Buying vampirism, everything has a price in the shadows... Options

[Wanderer]

What price (either in services and favors, or a true street price in nuyen and Availability) would you deem right if a character wants to purchase Infection with HMHVV-I for oneself ? Pretty much everything has a price in the shadows, so becoming a vampire/banshee/wendigo/nosferatu should be no exception. True, OOC the change is paid in karma points, but IC it is "just" a matter of convincing an Infected NPC to met the volunteer in the appropriate circumstances and use its Infection power on them. Surely some Infected exist that are sufficiently pragmatic and businesslike to be willing to perform the service for the right price. What's that price ?

[Cyntax]

Hell if I know, but I know if it were me and I had the cash I'd pay it.

[HappyDaze]

OOC the change is paid in karma points, but IC it is "just" a matter <<<>>> the right price. What's that price ?

If you want to keep to the mechanics, 200 karma = 500,000 nuyen. Not bad.

[Cang]

well i am not going to give you a nuyen cost but i will give you some food for thought.

1. Infected are predators with a limited resource. I mean yea, there are millions of people to pick from but its one more person to fight over the easy picks and one more to get people angry enough to go around and lynch anyone that is pale.

2. There are some infected that just won't want to infect you. I mean, i am sure you can find someone to give aids to you for a price, but im sure there will be alot of people who will refuse to because it's just plain crazy and suicidal.

3. There is a chance that you will die or become retarded when you get infected, so it isn't 100% chance that you will be lord of the shadows. Just food for thought while you are looking for that special someone.

4. You will have to get your essence down to 0 to become of vampire so you can't just get bitten to turn into one. You also can't get injected or have one spit in your mouth.

Well after that, all i can say is you can probable find someone who will do it for cheap (well for a shadowrunner). The problem is finding someone and then have them willing to do it. You can't just go to vamps r us. The mostly don't run in secret cults or orgies. If you want to be a ghoul, that shouldn't be that hard but if you want to be a vampire you are going to have to work for it.

[Squinky]

"Sure Pal, I've got a friend right around the corner who can take care of that for you....Just pay up, go to sleep, and when you wake up you will be Vampire hunter D"

[Isath]

Indeed it's a good business idea for roaming bio-traders. "Oh, we will make you a vampire all right...first we need to inject you with the Virus...just hold still."

Gosh you reap peoples organs and they even pay you for it... what a doubledeal.

Oh...and it works perfectly vor vampires aswell ^^

"Gimme all your money and serve me for some time, then, when you are ready, I will grant you eternity"

Rip 'em of, if have them work for you and finally suck them dry, while they think you are infecting them.

That will be the price I guess.

[MJBurrage]

I approach a Vampire through a mutual fixer. I put an agreed upon amount of Nuyen in an escrow account. We go into a locked and properly guarded room. If we both come out vampires the sire gets paid. If I don't come out neither does the sire.

Whats the price?

[Wanderer]

I approach a Vampire through a mutual fixer. I put an agreed upon amount of Nuyen in an escrow account. We go into a locked and properly guarded room. If we both come out vampires the sire gets paid. If I don't come out neither does the sire.

Whats the price?

Indeed. It is assumed that the buyer takes whatever sensible precautions to ensure that the vampire or nosferatu does not double-cross him. This is not about Infected-themed scams. It is about the features of the real thing.

[Wanderer]

1. Infected are predators with a limited resource. I mean yea, there are millions of people to pick from but its one more person to fight over the easy picks and one more to get people angry enough to go around and lynch anyone that is pale.

This is why they won't do it cheaply. OTOH, the Sixth World is huge, and those who have the resources, connections, and savy to contact a businesslike vampire or nosferatu and pay the price he asks for, aren't many.

2. There are some infected that just won't want to infect you. I mean, i am sure you can find someone to give aids to you for a price, but im sure there will be alot of people who will refuse to because it's just plain crazy and suicidal.

