[Phylos Fett]

The problem I've seen in most of the different tables I've sat at is a lot of GMs don't give sufficient downtime to their players.  There isn't time to train, to go under the knife, to go on astral quests, to code your own software, to research your own spells, to customize your own weapons or vehicles, to create your own foci, and so on and so forth.  Some of those things take months at a time.  But instead of allowing for that, it's just one crazy mission after another.  Downtime is when all the real improvements to a character occur, so skipping that is a pretty serious setback.

This was even worse in the older editions, where you had Deckers that wanted to upgrade their Decks and Programs - those things took forever to do at the higher ranks. One of my players was frustrated that the team wanted to run all the time, and he wanted downtime to improve...

Depends do they earn enough to do their lifestyles? I'm not sure my group makes enough to stop running though I haven't started keeping track of time in my games yet so who knows. xD

They wanted to do as many runs as possible to save ¥ to buy more toys, where the Decker wanted to make his toys.

[Reaver]

As for downtime, I always give the players a little down time between missions (usually a week). Of course, it's sometimes shorter (in the case of a string of runs for an overall story arc) and sometimes longer. (if they messed up a run, the next job takes longer to find).

Also, I let my players dictate if and when they take "time off" from running the shadows (to do those surgeries, get at wiz piece of gear, etc)
so far the most they have taken off is 3 months straight.  When this happens, I make them pay out their lifestyle costs, then fill them in on the "word on the street" as it happens. (like the war in/around south America, or the rise of tempo, the out break of a underworld turf war, etc)

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

The story's pretty "high-level" (i.e., very powerful foes) and they are playing the missions like Leverage/A-Team (high on planning for every contingency).

... can I be in your game??

[Mason]

Gear and Money.

Allows the players to go under the knife and cyber up. For the Karma players (Mages, Adepts and Technomancers [oh, my!]), you can put the optional Karma for Nuyen house-rule into place.

What rule is that?

[Phylos Fett]

Gear and Money.

Allows the players to go under the knife and cyber up. For the Karma players (Mages, Adepts and Technomancers [oh, my!]), you can put the optional Karma for Nuyen house-rule into place.

What rule is that?

An optional rule from SR2 and SR3 where you could cash in Nuyen for Karma or Karma for Nuyen, depending on the character's need(s).

[FastJack]

Gear and Money.

Allows the players to go under the knife and cyber up. For the Karma players (Mages, Adepts and Technomancers [oh, my!]), you can put the optional Karma for Nuyen house-rule into place.

What rule is that?

An optional rule from SR2 and SR3 where you could cash in Nuyen for Karma or Karma for Nuyen, depending on the character's need(s).

It's stuck around as a house rule in many games as a way to balance out Razorboys/girls and Mages advancement.

[rasmusnicolaj]

Gear and Money.

Allows the players to go under the knife and cyber up. For the Karma players (Mages, Adepts and Technomancers [oh, my!]), you can put the optional Karma for Nuyen house-rule into place.

What rule is that?

An optional rule from SR2 and SR3 where you could cash in Nuyen for Karma or Karma for Nuyen, depending on the character's need(s).

It's stuck around as a house rule in many games as a way to balance out Razorboys/girls and Mages advancement.

That is actually not a bad idea. I think...
But at what exchange ration?

Rasmus

[FastJack]

Gear and Money.

Allows the players to go under the knife and cyber up. For the Karma players (Mages, Adepts and Technomancers [oh, my!]), you can put the optional Karma for Nuyen house-rule into place.

What rule is that?

An optional rule from SR2 and SR3 where you could cash in Nuyen for Karma or Karma for Nuyen, depending on the character's need(s).

It's stuck around as a house rule in many games as a way to balance out Razorboys/girls and Mages advancement.

That is actually not a bad idea. I think...
But at what exchange ration?

Rasmus

Use the Karmagen system in Runner's Companion: 1 Karma = 2,500¥

[Phylos Fett]

Gear and Money.

Allows the players to go under the knife and cyber up. For the Karma players (Mages, Adepts and Technomancers [oh, my!]), you can put the optional Karma for Nuyen house-rule into place.

