Savage Worlds - Dracula

This month's game landed squarely on Halloween and I opted to run a game instead of finding something else to do.  It was also our first time at Guardian Games.  They are in a new location and I love the new store, so I had to try gaming there.  I got a big, private room to play in, but their hours are shorter than our other venue, so some time management came into effect.

My friend and co-GM Brian (AKA HawaiianBrian on various Savage Worlds forums) wrote up an adventure based on the classic story of Dracula. The PCs were Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker (Jonathan Harker's wife), Abraham van Helsing, Dr. Jack Seward, Sir Arthur Holmwood, and Quincey Morris.

If you are familiar with the classic story, the game starts before Mina is enthralled by Dracula, but the second act is during the time when she is starting to be influenced by the vampire.

Throughout the adventure, there are journal entries that are used to set up the next scene.  I thought this was a great way to introduce the next scene - some of which are weeks apart.  I took it a step further and had the player read the journal entries for their character. The players enjoyed that, too.

Before I detail out the game, I will highlight the best part of the night: right before the scene where the characters approach Lucy's tomb, there was quite a in-character discussion (yes, role playing!) about whether or not there are such things as vampires and about Dracula, his three brides and, potentially, Lucy.  This may have cut into our time, but I would not have had it any other way; the players enjoyed the in-character debate.

Act I
The first act is after the death of the group's friend, Lucy.  Van Helsing is trying to prove to the rest of the group of the existence of vampires, and most of the group is skeptical.  The plan is to go into the crypt at night and if her body is in the coffin, then Van Helsing will have to find another way to prove his claims.  If, however, the body is not there, that is some proof to his story.  As it turns out, the group shows up in the daytime and obviously the body is there.  They wait around until dark, and the body rises out of its grave.  A battle ensues with the characters fighting a vampire and the vampire attempting to get away.

The casket is open; Lucy walks!

The burst template shows the influence of a cross being used against the vampire.

The party all gangs up on Lucy to pin her to the ground and ultimately stake her.

Act II
This act is primarily a search and destroy mission.  Dracula has brought large crates of dirt from Transylvania and the characters decide to consecrate the earth so that Dracula does not have a refuge in England.  They find all but one box.  Due to time, I had to really speed this act up, but the flavor was still there.


Act III
The last act is to follow Dracula to his castle in Transylvania and, hopefully, destroy the creature.  There are several scenes in here that include a chase scene (wolves chasing the carriage) and some gypsy protectors who attempt to prevent the heroes from gaining entrance to the castle.  Once they are in the castle, the characters search for the Nosferatu, and encountering either his three brides, or himself.  Hopefully not all at the same time.  As it turns out, the party managed to get into the castle during the day, surprising the three wives, but their screams and deaths alert Dracula.  The final battle was fairly fast as Savage Worlds exploding damage dice sometimes shortcuts drama to an exciting quick end.

Final showdown in the brides' chamber with Dracula

Thanks for reading and watch for another posting chronicling my games.

Savage Worlds: High Space

Late posting.. I ran the game on September 26th, and it has taken me this long to post.  Sorry.

This game is in the setting of High Space, by Storyweaver Games.  I ran the "Blind Threat" scenario that can likely be free if you work it right. (Look at the site.) I paid the $3 and ran a enjoyable game for everyone.

The Setting
The PDF purchase from RPGNow.com is $15 and the Core Rules is quite the set.  You get the Character Analects, the Fleet Manual and The Lantern.

Character Analects is the setting book we all expect for a Savage Worlds setting with Races, Edges, Hindrances, Skills, and unique setting qualities.

Some unique things about this setting are Culture, Career, Equilibrium, and Gear purchasing.

First, Culture.  Items like Aristocrat, Militant, Beyonder and more.  These give your character a background of how he grew up in the universe; they also give you some skills.  I hadn't mentioned it yet, but in character creation you only get 13 skill points, where typically 15 are used, and Culture gives you the missing skill points.

