I can't believe the RNG is such a stingy cheapskate!!!!

[Psiweapon]

1) How should I penalize the attacking of the island's natives? They don't fight, and instead provide all the basic services for the fighters, while treating them like visiting celebrities. They also have an anti-cheating squad called VAC who observe fights, and smack the hell out of cheaters. Should the offender get booted? Should he get beaten up? Lose stars?

Make all the commoners secretly as strong as the strongest PC, or more.

There's a reason why the tournament is held in that particular island, and it is because that island is home to a centuries old secret martial art tradition, into which all the commoners are initiated beginning in pre-school, but which isn't publicized.

Thus, if any of your players goes nuts and tries to attack the bartender, the bartender will shove an opened bottle of tequila up their ass faster than they can say cowabunga. Make them always have reinforcements nearby, and give them absolutely insane reactions scores. If this actually happens and the players go WTF give them a couple of cryptic hints and, voilà, instant side plot.

2) how should I handle the ninja PC in regards to the need to bet on fights? He can sneak in and steal the stars or something, but he won't be able to legitimately bet and still have the element of surprise. He may also want to drop in on a fight in progress, but that won't work either if he's not part of the initial bet. should he be responsible for the amount of the bet by participating?

Give the Ninja an Old Master frontman he inherited the first star from. Whenever the ninja appears, the Old Master takes care of keeping proper tournament form. Alternatively or additionally, make the ninja secretly a mole from the organization that set up the tourney, with the goal of not letting the prize go into the hands of outsiders.

[Viashino_wizard]

I have encountered success with my secret agenda to bring about Crawl peace.

Xualyvilon

[damiac]

I've played crawl for a while now, and won a few games, and I never knew throwing meats and such was silent, or that throwing items at monsters makes them not shout sometimes. Why on earth would a non-spoiled player think that would be? Why is sandman being insulted for not knowing this, or thinking that it's sort of odd behavior that monsters shout when they see you, but not if you pelt them with a rock (but only sometimes).

Sandman thinks differently than the average crawl player. While this leads him to make some wacky and seemingly incorrect statements from time to time, he also provides interesting insights, and sometimes shows the "conventional" wisdom to not be as correct as people think. I don't see why he gets insulted so often, he rarely insults others, at least in the last 3 months or so.

[Hirsch I]

Shut up, H1. I've had enough of your crap.

Ew.

you... are not serious, are you?

[TehDruid]

Where's SchwaWarrior when you need him?

[IronJelly]

Have those who are attacking natives and servers treated as criminals. It is a criminal act. Normal competitors who go to a fighting competition don't attack non-fighters (unless they get drunk, belligerent, etc.). They get thrown in jail. If this is a video game, you can either choose to have them naturally invulnerable, or you can throw the attacker in jail. In Ultima I, if you stepped out of line in town, the super-powerful guards would hunt you down and whack you. For "jail", you can give them a time-out and consume in-game time with them waiting in a cell. Depends on whether you want auto-capture for criminal act, or have guards handle it. Going forward, continue to penalize the player with raised costs for purchasing from others as people are wary of him as a criminal.

Ah, the Elder Scrolls approach. I think I like that. You committed a crime. pay me 5 gold or go to jail or incur a death penalty.

[XuaXua]

Ah, the Elder Scrolls approach. I think I like that. You committed a crime. pay me 5 gold or go to jail or incur a death penalty.

I was going with the tabletop D&D approach, but whatever floats your boat.

[Hirsch I]

tabletop DnD approach: you killed this citizen. his abandoned son becomes a criminal. he steals an important necklace from a castle. you have to retrieve it. you kill the criminal. you put the stolen necklace. the necklace is cursed, and starts slowly suffocating you, you have to find someone that can remove the curse. unfortunately, the only person that could do it before you die was the criminal's father, wich you killed. you die.

[sgrunt]

A bolt shoots out and hits someone's shield.

GONNNNG!

[Arkhan]

tabletop DnD approach: you killed this citizen, nobody noticed because your players are cunning and conniving bastards but you feel kinda bad inside and try to hint at his son being present later on except they die too and nobody gets the reference and you just let it drop

or at least that's what it was for me

[Hirsch I]

my players are very, very investigative. "so, you find this peasant..." "ok, I'll cast detect thoughts, get a piece of his clothing, cast scry, stalk him for a few days, talk with everyone about this guy's past... oh, and can I roll a bardic knowlege as well, just in case?"
I made them a little paranoid.