QUOTE (Chibu @ Jun 25 2009, 09:35 AM)

It's not really a problem... Hell, we do it all the time. In second edition, there's an entry for "buy a gang: 50K".
We use it for all sorts of things; Magical groups, workers for your business, a fixer's network, and of course actual street gangs. Sure, it technically makes more NPCs. But it also makes for cool character interactions. Basically, they're just like the gangs in the books. Now, these NPCs shouldn't be as good as the runners or anything. they are definitely 'Street' level characters. Therefore, I might say that a Merc squad might not really be feasible. Unless they're crappy mercs. And these characters should only be 'kind of loyal' to the PC. They should not be loyal to the point of death. While they should help the PC when asked (usually), they should not willingly sacrifice themselves, even if they're stupid cultists. This is mostly for game balance.
Generally in an actual gang, the PC would be the Leader, with 2-3 Lieutenants each with 5-10 members under them, depending on the general power level of the campaign. This can be taken out of hand if the GM lets it, however, it's not been a problem for my group.
SR4 has Group Contacts, which are similar. I do miss just having a Gang though - much simpler to manage.
-paws