Careers are current or very recent job paths the character has had. This gives you access to benefits that are usually equipment beyond a Novice's grasp.

Gear purchasing is done based by rank, not credits or money.  Acquisition rank is used for getting and keeping equipment.  If characters are found with equipment beyond their rank, they have a hard time keeping it.

Equilibrium is a new attribute that is specific to life in space: cryo travel, space maneuvering, bionic implants, and encountering alien species.  It seems to be a lot like Sanity in a horror game, because you roll checks whenever you encounter something to keep from flipping out.  Unlike a Sanity check, Equilibrium doesn't reduce, it is only effective for the current scene.

Fleet Manual
This is the ship building manual to make ships.  They are built like typical Savage Worlds characters: the ships have Manuever, Computing, FTL (Faster Than Light), Displacement, and Quality.  There are also derived stats of Pace and Toughness.  Ships can have hindrances and edges, too.  Building out a ship was really fun.  There is a lot to play with.

There is an option to play a ship as a character which I tried setting up.  I built an AI which was the ship's computer.  I am not sure if I did it correctly...  No one played that character anyway, so we didn't get to play test it.

The Lantern
The Universe.  This guide describes races, planets, corporations, organizations, and political entities.  This is your sandbox.  And a plot point campaign outline.  All the plot points are sold separately, it seems, something I just figured out.  The Lantern also has a plot hook generator and a lot of tools to create your own adventures in High Space.

The Game
First off, characters were chosen.  I built a typical crew of a space ship and used some alien races and even androids.  I also built an AI character to be the ship. One good thing about Storyweaver, they built Hero Lab files, and since I am a heavy user of Hero Lab, this was very welcome.  Turns out there needs to be some fixing of the files, but I got the unofficial updates from my buddy who works at Lone Wolf for the Savage Worlds piece.  I was then able to make characters for the game.

The adventure was planned to split the party: they go off into space to make a deal and when the deal is done, the crew left behind on the planet have a short window of time to get the goods the deal was made for.  Both of the deals used an extended diplomatic mechanic using the dramatic tasks method.  Alternately, the adventure wrote in some pre-negotiation bits that impact the rolls for the dramatic task.

After each of these, there was an incident to introduce some combat, including ship battles.  The players opted out of the ship battle in an interesting way.  They had done such a good job negotiating that they managed an extra bit.  They used this bit to pay off the 'Pirate' in space to avoid combat.  The incident on planet side wasn't so friendly; they were attacked outright.  The party defended themselves quite adequately. With a big ass gun.

The next scene was implementing the plan, to put a security scrambler on a network of a corporate plant.  The scrambler replicates a signal and destroys the communication network of the corporation.  With the job finished, the party launches to space for their getaway.  One of the corporate ships is nearby and intercepts the ship.  The battle is engaged.  After a few rounds, the players manage to destroy the other ship and make good on their escape.

Overall Impression
I like the rules, with the exception of Equilibrium.  I might house rule it out as I don't think it really adds much.  Cyberware, AIs and aliens are well done, although I haven't really dove in as deep as I could.  I love the ship building and the rules for the ships; I think that was really well done.  The Sandbox setting is very detailed and should be very useful.  I don't like that each plot point is a new PDF to buy, and they aren't all available yet.  Hopefully when they are all done, you can get them bundled.

Savage Worlds: Low Life

Low Life - "A Hello to Arms"

My game takes place once a month on the last Thursday.  I've been running this monthly session for about a year now, introducing new players to Savage Worlds and experienced gamers to new and different settings.  This month we take a look at the setting Low Life from Andy Hopp at Mutha Oith Creations.  I ran the freely available "A Hello to Arms" one-sheet.

Warning: There be spoilers ahead.

Thoughts, opinions and squall (could be seen as a review of the setting):

Handy Tip: Low Life has its own language; Oith is Earth, hoomanrace is human race, etc.  Open your mind when reading this or anything else about Low Life. 

