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lorechaser
Divorcing this question from the current "Emperor Tippy might be crazy" thread:

How much Nuyen can a runner make when they aren't running?

Take a 400 BP PC, who has 5 attribute, 5 skill, and another 4 dice in assorted other abilities - say 14 dice.

And then take a 400 BP PC who is specialized in something - 6/5, +2 spec, +2 mentor spirit/ware/whatever, +2 circumstances, + 2 misc - say 19 dice.

What can they do? The suggestion is that they could easily clear 10k nuyen a month doing mundane stuff. How reasonable is that? Could they clear 100k?

I mean, an auto mechanic with 5 log + 5 repair, specialized in "automobiles" can probably pull in a couple hundred nuyen an hour, I'd think. 20 hours a week is 2k nuyen, or 8k a month. And that's without pushing too hard.

Anyone with strong Rules Fu wanna take a crack at this question?
_Pax._
None of that matters.

First, take SINner, a legal sin, for -5BP

Then, take Day Job, all the way to the max, for -15BP

Now, get Fame, at the Global level, for +20BP.

...

For 0BP, with no skills whatsoever ... you have just given that character a monthly income of 50,000 nuyen, for 30 hours of work per week.
bannockburn
Well, I'd make an armourer for DS. He'd be rich beyond your wildest dreams wink.gif

Joke aside: I personally don't see the point. If I make a character for a role playing game, I don't want to play Shadowrun: The Iron Chef! or Shadowrun: The Super Mechanic. In other words: My characters don't make money during their downtime. We do the job, we get paid, to paraphrase a famous space cowboy. Sometimes we take goodies with us to make a little on the side. Optimizing a character for maximizing his downtime income seems ... just weird to me.
Personally, I think that even the Dayjob quality seriously gimps a character.

Sometimes, I play one on one with some of my players though. I tailor the jobs they get to their skills. They'll still be an adventure and it's not something just done with a few dice rolls.
For example, I just offered a mage the job to make a focus. The customer wanted a manipulation spell focus, with 5 units of radical iron and 1 unit of orichalcum worked in, in form of a wyvern skin leather glove. This focus would be worth 100k nuyen. Now, I've let her decide on how exactly she'd want to build this focus, and the talismonger connection offered her 75k for the final product.
The character in question is more of a 'runner of inconvenience' instead of a heartless bastard. A bookworm with a taste for adventure, if you will.
The player wasn't too familiar with the focus creation and talismongering rules, so I explained to her what she could do.
As the character is a vegetarian, she balked at the thought of going out and hunting a wyvern. She paid for the leather (3k)
Getting the rest of the stuff though would prove to be more adventurous. She decided to get it all by herself, because she liked the challenge (although her bottom line would have looked rather slim in the end.)
She accepted that it would take a lot longer of course, and so she set out.
One of her connections owed her a favour. An outdoorswoman! Great, she was hired (and paid 5k in the end). Together they bought camping equipment for 6k, rented a jeep for 500 per week, got a license and set out into the wilds of the Yukon territory. Big fun, describing all the stuff. She washed gold, gathered cinnabar (for the mercury) found iron ore and so on. On the way they battled with falling into the river (no fun at 2° water temperature), sickness, cold, sore feet, a greater wolverine (holy crap, those are KILLERS), an enraged spirit and finally, food scarcity. It took her three weeks alone to get all the materials, but she'll make a lot more profit and it will be the first time for the character to actually create orichalcum.

This was all done with her 'off-skills' and created a unique opportunity for the player to learn those rules and the character to broaden her horizon.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
Well, if you are earning your income from non-running endeavors, then you are not really a Shadowrunner. smile.gif
Emperor Tippy
14 Dice allows you to buy 3 hits.

A high lifestyle (costs 10K per month) can be hacked with an extended test (1 day) with a Threshold of 48. That is 16 days to hack it and turns out a value of 10,000 nuyen (or 625 nuyen per day invested).

19 Dice allows you to buy 4 hits. A luxury lifestyle (costs 100K per month) can be hacked with an extended test (1 day) with a Threshold of 100. That is 25 days to hack it and turns out a value of 100,000 nuyen (or 4,000 nuyen per day invested).

That's the hacker and technomancer (and maybe the rigger as well).

Mage's can turn raw reagents into radical regents at a rate of 3 (or 4) per day. Exact value depends on what reagents you decide to use and how many days you feel like investing.

Faces depend a lot more on roleplaying than pure mechanics but can easily pull in the money by conning people (your face can sell insurance and make a ton of money that way as he get's a percentage of the insurance contract).

Combat characters are where it get's somewhat difficult and depends more on secondary skills. Cage matches and undergound fighting rights tend to work if you do unarmed combat; bet on yourself and you should win against most of your competition.
lorechaser
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Sep 18 2012, 06:37 PM) *
Well, if you are earning your income from non-running endeavors, then you are not really a Shadowrunner. smile.gif


Sure. But say you're getting a piece of 'ware custom crafted, or a new drone made, or your meat shield is laid up in bed for two weeks. What can you do to fill the downtime for profit? Make Ex-Ex rounds? Train a newbie runner? Win a game show?

