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TheMadDutchman
I'm developing a city for a Shadowrun campaign that I'm building and as part of it I started writing a sourcebook for the city. I'm doing it "kind of" in the Shadowrun style where everything appears as an electronic document w/ different people giving there opinions on everything.

The problem that I've run into is that I've got about 19 typed 12 pt font, single-spaced pages of text and I've already got 40 distinct voices on the threads giving their opinions on everything from which gang in the city is the most dangerous to which restaurant has the best tres leche cake. There's even some verbal sparring between posters (as really happens on the internet). The problem is that all of these posters either have worked or currently do work in the city I'm building. I know that Shadowrunners go where the work is so nobody really works exclusively in one city but most teams to have primary operating areas. Areas like Seattle or Denvers where there's just a lot of work to be had.

I always got the impression that there could be hundreds of Shadowrunners in Seattle (which I don't have a problem w/ per se, but I don't want my city to be that way)

So what I'm trying to figure out is in a city that's roughly 200 square km w/ a pop. of about 3 million (that's roughly 16,000 people per km): how many runners can the city support without them stumbling all over each other?
Ravor
Well the number that gets thrown around all the time is that there should be between 200-300 Shadowrunners in Seattle, but due to Seattle's nature it habors more Runners then a "normal" city its size should have.

Of course, I assume that there are countless Runner wannabes and newbs throwing themselves into the grinder and that the 200-300 figure is just the 'sucessful' Runners.
Kingmaker
I think the 200-300 are the top tiers and just below. There are probably thousands of newbie runners with an extremely high turnover rate.
ludomastro
Couple of thoughts:
  1. Type
  2. Location
  3. Wealth
  4. Population

1. Type
What is your definition of a Shadowrunner? If it is a pro, then there will be less. If it is any gun toting troll willing to kill for the price of an early dinner, there will be more.

Pro - 0.5
Mix - 1
Thug - 2

2. Location
Where is this city? If it is near borders, such as Seattle and Denver, then the number of runners is higher. Middle of nowhere, much fewer.

Multiple National Borders - 2
One National Border - 1.2
Internal Borders Only - 1
Middle of Nowhere - 0.3

3. Wealth
Location will affect this as well; however, if the area has money then there will be more runners as there is more pie to split up. Also higher incidence of organized crime.

Upscale - 2
Above Average - 1.5
Average - 1
Below Average - 0.5
Poor - 0.2

4. Population
This is self explanatory. Assume that of your 40 voices, 30 are actual runners. That would make them 1/1000th of 1% of the total population (3 million).

I would stick with 1/1000th of 1% as the base.

Finally
Mulitply the factors together and viola. Crude number of Shadowrunners. Feel free to tweak as needed.

Example 1
Pro (0.5) x Internal Borders (1) x Above Average Wealth (1.5) x 30 (1/1000th of 1% of 30 million) = 22.5 (call it 23) full time runners

Example 2
Mix (1) x Middle of Nowhere (0.3) x Below Average Wealth (0.5) x 30 (1/1000th of 1% of 30 million) = 4.5 (call it 5) full time runners which I would interpret as an organized ring of thieves.

Hope that helps.
bait
Runners have a different criteria from you average population.

1.) How big and accessible is the shadow markets for your runner population?
2.) How tightly controlled is matrix access?
3.) How effective are Government, law enforcement, and criminal rackets?
4.) How many major interests are there in the City, and how much fragmentation between the relationships?
5.) Is the city on a major travel / trade hub, and how restrictive is movement?
6.) How diverse is the culture in the city?

Seattle has fairly high ranking in all these categories which a.) is attractive to the shadowrunner profession and b.) allows work for shadowrunners.

It is also unlikely that 200-300 shadowrunners are going to bump into each other with any frequency when your looking at a city population of over 4 million. ( Official registered SINNERS that is.)
Zen Shooter01
What's a shadowrunner?

Seriously, what's a shadowrunner?

A bear shaman makes a living in the barrens as a doctor, and sometimes battles magical threats for pay or for charity - renegade spirits, ghouls, that sort of thing. Is she a shadowrunner?

A hacker makes a living trading in pirated software from his one-room loft, but has never seen combat. Until a corporate squad investigating one of her contacts comes to to the door. Is she a shadowrunner?

A security company employee sells surveillance info on the black market as a sideline. Is he a shadowrunner?

A small gang deals small arms out of the back of a van. Are they shadowrunners?

A man manages a gambling operation for a criminal syndicate. Is he a shadowrunner?

A woman is a lifelong MCT patriot; she works behind a gunsight for their counterintelligence unit. Is she a shadowrunner?

If the definition of shadowrunner is a deniable asset specializing in penetrations, assassinations, extractions and theft, then there probably aren't more than ten shadowrunners per million population. But there will be loads of people like the ones described above.
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