Low Life is a post-post-post-apocalyptic setting that takes place in the far away future, like one or two million years from now.  There were several happenings that cleared the Oith of the hoomanrace.

This game is funny.  To some people.  I originally thought it was over the top and I wasn't too sure I was ready to play a game highly influenced on bathroom humor.  The group I played with this session embraced the setting and really took it to the comedic level it needed to be.  After the game, my opinion is that this setting is very playable, but you have to have the right group.  I personally know of two gamers who won't touch this setting with a 10-yort pole. (Yort is the unit of measurement in Oith.)

You might typically call the group of PCs, the party, the group, or the adventurers.  In Low Life, they are known as the Heap. Characters are generally not "nice" folks.  Savage Worlds in general doesn't have an alignment structure, but Low Life tends to push the characters to the miscreant side of the spectrum.  Everyone is out for themselves.  Not necessarily evil, but definitely not Nice or Good. Near the end of the game, there was definitely a heavy smell of "everyone out for themselves", all running to escape while leaving one of their number alone with two big ass baddies.

Races

Hoomans have long been dead. Other lifeforms have evolved over millions of years: Werms (descended from Worms), Croaches (Cockroaches), Cremefillions (Snack cakes i.e. Twinkies or Ding Dongs), Bodul (very, very, very loosely hooman based), Tizin't (odd mixtures, tisn't anything), and Piles (sentient waste product).  At some point there was the ripping open of the planet which opened up Middle Oith which caused the Horcs and Smelves to appear.  Also, through the years, aliens had landed on Oith and these evolved into Oofos.

Magic

Magic is tweaked to fit the setting.  Typical magic is Hokus-Poking. Mental Magic or Psionics is Dementalism. Miracles is Holy Rolling. Weird Science is simply Weirdness. Conjuration magic is called Contamination. Potion magic is Smellcasting and the "potions" are called reeks.

Stuff (Gear)

Gear is appropriate to the setting with the expected humorous twists.  What makes this setting unique (and I've seen a lot of Savage Worlds settings!) is the weapon creation system.  You can customize weapons to absurd proportions and make some pretty fun stuff. Some of the stock custom weapons in the book are Ginormous Scissors, Battle Tongs and a Big Ass Cleaver.  When I made a character, I took advantage of the Cremefillian racial ability which is that they can ignore strength requirements for weapons.  I created a sling that did d12+d12 damage.  Yeah, I regretted it a little when a player decided to play that character I created.  But, with a shooting of d4, it wasn't too bad.

One question I had surfaced when I started reading information on the weapons.  All of them seem to be based on the original Savage Worlds rules.  In the first version of Savage Worlds, all weapons were Strength+X where X was the size of the weapon.  A Longsword, for example, would be a +2 weapon.  The current (Deluxe) rules size the weapon with a die type - which also is the minimum strength required to use the weapon.  Now the Longsword is a d6 weapon.  For this longsword, the old system would be strength +2, and the new version would be strength +d6.  The major difference is that two dice are rolled the new way.  The Low Life based weapons look like the older system.  I am not sure if this is an oversight (as Andy may have the original rules and used that as a base...) or if it was a designer decision.  Either way, it doesn't matter too much; the weapon creation is pretty fun.

Everything is priced in clams, the Low Life currency.

The Game

Characters:
The one-sheet came with four characters. I decided to have a character creation session where four more characters were created. I had 6 players and 8 pre-gens.  This was the Heap that was used.

Player name: Character name - Race - Description.
In order around the table starting on my left:

Kevin: Googene Umberford XII - Croach - Googene is secretly not a criminal, but an actor (a ham in Low Life terms) researching a criminal role.
Ben: Smellvyn - Pile - Wields a mighty self-returning cleaver.
Abby: Captain Cupquake - Cremefillian - Prostitute with a french accent. Part of a Stanist cult that reveres clams above all else.
Sarah: Dayvid - Croach - A Macgyver / repair guy with some fighting skillz.
Brian: Chunky - Tizn't - 1/3rd Chicken, 1/3rd Monkey, 1/3rd Marshmallow - all bluster!  Two headed Hocus Poker.
John: Swovvy  Zinkleman - Oofo - Dementalist, and the coooooolest guy on Oith.

