The Gamblers' Court
A downloadable RPG Zine
The Gamblers' Court is a competitive roleplaying game with an unusual dynamic. One of the players portrays The Wanderer, a lonesome fool that has become lost in the woods. The Wanderer has unwittingly attracted the attention of otherworldly Gamblers—rumoured to be trickster spirits and wretched fae—played by the rest of the group. Weaving a narrative that becomes reality to the Wanderer, the Gamblers compete against one another by challenging the Wanderer's wits through a series of Riddles, risking wagers and acquiring more and more gold as the session advances.
If the Wanderer solves a number of Riddles, they succesfully escape the grasp of the Court. If they fail in equal measure, they become lost, forever swallowed by the shadows of the woods.
The rules are presented in a booklet of 25 pages, which contains rules and guidelines for playing the various roles of the game, a few pages of variant rules, and two play aids: a Character Sheet for the Wanderer, and a Betting Sheet for the Gamblers.
Do you need print-friendly play aids on their own? You can download them here at no cost.
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This role-playing game is based on a simple idea : when you think about it, being a GM is a bit like asking enigmas to your players, sometimes in the form of situations, and waiting for them to solve them. This is exactly what this game proposes, and the creator had already caught my eye with another game using Uno cards for its system: here, there is only one player and many GMs in the form of magical and cruel beings who propose puzzles to a poor human, betting on his success or failure. The game is very beautiful and inspiring, even if it lacks, I think, concrete examples to stage your own puzzles.
I love the aesthetics of the rule book and am looking forward to trying this out with my RPG crew.
2 quick questions on the material:
1st, could you help me understand the 1:1 wagers for meddling gamblers and when betting on a wanderer's failure/success? If I win my bet, do I get back my initial stake in addition to the profit (i.e. I wager 2 coins, I win, I receive 4 coins in total)? Or are the wagers simply supposed to be the ‘entrance fee’ for meddling and a successful meddler gets to keep their money—i.e. offer 2 coins, succeed, get 2 coins back (in which case I still don't get why you'd additionally bet money on a wanderer's roll)?
2nd, would you consider adding print-friendly (black&white, without the paper texture) versions of the character and betting sheets to the downloads? I personally like to play digitally, but some of my friends prefer to keep track on paper.
Thanks in advance for your answer and for this beautiful game :)
Hi!
The 1:1 wagers for the Meddlers and for the Wanderer's outcome work as your first assumption suggests--you earn back your wager plus a profit of equal value. If I wager 3 coins and I get away with my meddling, I earn 6 coins (getting back my 3 coins, and taking 3 more coins from the Pot)
As for the character sheet, I've just uploaded a print-friendly character sheet as per your request.
Excellent, that clears things up nicely!
Also, props on not only cleaning up the background but also removing the ink-hungry area in the middle.
I'm so eager to get to try this :)
https://www.gulix.fr/blog/2021/04/09/des-tours/
I really liked the game. It's strange, I don't know if I'll be able to play it, but it feeds my "game design" hunger ^^.
I really like how the resolution by narrative way is explained.
Oh my, I completely forgot to reply! I'm glad you enjoyed the game, at least in a conceptual, game designer way, I know I've felt the same about many games in the past and it makes me happy to see that some people think of my work in that way :>