Ok I'm working on a new game and I'm trying to figure out the numbers for the shadow communities. If anyone has a page number that is great, but I'm just guessing here. All of these are for Seattle.

Fixers: 40
I figure not all of them are strictly Shadowrunning guys, they do info and black-market as well.

Shadow Runners: @600
I figure that number goes up and down as people start running and get killed. My Breakdown is something like this
55% Streetsam
15% Deckers
13% Riggers
10% Adepts
5% Mages/Shamans
2% Technomancers

I figure this helps keep the rarity of magic users and adepts, while still having them in MUCH higher quantity than in average society. And yes some of those Sam's are infected, SURGEd and other wierdness.

The thing is that "fixers" and "shadowrunners" come in grades.

Not every run is busting into the arcology. etc etc. There are plenty of fixers that are barely a step over pawn brokers and runners that just run packages around without asking questions.

Also a fair portion of the runner community probably slips in and out of the biz based on their financial situation.

It also depends if you count organized crime "fixers" and "runners"

not to mention their living situation (not their lifestyle, but, ya know, whether or not they are alive )

Grading them is next. I'm assuming 5% are prime, 20% are professional runners and 75% are greenhorns with less than 5 runs under their belt. I'm assuming mortality rate of the greenhorns to be 70%.

And no I'm not including organized crime.

What base population are you considering? If it is Seattle, then I get the gut feeling you are low. If it is Portland you are probably high.

the answer is 42

His first post mentions that this is for Seattle.

I'm just doing Seattle. And what do you think is a realistic number then. I can't think that there are THAT many jobs out there for Shadowrunners.

Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy. The answer is 42 I mean when you think about it it's obvious.

DOH!

I have no idea, it was just a gut reaction. I would think that there are a lot of "street level" runners around the Barrens, etc. Doing pick-up jobs, etc.

Depends on what your definition of a runner is...

My meandering thoughts on runner populations:

• Current population of the US: 300M.
• Current population with criminal records for serving time in prison: 5.6M (~2%).
• One-third of the above 5.6M (1.9M) are still in prison, leaving 3.7M former prisoners on the streets. (~1%)
• Assuming that only 50% will continue to lead a life of crime after getting out, and that most hardened criminals have done at least a little time, means that at any time 0.5% of the population are hardened criminals, covering everything from drug-related activities to robbery to assault, etc.
• About half the current inmates in state prisons are there for violent offenses (0.25% of total pop).
• Making an unsupported guess that half of these were impulsive acts, that still leaves 0.125% of total population that's willing to hurt you for money under the right circumstances.
• If I remember right, SR says Seattle's pop is about 3M. 3M times 0.00125 is 3,750. Most of these guys are simple thugs, druggies, and gangers. Let's say 10% of those are the guys who have a little panache, and who rise above the rest enough to distinguish themselves as runners. So that's 375.

Of course, if you believe that SR is a dystopian future, it's perfectly logical to assume that the percentage of people who would resort to crime to survive might be two or three times that.

The number of criminals is significantly higher in SR because lots of people don;t have a SIN and thus do not have a legitimate job, nor do they qualify for any sort of welfare. (Nor can they access say, utilities)

So either they are running a tax fraud scheme, or they are criminals, or some combination of both.

Double post.