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Influence

Influence is a metacurrency that represents the character’s efforts to achieve their goals through downtime activities. It is tracked alongside GMP. While GMP is tied to a specific player, Influence is tied to a specific character of that player.

Unspent Influence carries over to the next calendar month. There is no maximum amount of Influence that can be earned. The rules for earning and spending Influence are found below.

Each player is responsible for keeping accurate track of the amount of Influence earned and spent for their characters in the Bookkeeping channel in the OOC Discord Server each calendar month, updating this monthly post each time Influence was earned or spent during that calendar month. See below for more details.

Earning Influence

Standard runs reward 2 Influence. As an additional run reward, the GM can reward up to 3 additional Influence. This additional Influence is awarded when characters achieve positive outcomes beyond the normal run objectives and should be reserved for truly exceptional circumstances. Examples would include directly benefiting a contact or NPC in a significant manner, completing a major optional objective from the Johnson, or obtaining and selling valuable paydata.

• Special runs, which are Solos, Duos, and CRRs, reward 2 Influence. As an additional run reward, the GM can reward up to 3 additional Influence for a maximum total of 5 Influence. As gaining Influence is one of the only mechanical benefits of a special run, GMs are encouraged to provide clear and thematic opportunities for the character to gain Influence. A player cannot receive more than 5 Influence from special runs per calendar month.
• Players who write an IC narration as a part of their job application to a run posting on the Runnerhub Reddit page earn 1 Influence for that character. These IC narrations should be at least 1 paragraph to reward Influence.
• Players who write a creative writing piece from the character’s perspective and post it in the Creative Writing channel in the Datahaven earn 1 Influence for that character. These creative writing pieces should be at least 3 paragraphs long to reward Influence. Scene Transcripts do not reward Influence.
• Players who write a narrative description describing how the character earned and spent Influence as a part of their monthly Influence bookkeeping in the Bookkeeping channel in the OOC Discord Server earn 1 Influence for that character. These narrative descriptions should be at least 1 paragraph to reward Influence.
• Characters gain Influence through maintaining their primary lifestyle, to model some of the pressure and freedoms afforded by quality of life in the 6th world. Influence gained by one’s primary lifestyle is awarded each calendar month and is affected by certain lifestyle altering factors detailed below. The minimum Influence gained by your primary lifestyle after accounting for these lifestyle altering factors is 0.

• Various off table RP activities and IC events will reward a variable amount of Influence at TD’s discretion to involved characters. A list of examples is found below.
  • Writing a News Article for the Datahaven rewards 1 Influence
  • Additional options are a work in progress
• Various server community activities and OOC events will reward a variable amount of Influence at TD’s discretion to players to assign to one of their characters. A list of examples is found below.
  • Participating in a TD sanctioned Lore Quiz rewards 1 Influence
  • Screen Sharing an active run on Discord for spectators to watch rewards 1 Influence
  • Additional options WIP
• A GM earns 2 Influence for every game they run.
• A character can spend 3,000 nuyen or 1 karma to gain 4 Influence up to a cap of 8 Influence per calendar month. Thematically, this is the character committing their resources to achieving their downtime goals. Note: this ability to convert nuyen or karma into Influence is a temporary feature. Once more options to earn Influence are finalized and made available to players in a future update, this conversion option will be removed.

Spending Influence

On table

At the GM’s discretion, the following options can be utilized while on a table an unlimited amount of times unless there is a stated limit.

• Influence can be utilized for paying for contact powers as described in the character archetype descriptions and for other contact favors at the GM’s discretion. Each point of Influence spent this way is worth up to 3,000 nuyen.
• For every point of Influence spent, lower the GMP cost of obtaining a GM offered optional contact from the run by 1 GMP to a minimum of 0. A contact discounted in this way that is recycled in the future only recovers the nuyen or karma spent on the contact after any Influence-based discounts are applied.
• At the end of a run, 1 Influence can be used to raise a Knowledge Skill by one rank up to a maximum of six ranks. This Knowledge Skill must be appropriate to the content of the run. This option requires GM approval and can only be done once per run.
• Each point of Influence can be used as 3,000 nuyen to pay for consumables or narrative expenses. The following is a non-exhaustive list of such items:

Off table

The following options can be utilized off-table. If there is no stated limit, that option can be exercised an unlimited number of times.

• Influence may discount the purchase of qualities, skills, and gear at a rate of 1 Influence per 3,000 nuyen or 1 Karma. Influence spent in this way has the following limitations:
  • A maximum of 10 Influence may be used on these discounts per calendar month.
  • Influence may be used to discount a purchase progressively over multiple months (specific limitations listed by type of discount below).
  • Adept Ways, Complex Forms, Martial Art Styles, Martial Art Techniques, Mastery Qualities, Skill Group Ranks, Skill Ranks, Skill Specializations, Spells, and Technomancer Streams may be discounted to a minimum cost of 1 karma after relevant qualities are applied.
  • Gear and Ware may be discounted to 50% cost after relevant qualities are applied.
  • Qualities may be discounted to gen cost.
• Influence can be used to raise a Knowledge Skill by one rank up to a maximum of three ranks, at a cost of 1 Influence per rank. 2 points of Influence can be used to gain a specialization in a Knowledge Skill.
• Influence can be used to increase a contact’s Loyalty or Connection Rating by spending a number of Influence equal to the new rating, following the Hub House Rules on Contact Advancement.
• For every point of Influence spent, lower the GMP cost of obtaining a Hub or custom contact by 1 GMP to a minimum of 0. Only one contact can be discounted in this way per calendar month. A contact discounted in this way that is recycled in the future only recovers the nuyen or karma spent on the contact after any Influence-based discounts are applied.
• Each point of Influence can be used as 3,000 nuyen to purchase consumables or pay for certain lifestyle affiliated costs. The following is a non-exhaustive list of such items:

Influence Bookkeeping

Each player is responsible for keeping accurate track of the amount of Influence earned and spent for their characters within the Bookkeeping channel in the OOC Discord Server each calendar month, updating this monthly post each time Influence was earned or spent during that calendar month.

Influence options that involve real life calendar months must be utilized within that same calendar month. Missed calendar months cannot be retroactively utilized with one exception: players have a grace period of the following calendar month to complete the bookkeeping of the previous calendar month–including claiming the Influence from a character’s lifestyle or utilizing up to the 10 Influence monthly limit on special discounts of the previous calendar month.

The following elements are required for this monthly bookkeeping post:

• Calendar Month in Question
• Amount and Source of Influence Earned
• Amount and Source of Influence Spent
• Updated Total Influence

Players may optionally include a narrative description of how the character earned and spent Influence for that month. Doing so awards that character 1 Influence. These narrative descriptions are considered canon and are therefore monitored by TD to ensure thematic appropriateness and overall world cohesion.