Would anyone happen to know how the possible houserule for converting Karma into Nuyen had gone? I can't seem to find it, and I wanted to run it by my DM.

In karmagen character creation, a karma point is worth 2,500 . That's a good starting point, and your GM can change it up or down (because different campaigns have different ratios of money to karma - in a campaign where the GM keeps cash rewards down and the characters barely scrimp by, a point of karma might be worth less money; in a campaign where cash windfalls are fairly common, a point of karma might be worth more money).

Anyone know it? Just trying to find out how it worked and what the conversion was, since it sort of seems that Karma, while useful, doesn't end up being nearly as beneficial for a non-magic/technomancer character, and that a way for PCs to have at least a slight chance of affording some of the higher end 'ware or gear seems like it might be nice, given that a lot of the Bioware, and some of the Cyberware for that matter, have costs that make them seem all but entirely out of reach in a game that doesn't go for years on the same characters, unless its bought at Character Creation.

There is, to my knowledge, no official optional rule allowing cash->karma (or the other way around). I have heard of people doing anywhere from 5000 -> 1 karma or 1 karma -> 1000 , though the most common I've heard is 2500 <-> karma, through some sort of broker (which would usually be a spirit, since they tend to be the ones most likely to deal in karma)

Alright, thanks.

I would agree with this.

This thread had some good discussion on the matter.

I used to like 2500<->1, but since reading that, I'm more liking 1->2500 and 5000->1 on the reverse. Keeps things useful either way without being too advantageous for any archetype.

Another route I took in the past (earlier versions with Team Karma Pools) was that team members who shared a karma pool could exchange karma for cash between each other after a run; the exact price being based upon the run's karma & cash rewards. It's not quite as easy to model or justify in SR4, though.

In an ancient thread on the subject, I heard something similiar, actually.

Cash to karma and karma to cash was allowed at the end of the run, with the exchange rate being dependent on the karma earned and the payout of the run. Some dividing was involved.

This meant that the actual exchange rate varied, and made a sort of stock-market minigame for all the players to enjoy and take advantage off.

I wouldn't allow more than 2.5k per nuyen. 2,500 nuyen per karma is basically the exchange point, as seen in the karma creation system. If you give that amount, or more than that amount, you are encouraging playings to trade their karma for nuyen in order to gain power faster, which can spiral out of control. If the players were supposed to have tons of money, I'd give it to them. If I allow it, I typically give 1,500 nuyen for a karma, a charge 5,000 for a karma.