For my players (You know who you are, and I know who you are as well), don't read this. Please. Or I'll hurt you.
Alright, I got finagled into running a campaign and I need a good idea of how much money to award players with. I let them make characters using 450 BPs with 75 BP limit on equipment and a max availability of 14. Basically, these guys are established in town and are known for doing good work. The mission is this: The security who protects a band has just kidnapped them and is holding the ransom. The band manager wants them back badly, and doesn't trust Lonestar or some other 'security force' to do it, so he's called in a favor and gotten these guys hired. This band is well known locally and just signed a contract with a major record company. The Manager REALLY wants them back, for business reasons AND personal reasons, as these guys are his friends. How much money should I offer them for payout?
Full Version: How much payout?
If you search this forum, you'll find plenty of topics covering that.
Actually it depends on what you (and your players) want.
If you want them to be able to progress quickly, you might consider high payments. If you want them to have to do a job every month (it also depends on how many run per year/month you want them to do) to survive, pay them enough to afford 1 month of the lifestyle you think is adequate. If your runners tend to spend two-third of their money in booze and boobs after each run, you might prefer raising the price a bit. On the opposite if they take everything they can sell, down to their victim's organs, you might prefer lowering the price so that they don't buy a luxury lifestyle after their first run.
Actually it depends on what you (and your players) want.
If you want them to be able to progress quickly, you might consider high payments. If you want them to have to do a job every month (it also depends on how many run per year/month you want them to do) to survive, pay them enough to afford 1 month of the lifestyle you think is adequate. If your runners tend to spend two-third of their money in booze and boobs after each run, you might prefer raising the price a bit. On the opposite if they take everything they can sell, down to their victim's organs, you might prefer lowering the price so that they don't buy a luxury lifestyle after their first run.
Hrmm. Currently they've pitched in and are all sitting pretty in a High lifestyle house, so basing their payout on lifestyle might not be a GREAT idea. I'll have to think about it. Thanks for the ideas though.
I'd say 10 to 15K per runner. I could see this entire run going down in 2-3 hours of gametime, with maybe an hour or two of legwork. Even for High lifestyle, that seems like a pretty solid payout for a small amount of action.
Brainstorming
- Ten percent of the ransom or insurance policy, whichever is lower.
- Double the fencing value of the target group's equipment and ware.
- Access to VIP club or event, simstar, etc...
Well if the manager is paying for this from money from the higher ups in the record company, then he'll be limited in the amount of money he can supply by how much the record company cares. You could even do the run, to find that the record company changed their tune (GOD I'M FUNNY) and decided the band wasn't worth it, and cut the money for the op. Always remember that alternative methods of payment are available. gear is good, so is contacts and job opportunites. This guy is in the entertainment industry, so he probably has access to Simsense tech, Datasofts/Knosofts/Activesofts, clearsight autosofts and media type program suites, not to mention cases of BTLs, or even pricey narcotics if he's got the connections. Cyberware could be some nice modified cyber-ears all around. Not to mention he can get you in contact for other jobs, like bodyguarding the band for big events, working for the record company on other runs. He could even put you in touch with some useful high-connection contacts.
Well if the manager is paying for this from money from the higher ups in the record company, then he'll be limited in the amount of money he can supply by how much the record company cares. You could even do the run, to find that the record company changed their tune (GOD I'M FUNNY) and decided the band wasn't worth it, and cut the money for the op. Always remember that alternative methods of payment are available. gear is good, so is contacts and job opportunites. This guy is in the entertainment industry, so he probably has access to Simsense tech, Datasofts/Knosofts/Activesofts, clearsight autosofts and media type program suites, not to mention cases of BTLs, or even pricey narcotics if he's got the connections. Cyberware could be some nice modified cyber-ears all around. Not to mention he can get you in contact for other jobs, like bodyguarding the band for big events, working for the record company on other runs. He could even put you in touch with some useful high-connection contacts.
I'm tempted no to go off of my personal experience for this one, as i've had to fight rating 4 grunts and a security system with no program (firewall, agent, you name it) less than rating 7, all straight out of CharGen, and we only got 3k 
a pop.
Honestly, what the guy can pay per person will be limited by the number of runners you have. This job sounds worth about 20k overall, give or take a few thousand.
a pop.Honestly, what the guy can pay per person will be limited by the number of runners you have. This job sounds worth about 20k overall, give or take a few thousand.
I ended up giving them 18k. They had to fight against a Troll with some MAJOR body, two Cybered out Orks, and the main guy..
However..
They took them all out. In one initiative round. At the end of IP 3 it was over.
Some amazing rolls on their part (And two characters with 6+ edge) made it go by fast.
However..
They took them all out. In one initiative round. At the end of IP 3 it was over.
Some amazing rolls on their part (And two characters with 6+ edge) made it go by fast.
Here's a quick reposts of one of the old threads on this subject:
The math for stealing Americars (or whatever) looks like this:
There are 4 runners in our all singing, all dancing, car theft ring.
Assume that each stolen car is worth 10K Y.
The characters are able to sell it for 40% value (due to having a long standing connection with the fence, or whatever, I mostly picked this number tomake the math easy).
This means that each stolen car nets each of the team members 1000 Y.
The Atlanta, GA crime statistics say that there were 5,756 motor vehicle thefts in 2004.
Assuming the same number of motor vehicle thefts in 207X and that the team contributes around 1% of this figure, then they would steal around 5 (some rounding here) cars every month, meaning that each team member would get 5K Y a month. For a team of 4 shadowrunners, stealing 5 'basic' cars every month is about as risky as a trip to the local 7-11.
So, any run which would pay out less than 1K Y per runner and carries any risk at all is not worth your time.
