But, since the characters know that the house must play to 17 or higher it affects their choices, which in turn affects your strategy. What you're asking is similar to saying that players should be able to stop the flop at one card, it's a suggestion that might feel good, but has an affect on the psychology of the game, which would ruin it.
A lot of what characters will or won't hit on is not only based on the cards they draw, but also the flop. In fact, you can better play against them by tricking them into standing when they're below 17 and you have a decent flop. Some characters will also stand or hit if the flop is high compared to their hand.
The rules for the dealer aren't there for the players psychological benefit, though that is a great side-benefit, it's vital to good Blackjack strategy. If you're unhappy that you have to keep drawing cards, you should focus more on your manipulation strategy. If the flop is high, you should manipulate the gamblers into busting, since they'll lose as well.
I don’t think you understand? Like, in the game you are the house, so you must play to 17+. A skill to be able to cheat cards could work, but if you could arbitrarily stand or hit past the flop then you wouldn’t be playing Blackjack.
I really wish there was a reference guide, or a GM screen for this game. Reading the PDF, the game throws a lot of similar sounding terms with different mechanics behind them.
I know it'll click with some play, still, would be nice to have a simple reference sheet with cool art and layout handy.
I haven't run/played CAIN yet, but from what I've read it seems the admin has to play pretty fast and rough for the PCs to experience any kind of pressure.
Also, the more exorcists there are the easier time they'll have.
As inspiration (just finished reading it). It's largely a bunch of semi-in-universe prose about Quarcoxa, along with a few basic tables. As a GM, you will be doing most of the heavy lifting here.
Some of the review comments are further down, so I'll write this here for anyone newly coming here to check out the game:
Don't purchase this game, just wait until the final release. The current game is VERY alpha. There's also a lack of information on how some mechanics work, and for a roguelike it gets boring after about 5 runs.
It's great, but really needs just a little bit more polish to be astounding. At the higher levels of difficulty especially, there isn't much in the way of strategy, so much as just hoping you get lucky.
There are also certain builds and combinations that are outright broken, from both the player and enemy's perspective.
