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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Shooting People in the Face(tm) for money; Why?

Posted by: bibliophile20 Sep 10 2007, 12:49 AM

Let's face it; being a shadowrunner is a dismal, dark and overall morbid existence, and yet runners continue going on, even after they have the resources (i.e. the nuyen) to escape and retire. As was pointed out in the http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=19014 thread by Maxhunter:

QUOTE

The problem in some games would be that if the runners got their hands into so much nuyen the entire team would be forced to retire and stop playing. Acting IC is an important concern, why would anyone shoot people in the face for money if money wasn't a problem? Of course, there are "solutions" like the personal vendetta angle, etc, but most of times this would not work for a whole team of runners. Besides, once the monetary incentive to keep shooting people in the face is removed, the game simply isn't the same game anymore...

Which is a good point; of my personal PCs, one is in it for the personal vendetta, one is an anti-corper, and one just loves blowing stuff up. None of them are in it for the money (although it certainly helps). But I have to wonder if that's typical or not.

So, why does your current/primary character run the shadows, instead of belonging to the Olympic pistol team, or making oricalcum 24/7/365, or making NeoNET's computers a bad place for hackers to be?

Posted by: Doctor Funkenstein Sep 10 2007, 12:51 AM

Closest entry was "being hunted by someone." With that "someone" being the Devil herself. Or at least he's convinced of that fact.

Posted by: psychophipps Sep 10 2007, 12:54 AM

Bulldog just happens to be good at the surival gig. "Survival" also seems to pay decent if it's for the right people. Of course, he's quite a bit of the "can't function amongst normal people" as well.

Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )

Posted by: eidolon Sep 10 2007, 12:55 AM

I voted other. It depends on the character.

Posted by: Fortune Sep 10 2007, 12:57 AM

Too psycho works for me.

Posted by: MaxHunter Sep 10 2007, 01:22 AM

I voted "too psycho" because I had my favourite character in mind.

In the groups I Gm ing the poll comes out like this:

-three [3] in are for the nuyen [ork ex Sioux military, a human mage and another orc who used to work for Yamatetsu and got laid off]
-one [1] is hunted [dwarf: former ares sec who knows too much]
-two [2] are too fucked up to do anything else [a fundamentalist muslim ork and latin native american terrorist ]
-two [2] are into shadowrunning because they are too good at it to be working at a bank. [an elf who is a former tir ghost and an adept who grew up in Serbia and "worked" in the military since he was 12]

I am interested in the results of the poll too, of course.

Max

Posted by: Glyph Sep 10 2007, 01:44 AM

I voted "other" because, while my characters have had various motivations to run the shadows, they have usually had at least several of the above reasons to do so. And many of them aren't even sure, or may say one reason while they're doing it for another (for example - saying they are doing it because they hate Corp X and/or want to make the world a better place, when the real reason is that are adrenaline junkies who are too psychotic to function in "normal" society).

Also keep in mind that even a completely mercenary character who makes enough money to, conceivably, retire, might not be able to. It might be because they don't have the connections to set it up yet, have enemies still hunting them down, or lack the maturity or good judgement to handle a sudden windfall (remember how many multi-million dollar lotto winners are broke again several years later).

Posted by: nezumi Sep 10 2007, 02:05 AM

Is "stood in the wrong line at the unemployment office' an acceptable answer?

That said, I GM more than I play, so I guess I'd have to look for the sado-masochist answer...

Posted by: klinktastic Sep 10 2007, 02:17 AM

My new character, an Ork face, is currently running because the bar he used to own got destroyed in an urban brawl and he is trying to get the fun back to rebuild his bar, probably after he drops in some new 'ware and gets a bunch of new toys.

Posted by: Thomas Sep 10 2007, 02:18 AM

QUOTE (nezumi)

Is "stood in the wrong line at the unemployment office' an acceptable answer?

That said, I GM more than I play, so I guess I'd have to look for the sado-masochist answer...

For one of my characters, I’ll take ‘victim-of-circumstance’ also…

Posted by: bibliophile20 Sep 10 2007, 02:25 AM

QUOTE (nezumi)

Is "stood in the wrong line at the unemployment office' an acceptable answer?

Mind elaborating a bit? Sounds interesting.

Posted by: CyberKender Sep 10 2007, 03:57 AM

What? No "All of the above" answer?

I have had a character for just about every option up there. I've got characters who have other motivations. I've even got runners who do it out of altruism. (Yes, I know. I'm a freak. Inability to live the corporate lifestyle. For the sheer adrenaline rush. I've even had some to essentially went back. (A set of runners who went and formed their own security corporation.)

Posted by: imperialus Sep 10 2007, 05:40 AM

My current character has something of a vendetta against the Yak's so that's his motivation, previous char was a member of the Seripham trying to reconstitute CatCo.

I voted Revenge/Vendetta though since that's the most current.

Posted by: DTFarstar Sep 10 2007, 06:37 AM

Attempting to regain his former power and prestige as well as find and destroy the career of whoever erased his life from Manadyne.

