From:	Lehlan Decker <decker@****.FSU.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Non-running sources of income (was Re: Talismongering)
Date:	Tue, 5 May 1998 12:25:38 -0500

<SNIP>
> This reminds me of something I was wondering.
>
> How many people have their characters do work on the side? For a campaign
> I'm going to be playing in pretty soon, I've been working on a
> rigger/decker type o' guy, and I was thinking about long term possibilities
> for him. The thought of getting a microtronics facility and/or a ground
> vehicles b/r facility came to mind. And then I realized that in any
> realistic campaign, a place like that stands a good chance of getting
> robbed. Which means security of some sort. Which means the cost of upkeep
> goes up.
>
> So I thought of maybe actually making a business out of this. But the time
> involved on some of the tasks is sometimes huge, which would interfer with
> my character's career as a shadowrunner. The possibility of staffing the
> place comes to mind, but that in itself has its own headaches.
>
> I'd had similar thoughts regarding programming, particularly when I upgrade
> my characters MPCP software or something. A rating 10 mpcp sourcecode with
> sculpted iconography if worth well over a million nuyen, IIRC. Selling
> this through the shadow market would be a good half a mill. But then comes
> the possibility of other runners coming after my hide.
>
> Has anyone else tried to market their skills in non-shadowrunning efforts
> for a few extra nuyen?
>
Several PC's I have run, and ones in my campaign, have day jobs for
lack of a better term. One if a drummer in a local band, another
owns part of a bar, another teachers at a martial arts school.
This helps account for some of the downtime between runs. (I usually roll
a D6 and let that be the number of weeks since the last "big" run).
This adds alot of roleplaying potential, and gives them somewhere
to develop their skills, invest (and lose) nuyen, etc.
I usually encourage it. I usually get with the player, figure how
the amount of money they must spend, get paid, etc.
I've also used this as a reason to bring other runners into a group.
(Fred can't make it tonight, his band is touring in CalFree, so George
will stand in for him).
Think of it this way. I work 9-5, and occasionally (usually once or
twice a month), do freelance consulting (usually at night). The freelance
pays better then the day job. Freelance = Shadowrun.
(Some people may have runs occur more often, but I usually find some
down time lets PC's flesh out their characters, recover from wounds, etc)
If PC's elect to not take the downtime, I don't roll the dice and
let them roleplaying looking for the next run. :)

--
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Lehlan Decker 644-4534 Systems Development
decker@****.fsu.edu http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~decker
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The universe doesn't have laws, it has habits. And habits can be broken.