I remember an old SR Companion rule where a runner could trade earned karma for cash and vice versa. Althought we didn't use that rule a lot, it allowed a karmic addictive character (well, anyone using magic) to advance without having to keep an enormous pile of nuyen, sitting under his bed for nothing.

Is anyone using this rule in SR4 ?? What about game balance ?? What's the karma/cash trade are you using ?? Any concerns ??

Thanks a bunch.

People who do it normally use a ratio of 1KP = $2,500. Of course, the best ratio is going to be the same one you use for Karma/Cash balance during your adventures. For my high powered game, it is 1KP = $5k.

I think our last game was something like $5k for 2 karma, but you had to donate the cash to an organization that's mission statement somehow matched your personal beliefs (for the toxic shaman in our group it was donating to a landfill).

It should be noted that our GM runs pretty much double-karma from RAW.

Pretty important rule.

We used:
1 Karma cost 5000 and
2500 Nuyen cost 1 Karma.

and you have to come up with some in-time explanation (extra-job, donation, extra training, ...)

We always did it on a per session basis, ie you could take double the karma from a session in return for all of the money earned that session. This meant that some sessions it was more beneficial to trade in karma for cash, and some it was better to trade cash for karma.. We also required you find a way to justify it, such as hitting a casino to convert karma to cash, or donating to the local orphanage to convert cash to karma.

Didn't I create a sleazy Free Spirit that collected people's Karma for Money awhile back?