This came up in another thread as basically a threshold - what can your runner make with null sheen? Because, logically, if you can make X with basically no risk, risking your life for less than X isn't necessarily the best idea. It gives an idea for the low end of risk/reward.

It's also a bit of theory craft.
lorechaser
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 18 2012, 06:41 PM) *
14 Dice allows you to buy 3 hits.

A high lifestyle (costs 10K per month) can be hacked with an extended test (1 day) with a Threshold of 48. That is 16 days to hack it and turns out a value of 10,000 nuyen (or 625 nuyen per day invested).

19 Dice allows you to buy 4 hits. A luxury lifestyle (costs 100K per month) can be hacked with an extended test (1 day) with a Threshold of 100. That is 25 days to hack it and turns out a value of 100,000 nuyen (or 4,000 nuyen per day invested).

That's the hacker and technomancer (and maybe the rigger as well).


Indeed - that's the kind of data I'm trying to get. That implies that a runner with 19 dice in hacking should expect to make 4k a day on runs (or have alternative compensation) for things that are as risky as extended hacking tests. 14 dice should expect about 625. I know there's concerns with buying hits, and with losing dice. Anyone have issues with those numbers?

And, yes, there are tons of reasons to run besides money. But there *is* the money - it's opportunity costs. And while I don't expect an Ork street sam to pull out a spreadsheet and announce that he's not going to kill that troll because the ammo cost is greater than the potential value of his loot, it would be nice if he knew, approximately, what to ask for in income.

Also, it makes a nice "I don't get out of bed for less than X - I could make more than that setting up dead UCAS soldiers as pensioners" sort of RP comments.
Emperor Tippy
There is drug dealing as well. Have skillwires and an R5 Chemistry soft or the chemistry skill?

For a 200,000 nuyen investment you can get a chemistry microfac. If you buy hits from your 14 dice it will take you 6 hours to make 50 doses of pretty much any synthetic drug and raw materials cost 1/10th of the street value. 50 doses of Psyche has a street value of 10,000 nuyen. Even fencing it for 30% of street value net's you 2K for 6 hours work. It would take 100 production runs to pay off your microfac, or at 2 per day 50 days. After that it's essentially a license to print money and clears you 120K per month (enough to live a luxury life style). Note that this is fencing the drugs for 30% of street price, party face and the right contacts can easily get that significantly higher.

Mage's making refined gold regents can clear upwards of 900,000 nuyen per month.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 18 2012, 05:12 PM) *
For a 200,000 nuyen investment you can get a chemistry microfac. If you buy hits from your 14 dice it will take you 6 hours to make 50 doses of pretty much any synthetic drug and raw materials cost 1/10th of the street value. 50 doses of Psyche has a street value of 10,000 nuyen. Even fencing it for 30% of street value net's you 2K for 6 hours work. It would take 100 production runs to pay off your microfac, or at 2 per day 50 days. After that it's essentially a license to print money and clears you 60K per month (enough to live a luxury life style). Note that this is fencing the drugs for 30% of street price, party face and the right contacts can easily get that significantly higher.


Ummmmm... Luxury is 100,000 Nuyen/Month, so no, it does not allow you to have a Luxury Lifestyle, even then.
Emperor Tippy
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Sep 18 2012, 08:26 PM) *
Ummmmm... Luxury is 100,000 Nuyen/Month, so no, it does not allow you to have a Luxury Lifestyle, even then.

I edited my post and missed that bit, I had forgotten to deduct the cost of the raw materials and flubbed my numbers. You actually make 120,000 per month (4k per day). With 19 dice it's 180,000 per month.

And if you make Loco instead then you can increase both of those numbers by 1.5 times (so 180,000 for 14 dice and 270,000 for 19 dice). If you GM will let you create Oxygenated Fluorocarbons then you can make 180,000 for 6 (or 4) hours work; or 1.8 million nuyen per month with 14 dice.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 18 2012, 05:37 PM) *
I edited my post and missed that bit, I had forgotten to deduct the cost of the raw materials and flubbed my numbers. You actually make 120,000 per month (4k per day). With 19 dice it's 180,000 per month.

And if you make Loco instead then you can increase both of those numbers by 1.5 times (so 180,000 for 14 dice and 270,000 for 19 dice). If you GM will let you create Oxygenated Fluorocarbons then you can make 180,000 for 6 (or 4) hours work; or 1.8 million nuyen per month with 14 dice.


And again, this is not Chemist the Labworker... *shrug*
tsuyoshikentsu
QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 18 2012, 03:25 PM) *
I don't want to play Shadowrun: The Iron Chef!

You might not, but this game? This game I want to play.

"The challenger has just begun grilling his marinated steak--and he's finally managed to geek the Iron Chef's mage as well!"
Emperor Tippy
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Sep 18 2012, 08:52 PM) *
And again, this is not Chemist the Labworker... *shrug*

Are you a hacker or any other character with decent logic (4)? Can you afford a rating 4 chemistry active soft? That's 8 dice.

