Re: Rewards...

["Eric Benson" <e_r_benson@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Janne and others asked:
>
> > My ME campaign has moved forwards through several adventures now
> > and thus it has become apparent that characters have acquired
> > rewards from their work.
> /SNIP/
> > How have you dealt with the question of rewards and lifestyle?
> > What kind of rewards characters get from their work? What
> > scale?
>
> Without too much clues on the inflation tied with the ME background, I
find
> it even more difficult to find a way to make my player spend thier money.

A couple of suggestions / comments:

1)     Limit the income.  For our campaigns, the characters were on a salary
+ bonus structure, rather than a huge-sum-of-money-per-mission system.  They
were well compensated and they knew it.  When they were not on an operation,
they were expected to train, cross-train with other operatives or cells and
work on background intelligence.

I think we used a figure of $100k, with slight bonuses for the cell leader.
The $100k figure put them well above average for people of their skills.
Particularly successful operations paid a bonus, typically between $5,000 -
$10,000.  The bonus was never significant enough to allow them to go
whole-hog on things.

2)    Taxes.  The operatives fit into the higher income brackets of the US
tax system.  www.irs.gov can give you more information on typical tax rates.
If the operatives don't feel like paying, point out that Al Capone was
busted by the IRS.

3)    Lifestyle costs.  Lifestyle costs really reflect the way the character
lives.  We didn't feel like playing Accountants and Demigods, so we
basically assessed it at a percentage of salary.  Since it was assessed as a
fixed amount, you didn't have to worry about "gee, did they pay the
telephone bill?".  It was assumed that they had enough for the mandatory
expenses... and whatever was left became discretionary.  We typically
included a standard, representative auto in the lifestyle cost.
We had characters with high lifestyle (75%+) to characters that lived in a
run-down shack near Homestead AFB (much lower).

4)    Significant others.  Alimony can be a bitch.  One operative was
separated from his third wife.  He asked to be paid a low amount of money
(which was split with the ex-wives) and then had his remaining money dumped
into a Caymans account.  Of course, he had to match his lifestyle to his
apparent income, so he lived in a real dive.

5)    Cars/Vehicles.  Operatives tend to have a lot more accidents than the
run of the mill citizen.  They go through cars like some people go through
draft beer.  They never see the end of a lease, they never seem to own the
cars for long.  They always seem to be making car payments... and because
they have so many accidents, they are in the highest cost insurance
category.  From a GM point of view, vehicles are "easy-come, easy-go", so
they can be a quick way to get someone to blow a lot of money.  One of a
kind vehicles (aka characters with Mitsubishi Zeroes) beg for something to
happen to them.

6)    Theft and isolated acts of violence.  The operatives come and go at
random times and often leave their place empty for a while.  Have them come
back from an assignment and find their Porsche stolen.  A few theft cases
can be a quick way to get the guy who doesn't spend much on lifestyle to
think otherwise about the decision.

7)    Restrict access to equipment.  Sure, they might have $100,000 to
spend, but where are they going to buy a General Electric M134?  It's not
something you walk into Uncle Eddie's House of Gunz and buy.  We basically
made it easier to get equipment from L&P, but then restricted player
ownership of equipment.  Most characters had a legal pistol or two,
occasionally a shotgun.  Most other weapons were owned by the agency.  The
change gave the GM more control over the situation and kept it from getting
out of hand.

8)    Non-economic rewards tend to be character driven.  It's tough to make
a suggestion without knowing the specific players or characters.

In the end, if you structure it so they always have enough money to get some
things, but not enough to really get out of hand, it's a lot easier.
Characters with the ability to buy a small South American army are a problem
(see also: Monty Haul).

-Eric