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[kv]

You can be from anywhere in the world, I was just wondering which section has your safehouse/home.

  -kv

[bull30548]

Well unlike in 3rd where you could pay for multiple lifestyles you can only pay for one to begin with.  So I am in CAS sector though also from CAS  is cool too since I technically live in what would be CAS in RL.  This kind of sucks but I can honestly say that in our first Shadowrun game we bought multiple locations so our GM had to keep giving us missiongs that were either quick nuyen payoffs or high paying dangerous jobs that we could still accomplish in a month so we could make rent.  Spent more money on safehouse maintenance then I did on equipment for like  six months and that was bad since I was a rigger.

[kv]

You can still have multiple lifestyles, as far as I'm aware (Ingo, feel free to jump in if I'm wrong).

You also have the option of picking up roommates (say, for instance, your runner team each paying a portion of the rent), to help with costs.

  - kv

[Ingo Monk]

Characters may only buy one lifestyle. This lifestyle truly reflects
the runner’s standard living circumstances. Additional living amenities
such as hotel stays, workshops, safehouses, and so on are handled as
separate costs. Likewise, while lifestyle accounts for the costs of maintaining
a vehicle (or paying for other methods of transportation), it
does not account for the cost of a vehicle itself—that must be purchased
separately.

They could have made it that way with the thought that space is limited in the various metroplexes, so maybe SINners are only allowed to "own" a single dwelling?  In character reality however runners never really "own" their lifestyles, rather they pay monthly rent to live there.  Who knows why they would put that?  While that paragraph in SR4A by itself is quite literal, things change once you look at "Advanced Lifestyle" rules in the Runner's Companion book.  Essentially it overrides the SR4A passage.

At some point in their career, every shadowrunner needs a
place to lay low. Having a safe house available (or two or three) can
be invaluable when you’re cooling off after that hot Aztech data
steal. Or, perhaps your runner maintains two lives, partying socialite
by day, covert-ops specialist by night. You might have a family
to support that knows nothing of your illicit activities. Whatever
your reasons, figuring out the costs is fairly simple. Calculate the
point value of each lifestyle separately, determine each lifestyle’s
nuyen cost per the Lifestyle Point/Cost Table, p. 153, and then
add together the separate nuyen costs. (Add the nuyen costs, not
the points, to determine the total cost of the lifestyle)

So there you have it, you can have multiple lifestyles again.  I think their thinking was that you have a primary residence that represents "home" for the character, which would explain the "only one" limit in SR4A, with the partial sentence about paying for safehouses separately, which is kinda annoying since they don't give rules for it (or assume the GM would come up with something).

The neat thing about using the advanced lifestyle system is that it allows you to flesh out your doss.  It breaks down lifestyles into 5 categories (Comforts, Entertainment, Necessities, Neighborhood, & Security) which let you customize the lifestyle.  Basically, you can now figure out how much it  costs to have a flat in an abandoned building in the barrens that has a crazy security system (i.e. safehouse #1), or a nice place in a quiet Auburn neighborhood with no furniture (i.e. safehouse #2).  They go into further detail about having a SIN vs. being SINless, etc.  For example, SINless people can only have up to 7 points on the lifestyle cost table, which is 1100¥, which is somewhere between squatter and low lifestyles.

On a side note, Eric's lifestyle is essentially his RV.  Seeing as how he's a SINner of the UCAS, he'd probably be running around the UCAS zone.  As part of his background however he's been to other "countries" (CAS, CalFree, etc.) so those nations might have records of his work visas to enter their borders.  As such it might be easier for him to go between the zones, but I really don't have any idea about the goings on in Denver (as I never read the sourcebook on that topic) so that's just speculation on my part

-Ingo

[kv]

I really like the custom lifestyle rules- makes it more fun and in-depth than just "I have a high lifestlye!"

"Oh, I only have a medium one..." and that sort of thing.

I mean, if you have a medium lifestyle, but it's an abandoned house out on Paper Street where there's no one around for miles in any direction at night? Or an apartment with full amenities, but an emo AI in residence? Those are cooler than some jerk who lives in a hotel room.

Anyway, I'll post the intro for the second scenario tonight. Anyone who hasn't responded to the location question (which district of Denver does your character live in) will be assumed to live in the UCAS district, in or around the Aurora Warrens.