Invest 200,000 in a chemistry microfac and 8 hours of work will turn out 50 doses of Oxygenated Fluorocarbons (street price 100,000 nuyen). Raw materials cost 10%, so that's 90,000. Fence for 30% and you have cleared 30,000 in profit for 8 hours of work. That's enough to pay off your microfac in 7 days. From then on if you have 8 hours free you can turn out 30K nuyen. For a few days investment per month you can live in luxury.

It's not like you have to build your character around this, you can deal drugs and still run. It's just a way to make money whenever you need some quick cash and don't feel like the risks of a run.

It goes back to my basic disagreement with much of these boards; you don't run for nuyen. You run for any number of reasons but unless you are running to make billions of nuyen, money is not your motivation.

That being the case, it doesn't much matter if the character has no money or a ton of money. If they want delta grade ware then they better have the contacts with a black delta clinic to get it. If they want military grade gear then they better have the contacts with a fixer or arms dealer to get it. And they should always remember the downsides; nuyen isn't enough to ensure that your purchases are clean and don't have hidden surprises.
lorechaser
I'm not really suggesting that this is what your characters do all the time.

But even prime runners don't spend 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year running.

You have downtime between meets, downtime between runs, downtime while you wait for the mage to finish his Initiation quest, downtime while the hacker writes new programs, downtime while the street sam heals up from his Wired Reflexes upgrade, downtime while the warehouse district gets put out, so that you can go back in after burning half of it down, etc.

Some of the time you'll be doing recon, training, etc. But some of the time, you've got free time. And honestly, while it's not necessarily fun to play Shadowrun: the Spreadsheet, even the most hardened runners isn't going to want to be infiltrating a corp arcology every single day, even if there are enough jobs that you could.

And again, I'm not necessarily suggesting that this is what your runner does every day. But it's nice to have a base line of what *you* make playing Iron Chef. Even if you have great reasons not to, and would never consider "punching a clock" it's interesting, I think, to know what you *could* be making. We do these calculations when deciding, say, whether to buy attributes at chargen or after the first run, or when deciding whether it's better to increase your attribute, or buy a skill group and break it up, or just get a skillsoft.

Also also, say you are making and selling drugs - that's a fair chunk of opportunity for runs, recon, contacts, interactions, rumors, and what have you. You could honestly build a whole campaign around a group of runners that have a side business making and selling Jazz, or Bliss, or what have you. Running Bad? wink.gif
lorechaser
QUOTE (tsuyoshikentsu @ Sep 18 2012, 08:27 PM) *
You might not, but this game? This game I want to play.

"The challenger has just begun grilling his marinated steak--and he's finally managed to geek the Iron Chef's mage as well!"


Today's theme ingredient...."EX EX AMMO!" "Ooooooooh."

"Iron Chef Ghost Who Walks has decided to layer a flamethrower, a machine gun, and a grenade launcher for this challenge. It's a traditional recipe made famous by Iron Chef Ripley."

"Ooooh! It looks like he's accidentally ignited the White Phosphorus. That's going to need a Shaman!"
FuelDrop
A few members of my group run to sustain their work-free lifestyles for the most part. After a run they tend to spend the next week or so partying and otherwise living the high life, then doing another run to sustain their lifestyle and for the kicks.
Could they make more money spending their off time working? Yes they could. Do they? Hell no! They're risking their lives for a few nights a week so they can spend the rest of their time having fun and living life to the full.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 18 2012, 07:33 PM) *
Are you a hacker or any other character with decent logic (4)? Can you afford a rating 4 chemistry active soft? That's 8 dice.

Invest 200,000 in a chemistry microfac and 8 hours of work will turn out 50 doses of Oxygenated Fluorocarbons (street price 100,000 nuyen). Raw materials cost 10%, so that's 90,000. Fence for 30% and you have cleared 30,000 in profit for 8 hours of work. That's enough to pay off your microfac in 7 days. From then on if you have 8 hours free you can turn out 30K nuyen. For a few days investment per month you can live in luxury.

It's not like you have to build your character around this, you can deal drugs and still run. It's just a way to make money whenever you need some quick cash and don't feel like the risks of a run.

It goes back to my basic disagreement with much of these boards; you don't run for nuyen. You run for any number of reasons but unless you are running to make billions of nuyen, money is not your motivation.

That being the case, it doesn't much matter if the character has no money or a ton of money. If they want delta grade ware then they better have the contacts with a black delta clinic to get it. If they want military grade gear then they better have the contacts with a fixer or arms dealer to get it. And they should always remember the downsides; nuyen isn't enough to ensure that your purchases are clean and don't have hidden surprises.


Again, this is not what the character (or me as a player) is intertested in, even if he has the skills. He is a Shadowrunner, not a Lab Technician. If you cannot understand that, then I do not know what else to say to you.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (lorechaser @ Sep 18 2012, 07:56 PM) *
I'm not really suggesting that this is what your characters do all the time.

But even prime runners don't spend 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year running.

