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View Full Version : [SR3] Bribery Guidelines



Oracle_Hunter
2010-12-14, 02:15 PM
Having been bitten by the Shadowrun bug (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179568) I've been spending some time trying to figure out "shortcuts" for the system; common situations that could use some sort of standardized method of adjudication but lack them in the rules. To this end I came to the subject of bribery.

Bribery in Shadowrun ("SR") is pretty much how business is done, and yet there are few guidelines (AFAIK) as to what an acceptable bribe is. As a baseline, I'm going to use the Lifestyle of the target - richer people should require more money to bribe than poorer people.

Questions
(1) What % of the Base Lifestyle should it cost to bribe someone to do something "against the rules."
This is to establish the base cost of a bribe for an individual. If you need a concrete situation, assume that it's something which is clearly against the rules but is unlikely to be detected and is not inherently harmful - such as bribing a cop to "forget" a speeding ticket. Within SR, these could be things like a bouncer letting someone cut in line to enter a club or for a shop clerk to "place on hold" some choice gear as soon as it comes in.

(2) How should successes stage the cost of a bribe?
Presumably, a charismatic individual can cut the cost of a bribe (possibly to 0) by charming the target. A sexy lady is going to be able to convince the bouncer to let her in without having to pay as much as the unfashionable slob.

(3) For Street Lifestyles, what should the "base price" of a bribe be?
The clear hole in my system is that Street Lifestyles would not ask for any money for bribes - an illogical result. I could just set the lowest Lifestyle at "Squatter" for default, but I'd rather figure out some commodity that would form the base for bribes. It would also be helpful for figuring how much money anyone would ask for a relatively inconsequential task; the equivalent of $20 IRL... In America. I'm thinking a BTL chip, but perhaps there's something better?

Of course, if anyone can think of a Third Edition Sourcebook that provides some guidance then I'd appreciate that too.