I can't quite figure out how the Cheat the Devil tournament should work.
1) Are they people playing with their own coin or are they limited to the 1 GP entry fee they start with? If they can play with their own money, rich folk would simply buy their way into the final, so I assume you have to play with just the entrance fee.
2) Most of the games given in the book favor the house for a certain percentage. That means that over a little bit of time, the players probably lose.
I'm thinking maybe it should work more like a poker tournament. You pay a fee to get in, have a set number of chips to start with, and win your way up table to table until you eventually beat all of the other players.
I'm thinking say 6 players per table, which means the winner of that table ends up with 6 GP. If they win the second table, they have 36gp. Table 3 is 216, table 4 is 1296.
You could set a DC for each level and require the CHA/Profession (Gambler) check to more on to the next table. DC10 at the first table, Dc 12 at the next, etc. Or maybe they have to make the DC for 3 out of 5 skill checks.
To put some decision making into it, you could also give a +2 bonus to one roll if they make a Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidate check. Spells or cheating might give a bonus as well.
it's backround, the players are supposed to be doing other things, so just RP the gambling. The Sorceror comes into the steal everything anyway and the PCs are supposed to stop him.
I let my players use their own money we played for about 20 real minutes then had the raid take place
The players enjoyed it and made a little extra money
Angvar: “All right, everybody be cool, this is a robbery!”
Thuvalia: “Any of you f*****g pr*ks move, and I'll execute every m****rf*****g last one of ya!”