You have downtime between meets, downtime between runs, downtime while you wait for the mage to finish his Initiation quest, downtime while the hacker writes new programs, downtime while the street sam heals up from his Wired Reflexes upgrade, downtime while the warehouse district gets put out, so that you can go back in after burning half of it down, etc.

Some of the time you'll be doing recon, training, etc. But some of the time, you've got free time. And honestly, while it's not necessarily fun to play Shadowrun: the Spreadsheet, even the most hardened runners isn't going to want to be infiltrating a corp arcology every single day, even if there are enough jobs that you could.

And again, I'm not necessarily suggesting that this is what your runner does every day. But it's nice to have a base line of what *you* make playing Iron Chef. Even if you have great reasons not to, and would never consider "punching a clock" it's interesting, I think, to know what you *could* be making. We do these calculations when deciding, say, whether to buy attributes at chargen or after the first run, or when deciding whether it's better to increase your attribute, or buy a skill group and break it up, or just get a skillsoft.

Also also, say you are making and selling drugs - that's a fair chunk of opportunity for runs, recon, contacts, interactions, rumors, and what have you. You could honestly build a whole campaign around a group of runners that have a side business making and selling Jazz, or Bliss, or what have you. Running Bad? wink.gif


You know, some runners really prefer their time off for pursuing/doing things that they enjoy, rather than working. Like hanging with their friends, going to the clubs and hanging out, tinkering with their cool rides, or whatever. There is absolutely no reason to have to have a sideline making more money. Again, if You can make more money not running and pursuing other endeavors, why would you ever run? Personally, My character enjoys the Running, and the money is not all that bad. He works a few days a week, at most, and has all the remaining time to do whatever he pleases. My Character is not Clarence the Drug Chemist, he is a Shadowrunner.
lorechaser
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Sep 18 2012, 09:19 PM) *
You know, some runners really prefer their time off for pursuing/doing things that they enjoy, rather than working. Like hanging with their friends, going to the clubs and hanging out, tinkering with their cool rides, or whatever. There is absolutely no reason to have to have a sideline making more money. Again, if You can make more money not running and pursuing other endeavors, why would you ever run? Personally, My character enjoys the Running, and the money is not all that bad. He works a few days a week, at most, and has all the remaining time to do whatever he pleases. My Character is not Clarence the Drug Chemist, he is a Shadowrunner.


Certainly.

But, presumably, some don't. It's perfectly fine to say "I don't build runners who would enjoy this." But saying "No runners would enjoy this" or "No runner would do this" is a bit of a stretch, innit?

Some might also enjoy the challenge of making drugs and selling drugs, or testing their skills, or whatever. Plus, you can only hang out with your friends for so long before you start get tired of them. wink.gif Or some might have flaws like "In Debt: 20,000 Nuyen" that means that, while other runners are partying after the run, they're muttering to themselves "Must be nice to be able to take a break, but *some* of us have bills to pay." Or they have dependants. Or an addiction to money. Or they use nuyen as a personal score keeping method. Or they just have a Cha of 1, and flat out don't like people. Or they're 10k short of upgrading their power focus, and really don't want to wait until after the next run to do it. Or any other of a hundred reasons.

I'm not suggesting that runners should retire from running and take up creating Jazz. I'm absolutely not saying "Your characters need to stop running and start doing this." But it's interesting (to me) and nice to know how much they could make brewing up Jazz for a couple weeks, both as a way to fill downtime, and as a comparison for "I can make 5k nuyen rolling drunks downtown - you're gonna need to offer me a little more to make this worth my while."

Consider this a version of the Day Job quality, if you'd like. wink.gif

QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Sep 18 2012, 09:19 PM) *
Again, this is not what the character (or me as a player) is intertested in, even if he has the skills. He is a Shadowrunner, not a Lab Technician. If you cannot understand that, then I do not know what else to say to you.


Again - some characters, and players, might be interested in this. That's why I asked the question - *I* am interested in this, at least.

Plus, most Hackers I've seen played seem to spend an inordinate amount of time upgrading their gear, writing new programs, and the like. They *are* Code Monkeys a fair bit of the time, just not for a Corp. What if the team hacker spent a week writing a new Attack 5 program, and then decided he wanted to sell it to a few other people? Does he suddenly stop being a Runner? I'm gonna content that he doesn't....

But once again, to try to steer this back - if you can't conceive of any way your runners would ever work on something that wasn't either a party or a run, then this thread probably won't be of interest to you. But if you are thinking about that, or you just enjoy playing around with the ruleset to see how they would model certain activities, then perhaps chime in!
_Pax._
QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 18 2012, 07:25 PM) *
Personally, I think that even the Dayjob quality seriously gimps a character.

I disagree; I think Day Job really does a good job of modelling "and off-camera, your much less exciting job(s) occupy X amount of your time, and provide Y income towards your bottom line".

Maybe your rigger also drives (perhaps remotely) a taxi or two "between real jobs". Or maybe you have a rigger who also operates a garage. A samurai type, who owns and operates a gun shop, also doing Armorer work on the side. Or hell, any character who's a Rocker type, and whose band is actually good enough to even get PAID for their (probably local) gigs.

