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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Converting Nuyen to Dollars
Posted by: Hound Mar 6 2007, 04:08 AM
Is there like... a multiplier somewhere that somebody's got? It's just a bit troublesome when making up a price for a new item/something not mentioned in the book.
Posted by: Thane36425 Mar 6 2007, 04:13 AM
| QUOTE (Hound) |
| Is there like... a multiplier somewhere that somebody's got? It's just a bit troublesome when making up a price for a new item/something not mentioned in the book. |
Some of the older books had conversion rates. Figure at least 2 UCAS dollars to the nuyen and 2.5 CAS dollars to the nuyen. If I remember correctly, the only currency on par with the nuyen was the British Pound.
Posted by: Garrowolf Mar 6 2007, 04:20 AM
the last one I heard was 4 dollars to a nuyen
Posted by: TheOOB Mar 6 2007, 04:22 AM
The Nuyen system doesn't always make sense. I can buy a gun(colt america, 100 nuyen) for the price of 20 sets of flats (dirt cheep clothing, 5 nuyen), that seems wrong.
Posted by: imperialus Mar 6 2007, 04:43 AM
Shadowrun seems to have a much more prevalant gun culture than even the modern day US. When you figure there are areas of increadable wealth 20 minute drives from third world countries everyone and their dog is going to be armed. That's why there is such a variety in terms of gun prices. You have stuff like the Ares Preadator, a big beefy but none the less simple gun that can be mass produced for the price of its iron content then you have fancy high end guns like the Salavatte Guardian or Hammerelli that cost 2 or 3 times as much.
Posted by: Kenshi Mar 6 2007, 05:53 AM
There is a section in the The Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America (pg 84) that states:
"The official exchange rate makes one (1) nuyen worth approximately five (5) UCAS dollars. In reality, the dollar fluctuates plus or minus 20 percent against the nuyen on a day-to-day basis."
There is also a table showing how to determine the exchange rate "at that moment".
Wow, my rules-fu was pretty strong, there...
Posted by: Austere Emancipator Mar 6 2007, 06:06 AM
Keeping in mind that there is no particular reason for the UCAS dollar to be related to the ca. 2007 USD other than by name, so the best way to figure out a comparative "exchange rate" between current real world USD and 6th world nuyen is to do up a simple consumer price index thingie. Ie. compare the prices of housing, food, clothing, transport, etc.
In SR3, this lead to a rough equivalency of 1 current RL USD = 1 2060s nuyen. Apparently nuyen prices have gone way down in SR4, so that no longer holds.
Posted by: Synner667 Mar 20 2007, 10:07 PM
| QUOTE (imperialus) |
| Shadowrun seems to have a much more prevalant gun culture than even the modern day US. When you figure there are areas of increadable wealth 20 minute drives from third world countries everyone and their dog is going to be armed. That's why there is such a variety in terms of gun prices. You have stuff like the Ares Preadator, a big beefy but none the less simple gun that can be mass produced for the price of its iron content then you have fancy high end guns like the Salavatte Guardian or Hammerelli that cost 2 or 3 times as much. |
Just as a fun thing to do..
..Have a gun amnesty [a la CyberGeneration], and watch characters fall apart without guns.
Posted by: Guye Noir Mar 20 2007, 11:30 PM
For 2007 USD to 2070 Nuyen conversion, I say it's 1:1, and here's my justification:
Video Game - ~$50 USD
Video Game - 50 
All else is irrelevant 
Posted by: Thane36425 Mar 21 2007, 12:41 AM
| QUOTE (Synner667 @ Mar 20 2007, 05:07 PM) |
| Just as a fun thing to do.. ..Have a gun amnesty [a la CyberGeneration], and watch characters fall apart without guns. |
Unless they are mages or adepts.
Posted by: Fezig Mar 21 2007, 02:24 PM
| QUOTE (Thane36425) | ||
Unless they are mages or adepts. |
Mages and adepts...oh, and all the people who would still have guns. Last time I checked, shadowrunners wouldn't go "oh dear, I suppose I'll just lay down my arms now." If there are any guns at all, runners will get their hands on them, of there are no guns at all its irrelevant because its still an even fight with crossbows, knives, and fists.
Posted by: Mistwalker Mar 21 2007, 04:08 PM
| QUOTE (Synner667) | ||
Just as a fun thing to do.. ..Have a gun amnesty [a la CyberGeneration], and watch characters fall apart without guns. |
I would love it if they did do a gun amnesty.
Once they had all the guns in trucks to be transported to the melt down facility, hit the trucks, take the guns.
Or, a more Shadowrun version, set it up so that the converyer to the furnance drops the weapons thru a hole, and junk is dropped into the furnance.
