From the dance hall to the dungeon, PC adventurers and NPC gamblers often cross paths.
Here’s a quick generator for your related needs! Roll a d10 and a d20 for each gambler and consult the following tables. Pair with a campaign-appropriate name generator for best results!
d10 Gambler Traits
- Chews their nails during the game, either nervously or absent-mindedly
- Smokes constantly. Suffers from stained fingers and bad breath.
- Stoic. Laconic. Terse.
- Fidgets with coins or chips. If this is pointed out, they’ll apologize, and then begin drumming on the table.
- Quick to anger. Missing a pinkie finger.
- Flirtacious. Calls everyone by a nickname.
- Flashy dresser. Known to exaggerate their wealth.
- Suspicious, bordering on paranoid. Won’t sit with their back to the door.
- Prefers a different game and won’t shut up about it. If you indulge them, they’ll take hours to explain the rules of their relatively joyless pet game.
- Curious. Asks a lot of questions about the PCs.
d20 Approaches to Play
- A Gambler’s dream: unskilled, impulsive, and temporarily wealthy
- Skilled and honest.
- Reckless. Bets more than they can afford to lose.
- Bad Sport. Won’t pay up.
- Cheater (talented)
- Cheater (obvious)
- Easygoing. Prefers talking to the game. Will likely mention local rumours and plot hooks.
- Inebriated. Playing games of skill with these people feels dishonest, but it is one way to make a living.
- Boasts constantly about their skills.
- Enjoys making outlandish wagers. Will dare PCs to perform heroic deeds or explore dangerous locations.
- A professional gambler.
- A talented gambler, wanted by corrupt authorities/poor sports for winning too much.
- Beginner, untalented.
- Lucky beginner.
- Only here as another player’s friend.
- Just killing time.
- Desperately needs to win big. Owes a Faction or NPC some big money.
- Constantly complains about the game.
- Talk a lot about the time they won big. They’ve since lost all the money, but they’ll tell the tall tales of their carousing glory for as long as you’ll listen.
- Planning on stealing the pot, not really paying attention to the game.
Whether you’re playing Weird West, Old School Fantasy, or the Prachett-Adams-Wolfe-Gilliam-esque insanity of Troika, I hope this table helps you define a few NPC gamblers. I always love sprinkling them around, whether it’s orcs on a break, demons wagering souls, or two tourists gambling in a hotel stairwell. If you’re a fan, you might enjoy my friend Jesse Brown’s adventure Warlock Joe’s Dark Vegas Vacation; take a look!