I´m carrying a business-idea with me since some months, but up to now i didn´t entrusted it so much, that i would have made it happen. The basic idea is to create orichalcum in your own talismonger-shop. The basic costs would include the 50k for the shop itself, app. 20k for the materials (raw materials of gold, copper etc.) and 2 months of time. Changing the materials from raw to refined is not a problem and doubles the worth of the materials. Then you take one month to change the stuff from refined to radikal (which also doubles the worth) and then another month later of trid-watching, eating, playing games and checking the process every 8 hours. After that you should be rich or quite dead because somebody wants this golden stuff for himself^^

Basically I don´t see a mistake in this plan. But it is very difficult to check how much orichalcum is needed on the market. Is the market sated? How high is the availability of orichalcum? Why are there only a few talismongers per sprawl? is it because the market doesn´t allow more of them due to the demand on goods? Do I have to blow up my competition with bombs before I can start this business?

Critic and assistance are both welcome.

You can create a character with max rating Fame, Sinner and Day-job qualities (in Runner Companion). He'll be a legitimate celebrity and will earn a lot of money. You can create a character with a maxed-out surgery dice-pool who'll get a high-paid job in a delta grade clinic...

The problem is: you're playing Shadowrun. You're not playing Sixth World Business. I mean, there's nothing wrong with your character having a life outside his runs, or even a side-job. But if you want to play a Shadowrunner, that should stay a side-job.

You are absolutely true, but lets be honest: we are all making runs for money AND for fun. I basically don´t stop playing my char. just because he gets rich. Just to start this idea, you already had to do a lot of runs for the starting nuyen, and after you have the money, you can make runs only for the fun and with state-of-the-art equipment. For me this is a pleasure-equalizer par excellence.^^ I always wanted to let my chauffeur drive me with the latest limousine to the run-meetings with Mr. J.^^

Check this thread for ideas. It shows that you can use this theme for a Shadowrun campaign easily.

Even if your character keeps running, if the GM let you do it, it will affect the game balance, or the scale of the game if you get a lot of money.
Besides, the GM can do a lot of thing with this idea. He can do his best to tear it down and destroy it as well as he can transform it into a great plot for the campaign.

So I guess the best thing would be to talk about it with the GM and see if he likes it or not.

The margins on orichalcum synthesis ain't what they used to be in SR4.

If you assume you can buy and sell at book prices, refining gold is a very good money maker.
A competent character with some focus on enchanting can trivially refine two units per day. And the markup on refinement is 100%.
100% per day beats 100% on 5 units over 28 days (radical production).
So, at book prices, refining gold makes 20,000 nuyen per day. Assuming it takes two months to make 3 units of Orichalcum, at a parts cost of just over 10,000, that is 140,000 nuyen in two months, or about 3,500 nuyen per day.

Now, in another thread it was argued that if you assume a competitive market and controlling business interests, you can only sell the stuff for 30% of list. The question of what prices you have to pay if you are doing refining in bulk, how much market there is for your product, and what you can sell for (you are probably only getting wholesale rather than retail.

A not unreasonable model (assuming decent charisma and negotiation) would seem to be that you pay 50% for your bulk ingredients (wholesale + a bit), and sell for 30% due to competitive pressure. This means that your daily profit is only 10% of the listed ingredients cost.
Unless you can sell a lot of refined gold, you are going to make less than a middle lifestyle at those numbers. If you sell only the stuff in the 600/1200 price category, and work all month, you only make 2600 nuyen. A low life style. Essentially you are an apprentice working and living in the enchanters shop.
On the other hand, if there is enough market and enough raw supply that you can do 2 Raw Gold per day, every day, then you are rolling in money at those same percentages. (1,000 nuyen per working day, or 20,000+ nuyen per month.)

And, to put this differently, Shadowrun does not try to be a fully worked out economic system. GMs have to keep an eye on this sort of question (supply of business materials and markups inside supply chains) if the players decide to go that way.

(If you assume those same sorts of percentages, then Orichalcum, as the thread on that demonstrated, actually does well. It yields about 25,000 nuyen every 2 months.)

Joel

As the good reverend once said "That's a lot of assumptions."

I think we can assume than any Talismonger will have at least a middle lifestyle, otehrwise he'd make more money as mage for hire. So, it has to be profitable.

Yep, it is a lot of assumptions. Because the rules do not attempt to cover economics and small/medium business operations (and I don't think they should) you have to make a ton of assumptions in trying to figure out what business do or do not work, and why or why not.
Further, in order to not cause the book numbers to lead one to absurd conclusions, one has to make even more assumptions.

Of course, the net is "ask your GM."
But I feel sorry for a GM who does not have a business background and some sense for what the numbers will do, if a player springs this sort of thing on him.

Joel

Well, the GM can pick the easy solution, and consider it a day job according to the rules, allowing the PC to gain a bigger income by doing special projects - like gathering materials, dealing with suppliers, finding buyers, fencing, dealing with magic items of questionable origins... should be Shadowrunnish enough.

@Joel: Hmmm...yeah. But because it was my idea...I don´t.

Just create an ally spirit with the appropriate skills who's sole purpose is to churn out orichalchum while you're out running the shadows (or anything else you may need; conjuring materials, foci, etc.). Fun and profit.

I don't believe there's a rule that says you can only have one ally spirit, either.

Now that would be fun.

Ding, ding, ding....Jackpot. ^^ Slave...go to work, make orichalkum....earn money...*I think this is what snowwhite and the 7 dwarves are really about*