Next, we'll cover stealing a 'almost new' sports car:
Assume that the sports car is worth 80K, the team can sell it to the fence at only 25% (hey, sports car parts are harder to move than econo-box parts). This nets each team member 5K Y. For a team of 4 runners, stealing a sports car is still not that risky. So, a run that carries only minor risks (will not involved any shooting, but will involve the acutal commision of crimes) had better pay you at least 5K Y.
For most 'exciting runs' where you might have to commit capital crimes, the price had better go up, up, up.
This means that short milk runs, like 'follow this guy around for a few days' should pay out an absolute minimum of 1000Y after projected expenses.
Medium length runs involving a minimal amount of danger (implant listening devices into this guys automobile + low security office) should pay a min of 5000Y after expenses
A typical run involving breaking into a highly secure location and making off with something will start at 10K and go up from there depending on the things like the actual security, the special skills needed by the runner team, the timetable involved, etc.
For a lot of book runs that start something like: "we need you to break into a high secured building guarded by magic/spirits, 10+ armed guards, etc and you go in tonight" the payment had better be 50K+ up front.
If you want to run something like Proof of Life where a whole lot of the run is spent negotiating over the Matrix, etc and there's not a whole lot of gunfights going on, then expect to pay at least middle lifestyle for every team member a month plus expenses plus some markup. If you plan to have the team storm the place, kill all the kidnappers and save the band (much more Rainbow Six like) then expect a one time fee well in excess of of 25K Y per team member. Since there is probably also a quick deadline coming up, the price has got to go up, since there is much more risk involved when you don't have time to do extensive legwork.
Remember that they are being asked to commit murder (get rid of the kidnappers) with many more mission constraints that just killing them; they have to save the band members too.
As an interesting aside, does the band have kidnap and ransom insurance? How much is the policy worth? Why isn't the band manager hiring a more conventional K&R team, rather than a team of 'runners?
QUOTE
The math for stealing Americars (or whatever) looks like this:
There are 4 runners in our all singing, all dancing, car theft ring.
Assume that each stolen car is worth 10K Y.
The characters are able to sell it for 40% value (due to having a long standing connection with the fence, or whatever, I mostly picked this number tomake the math easy).
This means that each stolen car nets each of the team members 1000 Y.
The Atlanta, GA crime statistics say that there were 5,756 motor vehicle thefts in 2004.
Assuming the same number of motor vehicle thefts in 207X and that the team contributes around 1% of this figure, then they would steal around 5 (some rounding here) cars every month, meaning that each team member would get 5K Y a month. For a team of 4 shadowrunners, stealing 5 'basic' cars every month is about as risky as a trip to the local 7-11.
So, any run which would pay out less than 1K Y per runner and carries any risk at all is not worth your time.
Next, we'll cover stealing a 'almost new' sports car:
Assume that the sports car is worth 80K, the team can sell it to the fence at only 25% (hey, sports car parts are harder to move than econo-box parts). This nets each team member 5K Y. For a team of 4 runners, stealing a sports car is still not that risky. So, a run that carries only minor risks (will not involved any shooting, but will involve the acutal commision of crimes) had better pay you at least 5K Y.
For most 'exciting runs' where you might have to commit capital crimes, the price had better go up, up, up.
This means that short milk runs, like 'follow this guy around for a few days' should pay out an absolute minimum of 1000Y after projected expenses.
Medium length runs involving a minimal amount of danger (implant listening devices into this guys automobile + low security office) should pay a min of 5000Y after expenses
A typical run involving breaking into a highly secure location and making off with something will start at 10K and go up from there depending on the things like the actual security, the special skills needed by the runner team, the timetable involved, etc.
For a lot of book runs that start something like: "we need you to break into a high secured building guarded by magic/spirits, 10+ armed guards, etc and you go in tonight" the payment had better be 50K+ up front.
If you want to run something like Proof of Life where a whole lot of the run is spent negotiating over the Matrix, etc and there's not a whole lot of gunfights going on, then expect to pay at least middle lifestyle for every team member a month plus expenses plus some markup. If you plan to have the team storm the place, kill all the kidnappers and save the band (much more Rainbow Six like) then expect a one time fee well in excess of of 25K Y per team member. Since there is probably also a quick deadline coming up, the price has got to go up, since there is much more risk involved when you don't have time to do extensive legwork.
Remember that they are being asked to commit murder (get rid of the kidnappers) with many more mission constraints that just killing them; they have to save the band members too.
As an interesting aside, does the band have kidnap and ransom insurance? How much is the policy worth? Why isn't the band manager hiring a more conventional K&R team, rather than a team of 'runners?
Think risk to money ratio. If you are sending cyber at a team, then after they kill them a good idea would just be to sell off their slightly damaged body parts for generally more money then the run is worth. Hauling out bodies is pretty risky as opposed to killing them and just vanishing into the night although they would have made far more then 18k probably just ripping off both of the orc's cyber arms. Generally what I find interesting in the game I am in is that the run generally pays next to nothing, but what you grab off of corpses or basically RPG treasure boxes generally makes the run worth it.
Kind of like,
"I'm paying you 5k to take out this drug lab. Here is the layout and location of the lab, we suspect their office is here on the second floor and try to hit it at five am tomorrow as a few of the guards will suddenly be very ill and unable to go to work. Make sure to demolish the place." They could just blow up the lab, but there is probably a candy land of drugs to be swiped before setting off the bomb.
Kind of like,
"I'm paying you 5k to take out this drug lab. Here is the layout and location of the lab, we suspect their office is here on the second floor and try to hit it at five am tomorrow as a few of the guards will suddenly be very ill and unable to go to work. Make sure to demolish the place." They could just blow up the lab, but there is probably a candy land of drugs to be swiped before setting off the bomb.
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