This isn't philosophical

More specifically, I'm trying to get a handle on the Addiction rules on p413 of SR5. I think I've read them a dozen times now and they still don't properly make sense to me. They nearly make sense, but it's just not clicking.

I'm looking at the table for Addiction Rating and Threshold, and this statement in particular is confusing me:

Every time you use an addictive substance during (11
— Addiction Rating) weeks in a row, you need to make an
Addiction Test. The clock on this keeps ticking even if you
skip a week, but every week you go without indulging
reduces the Addiction Threshold by 1 (it returns to normal
when you use again). If the threshold hits 0, you’re off the
hook until you use the substance again. This means that
substances with high Addiction ratings (like kamikaze)
could get you hooked in a single dose.
When it’s time for an Addiction Test, check to see if
the addiction type is psychological, physiological, or
both—that will tell you what you’ll be adding to your dice
pool for the test. If it’s psychological, use Logic + Willpower;
if it’s physiological use Body + Willpower. If it’s
both, you need to make two tests: one psychological and
one physiological. The threshold for the test is given on
the Addiction Table (at right).

Can anyone make sense of that?
Bear in mind that a high Addiction Rating makes a substance MORE addictive.

If anyone can glean any insight from the above it'd be much appreciated

Thanks

Person A takes some Zen for 8 weeks in a row (11-3) you make an addiction test. After this test the clock keeps ticking for additional tests. Every week you go without some Zen the threshold for resisting the addiction lowers by 1 (skip 3 weeks, lower the threshold by 3) if the threshold hits 0 you no longer have an addiction until you use it again. So with Zen, skipping a single week can get you off of it.

That's how I read it, but that doesn't make sense of the line "a single dose of kamikaze can be addictive". In fact, it implies I can take kamikaze every day for a week without a test.

I don't get how a drug with an Addiction Rating of 9 can get you addicted after only one dose. The book says it's possible, but wouldn't you need to take it for two weeks in a row? Maybe they meant 10 - Addiction Rating.

I think it should be interpreted as:

"After [11 - Addiction Rating] weeks from when you first take the drug/chip make an addiction test. For each week that passed from when you took the drug to the end of the duration that you did not take the drug then the threshold is lowered by 1."

Thus for Kamikaze, 2 weeks after you first took it you make the addiction test, if you only took it once, the threshold would be 2 (base 3, -1 for the 1 week that would have passed before the time ran out), if you took it again between 7 and 14 days after the first does the threshold would be 3. Thus with it's high addiction rating, you will never have enough time pass between when you first took it to the end of the 2 weeks for the threshold to drop to 0.

Contrast with Soykaf (Addiction rating 1, threshold 2) where you have a 10 week window from the first dose to the addiction test. Since the base threshold is 2, if during the 10 week period (well, I guess it would be 9 weeks since the first week you already took some) you go 2 weeks without having any (these do not have to be consecutive weeks, maybe the GM is stingy with the money rewards and you can't afford to go to Soybucks at the end of each month) then the threshold drops to 0 and you don't have to worry about being addicted (until you get enough cash from the next run to get some more and the cycle starts again). If you fail the addiction test I'd say you get your first craving (since the withdrawal test is the same as an addiction test) and either have to get your next fix or start falling into withdrawal.

That's great! One thing though, I think the weeks of abstinence have to be consecutive. The threshold goes back to normal if you use again.

I typed out a draft and everything but somehow missed that line. Oh well.

Cheers for that, that makes sense and that's how I'll play it. I still think the book version is badly worded though

I hate to say it but I prefer interpretation 1, interpretation 2 means you are rolling for addiction every second of every day unless you are a Mormon. Which might explain things.

As I read it even with interpretation 2 you still only roll once per 11-AR weeks. How often you used in that time just affects the threshold

So a total of 10 rating points in magical foci has a psychological addiction roll at the moment you first have them all active. Very interesting. Or would you wait until the end of the week? Otherwise, the roll would be every single time. Would there be a 1 week period between rolls?

Sure but since drinking booze, soy caf, the matrix etc can be expected to be occurring at least on a weekly basis, so it really looks like a constant stream of addiction tests.(1 every few weeks for various addictions) Even with thresholds of 2, you will eventually fail so everyone after a couple years in game will be max addicted to all the basics in life. A single gap week in 9 weeks breaks the roll in interpretation 1 as I understand it for soy caf, booze might be 1 break week in 8 weeks straight. At least focus addiction has a must be using X much before it becomes addictive rule. It shouldn't be 1 coffee a week, it should be if you pound coffee frequently for weeks on end you might become addicted. Can someone become addicted to caffeine with mild use, sure but I don';t think its worth a die roll unless the character has made it a habit of some kind already. These really should come iwth a secondary check like focuses must exceed magic in active forces before we start making checks, must drink more coffees in a week than x 2 body for example. Don't get me wrong I think most GMs will figure this out on their own and not addict everyone to soy caf after the 1st couple runs and only require tests for game pertinent things but I still think the rule is lame.

Well, mild addictions (caffeine, nicotine) really only come into play when the guy can't get any (ran out while out in the woods or stuck in a safehouse). Anyone get headaches when you go without coffee/tea/soda for a couple days? *raises hand*

Caffeine Headaches lead to Migranes for me... So I have been caffeine free for the last 15 years or so.

For certain things on the Addictions table, I'd definitely be in favor of allowing people to buy hits. Hot Sim, for example. And as for soykaf, I'd probably just ignore it entirely. But that's just me.