[Beta]

I'm looking at the commercial lifestyle from Run Faster (page 218), and have a number of questions:

- Can you live there, or do you need a second lifestyle?

- It is assumed that you are not a very good business person, as it will cost you money every month?

- It states "The location associated with this lifestyle includes permits to sell specific legal items."  I suppose what that would be is to be discussed with the GM, to figure out what makes sense for the type of establishment that it is.  I would think that this should make such gear easier to acquire, and possibly cheaper?  Say for a moment you were running a diving equipment store, and a run comes up where the team needs diving gear.  Aside from player-to-player interaction on how good a deal to cut your team-mates, it would seem that getting the gear should be easy, and that there would be a chance to save some money?

[Reaver]

Meta much?

Its a store front that costs you $8k a month, modified by a corp etiquette test.....

So unless you have a whopping high eteiqutte, its costing you money.

Speaking as someone who builds commercial spaces, they are not at ALL for living in!

They lack the hookups that many people take for granted.... things like power for stoves, enough recepticles for power, proper water hook ups, and a host of other things.

Now, you can retrofit a lot of this. (And that happens all the time). But it gets costly!

Just the electrical alone can run you tens of thousands! (Looking at a bill right now. Place went from a pizza restaurant to a hair studio. $43,531.76 for materials and labour. That's JUST the electrical!)

So to Sum up:
Not for living (FIRST SENTENCE)
Not for making money (good luck getting a consistant 8 successes!)
MAYBE gear, IF your GM lets you (I wouldn't.)

[PiXeL01]

Since normal lifestyles included everything including transportation I would say the Commercial includes legal goods as well. HOWEVER, since this is a legal store you better have your recites and records in order when the taxman and /or other city officials comes around. That means you must be able to provide proof for anything. Should you use your own stores you have to pay for it out of your own pockets (and do the paperwork) or face the charges of theft or even why you did not report the theft in the first place (welcome KE investigation).

Also, I would require you to have a separate lifestyle for living even if it is the upstairs apartment.
And yes you have lose money every month so better be making those rolls! Team work would be allowed if others spend time in the store etc.

[Pap Renvela]

RAW, it's a lifestyle-you can live there.

[Rooks]

Also thats what day job would cover for when you work during when the shop is open.

[Rooks]

Meta much?

Its a store front that costs you $8k a month, modified by a corp etiquette test.....

So unless you have a whopping high eteiqutte, its costing you money.

Speaking as someone who builds commercial spaces, they are not at ALL for living in!

They lack the hookups that many people take for granted.... things like power for stoves, enough recepticles for power, proper water hook ups, and a host of other things.

Now, you can retrofit a lot of this. (And that happens all the time). But it gets costly!

Just the electrical alone can run you tens of thousands! (Looking at a bill right now. Place went from a pizza restaurant to a hair studio. $43,531.76 for materials and labour. That's JUST the electrical!)

So to Sum up:
Not for living (FIRST SENTENCE)
Not for making money (good luck getting a consistant 8 successes!)
MAYBE gear, IF your GM lets you (I wouldn't.)

Also not a home in run faster covers that

[Jack_Spade]

Funny thing: A cramped shop in a dangerous area will make it a lot easier for you to break even on your rent, where as having helpers who share the lifestyle will make it nearly impossible 

[Beta]

Thank you for the responses so far.  I admit I’m still confused, however, on a couple of points.

First, why would it be listed in lifestyles and have scores for things like ‘comforts & necessities’ etc., if you can’t live there?  I know it says in the write up that you don’t live there, but everything else seems to look at it as a regular lifestyle.

Second, what is the point of it?  It costs you money, at best it gives you improved access to legal goods, from a shadowy perspective it ties you to a public location (and possibly you still pay for a separate lifestyle?)  Don’t get me wrong, I get that it might interest some builds just as part of character backstory (and that is why I was looking at it in the first place), but is that all it is:  an expensive way to satisfy players who want their character to have a store or business?

[Jack_Spade]

It can be worth it with the right qualities (fencing stuff through your own shop) and with a bit of specialization (the elven shaman/face of the group, that gets helps through teamwork from a few task spirits)

And yes, you should be able to live there unless you have the quality "not a home" tied to it.

[Reaver]

Some people buy tool facilities for crafting. (Be it magic or tech.... artificing, gunsmithing, drone mechanics, etc).

Now, you have a 'lifestyle' you can 'place' said facilities at..... and run a talismonger shop, or a autobody shop, or a gun store....

But based on the rules, its not there to make you money. (The roll is a baseline reduction in costs, not actually money made...And there is no mention of time needed to be spent there unlike other qualities that provide additional income.


Remember, the game is about illegal activities, and is written with that in mind.... its not a business simulater...

[Pap Renvela]

The quality Not a Home lowers comforts and necessities of the lifestyle- it does not preclude you from living there.

[Rooks]

No it doesnt but what I was getting at is not a home makes it so that a store front in a strip mall isnt going to have showers etc the stuff you expect in a home which is reflected in the lowered necessities and comforts rating (sure you could still wash yourself if you got a sink.)

[Beta]

I did have a friend try and live at the office he was renting, at one point (he was the only tenant of the office).  He got caught within a couple of weeks and told to desist as he was in violation of his lease.  Granted, he was in a fairly nice building, could get away with more at somewhere cheaper, most likely -- and give the state of things in SR, at the lower end of things it is probably even common, as a form of security.

[bangbangtequila]

You could definitely do it. Also, a good thing to link up with it would be Day Job, which would give you rules to govern how much time and money is involved. At 40 hours a week, you make 5000 a month, which would make it a lot more reasonable to make 3 successes and break even, or the occasional good or bad month where an extra grand gets thrown into the mix.

Alternatively, you can modify the Trust Fund lifestyle and use that to pay for a modified commercial space, using the bonus 2000 from the High lifestyle allotted rent to cover adding a Low quality upstairs apartment, or moving the comforts and necessities up a bunch to allow the room at the back to run a functioning house.

I am more in line with using the Trust Fund because it is a positive quality, and therefore should you ever get busted, you don't owe 40 hours a week to community service or arguing your legal right to work until you pay 30 karma (yeah, seems like a GREAT idea to buy up negatives, until you have to pay the piper... That right there is 4 specializations, or a level 6 skill, or hard-capping an attribute) but rather just sacrifice your store and income and get the hell out of dodge.

If you tack on Black Market Pipeline to either of those, it also gives you an awesome front to bring in items useful to the store and to you, and reasonable grounds to sell stolen goods at a better value. If your contact is a corporate man, extraterritoriality agreements could make those goods totally legal where they end up.

This all reflects my preference to use existing rules in creative ways to represent a character trait.  I would always rather interpret a rule to apply instead of making house rules, because they are usually less arguable and fit into game balance more predictably.

[Tarislar]

I keep flashing back to those older buildings where a store was downstairs with a small apartment upstairs when I see this quality.

I'd say it includes a "Low" lifestyle built into it.  Smallish but not actually the negatives of "Cramped or Not a Home".

If you add those then IMHO your actually sleeping on a cot in a spare office or something & you don't have a designated living area at all.
IE.. Your "Kitchen" is actually the company break room & your "Shower" is actually an industrial sized sink.