Used to work as a researcher for Manadyne and lectured on channeling magic and spirits through human anatomy at MIT&T. Led a student/faculty initiation/ritual group of which he was the head through a ritual to power his ascent into space(old SR space kills you/makes you crazy. Mostly kills you, he's the only human in my GMs world that has survived{GM said this not me}) and when he came to his aura was altered slightly and his body was altered a lot. He had evidently clawed his own eyes out. He tried to contact Manadyne and MIT&T and found he had quit/been transferred. His SIN no longer responded to his biometrics and he had nowhere to go. He fell back on some of the friendships he had formed with the research group and proved he was who he said he was. They fenced a couple of his Foci and got cloned eyes put in. He found after that that whenever he was astrally active or cast spells he leaked a bio-corrosive acid from the back of his eye sockets. So he not only lost his eyesight again, but he got to feels them slowly burn out from the inside. He's not so stable anymore and he's focused on regaining his former level of initiation and magic and spell list and finding out who the hell engineered his disappearance and taking them down. He's managed to hook up with a gang called the Remnants and is currently working on fixing a baby "War Spirit" in a usable homunculus(GM made- normally War Spirits are visibile possession based spirits that live on the material plane and are literally the most powerful things there are. This is a tiny one no one but us knows about yet. The largest one in existence controls Iraq/Iran and stood off Lofwyr and the combined might of all the troops SK and Ares could safely lose.). War Spirits normally burn through a homunculus in Body days. He's also managed to befriend it and set himself up to possibly gain control of the Remnants a MAJOR drug supplier to the city.

So, regaining power and glory, and revenge.

Chris

EDIT: Also with a healthy dash of too psycho and thrill junkie.

Posted by: nezumi Sep 10 2007, 12:23 PM

QUOTE (bibliophile20)

QUOTE (nezumi @ Sep 9 2007, 10:05 PM)

Is "stood in the wrong line at the unemployment office' an acceptable answer?

Mind elaborating a bit? Sounds interesting.

The only PC I have currently running is Brock Socket, rocker for hire. He got into the music scene because of his electronics background, but the lead singer ODed when he caught Brock with the singer's girlfriend, so the band basically went into a tailspin. While he's working to find a new band, he's fallen in with any group of miscreants who needs help with electronics and fast talking, as long as they:
- Have 'good' taste in music
- Don't mind him overindulging in everything
- Don't require he be cognizant during the day
- Don't mind doing work with Brock Socket, rocker for hire.

Since the GM didn't say 'this character is completely unprofessional, go back and try again', that means the party is stuck with him.

I'm just waiting for him to finish up his first big run so he can write a song including all the details and try to get it published

(Yes, as a roleplayer, I tend to fall into the 'loony' category)

Posted by: Draconis Sep 10 2007, 02:06 PM

QUOTE (bibliophile20)

QUOTE

I think to truly answer you have to analyze the initial question. "Running the Shadows" is a pretty broad term. I think in my case I never considered it a job (SR3) or it stopped becoming a job and is just a way of life (SR4). We never considered money as some kind of scorecard. It's always just been a means to an end.

In SR3 my character didn't give a frag about money. It was all about making Universal Omnitech pay. I don't actually remember getting money all that often aside from stealing resources at hand while doing structure hits. Of course turns out he was just a seriously malfunctioning weapon ala the Bourne series. We called that campaign the Berserk Antipathy Tour 2065-2066.

Now in SR4 initially we did jobs to pay the rent. I started with a low lifestyle. I lived in the back of a car we stole. Now I'm up to luxury, but we each have our own personal agendas at this point. Hell my character is worth millions but he's constantly broke. I never have liquid assets because I constantly utilize it to further my goals.

You know there's more to life than money. Power's a big one, then there's revenge, fame, and just wanting to make the world a better place or take it over

Posted by: MaxHunter Sep 10 2007, 02:14 PM

I like loonies. Two many of them and... well...

Cheers,

Max

Posted by: Pendaric Sep 10 2007, 02:28 PM

I have had characters run for all those reasons.
Am going to sight Gibson for my main thought on this though and paraphase, "scrapper got scrap, deckers gotta deck etc"
The intrinsic nature of those that do the things necessary in the shadows has to keep them going. Even if its just a mask, that mask if worn long enough can change the person.

Posted by: DireRadiant Sep 10 2007, 02:30 PM

What happened to "Because I want to shoot people in the face, might as well get paid"?

Posted by: Penta Sep 10 2007, 02:50 PM

Character I made for a campaign elsewhere on the board was laid off (with good references!) due to corporate intrigue a few levels above his paygrade; It was only while outprocessing that an equally-surprised company lawyer pointed out he'd been hired under a contract that had been used only for a really short time...Because it had an unusually broadly-written noncompete clause.

Fortunately, it just said he couldn't work for someone *else's* organization...It never said anything about being self-employed.

Posted by: Prime Mover Sep 10 2007, 03:26 PM

Each member of current team has different motivations. Oldest team member who's been around since SR1 is jut trying to pay the bills on lifestyle and leonization (sp) treatments ( a nearly 40 yr old troll after all).

Other members of the team work for various reasons from being wanted men, being antisocial crazies, trying to just get off the streets even a hacker who just is out to prove he's the best at what he does.