Miniatures

I printed out a page of paper minis that I had gotten from Andy for the game and offered them up to the group - Only two characters used paper minis - the Cremefillion and the Pile.  I also went through all my plastic and metal miniatures and picked some odd ones out; here are my choices.

All the main baddies, from back left to right: Odre and the Primordeal Goon (multiples). Front: Horc guard.

Oofos and other weirdos.

Croaches

Werms

The overall concept of this adventure is to go steal some Hocus-Poked arms, complete with hands and elbows.  The Heap is affiliated with an organized crime group, and the Boss happens to be (literally) armless.  This is actually fairly common in Low Life; it's a hindrance to the setting. The magic hocus-poked arms are part of a roving exhibit at the local museum.  The hook is that they want to steal these arms and use them to ingratiate themselves to the Boss, Dregzie the Schnoz.

The Heap starts out in a bar where they overhear some oldsters talking about the arms in the museum. After some discussion of how they might go about getting these limbs, the Heap decides to split into two groups: one to scout the museum and one to hit the streets for some information.

Museum Team (Googene, Chunky, and Swovvy):
5 clams to get in, and they spend a few hours there walking around trying not to look too suspicious. Eventually they make it to the special display on the 6th floor where the arms are on display.  They get into the room and search around, looking for security devices and measures.  There is an obvious security door and grate at the entrance to the room.  In the interior of the room, the scouts see some suspended reeks on the ceiling.  Satisfied with the information they have gathered, they decide to leave the museum.  On the way out, Chunky gets a tshirt with 2 neck holes to accommodate his two heads.

Street Team (Smellvyn, Captain Cupquake, Dayvid):
This team starts sniffing around the outside of the museum looking for anyone who might have some information about the museum or the arms exhibit.  The Captain decides to see if she can make some money and get some information at the same time.  She approaches some guards on break and seduces two of them into a "date".

The Heap gets back together and shares information.  Dayvid crafts some fake arms.  Plans are flying around like mosquitoes, with ideas about how to sneak the fake arms in, do the switch and make their escape.  There is even talk of just giving the fake arms to the Boss and selling the stolen arms for their own profit.  See? not a very "nice" set of characters...

The next scene is the "date" with the two guards and the cremefillian, Captain Cupquake.  I keep it vague but wanted to reward a good plan, even if it is pretty edgy as a prostitution scene.  I decide to abstract it using the dramatic task rules. On the final turn, Captain Cupquake gets a Queen of Clubs - signifying a complication. I offer a benny if she can decide / invent her own complication and she comes up with that she ran out of cream filling. I decide to require a vigor roll to overcome this complication, and a success with two raises is rolled.  The date ends well for Captain Cupquake, and the next is the pillow talk phase to get information about the museum security and the arms exhibit.  More information is learned, including the password to get into the room where the arms are kept.  At this point, the guards have lost their usefulness and it was decided that they would kill the guards afterwards.

The secret phrase 'Tippytoes' is yelled out from CC; Smellvyn and Dayvid come in to help finish them off.  One of them almost gets away. They think of a few ways to try to clean the scene, and decide that the best solution is the Croaches in the group will eat the bodies to destroy the evidence, saving the uniforms for later, of course.

The Werm Guard / john is shaken while the other guard /john runs away.

Night approaches and the Heap again decides on a two-pronged attack.  One team (Dayvid and Chunky) will climb the outside of the building and attempt to get into the museum through a window.  The other team (Googene, Smellvyn, Captain Cupquake and Swovvy) use the guards' uniforms from earlier and stage a ruse to get into the museum.

Infiltration Team:  Climbing up the building, they both fail at the third floor; losing their grip, they fall back to the ground.  Chunky takes minimal damage while Dayvid takes 3 wounds.  One soak roll later, they climb the building again, stopping this time at the second floor. Attempting a smooth break-in, Chunky manages to smash the window, though loudly.  But at least it's open.

