Hi all!

Since "age" and "old" are words the search engine does not accept, I apologize if there had already been a thread on this topic.

What I was wondering about: how long a runner could survive running th shadows? We all know it is dangerous and deadly to do, because we all lost some characters.

But there are especially smart and tough ones who could probably make it. Of course, most of them will retire as soon as they have enough money, but lets assume he/she is an adrenaline junkie or some kind of Robin Hood type of character who cannot stop doing runs.

I thought about an elf born in the year 2011 now being around his/her sixties and still running the shadows. He/she will be highly experienced, professional at nearly everything he/she does, since he/she had a lot of time to develop his/her skills. Probably also cybered at the max., living luxury lifestyle, knowing hundreds of people and so on.

Would be a quite good prime runner to throw at a group.

given enough money, everybody can be eternally young, thanks to leonization *g*

Fastjack was born in 1999 (Christmas Eve?), IIRC...

but fastjack was a decker, so he probably did not really have as much dangers around as the real runners *g*

You'll need to ask an Immortal Elf.

fixed your typo *g*

In a world where it literally is possible to kill someone through a computer and all important computer systems are fantasy RPG dungeon-mazes complete with brutal well-armed guardians and deathtraps for the unwary, I wouldn't be surprised if deckers had shorter lifespans that the average razorguy.

mayhaps, but his ONLY problem comes through the DNI about 90% of his time i'd wager . . so if he can somehow rig it in such a way so he can NOT be killed through it, he is basically good to go . .

Trace IC + Thor Shot "accident" = dead decker even using a tortoise.

Or a Spirit Pact. Or getting Infected.

Dodger is a Spike Baby, and he's still running the Shadows, and has been since the twenties or thirties. Admittedly he's a decker/hacker, but he tends to be more of the hands-on type. Argent is still around after more than twenty years. Hell, even Sam Verner is still around and runs the shadows from time to time, and he's somewhat useless now with his pacifistic tendencies and without his magic. But Hatchetman is toast, as is Matador. Sometimes luck plays a part no matter how good you are.

Well I was thinking of a more or less sammie type of character when I asked this question, though it would be reasonable that a runner like this, having the necessary resources, won`t do every run himself.
Instead he might hire some runners to get the work done and only appears in public when there is a special need.

Well, I have a character, John, from first edition that is still around. And not dead. With new editions I update or recreate him as necessary. He is a 50 year old ork mercenary. In '64 SURGE changed him from human to ork. He's still a runner because a soldier is all he wanted to be, but as a soldier of fortune he has the freedom to only take missions that don't violate his personal code.

And when the young gutterpunks underestimate the old man he reminds them that there is no substitute for experience.

I would say after 10 years of running, 90% that started are by then dead, after 20, probably 99%. In both cases the remaining are retired.

As in actively performing shadowruns? Depends if their smart enough to do milk runs after they make their money. If they do top flight runs at the edge of their ability the cumulative chance for death snowballs. Add in the length of time between runs to. Any where from run one to ten to fifteen years if lucky. Perhapes a bit more if in a non physical area or an elf or dwarf.
The thing is, the best runners are runners because thats who they are. The effort of being the best is to much strain for a wannabe over such a long time frame. The best, therefore, run because they must and in the long lived metatypes even a 0.001% will eventualy happen. Thats why the best run less often for higher gain.

Well, Bulldog has almost hit the big one-nine and that's quite a feat for an orc in his line of work.
After getting Levitated through a brick wall and then dropped four stories, he's still going strong. Then there was the time he was shot five times by ARs with APDS rounds while covering his homies escape, and he still manged to climb up the elevator cable to get away. Ol' Bulldog finally had to give up after killing most of the ten fully-armed and armored CorpSec guys and saving two of the party with Trauma Patches. Those uber-mages are a nasty bunch, after all. Of course, he finally dropped from damage (barely) after he got capped by a Roomsweeper point-blank for shanking the guy who called him a traitor in front of his homies, and the aforementioned uber-mages assistant, for 4P...through his armor.

Well John has survived some pretty nasty stuff. Full auto burst from an Ingram Valiant at point blank range. AVM in the back.

Kane, one of the Shadowtalkers, has been around quite awhile.

Fatima is another, old enough to remember the "Night of Rage", and she only died in '71. She was a Metahuman as well, which might make her VERY old depending on which one.

Man-Of-Many-Names... Well, hell. He's been through everything, and come out the other side! Or, at least, hints at it. ... Actually, all he does is hint. Bastard.

Fatima was an ork. No great loss!

It's hard to say, given that Shadowrun is unlike real-life in that as you gain more years under your belt, you just get luckier.

You could say that in real life your Karma Pool/Edge diminishes with time, rather than goes up.

Which means that, if she remembered the Night Of Rage, she was easily going into her 40s. Or older if she Goblinized. That's exceptionally old age for an Natural Born Ork, and pretty decent for a Goblinized One!

Given the hazards of the job, I'd say the average runner either drops out or drops dead in 4-12 months. Runners surviving for 2+ years are getting widespread recognition in the underground, and those still active after 4-5 years are legendaries.

*g*

And by *g* I mean "ideally pdeath occurs within 10 gaming sessions." *g*

much to the chargrin of several of my GM'S, my characters tend to liver much longer than 10 sessions . . 10 runs is more realistically though *grins*

It would probably depend on the specialization of the Runner. Deckers would probably start younger than Mercenaries or most Razor Guys. Due to the constant shift in technology, I can imagine that many Deckers (excuse me, HACKERS) would just eventually fall off the cutting edge - technology may pass them by after too long.

A guy with Wired Reflexes may only last a few years before he has a complete melt-down due to the fact that... well... his nervous system has been replaced by an insane machine.

Mages and the like would probably be able to keep at it longest, due to the fact that they are usually supporting (and thus in the back). Magic skill will probably always be in demand, no matter how old you are.

Mr. "Money" Johnson is in his Mid-40s, but he's a Johnson who only pulls the occasional 'Run, so that doesn't count.

Nas, the Elven Wheelman, is 31 (Or so he claims!), and been 'Running for Ten years. But he hid out for a number of years, doing minor 'Runs in small towns in the NAN, so that might have helped.

Move-by-wire more so than wired reflexes... You know with the constant state of seizure...

"Ok Hatchetman, how many lobotomies have you had this month?"