If you wanted to figure out what your character would be doing at 9pm on a Friday, that would probably be a good idea, too.

  -kv

[kv]

Post is up: http://ingomonk.bullhonkie.com/forums/index.php?topic=2721.0

  -kv

[kv]

I have a snippet from Bull,, and a little bit from Ruski, but I'm still waiting on BS, Ingo, and maybe Zone to post something.

I'll have reaction/additional stuff to post tonight, just to keep the ball rolling.

  - kv

[Ruski]

do I need to put up more of some detail ir another?

[bull30548]

I only put up a snippet cause I was going to work on my living space background (advanced lifestyle rules) but didn't see a point since it barely making an appearance right now.  Also I haven't done anything illegal yet so I should be able to go through a checkpoint and not red flag.

[Ruski]

snippets are good. placeholders for incomplete thoughts. I use them myself occasionally. Like: sometimes I get a little too "In charichter" I can picture what my PC would eat for breakfast, and what Tri-D shows he'd watch; but for the life of me I can't get... the motivation. The 'why run at all' down. Its kinda sad really. An imagination capable of developing a guy who would scoop out his own eyes with a mellon-baller, so he could replace them with improved version. you know: for an edge on the cold hard streets... and yet: what gets him out of bed in the morning? why does he do thease things? what prompts him, more monster than metahuman: to continue moving forward?  Its those times that I too, use snippets and place holders. A little tag that says: here is what I do know. He's eating frootloops. he likes tge sugar. the how and why? still a bit fuzzy. maybe it dosen't matter, maybe the GM will help me come up with a plot hook to fill in the blank spaces on the map... but here's what I have so far!
I like it.
I fully endorce your choice of cigars. it says something about your guy. not an addictive smoker, someone who can sit and 'enjoy life' a bit in the evenings.
so you haven't picked out drapes yet. you know what? maybe your guy hasn't picked them out either! Its a new place, he just broke up with his long term girl or guy and the new place is a little spartin on the details. but you still got the important bits in there.

[kv]

Heh. Bull, welcome to Shadowrun. You can get hassled for any of a hundred things, none of which have anything to do with you being a lowlife miscreant lawbreaker.

The borders in Denver are a hassle, and they're meant to be. They illustrate that you're moving between different countries, and so you get the third degree like at airport security.

  - kv

[bull30548]

Yeah I always try to figure out if you can get access to lots of money and then go off and run in the shadows.  I always have that problem I always use the burned storyline.  Good guy good career and something went terribly wrong that pushed him into the shadows.  He uses the last of his 'legal' funds for the illegal life.

I don't have trouble coming up with stuff for my characters.  My guy smokes cigars cause he has a mild nicotine addiction.  As soon as I get to the bar probably going to light up.  I always like having problems with my players.  Though the worst was a friend of mine was playing an adept with a novacoke addiction.  He got so hopped up and paranoid forgot he ordered pizza.  He tried to pick a fight with the delivery boy and because he was so screwed up he got beat the crap out of and robbed.  We were laughing our butts off in the out of character cause none of us were there.

[kv]

Bull, I should note that while this SIN will work well for a McHughs security scanner, it's not so good for crossing borders. As in, it's a level 1 fake SIN for everything but McHughs (and only a level 2 in there).

Using it to cross checkpoints is ill advised; but I'll leave that up to you. We're waiting on BulletSponge and Zone, but I don't think Zone will be accompanying us, so I talked to BS and he'll try and get a post up tonight.

  - kv

[Bullet Sponge]

OK ok ok. I had to stay up past my bedtime, but I got it in there. I didn't go all the way to the meeting cuz Galbraith has no intention walking into anything until he has some idea of what that anything really is. Once I get a little clarification I'll be able to finish the trip to the western hemisphere's finest fast "food" establishment.

[Ruski]

ahhh: paranoia, the most common, and possibly funniest disorder for those of us with job descriptions that include: "everyone is actually out to get you."
its cool though, maybe our team will live longer?
for a one-off 'no consiquence debug run', other than being IC flavor text; it's a bit much to demand the GM force you to want to test your PC? or maybe I'm reading too much into it?