Under the current rules... Or I should say the current consensus of how to run the rules, that is true as well.
Yeah, but in a different way, under these rules some drugs can be used almost daily without any penalty.
I thought:
A character must roll an Addiction Resistant test every time they use a substance more than (9 – Addiction Rating) times a week. If this is a negative number, that number is applied as a penalty to the Addiction Resistance test.
made that clear? Of course, I'm biased because it is absolutely clear in my mind. Did I fail in that regard?
Well I stated two ways it can be interpreted, so yes? Is it one test at the end of the week if you've used too much? Or is it one test for each drug use above the cap?
EXAMPLE: Drug X has an Addiction Rating of 7, which means the limit is 2 times per week.
Runner uses this drug 4 times during a "week" (2 more times than is limited without penalty)
Does this trigger 1 test to resist the drug at the end of that week? Or does it trigger an immediate test upon each use after the limit, once for the third and once for the fourth?
There are currently two problems (not counting the horrible wording) with the core rules.
- A character can totally abuse a drug with little, to no consequences. Let's take Kamikaze, for example. A character can take a dose 1000 times a week, for 3 weeks in a row and stop. They then have to make 1 test at full threshold followed by 1 test the week after at Threshold -1, then followed by 1 test the following week at Threshold -2. The next week, the Threshold is 0 and no test is needed.
Or, in a more realistic example, let's use Overdrive (Addiction Rating 5, Threshold 3). A character can use that once a day for three weeks in a row then stop for three weeks, and never have to make a test. - The player has to to keep a running calendar of which drug is taken on which day so they can track when the Addiction Resistance test will be required in the future, not to mention track actual Threshold rating. At best this leaves a huge chance at human error screwing this up. At worst it is just too much of a hassle and will get ignored.
Never said the core rules were perfect, just that this suggestion has its own set of flaws.
There are two different aspects of drug addiction that are essentially being viewed: the immediate ramifications of drug use, and long term addiction and dependence. The Core rule is meant to "simulate" long-term dependence; using drugs, even infrequently, over a long period makes you more likely to become addicted.
Your house-rule is looking at a more short-term approach, abusing a drug frequently over a shorter period is more likely to make you addicted, but it doesn't address long term abuses.
