New Positive Quality:

Loyal Henchman
Cost: 15

The loyal henchman is the bodyguard, butler, carryall and the guy who really knows when to be around you and when NOT. His loyalty is unflinching until the day the enraged villagers storm your castle/safehouse/corp with burning torches/flamers/assault cannons to stop your experiment/run/robbery etc.

When the shit hits the fan and things go south the henchman WILL run away taking with him some meager possessions and gear.

Count him as a Influence/Loyalty 1/6 until things go to hell and then count him as a 6/1 when things go south (Calling the family for a replacement).

The henchamn is a streetsam with lots of second hand bioware, the freaks negative quality (-3 social) and a hunchback. He also has a lisp.

If the henchman runs away and you manage to survive one of his cousins will show up and help you out...after a few weeks when things have cooled down...

"Couthin Igor might not hath been very loyal buth doth volly, couthin Ighor ith thomeone you can trusth."

popular phrases are:

"Yeth Thur, Of courth thur - No thur, you are perfhectly thane..."

They tend to like people more if they have a mental instability...

Any kind of accidental likeness or reference to any pratchett character is completely accidental

Been reading a lot of Terry Pratchett I see.

Well I would just like to say that a loyalty 1/6 henchman for 15 bp or karma is um.... how should I put this.... terrible. Also a loyalty 6 contact would lay down and die for you if it came to that. A loyalty 3-4 would probably run if things got way too hot. In the end you could just buy a 1/6 and a 6/1 for less bp or karma.

Huh. I seemed to have missed the very last sentence to your post. Still though...

He must've seen the new Igor movie.

"The brain was from someone named Abby. Abby Normal, I think."

I like the idea of this. Very creative. But Im afraid Im going to have to agree with masterofm. The loyalty rating shouldnt be automaticly set for 6. It should start low, like everything in shadowrun, and work your way up. After a few years of service and uping the level.

For example:
Loyal Henchmen Rating 1(5 BP)
This henchmen is a pretty standard body guard. He knows where to be, and when to be there, as long as your money stays green. He'll do what hes asked as long as you keep his wallet happy. Loyalty rating capped at 2

Loyal Henchmen Rating 2(10 BP)
This henchmen is a bit more tied into your affairs. Most likely someone the runner has known a while. They are a bit more loyal and are willing to a bit more for a bit less. ("This is the start of a beutiful friendship!") Loyalty rating capped at 4.

Loyal Henchmen Rating 3(20 BP)
This henchmen will not only do whatever you ask, they will take a bullet for the runner. This is most likely someone who has become very close to the runner. A relative, or a best friend. Chances are you only pay them out of friendship, and not quite for bussiness purposes. Loyalty rating capped at 6.

As for skill ratings, Id say thats for GM discression. This is purely my oppinion of course, and just a friendly suggestion. I think Ill start using this in my game.

And again, I'll point out, I can get a loyalty 6 connection 1 guy for 7 BP, vs the 5bp you propose for a loyalty capped 2 henchman.

Thats true. I figure this is more for charactor development, then game mathematics.

I see the Contact as someone you can get help from maybe once a week on average, or less, and the Henchman as someone who will make you breakfast every fraggin' morning if that's part of his/her job.

Bruce Wayne's butler alfred, Tonto the sidekick of the Lone Ranger, that sort of character.

Yeah, a contact should be mechanically different than the "henchman" concept proposed here. I know people don't like D&D around here, but the followers you could get from the Leadership skill should be more like what a henchman is, rather than just a contact.

How could you forget the man, Bruce Lee? Kato, you forgot, Kato. Now the Green Hornet is sad (and toturi shows his age).

And do not forget Pancho, sidekick of The Cisco Kid.

WMS

Riley37 is correct.

This is basically Jeeves/Alfred/Bentley/Igor/Pancho/Tonto/Kato

BUT...he will skip out if things go down the drain.

Perhaps a cost of 10 points would be more appropriate and and call him 1/5 (He will not DIE for you...)

Remember - he or one of his associates will be back a while later so it is a permanent contact unless one manages to loose the quality.

So if this bodyguard ups and runs when you are threatened, what the hell is the point? I could just buy a high security lifestyle under the Runner's Companion rules and then I get a whole security team.

Of course he will not.

When i say that he runs away when the shit hits the fan it means one or more of the following:

A: Lofwyr is pissed at you
B: Aztechnology is after you
C: Elite response teams are enroute
D: You and your team just got wasted and you barely cling to life and the rest of the team is leaving town

SEVERE circumstances.

Regular fights he can function as bodyguard.

Wouldn't under Option D he drag your barely alive corpse to your hideout and try to keep you alive?

Yes, unless there is an imminent arrival of swat teams, insertion teams, bug spirit hordes etc...

The henchman KNOWS when things are to go very very VERY bad...for you...

It's essentially a GM's call if the team have bungled the job in such a spectacular fashion and it also depends on your type of game...(for some people the arrival of Chtulhu would be what they would call "bad" and insertion teams as an annoyance...)

Yah but your loyalty lvl 6 contact is still a contact... he doesn't stick around and do things for the player... like take a bullet.

With the Street Sam... this also brings in the possibility of an extra set of hands/guns to a shadowrun...