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suoq
QUOTE (Voran @ Jul 29 2010, 04:21 PM) *
I would kill for a TNG food replicator.

I want The Veldt (Ray Bradbury) only I get to kill the tigers and eat the steak. And it would taste like tiger steak.

That would probably last for a week before I changed the programming to Winnie the Pooh. mmmmm. Honey Roasted Piglet.
Shinobi Killfist
QUOTE (Smokeskin @ Jul 28 2010, 06:10 PM) *
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 wink.gif So that means increasing payouts.



I'm not sure I'd call them sound decisions. I've always(post age 25) lived sparsely so I can save for rainy days or save up for a big purchase. I consider my choice sound, maybe not fun but sound.

Still if its a big issue aren't there Karma for cash rules, use those. Say lifestyles past low is the way you are paying for the karma for cash not by doing charity work. You are all Ann Rand fans and don't believe in much charity so you spend money as your good deed.

QUOTE (Lanlaorn @ Jul 27 2010, 09:31 AM) *
Emphasis mine.

Doesn't your point right there conflict with trying to force people to not save money for new cyberware? Because I certainly know as a shadowrunner cyberware would be both the dream and desire and a form of investment, investing in making myself a better shadowrunner.

Things like going out to bars, etc. is covered by the Entertainment portion of everyone's Lifestyle. Unless you have a group of squatters they're already paying for the things you want them to pay for. How many thousands of dollars a month do real people spend on bars and whatever anyway? I know I certainly don't spend 80%+ of my income on "fun".


Pre 25 I was waiting tables and maybe not 80% of my cash but a large chunk of it went towards booze. I really loved me the long island ice teas. Frequently I might make $100 on tips and then come home with $15 in my wallet.
DMiller
QUOTE (Ascalaphus @ Jul 30 2010, 07:10 AM) *
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.


We do actually do this a lot in our games, not so much increasing lifestyle costs based on what you are doing in downtime, but more like the higher your lifestyle the more things get hand-waived while you are playing. Have a low or streets lifestyle and need to bribe a bouncer to let you into the hot new club... PAY the 50 nuyen.gif , have a middle or better... it's absorbed by your lifestyle. This can go a long way in letting your players know that their characters are living like bums too. There are a lot of examples of this that I won'r bother you all with. smile.gif

Though from the OP it does sound like this GM has a mix of player types in his group, those that want to roleplay (at least some of) the down time and those that don't. Better than average roleplay should be rewarded, but a lack of roleplay shouldn't be punished. Those that want to play up a little of their down time might earn a little extra karma, or maybe some new (low level) contacts or some other benifit for taking the extra time and effort. Those that create a character with little or no personality so that they didn't need to think about down time, or just because they thought that having a character that just went to their recharging station at the end of the mission and stood there would be fun to play can have that character too, but they shouldn't get any extra benifits from that type or roleplay. Playing the personality of a stone really isn't that hard and shouldn't be rewarded.

Another part of roleplay of your character is how different is the character's personality between play time and down time? Just ask your players..."What are your characters doing between misisons?" Any answer is a good answer, but the answers should line up at least a little with what you see during play time. I know that some characters do keep a very tight line between the personal lives and "work" and may have very different personality traits in those two environments, but those should (hopefully) be detailed out to some extent in the character's background and history. Not everyone likes this level of detail, and that's okay but more deatil can (and should be) be rewarded.

Of course all of this is my (and most of my group's) opinion, and we all know about opinions. wink.gif

-D

P.S.
Sorry if this seems a littel disjointed, I'm at work and splitting my attention.
Yerameyahu
Well, absorbing costs into lifestyle is RAW.
Ascalaphus
An illuminating experience for me was the following: in the Vampire group I played in, one of the players told the GM that he wasn't interested in running downtime, because having a fulltime RL job was work enough. He enjoyed playing sessions, but didn't want to do stuff between stories. That doesn't make him a bad roleplayer, just someone who chooses his priorities.
DMiller
QUOTE (Ascalaphus @ Jul 30 2010, 09:22 AM) *
An illuminating experience for me was the following: in the Vampire group I played in, one of the players told the GM that he wasn't interested in running downtime, because having a fulltime RL job was work enough. He enjoyed playing sessions, but didn't want to do stuff between stories. That doesn't make him a bad roleplayer, just someone who chooses his priorities.


I agree Ascalaphus. However answering the basic question (with a one-liner if needed) "What does your character do between runs?" Should be easy enough and not take a lot of time. No need to roleplay it out, unless that's what you like to do. If the answer to the question is "sits in his/her apartment and eats soy cheetos" then so be it, no harm, no foul (but also no bonuses).

I'd say about 30% of our between game stuff is handled during the week via email (no real roleplaying, just mechanical stuff). Quick and easy.

Everyone is different, every group is different, and it's all good as long as everyone is having fun.

-D
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