Udoshi
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 18 2012, 04:41 PM) *
19 Dice allows you to buy 4 hits. A luxury lifestyle (costs 100K per month) can be hacked with an extended test (1 day) with a Threshold of 100. That is 25 days to hack it and turns out a value of 100,000 nuyen (or 4,000 nuyen per day invested).

Someone's forgetting about the 'extended test -1' rule
also that you can only upgrade a lifestyle by a level through hacking
blaze2050
I think it depends on how often jobs for the whole team come up. If the GM has months of downtime between jobs, than most shadowrunners will have to do something to pay their lifestyle and their player might think about what else their character could do.

Besides being satisfied with working for some days per month in shadowrunning missions and enjoying their free time between jobs instead of searching for additional work, there might be another reason, why runners don't work all the time.

As SINless they can't have legal jobs, so in any job they will have to deal with criminals.

Most of the jobs (smuggling for the rigger, wards and magical bodyguard for high mafia bosses, bodyguard for a criminal) have the runner being more or less alone, if the boss tries to screw them over (for example to get rid of a witness).
If the runner does missions with his team a traitorous boss/Mr. Johnson has to deal with the whole team. This gives some security.

If a runner does a lot of these sidejobs, I would have the dangers of doing this job for criminals come up sometimes.
tsuyoshikentsu
QUOTE (_Pax._ @ Sep 18 2012, 10:35 PM) *
Or hell, any character who's a Rocker type, and whose band is actually good enough to even get PAID for their (probably local) gigs.

Known in canon, of course, as Kat O' Nine Tails.

It's also worth mentioning that several canonical runners maintain businesses as covers--Turbo Bunny leaps to mind--and one would assume that every so often they have to actually do that job.
Neraph
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 18 2012, 06:41 PM) *
Mage's can turn raw reagents into radical regents at a rate of 3 (or 4) per day. Exact value depends on what reagents you decide to use and how many days you feel like investing.

Raw to refined. Gold. 10,000 nuyen.gif profit per unit.
bannockburn
I get that this is a thought experiment smile.gif
I'm just saying, I'll not be optimizing a character for downtime money creation on the basis of dice rolls. If I get offered something to make money, I want to roleplay it (at the very least).

_Pax._: Sorry, I should have specified the highest version of the flaw. 10 or 20 hours are doable, of course, but a 40h day job for a runner leaves a lot to be desired in terms of time flexibility. Which obviously is a must have with the strange hours the usual runner works wink.gif This is just my opinion, though, so YMMV

And damn: Now I actually want to play an Iron Chef adventure biggrin.gif
_Pax._
QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 19 2012, 04:14 AM) *
_Pax._: Sorry, I should have specified the highest version of the flaw. 10 or 20 hours are doable, of course, but a 40h day job for a runner leaves a lot to be desired in terms of time flexibility. Which obviously is a must have with the strange hours the usual runner works wink.gif This is just my opinion, though, so YMMV

Eh, highest version of Day Job is 30H, IIRC, but that's really just splitting hairs.

Besides, that's what Sleep Regulators are for; they seriously lower the impact of a job on a runner's schedule. As does the Sustenance power, for Adepts. My Hacker-Adept in Speed Wraith's online game has that power, and a 20H/week Day Job. At 3H/day to sleep and 4H/day to work ... both about balance out, in terms of available hours in a day.

Also, I think it's more important that a runner have a job with flexible hours, than few hours. For example, another character of mine (an augmented gunslinger) has "bodyguard" as his day job (along with local fame, as exactly that: a skilled and reliable bodyguard). He doesn't have to adhere to a set schedule - really, every job he takes is "a shadowrun" in terms of scheduling.
DuckEggBlue Omega
QUOTE (_Pax._ @ Sep 19 2012, 08:53 AM) *
None of that matters.

First, take SINner, a legal sin, for -5BP

Then, take Day Job, all the way to the max, for -15BP

Now, get Fame, at the Global level, for +20BP.

...

For 0BP, with no skills whatsoever ... you have just given that character a monthly income of 50,000 nuyen, for 30 hours of work per week.

40 hours. And damn for making me realise Global Fame is 20BP (every OTHER reference to Fame in that book lists 15 as the max cost), because I was going to throw the higher level Trust Fund into the mix for an extra 1000 nuyen.gif and a permenant high lifestyle.

Mind you I wouldn't 'run' with that character. Trying to work around DayJob is just asking for trouble.
_Pax._
Then again, a flexible 10- or 20-hour Day Job isn't so bad, and it can help with the cost of a nicer lifestyle.

20H/week and local fame is 7500¥ per month, for example.
Tiralee
All aboard the enchanting train, woo-woo?
~200K a month was normal back in the day, if you had a sufficiently-skilled mage and a couple of levels of initiation under your belt.
And yes, that got fed riiiiiiight back into karma, spells and gear for the player.

-Tir
Thanee
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 19 2012, 01:41 AM) *
A high lifestyle (costs 10K per month) can be hacked with an extended test (1 day) with a Threshold of 48. That is 16 days to hack it and turns out a value of 10,000 nuyen (or 625 nuyen per day invested).

