[X] My Assistant

[Tanka]

I trust my Js, but I also do homework. Even if they claim to have given me every bit of information, I hunt for more.

You need to trust your employer, but you also need to not take everything (s)he says as a given.

[Austere Emancipa...]

Of course I'm not saying you have to absolutely trust them. But in order to do business, there usually needs to be some basic level of understanding and trust. Not much, but enough to establish the fact that neither party has to threaten to kill the other all the time.

[LoseAsDirected]

I think the main problem here is a matter of 'reasonable rewards'..

I mean, any run that can net a runner even 100,000 nuyen each is going to be insanely difficult.. I shudder to imagine what a 1.5mil run would consist of.

I think, if you have a reasonable group, you can pull the retro-GM card, and explain to them out of game that it was a simple goof.. Personally, I'd really rather not aquire 1.5mil from a single run, as it tends to make the game unbalanced REALLY fast..

For the record, my longest lived character has aquired a total of about 12.5 mil in his 5 year run, and has about $50,000 in liquid assets.. The rest is in contacts, 'ware, lifestyles, and general gear... I doubt he's ever had more than a few hundred Gs all at once.

[Tanka]

[Siege]

Threatening to kill someone in professional meetings is just a little...well...unprofessional and can result in nastiness all around, the least of which being fewer jobs in the future.

The whole "you screw us and we'll screw you" concept is almost so universally accepted, it doesn't need to be voiced.

-Siege

[Kagetenshi]

Not voiced, no, but still put into play.

~J

[gknoy]

[BitBasher]

I agree :D

[John Campbell]

Fifteen million nuyen is a lot of money. I bet the original owners would put in a pretty extreme effort to get it back.

[toturi]

[RedmondLarry]

I haven't seen an ex-ganger or fugitive that would deliver 150 million :nuyen: cash to the mafia. They'd try to keep the money and disappear.

I haven't seen an ex-ganger or fugitive that wouldn't try to keep the money with a couple of his buddies, and screw over the rest of the team.

Are you sure these guys are roleplaying their characters?

I've never seen the mafia willing to pay 15 million :nuyen: for a job that can be done by ex-gangers and fugitives. If it really is the mafia, they don't intend to pay, and the runners are expendable. It might not be the mafia, and the runner's next meet is the mafia looking for their money back and wanting the runners to track down their previous Johnson.

And lastly, it might be one or two mafia members, without the backing of the whole mafia, trying to get their hands on a boatload of mafia money before splitting town. In which case when the runners show up to deliver the money to their Johnson they might all be interrupted by the real mafia. The real mafia has more than enough muscle to recover their money from the situation, to take revenge on their rogue members, and to force a new deal with the shadowrunners. This has the right level of intrigue for Shadowrun, and the players might be happy if their characters get to live and make a reasonable amount of money for their efforts.

[Traks]

Stolen monet from mafia?
Man, your identity change and plastic surery will cost you much. Let's see, a little bit more than million, leaving you... yes, around 400 000. For fake SIN's 25 000 more :)

Or alternatively you really can say that goofed.
Or, that money will be quickly spent, making them a little bit stronger.
So no worries, in fact.

[BitBasher]

[Tanka]

[Kagetenshi]

Sir, I must arrest you and your minky.

~Clouseau

[Buzzed]

During the fence...

New Mafia Johnson: "Sorry about the change in faces. We had to whack the last Johnson because he screwed up the numbers saying it was worth 150 mil. Actually it is only worth 15 mil. The deal was 10% of the goods, but since you were mislead, I am prepared to triple it to 30%. How does 4.5 mil sound? I hope we can continue to do business in the future."

I think the players would understand the mistake. Award their understanding with a compromise. And always role-play it for more flavor. $1,125,000 would make even the most uptight players understand. :love:

Since you role-played it, the players have a sense that they were scammed by someone in the Mafia. They would come up with theories about an internal Mafia back-stab that ended up in the Johnson being murdered to steal the goods. The campaign options are limitless, bringing it up to a fun new level of "who did it?"

[nezumi]

I don't understand what this whole 'don't screw the players' thing is. You are playing a cyberpunk game. If they have it, feel free to steal it. Give 'em a chance to get it back, but don't make it easy. After all, if they're wandering through the streets with a suitcase full of money, how hard is it for any dumb group of punks with guns to hold you up, or snatch the case and run?

