If I can offer an alternative for a Kidney, perhaps they'll take collateral that you're sure to absolutely, positively come back for.

"There, I've done what you asked, can you PLEASE give me my testicles back?"

I like the way you think.

I'm not so much trying to make sure the Doc gets payed, as I am trying to throw the character a bone without seeming soft or unrealistic (the doc is another character's contact, and only loyalty 3, so he's not going to patch the shot up character for free). The player is also new to Shadowrun, and role playing in general, so I don't want to screw him too badly.

Cribbed it from Transmetropolitan. But thank you.

Given the amount of surgery you can have done during a coffe break, immunosuppressants from pure handwavium seem to be readily available (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

And body parts really should be more expensive, to create an actual gap between cyberlimbs and organic replacements. That still does not automatically turn organ robbing into a profitable job compared to shadowruns, because Tamanous remains your only way to find a matching recipient - their monopoly, their price.

The body parts used to be more expensive. Time marches on...

So what will happen to Tamanous, you think? Will it get by selling ghoul-chow for the most part? Seeing prizes for their other wares deflate? With intelligent ghouls being more and more accepted, might they even get a (semi-)legit offshoot?

That's why cyberlimbs are looked down upon as cheap solutions, biologic replacements are available to those with the money. But with the prices given in Augmentation, there's no real social gap between bio and metal.

I think the devs like Tamanous too much as a bogeyman. Can't have a dystopia without some sort of squicky soylent green operation in the background. So they'll probably stay around for a while.

However, they'll probably get deprecated in a while. Shadowrun's had bogeymen in the past too that are now rather... weird. I mean, Toxic Mages? That is so early nineties. Insect spirits? they sound so.. dated.. AIs? Used to be scary, now they're much smaller-time. Somehow people even like them.

I'm not really sure what the new "Threats" are. Devil trees?

Sentient Drop Bears.

Canon? TMs still, for a large part. Some players seem to agree. Perhaps Horizon through their endorsement, and being creepily goody two-shoes?

Just because mundane organs have depreciated in value, doesn't mean Tamanous can't turn a profit selling stolen cyberware and bioware.

Plus, I don't think it's an accident that one of the few books that mentions Tamanous repeatedly is Feral Cities. By all rights, it appears that the corps have the time, resources and sophistication required to crank out enough vat organs and reliable 'ware to corner any market they choose to corner. Apparently, plenty of markets aren't really worth their time, however. So while Tamanous may not make much nuyen in a feral city they could still end up with a decent amount of local influence. I mean, imagine you're a street doc in Bogota and you and a few burly pals are some of the only guys around with some 'ware and medical expertise, two things which are unusually rare and valuable in your environment. Not only that, but when people can't pay up for the work they had done on time, you round them up, take their 'ware and feed 'em to your pals at the local ghoul den. Again, it's not a great way to make money, per se, but you'd still be some of the scariest guys in town, and that counts for something when you're getting by in a z-zone.

Plus if you like a "Big Brother Is Watching" feel to your game, you could also say that all those shiny new parts come with some electronic strings attached. Used parts might be the quickest and easiest way to replace or upgrade in a pinch without attracting undue attention from the authorities.

A vat-grown type-O organ is cheap but stealing one's organ is free. So I guess Tamanous can still be profitable.

They can easily get organs for next to nothing from a place where the supply is high (feral cities, the barrens) and sell it at the right price for their customers. Organs in poor condition can be sold cheaper than type-O organs for poor people and organs in good condition (and good quality) can be sold just under the price of the type-O equivalent (or even above if it's especially good).

Or maybe type-O organs aren't really vat-grown as they want you to believe.

Blood type isn't by far the only factor to determine fitness of an organ for implant. Type O isn't everything. You need cultivated organs for maximum chance of effectiveness.

Also, the price of acquiring the organs wouldn't be what would put a damper on a bottom line. It would be the logistics involved in moving the organ from "donor" to recipient.
And no, even the most horrible lowlife will not spend even a hundred nuyen on buying an organ that's 99% sure to make him worse off than his own, plus fees for having it implanted. Because that's right about the chance of failure you're looking at, if you're planning on taking organs from half the world away and implanting them. Fairly rapidly too. Especially if not given proper care in the transporting process. Which is expensive.
From the poor chummer living a few blocks away? Sure. Still no good chances, but immunodepressants will go a long way, coupled with swift action. A few hours flying away? No way.

That'd be an interesting metaplot point actually.

*Sighs* Another reason I wish I had been able to game in the '90s. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Apologies if this was brought up already. From Augmentation (53): (paraphrased)

2032: unique genotype of Owen Whiting (for whom Type O is named, page 54) discovered
2034: Shiawase granted a patent on Type O by CC
Mid-2040's: Wimps become mass produced
End-2040's: Mass production of commercial bioware and biotech

So no. Canray's statement is wrong. Type O cloning is a mature industry that has been around for 25-30 years. SR4A doesn't include rules for a) losing body parts (Severe wounds in Augmentation 121 is optional and easy to avoid), or b) what level of doc wagon you need to get those parts in your contract. SR4A has a copypasta of the SR3 DocWagon rules in the gear section but since it was the SR3 severe wound rules that included organ replacement it didn't make the jump to the new edition. SR3 puts organ replacement as part of the Platinum contract -- below that you have to pay. SR3 also mentions that cyber replacements are available but the GM/player have to decide the costs themselves. This is only based on the SR3 BBB because I don't have Man and Machine at work. 9000 nuyen for a brand spanking new kidney that will never need replacement or immunosuppressants is pretty cheap.

Holy crap SR3 was gritty compared to SR4. Get 1 success on your "blown to pieces" check and you lose a limb or eye. 0 successes loses you 1 point from an attribute, -1 to racial modified limit, double healing time, need intensive care and a replacement limb or die regardless of being stabilized. Check was Body (tn 4) test or 6(!) if a trauma patch was used. This was all in the BBB and was NOT optional. Sucks to dump Body. Now you optionally need to take 7+ boxes in one go and fail an Edge (1) test or have the GM handwaive you into the injury.

Really, really wish I could have gamed back then...

For reference, in today's (well, a few years ago's) prices, kidneys net you $1000. Iranian Kidneys

That's a lot less than I expected. I thought it'd be 10K at least.

Life's pretty cheap, and getting cheaper. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Me too, but bear in mind that 1000$ are a lot more in a country with nominal per capita GDP of 4,500$ (circa, depending on which source you use), less than a tenth of the US. So if you bought a kidney in the US it would probably cost ten times as much, plus an additional markup because you are doing it illegally.

The Iranian "regulated sale of organs" system is quite interesting. The transplant communities in Europe and the US are aghast at the idea of free-market forces determining who gets organs, but their results have been pretty amazing- i.e. elimination of waiting lists. Contrast that with our "altruistic" system wherein 40% of the people on the waiting list will die before getting an organ. Very interesting.

And just as an aside kidneys in non-Iranian countries sell for much more. There are a many anecdotal reports in the media about people buying kidneys and they are usually upwards of $20,000.

And there's always the problem of filling the bathtub full of ice from those broken down ice machines in the POS Motels...