Posted by: Fortune Sep 10 2007, 03:27 PM

QUOTE (DireRadiant)

What happened to "Because I want to shoot people in the face, might as well get paid"?

I can relate to that, but I think it might just fall under the 'Loony' category.

Posted by: Kyoto Kid Sep 10 2007, 04:09 PM

...almost chose #5. KK likes big booms too...

However like eidolon said, it really depends on the character.

for KK it's ridding the world of those sassin' frassin' Tir Elves that slithered away when the wall came crashing down.

For Hannah, it's getting back at those who ruined her life.

For Violet it is doing in old Uncle Olaf (her nickname for MetaTech which was taken over NeoNet), and any other corps which use kids for their own advantage.

For Da Brat, it's survival plain & simple.

Posted by: Ted Stewart Sep 11 2007, 10:56 PM

My current character is a sprawl punk pretending to be white collar because he wants out of the sprawl.

Then he got a white-collar girlfriend, and getting out of the sprawl wasn't good enough. Knowing my GM, his GF will be pregnant shortly.

Now he's trying to scrape up enough nuyen to retire into the middle class while trying to keep his girlfriend completely ignorant of where he's from and what he's doing. It adds a lot of pressure to keep nuyen in the bank and not blow it all on cybertoys.

The second he hits a half mil nuyen, he's buying a new rating 6 fake SIN and is moving into suburbia to raise a family. Unless my GM screws me, which he likely will.

Posted by: Kyleigh Wester Sep 12 2007, 01:10 AM

My character's reasoning for running the shadows is a bit different. He's always had dreams of action, adventure, pushing the limit, and being some sort of hero. Thinking Lonestar would offer that he tried to join them, but failed and was not found to be police material. After deciding they were corrupt anyway he started doing small time P.I work around Knoxville, then small time runs, and eventually he got pulled into the world of the shadows seeking his movie-esk hero moment of fame...despite breaking like every law and stealing stuff and fighting people.

Posted by: Jaid Sep 12 2007, 02:21 AM

QUOTE (Kyleigh Wester)

eventually he got pulled into the world of the shadows seeking his movie-esk hero moment of fame...despite breaking like every law and stealing stuff and fighting people.

breaking laws? stealing stuff? fighting people?

sounds like the movies to me =P

Posted by: Temperance Sep 12 2007, 02:27 AM

For me it greatly depends on the character. My last character was a mage that graduated at the top of his class at MIT&T. Aztechnology was very.. insistent at employing him. He'd heard the rumors. His mom was an ex-runner that currently worked for the UCAS government and warned him about them.

In the end, it forced him into hiding as a runner. In that character's case, he did the "shoots people in the face" to earn a living while hiding from the Azzies.

Of course in that game the GM had a light cash running style so we never had enough cash to retire on. It was a nice just above street level game.

-Temperance

Posted by: hyzmarca Sep 12 2007, 02:40 AM

I started out shooting people in the feet and just worked my way up. I'm next in line for forehead shooter after Bob retires.

Posted by: Black Jack Rackham Sep 12 2007, 03:32 AM

I voted Other because I didn't see anything about the simple inability to view his options from a different perspective. It's not that Tunguud isn't bright, he's smarter than average (very bright for a Troll), and it isn't that he just want's to kill someone (in fact he has a healthy respect for life). His family are all runners and came from families that also ran. It's simply what is done. He is trying to branch out. He got himself a job arranging and delivering flowers. However, the runner mindset takes over and he finds himself looking at his employers and clients for their potential utility in his 'other' line of work.

Posted by: Da9iel Sep 12 2007, 05:57 AM

I wish I could've chosen more than one. I voted survival, but freedom and too crazy (or other such mainstreem work disqualification) have also been reasons for other characters of mine.

Posted by: Eryk the Red Sep 12 2007, 02:03 PM

My group has a fair variety of reasons. There's a couple of characters who do it because it's all they know (one's a former corporate stealth operative, like a runner with a contract, and the other is former special forces who likes the work but doesn't trust the government). There's another who does it because that's the crowd he's fallen into. It's all he can do in the culture he's now part of (Irish organized crime). It just wouldn't make sense to get a regular job. We even had one guy who didn't want to be a runner at all, but bad legal circumstances with his legitimate employers got him mixed up with helping the team with a kidnapping.

There's a character I've designed and would like to play (but never will, because I'm a GM at heart) who is like a shadow gonzo-journalist with an anti-corporate motive. She takes the jobs because that's where the stories are (and she films them when she can get away with it), and involving yourself in the culture provides opportunities to stick it to the Man.

Posted by: adamu Sep 12 2007, 02:13 PM

My character doesn't run the shadows. Shadowrunners are those self-absorbed cartoonish types on the trid. My character just works for a living, slowly making his way to Hollywood to start his sim career. Recently some of the jobs he has gotten have been a lot like those crazy stories on the trid...what the hell - job's a job, and a man works to make his way in this world.

Posted by: KarmaInferno Sep 12 2007, 03:26 PM

I do it to make the world a better place.

One savage beating at a time.

-karma