[Sabato Kuroi]

So there are 2 new players in my group.
The rest of the team (3 members) are in the middle of their 3rd job.
They have completed the Splintered State adventure as well.
So they have earned around  60.000 nuyen and 15-17 karma each.
Should I boost the newcomers somehow or should I let them play vanilla characters?

[Darzil]

Personally (not a GM) I'd be tempted to make it depend on their background.
If they are new to Shadowrun, I'd not boost them straight away, give them a bit extra per run til they catch up so they can grow into the game and their character. If their character background is that they are new to running, I'd do the same. If they are joining as experienced runners, they could join now. I'd reduce the nuyen a little to reflect lifestyle/running costs during that period though. It'd probably not be an issue to play vanilla though, as they aren't far apart.

[Top Dog]

For that small a difference, I probably wouldn't bother. Shadowrun isn't a game where players on different parts of the 'experience'-curve can't work together. Plus, the players who played the first missions did the work and took the risks.

Later on, though, I'd at least partially compensate new players, as a difference in karma and nuyen does become very noticeable once it's big enough. Since it allows them to more effectively optimise their character, I wouldn't give them the exact nuyen and karma difference, but say 10 or so less. Also, Nuyen should be adjusted for expenses (it'd be hard to get an exact figure for that, just try to make it so they don't have more then the established players).

[All4BigGuns]

Once they're done creating their characters, give them the full amount of nuyen and karma that the 'older' characters on the team have gained.

The same applies to replacement characters from character death. No character in the party should start out behind the rest. Only missing sessions after joining the game should put one behind by even the smallest amount.

[Top Dog]

Once they're done creating their characters, give them the full amount of nuyen and karma that the 'older' characters on the team have gained.

The same applies to replacement characters from character death. No character in the party should start out behind the rest. Only missing sessions after joining the game should put one behind by even the smallest amount.

What about expenses and lifestyle? If you give them the full amount, the players who started later will be ahead.

[cyclopean]

I always just have players make new characters with the regular build rules but no gear restrictions, and usually give them a bonus contact or 2 to tie them into the group. The biggest karma difference i've dealt with is about 350 from a new character to the highest "level" character, and it's definitely a noticeable difference but is still totally playable, and my players haven't been bummed about it. In my experience, most of the new characters come in super specialized and then generalize out as they gain karma, so characters are often quite good at their main thing from the get-go. I also play with a really consistent group, so they know they'll get to see their characters get high-level if they stick with them, so that probably helps deal with character power level jealousy, such as it is.

[Reaver]

Usually I go with a 50/40% split. 50% of the Karma, 40% of the money.

Those who play their characters well and smart and stay alive deserve to keep their edge in money and karma, after all they earned it.

Those who have died, sadly, have usually done something to get themselves killed (or, maybe it was blind bad luck...), get to make new characters, but Availability gets set to the highest availability gear owned by a surviving player. (So if the surviving players somehow got their hands on a Availability 24F item, that becomes the new limit to the new character).


I used to give full cash and Karma, but then I noticed that it was usually the same people dying the same way almost every single time....  And all they were doing was using the extra Karma and Money to essentially make the same character again, but better. So I cut it down to make them both use their heads and to see that the others were slowly pulling away from them so NOT playing like idiots. 

(they got the message in short order. Now the deaths are more on the "blind bad luck" side of things and not on the "what happens when I walk in the police department and open up with an assault rifle?" side anymore.)

[cyclopean]

My group is much the same, there's a few people who really hold onto characters and a few who tend to burn through them pretty quick, which can be hard to balance, and is a big part of the reason I don't give extra cash and karma at build. But I also like the cyclical nature of everyone starting low, as the high-level characters eventually retire/die/get hired by someone and it keeps the overall power level of my campaign from creeping up as quickly. Plus it has that fun feel of there usually being a "new guy" on the crew who hasn't totally earned their place yet.

[farothel]

We used to play Shadowrun as a filler campaign, when not all players of the regular campaign could join up.  So we had characters who where a bit behind on money and/or karma.  Normally what our GM did (and what I do in my alternity filler campaign) is to let the difference stand until it becomes too big.  Of course, for us, as sometimes this player couldn't join and then another, it leveled out over the course of the campaign.  But if it became too big a difference, the GM would allow the character to boost up to the level of the next lowest who was present.

Here I would say let them build a standard starting character and then give them 10 karma and about 30000 nuyen.  That gives them something extra, but it keeps the others who played the game ahead.  Also since they're not that far yet, you can keep the newly starting players at the starting availability for gear.