If you feel not QUITE so wicked, keep in mind that the mafia doesn't play to be nice. They play for their own best interest. Unless these runners are WORTH $15M, the mafia would calmly and quietly whack 'em. The Mafia is professional, yes. They're professional realists. They wouldn't let word of these people get out, or perhaps they'd put up a fake scenario in which the runners all die in a horrible car crash or something. It would certainly make for an interesting run in which the runners barely escape with their lives, while all their friends believe them to be dead. You don't have to pay out, it makes sense to the story (why would the mafia promise away that kind of cash to a street gang? They'd have to be dumb as dirt to think the mafia throws around money like that.) I see no problem with the mafia paying them in installments either. Once again, the mafia is not top dog because they're nice. They're on top because they bully people into doing what they want. If you play the game expecting the Don to play by the same rules as Lone Star, you're asking to end up getting screwed over.

[Spookymonster]

Give them 15M in corporate scrip. Then make the exchange rate 10:1 (10 corp bucks for every nuyen).

Give them counterfeit credsticks. The sticks get flagged as fakes the first time they're used. Have their fixer offer to launder the credit for 10 cents on the dollar.

[Mystery Mantis]

some really good stuff.
i am a little on the "it was my mistake side". i don't want to punish them for a mistake i made, but at the same time, that is a very big score. i did want them to have some good bank, becuase they have been playing a very frustring campaign. (meaning, they never get a good break, and getting good gear is pretty tough, and it seems life sucks. you know, typical street life). well, anyways, here is the not so short version of everything, for the inquiring minds that want to know (ok, i realize no one actually asked, but here it is anyways).
ok, not hired by a mr johnson. it was a lv 2 contact one of them had. the group happened to be at the wrong (or right from some pov) spot when the yaks showed up. well, firefight ensues, and LS was already onto the local, and they were on it like lightning. well, the runners helped the mafia guys get out (only a few got arrested), but pretty much everything was left behind. that is how LS got all the money. well, the mafia was apreciative of the help, and kind of offered this becuase the contact sold the idea very well. they break in, and as per any shadowrun where the players are idiots in disguise as slightly smarter idiots, hilarity ensued. (two guys get hit with a flash granade and are blinded, their response was to throw a smoke granade about 1 meter in front of them. they never figured out that cameras everywhere meant that they would be on camera if they were pretty much anywhere in the building, and where surprised when the alarms went off and a lock down happened. not to mention they didn't know how LS was so quick to respond to an intrusion on a LS compound. it goes on and on...oh my life as the GM.... :spin: ) well, the sessions ends with them meeting the NPC wheelman they hired at a sewer exit a few blocks away. they had jsut gotten into the vehicle.
well, here is the ideas....
The orc, uncouth and cha of 2 pissed off the wheelman when they met him. a little tough guy back and forth latter, and the intimidation check goes awry, and the orc is now terrified of him (this happened already. the idiot rolled an oops, and the wheel rolled very well.) anyways, they tried to keep all the info quiet (including where they were going to hit!), and he had to "explain" to the group that he needed to know in case something went wrong. well, they never told him about the big score. well, i am thinking, that maybe he finds it out. and he wants the money (or was it monet?) for himself. after all, whats to say he hasn't set up a, well, set up to rip them off? and now the mafia is a little pissed, wondering if they were in on that? and now how will they prove otherwise? and i didn't have to retro-gm, or even "cheat" them, jsut point out how being uncouth does not also mean unprofessional (a lesson that the player of the orc does need to learn :P ). then to get them back on the freindly side of the mafia, they now owe that much money and need to repay. or maybe the mafia jsut kills them.
i don't know, i am getting a little tired now, it's late for me here, and i need sleep. let me hear some more feedback.
i might go with something similar to this. i am certain that there will be another conflict between orc and wheelman, this time though in terms of combat. (what you suppose the mods would be when fighting someone that you are terrified of?)
i have more ideas, just to tired....
be back later....
ok, enough with the dot dot dot dot

[Quix]

Foolish or otherwise I prefer not to inflict things on the characters retroactively. Granted I have no problems with giving them other problems because they now have s@$# tons of cash.

[Liquid_Obsidian]

And so what , you screwed up your math ?

no problem about that if you don't forget some tools you got in had:

forged credstick are the biggest part of their pay,
random decker stealing them their money from their account,
bank just vanishing (that sometimes appens with matrix credit lines you know),
a bank executives steal their moneyn he's caught and the money is kept by fbi as a proof , just go explain them how you hard-earned it...,
they were just tought manipulated during money delivery,
just send them on a casino ;) your the odds after all,
BE IMAGINATIVE
BE SMART
NEVER EVER GO ON A GAME SESSION WITHOUT A CALCULATOR

Liquid