Meanwhile, Team Ruse is talking to the exterior guards and telling them of something they overheard earlier detailing a plan to break into the museum and steal the arms.  Swovvy and Googene are dressed in the guards' uniforms while CC and Smellvyn are in fake handcuffs.  The head guard is called in to review the situation.  Several rolls with raises later, the head guard (a Horc) is convinced he needs to see this security flaw.  He calls all the other guards and everyone climbs the stairs all the way up to the 6th floor to the room with the arms in it.

Back to Infiltration Team; they enter the museum through their broken window, hearing guard kazoos being blown.  Once they figure out that it is not because of them, they use the distraction to go up to the 6th floor, arriving before Team Ruse.  After shouting the password they learned earlier from the guards: "Open the goosin' door", the door opens and a huge creature (an Odre) is seen standing in the room.  He doesn't attack them right away (they knew the password, after all); he just watches them.  Swovvy grabs the arms.  The Odre now does his job of keeping the arms in the room. He attacks Chunky and Swovvy.

At this time, the other group, along with the head guard and 12 other guards, make it up to the 6th floor.  A move is made, and the three members of the Heap attacking the guards, while Dayvid rushes to the exhibit room.

At the top of the stairs everyone is following the head guard.  Dayvid rushes in.

Dayvid has the arms and is making his break going through the mass of Werm and Croach guards.

Dayvid grabs the arms from Swovvy and makes his escape, running onto another part of the 6th floor.  Meanwhile, the head guard is taken down; the Heap manages to get out of the museum with the stolen limbs, with Chunky and Captain Cupquake suffering a few wounds each.

There is undoubtedly more to the story, but time caught up with us and we had to kill the session there, a successful, if bloody, heist.

Conclusion

The game was a great time.  We had two players completely brand new to RPGs and they brought enthusiasm and imagination to the game rarely seen by even experienced gamers.  The players all made the night funny and creative, and I find myself thinking this is one of the better games I've ever run.

Is Low Life for you and your group?  Maybe.  If you've got open minds, an acceptance of some rude humor and events, and some pretty wild imaginations, this game can be a lot of fun.

A few years back, I met game designer Mike Pondsmith (Teenagers From Outer Space and Cyberpunk).  I had him sign my TFOS books, and we chatted about how a funny game is difficult to run. This game was very successful because the players took control of the situation, made it happen, and made it work.

Savage Supers

Ultimate Agenda - from Daring Entertainment

Every month I run a Savage Worlds game at Red Castle Games, and I've been running requested settings.  This month I ran a Superhero setting, using Savage Worlds core rules, the Super Powers Companion, and a one-shot adventure from Daring Entertainment called Ultimate Agenda in their Hellbrood setting.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures.  I used flat paper miniatures (borrowed from a friend, Brian) from Steve Jackson Games - an old product; I'm not sure if you can buy them anymore.  Enough preamble, on with the game report!

Warning: spoilers ahead.  If you haven't played this scenario, you will learn some things about it.

This genre was requested from several players and there was enough interest that a few players made characters.  I chose to use the Hellbrood setting due to some personal interaction with the folks over at Daring, and I thought I'd give it a shot.  These game sessions are not only for my players to learn Savage Worlds, but when I can learn a setting to see what its all about, then that's great and a win-win.

