Running for Dummies, tips for players Options

[Thane36425]

There is always the blackmail option. Suppose the runners had pulled a bloody or destructive run against someone like Aztechnology and the Azzies find out who did it. Rather than kill the runners, they find somone close to one or mre of the runners. They hire a Mr. Johnson to offer the team a run, not telling them it is the Azzies who are hiring them. If they refuse, Mr. J hands over a phone to a PC and on the other end if that certain someone in the hands of a nasty bunch of people. Now its do the job or lose the slob.

Granted that is underhanded as hell, but if the team has been playing fast and loose like there are no consequences, that might shake them up a bit. Of course, there is always the chance the players won't care and still walk away. Have it turn out the certain someone was used in a blood magic ritual and the Azzies let enough of the players contacts know about it. Their well will dry in a hurry over something like that.

[Kyoto Kid]

...to all, thanks for the pointers.

I actually have a fair amount of GM/DM experience (SF, Fantasy, Superhero), but unlike with these games, characters in Shadowrun need a different incentive "the job offer" to act. it is a lot easier to get them going when say some evil overlord is terrorising the countryside, or a megalomaniac is holding the city hostage with his new super secret death weapon. Runners, (at least in our group) don't get up from their sofa while watching the trivid and say, "that corp is really screwing things up, I think I'll get my chummers together & we'll go take a whack at them."

I particularly like the idea of the fixer handling the deal. For one thing, he or she knows at least on of the PCs and possibly enough about the others to know how to work them. I recently have started to include bodyguards and an "assistant" for the Johnson. For one session, I held the meet in a really ritzy restaurant which discouraged coming in "armed to the teeth" and glowing with sustained spells and active foci. This levelled the playing field on both sides. The only thing with this is that it is unrealistic (unless the same J hires them again) to use such a setting for every mission.

[Slash_Thompson]

I don't think it's particularly 'unrealistic' at all. and significantly more realistic than rarely having a meet in an upscale location (note that it doesn't always have to be a restaurant either. Have the meet happen at a Seahawks or Mariners Game, in a museum or at a convention - anywhere that security would be moderately high) Most Johnsons represent a group with significant bankroll and out in plain-sight is often the best place to hide something illegal.

The additional expenses incurred over a meet in, say, an abandoned parking garage are easily justified in terms of Johnson Safety and likelihood of hiring a 'better class' of 'Runner. (Remember too, most Johnsons represent a significant investment in training time and resources for the organization they represent and that organization, under normal circumstances, will want to protect that investment)

edit: for clarity

[Cheops]

I usually use the pattern of meet somewhere public and nice for the job offer and then the handoff afterwards tends to take place somewhere out of the way.

Favorites for the meet are: restaurants, hotels, parks, night clubs, markets, malls, even the aquarium once.

Handoffs are usually: parking garages, the Barrens, wilderness (Snohomish or Ft. Lewis esp), etc...

[Kyoto Kid]

...For the mission I ran before the one I am currently putting people through I had the meet take place at Embers, a very exclusive restaurant in the Elven district. Reservations Required, Valet Parking, Black Tie, No spellcasting/sustained spells, walls with Wireless defeating material etc.(lots of paranoid ex Tir slots in the Metrolpex now since the Crash and demise of the old council).

The meet for the current run took place at Gracie's For Ribs (love the old Seattle Sourcebook). Again a fairly respectable place. Actually, this was one of the best meets I ran. The experience they had at Embers might have something to do with why it went so smoothly.

[Garrowolf]

I knew a player in someone else's game that figured out that the game couldn't start until he agreed so he ran the price up really high. He basically blackmailed the GM in game into locking the game up.

I knew another GM who, when that same player did that again said,"well the Johnson can't afford that." and packed up his books and left. The other players solved the problem after that.

The only time that you will see a Mr Johnson in my games is if he is sitting right beside the Fixer. The Fixer doesn't like it but his boss, the Mafia Boss for all of Seattle told him to deal with it. Now if the players try anything funny then they are sitting in a heavily armed building that is owned and run by the Mafia. They have several layers of cyberware scanners, magical protection and machine guns in the walls. This is not including the fact that most of the people in the building are actually bodyguards and street sammies that work for the mafia (it's a club I use). There is a weapons check at the door, but by that time you have passed 8 guards at the entrance to the parking lot, 12 on a wall around the parking lot, another 8 at the door. Then each level has 4 at each stairway going up to the next level. How far up you get depends on who you know. Mafia bosses hang around on the 5th floor but the lower levels are clubs for the lower level people with connections. You have to go up to the 3rd floor to even see the fixer. This is the floor that all the corrupt cops hang out.

