QUOTE (Jaid @ Sep 18 2010, 11:42 PM) 
allow me to clarify. in the game that i am playing in, the typical pay for a runner of a given calibre might be 5,000 credits for an average run (for the sake of argument, we'll call an average run to be a run taking place over a single day with a full week's worth of notice).
in your game, the typical pay for a runner of that same calibre for a similar run might be half that, double that, 10 times that, one-tenth of that, or anywhere in-between or beyond in either direction, because there is no official published standard pay rate list that i am aware of so it's entirely based on what your group feels is appropriate.
so, in my home games, the appropriate price for such a runner to be hired for a run that you've already planned etc might be, say, 3,000-4,000 nuyen (since he didn't have to spend the week leading up to it getting the info etc, he wouldn't get paid as much, but since the most dangerous night is the night of the run he wouldn't get only 1/7th or anything near that low). but let's suppose in *your* home games, the runners typically get paid 10 times what they get paid in my home games. if i were to submit something to the editors, and list the price to hire a runner as being 3 to 4 thousand nuyen, and they publish that, well in your games you'll be able to hire a small army of shadowrunners to go with you, or even instead of you, and you could pocket half your paycheck without even doing anything.
now multiply that problem by the number of potential readers for the DDH... whatever value you assign to it, it's probably going to be wildly inaccurate for more people than it will be accurate for. and now multiply it by the number of people who might submit those NPCs as runners-for-hire. it's something that the editors could not possibly balance for everyone's game, so it looks like they just removed it.
in your game, the typical pay for a runner of that same calibre for a similar run might be half that, double that, 10 times that, one-tenth of that, or anywhere in-between or beyond in either direction, because there is no official published standard pay rate list that i am aware of so it's entirely based on what your group feels is appropriate.
so, in my home games, the appropriate price for such a runner to be hired for a run that you've already planned etc might be, say, 3,000-4,000 nuyen (since he didn't have to spend the week leading up to it getting the info etc, he wouldn't get paid as much, but since the most dangerous night is the night of the run he wouldn't get only 1/7th or anything near that low). but let's suppose in *your* home games, the runners typically get paid 10 times what they get paid in my home games. if i were to submit something to the editors, and list the price to hire a runner as being 3 to 4 thousand nuyen, and they publish that, well in your games you'll be able to hire a small army of shadowrunners to go with you, or even instead of you, and you could pocket half your paycheck without even doing anything.
now multiply that problem by the number of potential readers for the DDH... whatever value you assign to it, it's probably going to be wildly inaccurate for more people than it will be accurate for. and now multiply it by the number of people who might submit those NPCs as runners-for-hire. it's something that the editors could not possibly balance for everyone's game, so it looks like they just removed it.
Yes, I understand completely what you are saying, and I agree from a GAMIST standpoint, but from a SIMULATIONIST standpoint the characters themselves would most likely have rates that would not be based on what certain characters could or could not AFFORD to a pay.
I understand their choice to remove it, but then again I wish in general that the payscale of Shadowruns and services was not so entirely up in the air and that there were some guidelines for it built into the game.
) He's a bit over the top, but hey... Sometimes you need over the top.