19 Dice allows you to buy 4 hits. A luxury lifestyle (costs 100K per month) can be hacked with an extended test (1 day) with a Threshold of 100. That is 25 days to hack it and turns out a value of 100,000 nuyen (or 4,000 nuyen per day invested).


The suggested way for Extended Tests within a limited time frame is to remove one die (cumulative) from the dice pool for every attempt, which makes anything above medium lifestyle next to impossible to achieve that way. Combining Buying Hits (which isn't automatically allowed) and full dice pool Extended Tests is making things a wee bit too easy for the players.

Also, the threshold of 48 or 100 is for raising the lifestyle by one level, from medium to high, or from high to luxury. You need to go all the way up from street level to get it for free, which is a threshold of 166 for luxury lifestyle.

Bye
Thanee
Thanee
QUOTE (Udoshi @ Sep 19 2012, 07:45 AM) *
also that you can only upgrade a lifestyle by a level through hacking


You can do multiple upgrades during a single month. But you have to beat all the threshold then, of course. Up to medium lifestyle is quite doable. Getting to high lifestyle is pretty much a full-time job already. wink.gif

Bye
Thanee
Emperor Tippy
QUOTE (Udoshi @ Sep 19 2012, 01:45 AM) *
Someone's forgetting about the 'extended test -1' rule

That would be an optional rule and not the suggested or default method of play.

QUOTE
also that you can only upgrade a lifestyle by a level through hacking

That would just be wrong. See page 99 of unwired.

QUOTE (Thanee @ Sep 19 2012, 08:28 AM) *
The suggested way for Extended Tests within a limited time frame is to remove one die (cumulative) from the dice pool for every attempt, which makes anything above medium lifestyle next to impossible to achieve that way. Combining Buying Hits (which isn't automatically allowed) and full dice pool Extended Tests is making things a wee bit too easy for the players.

No, that would be a purely optional rule. It's not the default or suggested method.

QUOTE
Also, the threshold of 48 or 100 is for raising the lifestyle by one level, from medium to high, or from high to luxury. You need to go all the way up from street level to get it for free, which is a threshold of 166 for luxury lifestyle.

That's not actually what Unwired says.

Unwired page 99
"A hacker can improve her lifestyle to a given level for one
month by making a Hacking + Spoof Extended Test."

Nowhere does it say that you can only hack a lifestyle one higher than your current lifestyle.
lorechaser
QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 19 2012, 03:14 AM) *
I get that this is a thought experiment smile.gif
I'm just saying, I'll not be optimizing a character for downtime money creation on the basis of dice rolls. If I get offered something to make money, I want to roleplay it (at the very least).


I totally agree. But I think that, given the abstract nature of the rules, there's not much difference between the two. Log + Computer applies to both runs and mundane computer stuff, for instance. Cha + Con the same. Or Mag + Spellcasting. Or summoning/Binding. Or armorer. Or repair, or ....

QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 19 2012, 03:14 AM) *
And damn: Now I actually want to play an Iron Chef adventure biggrin.gif


A bored drake + too much money=win!

And re: losing dice. That's technically an optional (widely used) rule. But still only modifies the scale.

So 48 hits, 19 dice. You get 4 days of 4 (16) + 4 days of 3 (12) + 4 days of 2 (cool.gif + 4 days of 1 (4). So you can clear 40 hits buying them. A highly skilled runner in their speciality can count on 40 hits over 16 days. That's a fair place to start. What can 40 hits get you?

bannockburn
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 19 2012, 02:34 PM) *
No, that would be a purely optional rule. It's not the default or suggested method.


As is buying hits? This seems like cherry picking.

QUOTE ("SR4a @ page 62")
If the gamemaster allows it, a character may trade in 4 dice from her dice pool in exchange for an automatic hit. Gamemasters should only allow this when the character has an exceptionally large dice pool (and is unlikely to fail) or when the situation is non-threatening and nonstressful.


Also:
QUOTE ("SR4a @ page 64")
The gamemaster can also limit the number of rolls under the assumption that if the character can’t finish it with a certain amount of effort, she simply doesn’t have the skills to complete it.
The suggested way to do this is to apply a cumulative –1 dice modifier to each test after the first.

Emphasis mine.
This IS the suggested method.
Personally, I usually only allow a number of rolls based on the skill level, to circumvent high attribute but low skill situations.
Thanee
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 19 2012, 02:34 PM) *
No, that would be a purely optional rule. It's not the default or suggested method.


It even says "suggested" right there in the text. smile.gif

And it isn't an "optional rule", it is a rule that is under GM control (as in: what rolls to apply it to), as it isn't automatically active all the time.

QUOTE
That's not actually what Unwired says.

Unwired page 99
"A hacker can improve her lifestyle to a given level for one
month by making a Hacking + Spoof Extended Test."


Yeah, the "to a given level" is a bit of a bad wording there, agreed. But that is not what is meant.

QUOTE
Nowhere does it say that you can only hack a lifestyle one higher than your current lifestyle.