Hellbrood is a setting with not only superheroes but also alien races: Atlanteans (from under Earth's seas), Martians (from Mars), Lunarians (from the Moon), and the Necroleans - a race dedicated to eradicating all other life forms in the Universe.  The Necroleans use a biotechnology to enslave other races, forcing them to become mindless servants.  Zombies, really.  Really?  Zombies in a superhero game?  Yeah, it went there.  I wasn't too keen on the mixing of the two, but it worked out okay.  I am not sure I'd want to run a full-on campaign in this setting, but a few one-offs would be fine.  That's just me being honest.  I just am not too impressed when a setting is called 'new' because it mixes two or more genres.  And I am guilty of it, too; I think it's cool to dimension portal Orcs into a modern setting, give 'em guns and let them rip society a new one.  I am not a huge fan of zombies in gaming in general. You might think that's the cat's meow, and if it is, this setting would be awesome for you! Aaaaanyway, back to the setting features.  They tweak the humans to give them more power points instead of a free edge (really, you're getting the PowerPoints edge) and other races get other racial bits.  We all played humans, so I really didn't delve into the other races too deeply, but on a cursory reading, they looked pretty well thought out.  One new item they add is the Power Stunts.  Spend a special Heroic benny and you can gain powerpoints to either increase an existing power or temporarily gain a completely different power.  It lasts until the end of the round or 2 rounds with a raise.  I won't give away the mechanic due to copyright issues, but essentially a Spirit roll is involved.  And Fastball is detailed out - a really strong hero can throw another hero to give the thrown hero an attack bonus.  It also adds a reputation derived stat.  One more item: GM Bennies.  These are unlimited to the GM, but when one is used, it is given to the player it most affects. I liked this because I typically use my GM bennies pretty freely to save my baddies' bacon, but this made me stop and think a little before I soaked the roll.  I can also declare it a Heroic Benny and use the Power Stunt for a bad guy, then a hero gets that Heroic Benny.

I think that is enough on the setting and my opinion on it. Let's get on with it.

With the pre-gens from the scenario and custom made characters, we were ready and set to go.  We started with the preamble of the Hellbrood setting a little, and the past 2-3 months of activity about where the heroes are now.

The party finds themselves on patrol in the Alphabet district in New York City late in the night.  A few mundane encounters while on Patrol:

• They run across and thwart a mugging: one would be two gangbangers are attempting to steal food two women found scavenging.  The heroes intercede and get the women home safely.
• Several Hellbrood (zombies, essentially) have gained entrance to a home and are attacking a father and his little girl.  Turns out the little girl opened the door to try to get her kitty back inside.

At this point I decide to push the game into the main plot and skip the next encounter.  The main plot starts with the murder of a man, who had been missing for a few days.  He'd left because he and his wife had been arguing.  After questioning everyone in the building, the characters find out that something fast and green killed the man and ran off into a nearby alley.  Searching the scene reveals very little except for some metallic flakes in the wounds on the dead body.

They search around and follow some tracks.  Rounding a corner, they see a huge lizard attacking another man in the street.  The man drops and the lizard spies the characters and runs.  Before they can reach him, he slips down a manhole into the sewers.  The heroes follows the lizard into the sewers and gives chase.

As the chase goes deeper into the sewers, the lizard jumps and sticks to the ceiling.  In the distance there are figures in the darkness, a half dozen or so humanoids shuffling along the sewer tunnel.  The figures turn around: they are faceless with red glowing eyes.  There are two humans with faces, but with a silvery surface on their skin. The silvery skinned humans are both carrying an unconscious person and continue on their path.  The red glowing eyes of the others grow brighter and they raise their hands, which start to glow blue immediately.  Bolts of energy shoot at the characters from the robots hands.  The lizard creature joins the heroes in a fight with the robots.  After the robots are defeated, the silvery humans are left to deal with.  The Lizardman speaks and introduces himself as Dr. Varanus.  He speaks slowly, as if it is difficult, and informs the heroes of the growing concern he has of a hidden laboratory he's located in the sewers.

The heroes follow Varanus to this underground laboratory.  Here's where the meat of the plot is, and I won't give it away, but suffice it to say, this is a really big fight.  So big, that NPC superheroes show up and each player ends up running their own character and another NPC superhero.  This took quite a long time to play out, even in Savage Worlds.


The night ended a little later than planned and on a pretty high note.  The group definitely had a good time.  I always enjoy running games and, sure, I made a few mistakes here and there but the end result was a good time and a good game.

