I have a player who has decided he's going to moonlight as a street doc (well, work as a street doc, moonlight as a runner). He's invested a lot of time buying biotech 7 and a rating 3 unregistered clinic. He has a level 2 doctor contact who works there as well. I am running SR3 using almost exclusively the main book, but in this case I went ahead and allowed for M&M.

He did not ask to make money from the clinic (I'm not sure why he's doing it, I guess just for roleplay and to ignore doctor's bills). Using the SR3 rules, I've managed that fine. I separate the cost of supplies vs. services for healing up and cyberware costs, and he pays for parts out of pocket but gets services free. In turn, he gets an above average value from used cyber (about 15-30% of book value, but takes longer to sell).

We have NOT taken into consideration the fact that he can now make most commercially available drugs for free (that's right, a rating 1 clinic can make just about any drug).

I am hoping to make some relatively 'simple' mechanics for him to make some money off of the clinic though, since he's been investing so heavily in it, and to make having a rating 4 clinic or biotech 8 worth something (since right now there's really no advantage to him having a rating 4 over a rating 1 clinic, for most intents and purposes). I don't mind paying a bit more than you'd expect in SR because these are teenagers with no patience, and I expect, given the player, that much of his work will be done on the cheap 'for charity', at or below cost. So I've made up the following mechanics to try and represent all that. Where I could, I simplified, but I fear I didn't simplify enough. These mechanics are ONLY meant for an illegal clinic, not for a registered one. Comments are very, very welcome.




I wrote up some test rules based on two numbers:

Clinic rating (modified by the skill of all doctors available there)
PR rating (modified by... whatever seems relevant at the time)

Clinic rating is:
Rating of clinic + (Top biotech skill + 1 per additional doc)/2 (so 7 in this case, rating 3 clinic, 7 in biotech, 1 extra doctor)

PR rating is whatever I think is appropriate at the time, capped by your Clinic Rating. Right now it's rating 2, since [the PC] hasn't done much to get word out.

You can also get a temporary bonus by bringing in enough used cyber or body parts (I'll say every $10k - after mark down - worth of cyber adds 1 point for the month).

Add the two together (9).

Every month your clinic pulls in '9' points. Points are based on the number and type of customers you service. You can decide how many points you want to dedicate towards 'profit' and how much you want to dedicate towards charity.

For every point that goes towards profit, the value is
(1d6-1)^2 * $1,000

For every point that goes towards charity I roll 1d6:
1-3 no change
4 - +1 rep in local community
5 - +1 PR score
6 - 1 free contact (GM's choice, restricted to your clientele. Higher PR rating means better contacts.)

The base cost of the clinic per month is (Rating + # of doctors) * $8,000 (so $40,000 for you, 2 doctors, rating 3 clinic. $8k a month is about $96k a year, which is good for a doctor. The remaining $24k a month covers the receptionist, nurses and guards.) Carter (NPC doctor) is willing to lose a little money now and again, he's not a great doctor. I will probably also say your maximum number of 'profit' visits are limited by PR somehow (maybe 4*PR or something similar). (I need comments here especially. Running an illegal clinic out in the boonies, there will be a limit as to how many clients can afford to pay clinic prices).

In a quick test I did, if you worked totally for profit, you'd make $29,000 profit (about $8,000 because you work as a doctor, $21,000 as the owner).

The thing to remember here is that you're (the PC) going to have to dedicate far more attention to your clinic than you would otherwise, and you're going to have to make some tough decisions. Assumedly this is with you doing everything you can to make money; buying questionable organs, refusing people who can't pay or using loan shark techniques to collect, etc. This also brings in the danger of attracting attention.



So... comments? Ideas? Am I way off or does this look reasonable? Any better methods people can think of?

He could just organleg every nth customer to come through. That would up the profit somewhat.

Your money is wrong in two places: first, you're working in dollars rather than nuyen, and second, $96k is abysmal for a doctor. The average for a family practitioner is, as of 2002, $150k, with general surgery averaging closer to $255k (source). ¥8k/month isn't even enough for a High lifestyle. Unless, of course, you really mean "good for a doctor that failed out of med school and thus has no possibility of working legally"—note that just being blacklisted isn't good enough, as most reasons for blacklisting are the sorts of things a corp might turn a blind eye to for a slightly less expensive medical professional.

~J

He's got an illeagal, unregistered clinic, right?

So it's obvious. Make your money supplying Shadowrunners, and use what you get from that to keep the good graces of the community by fixing the people up for free.

