if they choose to re-roll, and cannot save previous rolls.
• If the player rolls a '1' on the wild die, they will be accused of cheating by the house or another player.

'Cheating':

• If the player succeeds, they re-roll the die/dice they choose.
• If the player fails, they are caught cheating
• If the player gets an extra re-roll for each '6' they roll on the wild die (IE, if they roll 2 sixes in a roll on the wild die, they can reroll their chosen number of dice up to 3 times). A cheating player may 'keep' their previous rolls if they get multiple rerolls and choose the best of them to keep.
• If the player rolls a '1' on the wild die, they will be accused of cheating by the house or another player and suffer the consequences.

STEP 4:

Any character with Force Powers (such as Receptive Telepath or clairvoyance) or who wishes to cheat (with a Very Difficult Gambling roll) or who had prepared the playing area beforehand gets a second chance to see the other players (if they have not already done so).

STEP 5:

Each player now reveals their hand, and the highest hand takes the pot.

RULES VARIANTS SIMULATION:

• "Smuggler's Rules": repeat Steps 3 & 4 multiple times to bring up the pot to astronomically high levels.
• "Corellian Rules": Each player rolls 7 Dice for their hand, but can choose the best 5 (similar to 7 card poker).
• "Imperial Rules": Instead of rolling the hand all at once, each player rolls 1 die, antes up, then rolls each additional dice (up to 5 or, if they're REALLY feeling lucky, mixing in Corellian rules and going up to 7), with a round of betting in between each roll. Basic Imperial rules doesn't allow for re-rolls, but there is an Imperial Senate rules variant that allows for rerolls.

GM's are encouraged to come up with any rules variant they want. Go to town!

FINAL NOTES:

Like I said above: this isn't perfect, and I pretty much made it up as I went along, but I was pleasantly suprised at how well it worked, and wanted to share it with my friends on the SWRPG Mailing List.

What I really like about it is that it is cohesive enough to be played on its own without being too complex, yet it is open enough to allow for players to creatively cheat (assuming they make their skill rolls, that is) or for outside activities to distract the participants (in my game, the Brash Pilot beat the ex-Stormtrooper General NPC villain out of 6500cr when one of the other characters (whom the NPC had a vendetta against because she'd been caught smuggling for him) let herself be seen, causing an angered Mr. Villain to discard the wrong card and lose not only his money, but his beautiful female companion).

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