What rule is that?

An optional rule from SR2 and SR3 where you could cash in Nuyen for Karma or Karma for Nuyen, depending on the character's need(s).

It's stuck around as a house rule in many games as a way to balance out Razorboys/girls and Mages advancement.

That is actually not a bad idea. I think...
But at what exchange ration?

Rasmus

Use the Karmagen system in Runner's Companion: 1 Karma = 2,500¥

Does that work well for you, or does it need tweaking now and then? And do you put a cap on it?

[CanRay]

I've suggested that rule for my group, and even showed them the spirit they'd be dealing with...

I think I did too good a job explaining how it happens.  I had one player sobbing and going, "I don't want him to have part of my soul!

Art by quick2004 on dA.

[FastJack]

Gear and Money.

Allows the players to go under the knife and cyber up. For the Karma players (Mages, Adepts and Technomancers [oh, my!]), you can put the optional Karma for Nuyen house-rule into place.

What rule is that?

An optional rule from SR2 and SR3 where you could cash in Nuyen for Karma or Karma for Nuyen, depending on the character's need(s).

It's stuck around as a house rule in many games as a way to balance out Razorboys/girls and Mages advancement.

That is actually not a bad idea. I think...
But at what exchange ration?

Rasmus

Use the Karmagen system in Runner's Companion: 1 Karma = 2,500¥

Does that work well for you, or does it need tweaking now and then? And do you put a cap on it?

I'm not using it in my current campaign, mostly because it hasn't come up yet.

[Reaver]

My group runs with 2 to 3 awakened and I'm reaching this point now in my adventures. I am seriously considering allowing a karma-for-cash swap, I am just not too sure if this is a good idea overall

My group's adept already has a powerful weapon focus so that purchase is done yet he's got a bank account that would make most corp execs green with envy!

My cyberboys and gun bunnies always got that "next whizz <insert item> that they just got to have" to keep them mostly in check (for the moment).

Yet, I can see the flaws too. Karma is helps to limt the power of magic VS metal. Start making karma too "available" and you risk making the magical side of the team out strip the rest of the players.

[JustADude]

Yet, I can see the flaws too. Karma helps to limit the power of magic VS metal. Start making karma too "available" and you risk making the magical side of the team out strip the rest of the players.

I would just like to point out, here, that even really green Magicians are treated as a hugely valuable commodity in the fluff/lore I've read in the books (example: "Fresh Meat", SR4A p76-79), which is quite right since we all know the #1 rule of a firefight is "Geek the mage first."

Plus, if the mage has that much money in the bank and no more fun things to buy that they need more money for, why doesn't the character just buy a Lifestyle permanently and retire?

[ARC]

Here's an idea.  It's a Role playing game.  Make it about something for the role.  Make it a pride issue for the character.  Someone messes with his home turf, his family, have his bank account hacked, embarrass the character so he or she has to act or loose face or more.  Karma is worth it, but having 3.2 mil swiped from their account and have to do a run to get it back can be worth it.

[tzizimine]

My group usually meets every two weeks. I usually give about 4-6 Karma per session, with 1 point for Humor (however gets me to pass out with laughter). I also grant extra karma for out of game things that help (like detailed background stories... best source of plot hooks ever) or things that help me out personally (20 Karma for anyone that helps me move into my new place)...


Cash is a little on the low side for now since they are all starting very low (650 Karma on Karma build system), but one they that I make sure players know is that when factoring how much a client is willing to pay, I take the base pay, add (Total Street Rep * 5)% and subtract (Total Notoriety * 15)%. It helps make sure that those players that would normally steal anything that it's nailed down realize that they get more cash in the long run if they stay professional... So far, the party has been through two quick plots (6 sessions) and made around 60,000 Y total.


I make sure that between sessions, there is at least two weeks of down time if not more. This usually gives the players enough time to raise one-two skills and get a few new pieces of gear. If the party wants more down time, they just let me know, but 3 consecutive months between jobs costs one point of Street Rep from each PC.


So far, I haven't had to use the Karma for Nuyen rule or vica versa and it seems to holding well.