Then nothing has really changed, has it? You've just given the runner all the money he could want to spend on expensive trash and he still gets to save up for 'ware. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Cup o'Noodles?

Flour, egg, salt, and a chair leg as a rolling pin. That's noodles.
Bagels are great when you can spring for yeast. Man, I made a lot of bagels....

Hey now, he did say Low lifestyle, where I remember 'adding flavor with an eyedropper'. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

what . . no one? O.o

That's the point, yes. The thing is, there is also the player to consider who already burns money on lifestyle - he now gets to save up as much for ware, instead of being punished for sound roleplaying choices.

Why not just tell them they can only spend half on 'ware? I'm not seeing the point of doubling their payout.

Or of curtailing their choices, period - if you aren't playing up the problems with their lifestyles, that isn't necessarily on them.

Does it make you feel better to know I got it?

Yeah, I got it too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

yes it does ^^

as i had hoped/expected ^^

If everyone was living like hobos to get more ware, that'd be fine (well, sort of, more a case of "no one cares what happens outside of runs"). But a player that actually role plays his char's downtime desires, that costs him compared to the others. I don't want power differences to creep in, and it bugs me he's being punished for his sound decisions.

So I feel like balancing the field, and I'd honestly rather give more lifestyle to the powergamer and more ware to the roleplayer, than take something away. It is just easier being a nice guy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) So that means increasing payouts.

I think the easiest solution is award the player that is roleplaying his character's downtime with a little extra karma, it really doesn't need to be a lot of karma either, just a couple of points. His increased karma will help to balance out the other guy's extra 'ware. It's win/win. The guy that likes to roleplay will feel his efforts are being rewarded, and the guys that like to roll-play will still see their characters getting more uber.

I would however suggest not telling everyone at the table about the bonus karma as sometimes that can cause hurt feelings. Our group usually does secret karma awards for all awarded karma anyway.

-D

Yeah, one of the karma award sections is good roleplaying isn't it? Just give them a point or two from that.

No, but I am living on the 'college student' nutrition plan (cheapest ramen I can get, cheapest mac and cheese, buying stuff like pasta and sauce, 'low grade' family packs of hot dogs, etc).

Did you ask your players if they even WANT to roleplay that stuff? I know some very dedicated roleplayers who simply dont want to RP the 'day to day life' in shadowrun, because its simply to... realistic? Close to life now, just with more tech? Something like that.

Yeah that.

Home made noodles are delicious. I make them often. To save time I just pull bits off the dough and toss them into boiling water.
But it sucks to be forced to make stuff from scratch. You can make some great food for cheap if you buy generic and make things from their basic ingredients as much as you can, but it is very time consuming.

They don't, and I don't. If one goes to Middle, keeps a safehouse, and saves the rest for retirement, and another starts living it up with High+ and parties, then it doesn't have to be more much more than that. It just makes the characters feel real, without it actually taking much time. The roleplayer that has to do this anyway gets to do it without falling behind the other guys, and the other guys get to flesh out their chars a bit and give them flavor, without it hurting their min-max approach to nuyen.

I think forcing a small percentage makes sense. It should work out to be slightly less then the character would normally pay if they were not trying to save money. That way someone who makes sacrifices for the long term still fairs a little better than someone who is less frugal.

This assumes that roleplaying downtime has to involve spending money. Do you have to? If the character is the frugal type, or was raised not to spend money unnecessarily and save his money, isn't he roleplaying his character as well?

On another approach, if this is a question of 'are all characters contributing their fair share?', there may be some wiggle room. Back in D&D, there was the player type that always wanted free assistance from everyone else, but was loathe to burn any charges or give up any potions to help out the party, the one that would also bitch and moan about contributing to a party-fund to pay for things like healers and rooms and wenches and info-gathering costs.

They tended to focus on their own gear and 'becoming more powerful'. They also tended to be the ones that loathed social encounters cause they weren't built for that and wanted to start fights at the social encounters so they could flex their combat skillz.

I feel you. Shop n' save has dollar packs of eight hot dogs, and occasionally I'll get two packs of Hillshire Farms cheddarwurst for five bucks. And Little Caesar's is next door for five dolla pizzas!

I figure if I can squeak out more than two meals off a five dollar large pizza, I've done well.

I would kill for a TNG food replicator.

It can be, or it can be a lazy player not wanting to be any more involved than picking up dice when it's called for. It is up to the story teller to make that distinction (with input from the player). Remember watching devil rats fight in your living room can be a roleplay thing or a roll play thing depending on the player.

-D

Edit:
P.S.
A player can come up with a lot of reasons to NOT do anything but throw dice when it's called for and call it roleplay.

I think the premise of this topic is really weird.

RPGs are like movies; you have to decide what will happen on-screen. In some movies, you see the details of someone's life, while another only focuses on action and explosions. What to show on-screen depends on the effect you wish to achieve.

Do the players care about the minutiae of their characters' lives? If they don't care about long downtime descriptions, then don't bore them by forcing those on them. Shadowrun shouldn't be a chore.

Is someone spending no money on Entertainment, because the player wants to save up for more gear? Ask the player if he doesn't think his character is flat or dull. Maybe the character is particularly motivated, or simply has an ascetic temperament?The character isn't materialistic?

If the player doesn't care if his character has fun, that's up to the player; but it has IC consequences. The character might be perceived as a dullard by his NPC neighbors. Horizon might disapprove. Significantly, other players' characters are seen to have more fun!

You can hit people up with lifestyle costs after an adventure, based on their actual behavior. Did the "dullard" PC go to all manner of shows and nightclubs? When it's time to settle the Lifestyle "bill", rate Entertainment higher than the player thought he was going to - if that's what the PC actually did.

Lifestyle is a nice tool of abstraction. Personally, I find tracking petty bribes, bullets and other trivial expenses rather dull. It'd be nice to shovel those kinds of things in an equivalent, something like Runstyle. I want to see action, drama, not accountancy.

That's a pretty good idea.