Read the full text. It says, that you can improve the lifestyle multiple times, which more than strongly implies that you have to do so to gain more than a single level of improvement.

Bye
Thanee
Emperor Tippy
QUOTE (Thanee @ Sep 19 2012, 08:38 AM) *
It even says "suggested" right there in the text. smile.gif

If it was suggested it would be in the primary rules, not in a side bar about optional house rules.

QUOTE
Yeah, the "to a given level" is a bit of a bad wording there, agreed. But that is not what is meant.

Your mental BS skills don't get to rewrite reality. It says, quite clearly, that you can hack any lifestyle you want from any other lifestyle you want.

QUOTE
Read the full text. It says, that you can improve the lifestyle multiple times, which more than strongly implies that you have to do so to gain more than a single level of improvement.

No, it really does not imply anything of the sort. What it is saying is that if at the start of the month you spend a day or so hacking a low/medium lifestyle and then later in the month you decide that you want to spend the time to hack a high lifestyle then you can still do so. It's simply saying that this is not a test that you can only make once per month.

---
And no, the rules say that any given use of Buying Hits requires game master approval but Buying Hit's its self isn't a suggested or optional rule. And this is pretty much the situation it was created to handle, low risk, tons of dice to roll, a below average result is sufficient for what the player wants to accomplish.
bannockburn
You are mistaken, Emperor Tippy.
It is in the main text, not a sidebar. Read my quote. Pull out your rulebook, flip up to page 64.
All the things you seem to use as standard are subject to GM approval.
Suffice it to say, in my games you wouldn't get it.

Also, your drug trick would get you in trouble really fast. You know. With organized crime and you encroaching on their territory. Which would be fine, because it's an adventure opportunity wink.gif
Thanee
QUOTE (Emperor Tippy @ Sep 19 2012, 02:45 PM) *
If it was suggested it would be in the primary rules, not in a side bar about optional house rules.


You must have a pretty weird version of the book, if you found it in a sidebar. In my book it is in the paragraph describing "Extended Tests".

QUOTE
Your mental BS skills don't get to rewrite reality.


Guess I should take a closer look on that report button, huh?

QUOTE
It says, quite clearly, that you can hack any lifestyle you want from any other lifestyle you want.


Where does it say that "quite clearly"?

As far as I can see, it doesn't say anything at all about the "from" part.

QUOTE
No, it really does not imply anything of the sort. What it is saying is that if at the start of the month you spend a day or so hacking a low/medium lifestyle and then later in the month you decide that you want to spend the time to hack a high lifestyle then you can still do so. It's simply saying that this is not a test that you can only make once per month.


Yeah, that seems like a common situation, that warrants mentioning. wink.gif

Bye
Thanee
Blade
Premises:
- Runners need to have good skills/ware/gear/powers/etc. in order to be able to do shadowruns.
- People with good skills/ware/gear/powers/etc. can usually make money without running the shadows.
- Runners need to have a reason to run the shadows.

Assumption 1
- Money is not the only reason why Shadowrunners run the shadows.
Conclusion 1
- Runners CAN make money without running (doesn't mean they do, but it's possible without breaking the game world).

Assumption 2
- Money is the only reason runners run the shadows.
Conclusion 2
- Running the Shadows is the best way for shadowrunners to get money.

This second case can be explained by many things, such as:
1. Shadowrunners make more money running the shadows than doing something else.
2. Even if they have good skills/ware/powers/gear/etc. runners can't make decent money without running the shadows.

---

Personally, I prefer a game where runners don't make millions running the Shadows. I like to keep it "street-level" so I consider that:
- Runners are outcasts, just like most SINless. They're dysfunctional people, that no corps will accept as employees. Maybe they're good, but they don't fit the corproate mould, and they're not good enough for the corps to tolerate that.
- This leaves crime (including doing a legitimate business but doing it illegally). The criminal syndicates control that kind of activities. They won't prevent a runner from doing it, but they'll want their cut. The runner can refuse, but you don't oppose a criminal syndicate for long, even if you're a powerful streetsam or mage.
- This leaves heists/contracts and other "Shadowrunny" jobs. They could do them without any Johnson backing them up (stealing a prototype and selling it to the highest bidder, but it's risky business. With a Johnson, you're pretty sure that you'll be paid for the prototype or that the corp will stop looking for you once they realize that you don't have the prototype and were just a contractor.
- Runs aren't paid millions, but you can still get a few thousands nuyens for one. And once you're big enough, you can get better paid jobs.

With these premises, Shadowrunners can't make much money without running. But this is all because of my design choices.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (lorechaser @ Sep 18 2012, 08:48 PM) *
Certainly.

But, presumably, some don't. It's perfectly fine to say "I don't build runners who would enjoy this." But saying "No runners would enjoy this" or "No runner would do this" is a bit of a stretch, innit?