By the same reasoning, there are definitely some Infected that don't mind sharing the virus, as long as the right price or service is given.

3. There is a chance that you will die or become retarded when you get infected, so it isn't 100% chance that you will be lord of the shadows. Just food for thought while you are looking for that special someone.

The risk of death does exist, but those who purposefully seek Infection may effectively fail to resist the transformation.

RC, p. 83:

A character may burn a point of Edge to either guarantee they pass
the test—and die in peace—or to deliberately fail the test and gain
a shot at life again as one of the Infected.

As it concerns the risk of cognitive loss, it is a concrete risk only for dwarves. All other metatypes exit the HMHVV-I transformation with their intellectual faculties as good as before, or even improved.

4. You will have to get your essence down to 0 to become of vampire so you can't just get bitten to turn into one. You also can't get injected or have one spit in your mouth.

That's why the smart buyer of vampirism needs to take sensible precautions over the act. Payment completed after the new Infected awakens, transformation performed in a secure, guarded area under the survelliance of trusted companions.

Well after that, all i can say is you can probable find someone who will do it for cheap (well for a shadowrunner). The problem is finding someone and then have them willing to do it. You can't just go to vamps r us. The mostly don't run in secret cults or orgies. If you want to be a ghoul, that shouldn't be that hard but if you want to be a vampire you are going to have to work for it.

Yes, an extensive amount of physical and/or Matrix legwork is definitely going to be necessary. That's why I wished to hammer down an Availability for the service.

[Squinky]

I approach a Vampire through a mutual fixer. I put an agreed upon amount of Nuyen in an escrow account. We go into a locked and properly guarded room. If we both come out vampires the sire gets paid. If I don't come out neither does the sire.

Whats the price?

Make sure you chemically seal the room too, darn mist form (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Zaranthan]

Only one comment here:

Yes, an extensive amount of physical and/or Matrix legwork is definitely going to be necessary. That's why I wished to hammer down an Availability for the service.

I'd say it requires whatever legwork you have available, as it's one of those "life-shattering upgrades" that calls for a run in and of itself, rather than a mere Availability test.

[toturi]

Like everything else in the game, Pornomancer vampire, baby...

Come on, gimme a bite, you know you want to...

[HappyDaze]

Make sure you chemically seal the room too, darn mist form

Wood ceilings, floors, and panelling along with some cellulose fiber filters will be fine since touching a substance that the vanmpire is allergic to will knock out Mist Form.

[hyzmarca]

Vampirism is available at chargen, so I'd put it at Availability 12.

You just get on the Matrix, put an ad up on Craigslist, and Vlad5799 shoots an email your way. Three says work, for a rare creature that tends to attract not nice people, I'd put it at $150,000 - negotiable.

The precautions to ensure that Vlad5799 is on the level, however, would be much more expensive.

But, yes, pornomancer vampire is the way to go. Let the bloodsucker take a bite out of your custom troll-sized MP3 player-equipped genitals.

[Wanderer]

If you want to keep to the mechanics, 200 karma = 500,000 nuyen. Not bad.

Well, that seems a sensible option since it compares with getting a Age Rejuvenation treatment. Since the IC main benefit of Infection is immortality: it brings the drawbacks of the Infected lifrestyle, but it's forever and it gives some substantial power benefits, so it roughly balances out. It is pricey, but not impossible for successful runners.

Of course, following this model, this is true for becoming a vampire or wendigo. For the nosferatu option, 300 karma = 600,000 nuyen.

What about banshees ? Would they get a discount ? If we follow the OOC strict nuyen = karma rule, they ought to. OTOH, why IC should an Infected bother to charge less ?

[VagabondStar]

What would the street index be?


You could always bring the Ordo Maximus in... and that would create its own issues.

[Wanderer]

Vampirism is available at chargen, so I'd put it at Availability 12.

You just get on the Matrix, put an ad up on Craigslist, and Vlad5799 shoots an email your way. Three says work, for a rare creature that tends to attract not nice people, I'd put it at $150,000 - negotiable.