You can charge Shadowrunners top for combat drugs, cyberware installation, and supplying them with medkits and stuff. Say, about 20% above normal Street index. You keep them coming back with the fact that regular customers - those who stock up from you - get put back together for free, just like the poor folk of the community you serve, and the fact that, as one of them, you appreciate the value of discretion and anonimity, and woulden't ever organleg someone or take a bribe to install a cranial bomb or something like that.

And frag, for a good, trustworthy doctor, 120% of the normal cost is certainly affordable.

You can advertise your clinic is a neutral ground -- any faction that breaks the neutrality doesn't get patched up -- and thus get built-in protection from gangers. If someone breaks the neutrality, just have the other gangs go after them, and the payment is reduced-cost treatment for the avenging gang, and free treatment for injuries sustained during the engagement.

Catering to Shadowrunners is also a good idea, as they tend to have money, and get shot alot -- a very profitable combination.

Your friendly, family medical practice and your local, lovable arms dealer under one convienant roof.


Not a bad deal.

You could even expand it, an Optician and a Firing range in one big bundle!!

Yes, the PC took a custom 2 or 3 point edge out of chargen to let him buy a single skill point above the normal maximum of 6. So the 7 in biotech is his, and he's looking at increasing to 8. I've been telling him that doctors generally have biotech in the 6-8 range and a ton of knowledge skills (otherwise, why did they have to go to school for a friggin' decade if they don't have some serious, serious skills?)

In regards to the charity work, I'm assuming you're referring to the PR bonus it could have. The +1 rep to the local area and chance of a free contact I think are self evident. The PR I put in on the assumption that the client says "oh, how can I ever repay you?" and the PC replies either, "I need body parts!" (which would result in more points through organ leggers) or "I need paying clients!" (in which case that 1/6 is that one random person who can't afford health care but knows people who do, or better still, who will beat people up and drag them to your clinic).

I don't want to make the charity work too unprofitable because I know that's where he's going to spend as much of his time as possible.

I'm glad the mechanics are not too offensive as they stand. I'll tell people if they spontaneously combust or something.

Charity work can "pay" for itself - if he's foregoing potential money, I'd say have the potential money he lost by doing charity count towards Cash for Karma.

Here is the big issue. Do you want to micromanage the clinic/clinic's finances?

Orderlys/CandyStripers/nurse-aids/LPNs ~= 1.5 x low life style
RNs/PAs ~= 1.5 x mid lifestyle
DRs ~= 1.5 x high lifestyle
Admins/Accountants/Misc Office personal = ~= 2 x low lifestyle

and these numbers should be for a small clinic that is non-official. For an official clinic add 20-50% to the above numbers.

and remember there will be at least 3x the RNs as DRs. Nurse-aids/LPNs/Orderlys will be at least 5x compared to the RNs. You will need at least one admin on duty at all times the clinic is open. depending on size, you will have at least one account.

so in a spreadsheet, you calculate the number of each type of person for salaries, plus rent/utils, plus medical supplies. That is what it costs to run the clinic. Now the income will be whatever they can get off the patients, plus the return on "warm" cyberware (the pay 15-25% of face value and sell it at 45-55% thus ~ 30% of value is the return on the warm cyberware).

These are all round numbers off the top of my head but it will get you in the right direction....


dog

No, I really don't want to get too caught up in the nitty gritty, and even if I could, the primary concern is how much money goes in, not how much goes out. I have no idea how I'd determine how much you can make running an illegal clinic out bordering the barrens. This is why I tried to make a mechanic that randomly determines income based on relevant factors, then cut out costs to make the profit reasonable.

I did try to reflect the cost of all the orderlies, receptionists, guards etc. under the base cost of the clinic. Since the cost of the clinic determines how many people can be hired (and I assumed he hired the base number required to work at optimal condition), I just multiplied the clinic rating by a set about ($8k, I believe) to cover the cost of guards, receptionists, orderlies, as well as organ leggers, refills, utilities, etc.

Does he have the additional skills to do cyber implantation? Computer (cyberware) Knowledge skills meds, biology etc?
Or bioware?
Good reason not to give him the high rates for implantation and give the character some where to go karma wise.

Who does he pay protection to? They could demand any amount you deem fit so you can regulate the net profit for the PC and therefore the charity work he can afford to do without running.

Finaly does he have the Day job flaw? This could give you a ball park figure and time spent, as his market might not sustain a higher profit margine being in the barrens? And dependant on what he can do for runners of course.

Other than that your rules look sound as a method, I can not tell if your over pricing because you don't have a time element or a comparison for running profit.
Hope this helps.

I… um, you get karma for runs that involve shooting people in the face for money. I really think you're stretching the SR definition of karma.

~J

No, no. Karma for Cash and Cash for Karma is about trading with an underground Free Spirit commodities market. The buying and selling of karma is literal, not figurative.