Consider this a version of the Day Job quality, if you'd like. wink.gif


At which point you should be taking the Day Job Negative Quality. That is what it is there for. smile.gif
StealthSigma
QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 18 2012, 07:25 PM) *
Joke aside: I personally don't see the point. If I make a character for a role playing game, I don't want to play Shadowrun: The Iron Chef! or Shadowrun: The Super Mechanic. In other words: My characters don't make money during their downtime. We do the job, we get paid, to paraphrase a famous space cowboy. Sometimes we take goodies with us to make a little on the side. Optimizing a character for maximizing his downtime income seems ... just weird to me.
Personally, I think that even the Dayjob quality seriously gimps a character.


Super Shadowrun Mechanics
Kitchen Nightmares: Shadowrun Edition
Who Wants to be a SINner?
Mythrunners
Survivor: Chicago
Thorguild
QUOTE (StealthSigma @ Sep 19 2012, 08:29 AM) *
Super Shadowrun Mechanics
Kitchen Nightmares: Shadowrun Edition
Who Wants to be a SINner?
Mythrunners
Survivor: Chicago



Like: +1
The Jopp
QUOTE (_Pax._ @ Sep 19 2012, 12:23 AM) *
None of that matters.

First, take SINner, a legal sin, for -5BP

Then, take Day Job, all the way to the max, for -15BP

Now, get Fame, at the Global level, for +20BP.

...

For 0BP, with no skills whatsoever ... you have just given that character a monthly income of 50,000 nuyen, for 30 hours of work per week.


You could add trust fund as well.
Draco18s
QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 19 2012, 08:48 AM) *
Also, your drug trick would get you in trouble really fast. You know. With organized crime and you encroaching on their territory. Which would be fine, because it's an adventure opportunity wink.gif


*Cough*
bannockburn
Never watched the series. But I guess the teacher guy needs to protect his 'business'? Or is he just left alone by police and competitors? wink.gif
Draco18s
QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 19 2012, 10:49 AM) *
Never watched the series. But I guess the teacher guy needs to protect his 'business'? Or is he just left alone by police and competitors? wink.gif


He teams up with a local small time drug dealer, who ends up getting shot, IIRC, so he goes to the bigger local crime syndicate, offers 5 pounds a week (their cooks can typically supply like 5).

They tell him to piss off, so he comes back with a gallon bag full of crystal that looks like meth (it is actually a impact sensitive explosive). He WTF ruins their headquarters. So he gets a deal.

Things look up.

DEA comes down hard.

He gets hired by a local businessman who would have been in the drug trade, if the Mexican Cartel hadn't shot his partner and cook 20 years ago.

He's producing 200 pounds a week.

New boss gets revenge on the cartels.

Threatens Walter's life one more than one occasion.

Walter kills business man, making it look like a cartel revenge kill.

Power vacuum. Starts his own business.

Current deal is with another local drug dealing syndicate who tried to buy him out, but he refused (his partners wanted out, though). Fast talked his way into becoming their cook.

It's an entire chain of "stepping on someone's toes" and "getting stepped on in return" followed by a lot of intimidation, fast talking, and deal making. Afterall, Walter makes a meth that is 99.6% pure (the best the other guys can do is 60%). Hooray for being a brilliant chemist with a thousand gallons of stolen methylamine.
bannockburn
See? Great adventure hooks right there smile.gif
But I wouldn't let it fly if someone would just want to buy hits.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (bannockburn @ Sep 19 2012, 09:34 AM) *
See? Great adventure hooks right there smile.gif
But I wouldn't let it fly if someone would just want to buy hits.


And yet, it is not really SHADOWRUN at that point, it is Criminal Endeavor Number 2. smile.gif
He is running a Criminal Organization, rather than Running the Shadows for Unknown Benefactors. He is an Employer/Supplier, rather than a Shadow Employee. They are NOT the same thing at all...

But Yes, the game would be interesting indeed, with Plot Hooks aplenty, it is just not a Shadowrun Game.
All4BigGuns
QUOTE (Thanee @ Sep 19 2012, 07:55 AM) *
Guess I should take a closer look on that report button, huh?


Could be, but I think he needs to 'take a closer look at the report button' on a good number of you all who seem to be ganging up and attacking him. He may be getting a bit over aggressive, but it's because he's having to defend himself from a barrage of attacks from multiple other posters. Chill out, and please quit trying to tell the guy that he's somehow 'having fun wrong' just because it doesn't jive with your own views.


bannockburn
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Sep 19 2012, 06:39 PM) *
But Yes, the game would be interesting indeed, with Plot Hooks aplenty, it is just not a Shadowrun Game.

Wouldn't go so far, personally. It's just SR in the SR world with a different focus. Like the Lone Star campaign setting, or DocWagon, or reporters.
But yes, it sounds plenty interesting. smile.gif

All4BigGuns: Please learn the difference between discourse and ad hominem. Thanee wasn't aggressive anywhere and he (she? sounds female) and I merely pointed out that we see things differently. Were does that constitute 'ganging up'? When I re-read that discussion, I see someone interpreting the unwired rules differently (which I honestly did not read up on, so I can't even say, who's right here, if anyone) and that was called as 'Bullshit skills'. I also see someone cherry picking his rules with an apparently lenient GM and trying to sell this as 'the right way', not the other way around.
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