The precautions to ensure that Vlad5799 is on the level, however, would be much more expensive.

But, yes, pornomancer vampire is the way to go. Let the bloodsucker take a bite out of your custom troll-sized MP3 player-equipped genitals.

So maybe could we take the nuyen = karma rate that Happydaze suggested as the total bill, expenses included, or would you suggest a lower total than that, too ?

[hyzmarca]

Sure, that works. You've got the high security sealed and warded meeting room for at least three days, the blood for when you wake up hungry and for the vamp to snack on, closed circuit pay-per-sim to give the vampire entertainment while waiting for you to revive while still denying matrix access (because you wouldn't want him contacting a strike team) and guards, of course.

Of course, you've also got the embarrassing stigma of buying vampirism from a guy named Vlad who you met on the Matrix.

[JudgementLoaf]

Heck, I am willing to bet some less than scrupulous biomod firms might be willing to arrange the deal for the price of medical data. After all, having a real live subject undergo the change hooked up to all the medical monitors and sensors that money can buy has got to be worth something. Not to mention than any corp. willing to infect someone would have a lot of leverage over the individual, both in terms of HHMVV, plus whatever else nasty they wanted to implant while you were sleeping....

[hyzmarca]

the change

This is the first time I've considered vampirism as a metaphor for menopause. Given that vampires are infertile, it is an interpretation that makes perfect sense and there is something cool about it.



And it probably explains a great deal of Anne Rice's later work.

[toturi]

This is the first time I've considered vampirism as a metaphor for menopause. Given that vampires are infertile, it is an interpretation that makes perfect sense and there is something cool about it.

And it probably explains a great deal of Anne Rice's later work.

I have tea in my nose. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Jaid]

SR vampires are not infertile though.

i mean, some of them can't infect other people, but there are rules for vampires who were born vampires, so obviously they aren't infertile. though how a newborn infant manages to essence drain is beyond me... i guess probably the parents have to allow the infant to drain instinctively from them or something...

[hyzmarca]

SR vampires are not infertile though.

i mean, some of them can't infect other people, but there are rules for vampires who were born vampires, so obviously they aren't infertile. though how a newborn infant manages to essence drain is beyond me... i guess probably the parents have to allow the infant to drain instinctively from them or something...

There are rules for ghouls who are born ghouls and loup-garou who are born loup-garou, but the rules specifically state that vampire fetuses are unable to develop properly and die quickly. Though it might be possible for a vampire to impregnate or become pregnant, a miscarriage is certain long before the fetus could possibly be viable, probably long before the pregnancy is even noticed.

and remember, a vampire fetus would have Immunity to Age from conception. Even if implantation can be ensured via advanced medical technology, a 9 moth old vampire fetus would, thanks to this Immunity, be at exactly the same stage of development as a 1 second old vampire zygote.

[MJBurrage]

I don't have my books handy, but immunity to aging and not developing normally are two different things. Aging is the degeneration that starts sometime in your twenties, that some researchers think we might be able to "cure" someday. Development through puberty is very different.

I know in some vampire stories, turning a child into one makes them stop developing, but unless the SR rules state this, Immunity to aging should not stop normal growth and development.

[hermit]

What price (either in services and favors, or a true street price in nuyen and Availability) would you deem right if a character wants to purchase Infection with HMHVV-I for oneself ? Pretty much everything has a price in the shadows, so becoming a vampire/banshee/wendigo/nosferatu should be no exception. True, OOC the change is paid in karma points, but IC it is "just" a matter of convincing an Infected NPC to met the volunteer in the appropriate circumstances and use its Infection power on them. Surely some Infected exist that are sufficiently pragmatic and businesslike to be willing to perform the service for the right price. What's that price ?

+10 Notoriety, and Bad Rep. Also, being the servant/slave of the creator vampire for the next 100 years.