Paying the Fixer Options

[Catsnightmare]

To the GM's and players out there, how do you handle paying the Fixer?
Right now I'm debating on whether to have the players pay percentage fee from jobs or just handwave it by saying the Johnson pays the Fixer's fee to have him find a runner team.
What do you guys and gals do in your games?

[Moirdryd]

It depends on the fixer as my teams often know more than one. Some of them take from the Johnson only, some of them have a set fee per job meet for the crew (regardless if they take it) some have a % off the paycheck (but to do so is often paying more attention on what the Team are negotiating). I run all three types within the game.

[Kren Cooper]

I would agree - make it a mix.

The fixer who is mostly corporate - takes his cut or fee from the ultimate Johnson, then brokers out the job - all helping the corporate deniability aspect. They may have been given a flat amount to do the job, and will lowball the PCs to maximise their profits.
The fixer who is completely freelance - mostly taking a fee from the Johnson, but may take from the PCs as well, or have demands on rep / behaviour or other factors important to them.
The fixer who has work and will broker it out to a team who is willing to give him the biggest kickback - unusual perhaps, and only for certain kinds of jobs.
The fixer who is more about sourcing gear for the players rather than getting them work - the one they go to for the extra kit they need for a mission - they are *definitely* in a position to squeeze the players if it's appropriate for their background.
Sometimes, depending on the campaign and setting, your PCs may end up as fixers for others, depending on what gear they have, and how well known they are. In one of my games, some of the players ended up with a Battletac and set of receivers - which was mondo useful. But they also "rented" it out to certain other trustworthy teams in the area to earn some extra drinking money, or to build up their rep with them.

I think you can do whatever you want and put a complete mix in - from sage old hands who have seen it all before, through to newbies on the block who are horribly wet behind the ears - case in point, I had a team of "new" hustlers organise some pit fights, there was a whole roster of fighters, with 4 rounds over 4 weeks of play. But the odds were messed up - one of my players realised that I'd set the odds so that on some of the fights, you could bet different amounts on BOTH fighters, and have a guaranteed return. With some careful betting, they fleeced the bookies for a bunch of Nuyen, before they realised...

[Iduno]

It's nice to have the characters negotiate how much they're getting paid for the job, using specifics from the job ("we'll need rope and parachutes for this" or "facing the Red Samauri is going to cost extra"), so you want to allow that. Which means the fixer isn't taking from the same budget as the runners. Either the players pay them a cut, or the Johnson pays them up front. And having the players pay a tax to the fixer on all of their earnings feels bad, and is going to lead to them trying to do without the fixer (taking things away after you've given them isn't good).

[JanessaVR]

We prefer the "Japanese Method" (see SR4 Corporate Enclaves, p. 107) of working for (more or less) trusted Fixers, not Mr. Johnson. Why anyone does it the usual canon way makes no sense to us. Our policy is to never meet Mr. Johnson if we can help it. Safer for us, safer for him. If you have an illegal career, why would you continually reveal your identity to an ever-increasing number of criminal strangers? That's just crazy. Do everything through your Fixer - he's the go-between who shields both sides. It's also his responsibility to check out the job Mr. Johnson wants done, and then selecting the team in his "stable" best able to do it. If the job goes sour, you look to your Fixer first, because it was his job to make sure (as much as possible) that the job was clean before hiring your team to do it.

[Iduno]

We prefer the "Japanese Method" (see SR4 Corporate Enclaves, p. 107) of working for (more or less) trusted Fixers, not Mr. Johnson. Why anyone does it the usual canon way makes no sense to us. Our policy is to never meet Mr. Johnson if we can help it. Safer for us, safer for him. If you have an illegal career, why would you continually reveal your identity to an ever-increasing number of criminal strangers? That's just crazy. Do everything through your Fixer - he's the go-between who shields both sides. It's also his responsibility to check out the job Mr. Johnson wants done, and then selecting the team in his "stable" best able to do it. If the job goes sour, you look to your Fixer first, because it was his job to make sure (as much as possible) that the job was clean before hiring your team to do it.

Why would any Johnson want the Fixer and the runners to have all of the details of the run? Or trust that the fixer will ask all of the right questions and remember the details of what they were told? Especially when fixers make their money from buying and selling information.

[Nath]

I consider the fixer's role include money laundering for the shadowrunners, so that there won't be a direct money trail between them and a corporate shell company that could become a liability for either side, but that's because I ruled out the promise of the untracable certified credsticks as unrealistic.

Now, since nor the player, the character or the gamemaster actually want to bother with acounting, it has been agreed that the amount discussed is always given "per head" and the fixer gets a 1/6th share (which, because we really don't want to bother with accounting, it just one extra share). But the idea remains that the fixer always get his share because he is the one who process the payment.

[sk8bcn]

For me, Johnson only.

I consider that he take a % or a fixed amount from Johnson and he's getting paid in the backstage.

[Iduno]

Now, since nor the player, the character or the gamemaster actually want to bother with acounting, it has been agreed that the amount discussed is always given "per head" and the fixer gets a 1/6th share (which, because we really don't want to bother with accounting, it just one extra share). But the idea remains that the fixer always get his share because he is the one who process the payment.

That works nicely. It combines the fixer not needing to be given secret information, the fixer getting a percentage (benefits when the players do well), and not taking money away from the players.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Fixer's take a payment for providing the team directly from the Johnson (ie... the Johnson gives very basic outline so Fixer can select appropriate team, then he is paid for putting them together)...

Additionally, the Fixer is the one who provides the Escrow service between the Johnson and the Team... For those teams that prefer Escrow services.

[fistandantilus4....]

Fixers = Real Estate Agent for the Shadows. Johnsons are the clients and runners are the asset. YMMV depending on other roles you have a Fixer cover, such as a go between for contacts. Runner team doesn't know an arms dealer? Cool, the Fixer can hook them up. For a nominal fee of course, aka commission.