Next month is Low Life from Andy Hopp!

Savage Worlds Gambling tweak

Sure, the gambling rules in Savage Worlds work, and they work pretty well, but there isn't an elimination factor except for actually tracking money, and when you run out, you're out.  I set out to abstractly simulate a Texas Hold 'em style elimination tournament, and I think these rules would work for most any poker game, and maybe even other gambling types. I haven't really run its paces for other games like blackjack or Pai Gow.  I had a specific scenario I wanted to play out; the gambling rules didn't quite cut it.  These rules are  inspired by the chase rules and the dramatic task rules and with the use of the cards.  I had posted this on the Pinnacle forums at one point, but I've made some changes since then.

Background

I used this in a game where only one PC had gambling or was interested in gambling, and I had set up a situation where he was in a game to attain a particular item.  Using the idea of players running NPCs, I created some other NPC gamblers and had all the players gambling, but with NPCs - and extras at that.  I merely facilitated and everyone got to play.  This was a huge success because in a lot of roleplaying situations, only one character cares about gambling (typically, maybe you'll have a cheating duo), and if he wants to ply his trade, everyone else is bored, or the GM has him make a few rolls for the night of gambling, and everyone moves on.  Every player gets in on the fun.  The gambling character was trying to win a specific item by winning the tournament.  What was interesting was the fact that all the players wanted the PC to win, but played their NPC true to form rather than manipulating them to let the PC win.

On to the rules, already, jeez!!

Overview:

• Each round simulates a few hands of poker, not a specific number of hands or even time period.
• Each round is resolved with a SINGLE card, determined like Savage Worlds initiative rules.  Except for the Joker - see below.  If you are holding the Ace of Spades, you know you are going to win. The point of getting additional cards is to get more chances to win.
• When a Joker is dealt out, it is immediately revealed and 2 cards replace it.  It does not give the gambler any bonuses to rolls.  It also causes a reshuffle of the deck.
• Obtain more cards by rolling gambling checks and vs. rolls with Persuasion and / or Intimidation.  If no one opts to roll against you for Persuasion and / or Intimidation, the Target Number (TN) is 4.
• Clubs are complications; if you do not win, you are out. If you are knocked out, the player who won that round gets your chips. This simulates an ‘all in’ move.

Anything in italics are my comments, views and / or opinions based on playing this out a few times.

Detailed Breakdown:

First off, deal everyone playing a card.  Players should look at it, but keep it hidden. This card is critical... If you have a high card like an Ace or a King, you may not want to cheat.

• Decide if you're going to cheat or not cheat; this is open knowledge to the players. This is Out Of Character Knowledge; players may not react to it.  Using two colors of hidden stones may be a good idea - one red and one green, everyone puts one in their hand - red indicates cheating - and reveals at the same time.  This may reduce the "ah, hell, if everyone else is cheating, I might as well" behavior.
• Each player rolls on the gambling skill.  A success and each raise earns another card.  If you roll a 1 on your skill die and you are cheating, you are caught.  Best situation is that you will be kicked out of the game forfeiting all monies; worst situation, well, we'll leave that up to your GM.
• Persuade and / or Intimidate. One character (per skill) can choose to use their people skills to gain an advantage.  Initiate either one of these skills with a roll at -2 (everyone expects some table talk.) Roll the intended skill; then anyone can choose to counter you with an opposed check. If you hit with a raise (4 over the highest other player), you get another card; no additional cards are dealt for extra raises. Or if no one chooses to counter you and you get a standard success (TN 4), you get a card. A maximum of 2 additional cards (1 for persuasion, 1 for intimidate) can be dealt out per round. If a character doesn’t have the skills to counter the roll, then Persuasion is countered with Smarts -2, and Intimidation uses Spirit -2. This simulates Table Talk, Chip Stacks, Lucky Hands, etc.
• Reveal cards.  Highest card wins. Ties are broken in reverse alpha order (SHDC). Ace of Spades is the highest card, 2 of Clubs is the lowest. Winner receives a chip.  Clubs are complications; if you do not win, you are eliminated. When you are knocked out, the player who knocks you out gets your chips. This simulates an ‘all in’ move.

