So one of my team is an alcoholic. Moderate addiction to alcohol and I'm wondering how I should play it. He gets cravings, as expected. He buys some whiskey, he feels better. But what's the penalty ? Was thinking I'd give him a -1 perception modifier for a while after he drinks and maybe step it up to -1 agility if he had a session. But again, what's a good duration ?

The non-standard drugs all have nice, neat effects write-ups but for the gargle ? I don't want the PC just to say "Oh, I want some drink. Take a shot. Off I go." There has to be some drawback.

Anyone any advice ?

I would say go with what you posted. As for duration, use the same duration as being fully inebriated (I don't recall where the rule is), even if he spaces out the drinks.

I haven`t read all the recent books (attitude, War!, etc.), but from the core books, the only place(s) I remember reading any alcohol influence are the Intoxicate spell (SM 169), which adds fatigue damage, and Hurlg, in the drug section of Arsenal, which says it's an acolholic drink. Having never drank myself, I cannot realistically offer penalty advice, but I can say to enforce the minimum required dosage to get the effect (Tolerance, Ars 73), and overdosing (SR4A 257). If he needs to overdose (a number of doses equal to or greater then his body) to get a fix (4x the amount at severe addiction), then that can be a pain, both on his wallet, and his Physical damage track.

I did find what I assume was home-brew rules which amounted to resisting stun damage per drink. From that, I had considered two drink (two whiskeys) minimum for moderate addiction, so he'd have to resist two stun each time he succumbs to the demon drink. That would kinda work in line with the inebriate spell.

I think I'll discuss it with the lush in question next run and we can decide if he's prefer that or -1 perception per drink for (7 -Body) hours. If his addiction steps up, I'll look into effecting logic or agility (or both).

Cheers for the ideas. Next round's on me.

Obscure but....
Arsenal 160

Yeah, -2 for an hour--No Body modifier; I assume your alky either drinks however much is required to really feel it and/or is driven to distraction-- is what I always went with given that it's also the same penalty as being under the effects of a Mild Allergy, which seems appropriate. Granted, this can make Moderate Alcoholism or higher a real pain in the ass if you don't have the Willpower/Body score to fight off the urge occasionally, but well, that's why it's a 10 point negative quality. Weekenders should take the 5 pointer or none at all.

I think one issue that none of you have considered yet is what type of alcoholic is he. Is he a lush or a functional alcoholic? That would certainly have an effect on how the mechanics play out (not to mention the differing RP consequences).

The reason I wouldn't really openly consider that is because ultimately the mechanical effect is something of a game balance concern and so I figure that at moderate or above, you're edging into lush territory. At Moderate you're pretty functional, but only in the sense that when you're impaired usually there isn't anything important going on. Usually. The problem with functional alcoholics, after all, is that their functioning depends a lot on routine. They can generally cope with life fine as long they can get their drink after work. It's when they're expected to stay late or to make li'l Timmy's softball game or hack into the MCT on short notice that their habit really starts to rear its head. I think the best portrayal of drunken runner I've seen was a flask-toting orc who was treated as having almost always having had a moderate amount of booze over any given period of time. So for IC purposes the Body-Willpower test was treated not as a decision to drink/not drink but rather represented the orc's failure to moderate himself well enough to avoid significant impairment.