If they try and negoitate too much then the fixer will tell them no and so far that has been the end of it. If they say they need it for a specific reason then the fixer can make a call and solve the cost in house.

If they get really stupid and try and attack anyone in there and they happen to escape then they can spend the rest of the game looking over their shoulders. Most of their contacts are through the Mafia and so they are out in the cold. Their IDs were created by a mafia SIN decker. They have no house anymore. They are hunted men.

They have to use organized crime to function in my game. The only independants are low level gangers. If they want to go independant then they will have no ability to make useful contacts. Everyone works or is aligned with someone. You could walk away but you can't set up shop in someone else's back yard.

[fistandantilus4....]

[Garrowolf]

yeah I have lots of things that make it a bad idea in my game. This was an example of a novice GM just as a warning to others that I try and keep in mind.

I had one person try this with me before I switched to using the Fixer instead of the Johnson. The Johnson just looked at him and said,"I don't need to hire you. I can hire someone else instead that can do this under budget. Convince me that I should hire you at all."

They talked him down instead of up!

[fistandantilus4....]

[Garrowolf]

well you can send money and I would TRY and remember to pass it along. ;)

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[Wakshaani]

Solved that lil' problem a while back.

Teh first thing is to slowly work out a few night-long sessions during your down time. Nothing too fancy, strictly by-the-numbers minor runs, good for low level Runners that you could dash off in a night. Keep about ahalf dozen of those around, so in case of a walkout by teh players, or teh Johnson, the whole night isn't over.

The next is to get past the idea that the Shadowrunners are the *only* Shadowrunners. Have them show up, to see a different team meeting with Mr Johnson and, when the team's turn is up, have Mr Johnson mention that he's got another team (indicated with a nod that-a-way) to interview after the PCs. He's looking for a group that can do teh job, after all, and you don't just interview a single candidate, now do you?

Now, if teh team works with teh same Johnson several times and builds up a good reputation, he might come to them first, or even exclusively. "Ingenue, this is Mr Johnson. I've got a very important mission up and I'd prefer your team take it on. I'm prepared to offer our usual deal and can have the pertinent data delivered to you within the hour if you're interested."

Teh team gets regular work, and gets a Johnson that won't screw them over (Or, well, at least not too badly), because they shaped up and flew right. If they keep pressing their Johnsons too hard, however, they get a bad rep, other teams snap up teh good runs, and the team gets jobs like "Help Mrs Silverman find one of her lost Glow Kats. Pays 1000Y, split however you want."

And nobody wants that.

-- Wak

"Glow Kats, Glow Kats, they're the only cats *bum bum* that glow!"

[toturi]

[Mistwalker]

Back to the original thread.

Use plenty of Nanopaste for every run.
Use it when you meet the Johnston, use it on the run, use it for the handover.
Then don't use that "face" again.

Do this for every run, and you won't care if the face you used on the last run is plastered all over the place.

Your Fixer who sets up the meets, or the Johnston does if he is a regular, will know how to contact the runners, and know that they never look the same, do no problem from that end.

[Ed_209a]

[Kyoto Kid]

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[ShadowDragon8685]

[Slump]

[Kyoto Kid]

[fistandantilus4....]

Yup :D

[ornot]

[ShadowDragon8685]

[toturi]

[ornot]

@SD8685: That was indeed a random example, pulled out of the air. That being said, a Johnson with a particularly brutal negotiation style might start off that low and haggle!

@Toturi: While it might be possible for a team to build up a picture of the run from the vague details the J gives them, that's kind of the point. They won't know the specifics (what file is worth paydata, who needs extracting, which executive has outlived his usefulness) but they'll have a good idea what the job might entail, and whether the price is fair (the job should be doable for that team as the GM is suggesting it!)

Info brokers could indeed fill in the gaps, but that depends on the brokers being able to give the runners the information in a very short time frame, and the runners being willing to shell out the yen for the info.

I definately agree that a J isn't going to want to make his/her spiel more than 2 or 3 times, but should the first team they meet not take the job, they don't want the job to be fragged for any later teams.