Additional card rules:

• Jokers are immediately shown face up; that player gets 2 additional cards: 1 as a bonus, 1 to replace the Joker.
• Play a predetermined number of rounds or number of chips. The most chips after the number of rounds, or the first to a number of chips, will show the winner. (5 rounds or 3 chips is my suggestion.) If it is an elimination tournament, play until one player is left with chips after a minimum number of rounds (again, 5 is recommended). This could mean that if at the end of 5 rounds of an elimination tournament, one player has 5 chips, he would win. Or if only two players had chips, and one chances with a high club, the other player eliminates them and wins the tournament. Players with no chips can be assumed to have been eliminated through standard chip erosion. 

You can use the standard SW gambling payout using this system, although it's a little cumbersome for that. First have everyone agree on the stakes, depending on your monetary system, you could use as the "win", $10, 6 gold coins, 40 credits, etc. The lowest card pays the highest card the difference times the stake. The next lowest pays the second highest the difference times the stake, and so on. If there’s an odd man left in the middle, he breaks even. This simulates a per-hand case.

Setup:

Bob and Lucy are gambling PCs in a tournament; the GM has either specific opponents (could be extras or wild cards) or generic ones. Depending on the situation, the other gamblers could just be straight up d6 average people, or each one could have customized gambling, Persuasion and / or Intimidation skills. I would recommend not giving an NPC both Persuasion and Intimidation. The game is going to be a 3 round minimum elimination tournament. The NPCs in play are Chuck and Penny, both with a Gambling of d8, Chuck with Intimidation of d6 and Penny with Persuasion at d8. Bob has Gambling at d10 with Intimidation at d6, and Lucy Gambling at d4 and Persuasion at d6 (+4 for both attractive edges).

Example of play:

Deal cards:
Bob Red Joker Lucy 10S Chuck 4D Penny 8H - Bob immediately shows the Joker and he gets 2 replacement cards: 10C and 2C.
Cheating:
Bob has received only club cards, so he's going to cheat. Lucy is not going to chance it. Chuck has a low card, so he's going to cheat. Penny also decides to cheat.
Gambling rolls:
Bob (+2 for cheating) rolls a 4 and a 3 on his wild die, with a +2, so 6 is his best result. This earns him one more card - 5D. Lucy rolls a 6 and a 10 with both her skill and wild die acing. The 10 earns her 2 cards; 7S and 4C.Chuck (+2 for cheating) rolls a 5, plus two is 7, earning one card: KC. Penny (+2 for cheating) rolls a 2, for a total of 4 which earns one card, an AH.
Persuasion / Intimidation phase:
Bob still doesn't like his cards, and decides to Intimidate (-2 for initiating it) and rolls a best result of a 0. Lucy doesn't roll. Chuck rolls a 3. Penny doesn't roll. Because of Bob's total of 0, and Chuck's roll of 3, no one earns a card for Intimidation because there is no 4 or greater difference.
Lucy decides to Talk Up the table with Persuasion (-2 for initiating) and gets a best result of 6. Bob doesn't roll. Chuck doesn't roll. Penny decides to try to outsmart Lucy and rolls a 15! This earns Penny a card for Persuasion: 3D.
Card Choices
Bob decides the 10C isn't good enough to win and a Club would eliminate him, so he opts to show the 5D. Lucy 10S. Chuck thinks the KC is good enough to win, so he takes a chance with it. Penny shows the AH.
Resolution:
Bob goes on to the next round. Lucy also goes on to the next round. Chuck is eliminated due to the King of Clubs; he made a tough choice and is out. Penny wins the round and a chip.

This abstractly shows several hands of poker where at the end of the round of gambling, Penny is obviously doing well, Chuck played poorly (and was out pretty early in the night), whereas Bob and Lucy are playing competently holding their own.