You get to keep the guns, but everyone thinks that they have been destroyed.
Posted by: TheOneRonin Mar 21 2007, 04:12 PM
| QUOTE (Guye Noir) |
| For 2007 USD to 2070 Nuyen conversion, I say it's 1:1, and here's my justification: Video Game - ~$50 USD Video Game - 50 All else is irrelevant |
I would go with that rate as well. Here are some other price listing from the BBB that support that conversion rate:
(pg 304-305, sidebar)
Motel Room: $100/night (prob equiv to Holiday Inn Express, Motel 6, Budgetel, etc)
Hotel Room: $200/night (Marriots, Hiltons, etc)
Fast Food meal: $5-$10
Breakfast or Lunch (restaurant): $10-$15
Dinner (restaurant): 20$-$25
Parking (1-hour): $6
Parking (all day): $25
Car rental: $100/day (a little expensive...close to x2 or x3 today's rate)
Most of the listed items on the following pages aren't really ideal for comparison purposes, or haave little/no real world, 2007 equivilent.
However, moving on to page 342, you can take a look at vehicles:
Motorcycles: $3000 - $12,200.
-That's really close to the price range of motorcycles today.
Cars: A couple of anomalies here.
First off, the Subcompact and Sedan prices are in the right range, if a bit on the lower end. But then we have a Limousine priced at $20,000. That's about 25%-30% of the cost of modern day Limos. I would bet that is a typo. My BBB isn't the latest printing, so that might have been fixed by errata.
Secondly, the sports car is priced at $85,000. If we assume that 1 nuyen is approximately equal to 1 USD (~2007), then the sample sports car is a VERY high-end model, out-pricing the Lotus Exige and Chevy Corvette, and approaching the Doge Viper and Maserati Coupe prices. I'm happy with the notion that the Eurocar Westwind ~= Dodge Viper.
And finally, we can look at the Lifestyle costs. A middle lifestyle requires about a $60,000 annual salary for a wage slave to maintain in SR. That sounds about right for the cost of living in a large metropolis. Of course, there is plenty of variation now, based on location.
Here are some examples for 2007
If you make $60,000/year in Seattle, and you want to maintain the same standard of living, you need to make:
$45,000 in Dallas, Texas
$66,000 in Miami, Florida
$46,000 in Atlanta, Georgia
$88,500 in San Diego, California
$71,000 in Washington DC
$72,500 in Boston, Massachusetts
$88,500 in New York, New York
$57,500 in Chicago, Illinois
$55,000 in Denver, Colorado
You'd probably see a similar variance in 2070, though I would suspect the deviation would be smaller.
All in all, it looks like the 1 nuyen ~= 1 2070 USD holds fairly true.
Posted by: Moon-Hawk Mar 21 2007, 04:21 PM
I agree, the rule of thumb is that $1 in 2007 is roughly equal to 1Y in 2070. Or rather, that one dollar from around the time the game is published is roughly equal to 1 nuyen at around the time the game is set.
There will obviously be variance here, certain things might cost more or less. Some of these odd costs show up in the core book, and some of these odd costs come from your GM according to what they do/don't want you to get.
But if you're just trying to get a rough cost for something that you can't just attribute to lifestyle costs, just look up the real-world cost and say that's the cost in nuyen and get on with your game. 
Posted by: Demerzel Mar 21 2007, 04:25 PM
I'm dissapointed that TheOneRonin didn't compare the prices in that sidebar for a night witha joy girl.
Posted by: TheOneRonin Mar 21 2007, 04:44 PM
I would have, but I don't have a real-life point of reference. Where I am from, it's hard for prostitutes to find work when all the other girls out there will sleep with anyone for a couple of beers.
Posted by: Demerzel Mar 21 2007, 04:50 PM
Two beers, $8 domestic, $10 import.
Knowing how to convert Nuyen to Dollars, priceless.
Posted by: Fezig Mar 21 2007, 06:02 PM
I was waiting for someone to post one of those "priceless" jokes in this thread. It was only a matter of time.
Posted by: hyzmarca Mar 21 2007, 06:42 PM
Much of the price drops from SR3 to SR4 can be attributed to cheaper production methods and the natural price reduction that accompanies outdated tech, so 1:1 ratio may still hold.
Since price isn' merely a two dimensional function of the value of currency but a function of the value of the currency and the value of the goods it is impossible to determine exact exchange ratios from arbitrary prices.
Posted by: TheOOB Mar 21 2007, 11:21 PM
Still if the runners need a random item for their next mission, you could do worse then a $1 to 1 Nuyen ratio in determining an ad-hoc price.
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