QUOTE (arthurfallz @ Mar 19 2010, 06:23 PM)
They way I look at pay, this ain't Dungeons & Dragons. Heck, I don't even really pay attention to the award rate in D&D.
Give them what they deserve. In the economy of the Sixth World, there is a surplus of Shadowrunners, but not such a surplus that they are immediately expendable. Those who have little Rep and training (ie: at or close to chargen levels) are common, but not in demand. This is because, naturally, a lot of people don't actually run out to become Shadowrunners. They are desperate. No SIN, no job (or ability to get one), and a specialized skill set that lends itself well to doing shadow-work. These people aren't Shadowrunners in the strictest set of the word yet. The demand is for the highly skilled and reputable for as cheap as they can get them. That's capitalism. Savvy `Runners try to posture as the über-elite for rock-bottom prices to fool Mr. Johnson into hiring them instead of the more deserving `Runners.
The point here is the Mr. Johnson will pay them as much as s/he thinks it takes to get this lowly bunch to enter danger and feel sufficiently rewarded to come back and deliver the goods/persons/etc. This should always match the difficulty of the event, and in some fashion the value of the asset being sought after or recovered.
I'll throw in a couple of examples.
1) A local citizen's group is tired of a gang murdering, raping and killing business in the Sprawl. They hire a group of likely runners to take out the gang, most of which are armed lightly with little armour. While the gang has significant numbers, their hideout is well known and not well defended. The only reason they aren't doing it themselves is they have little combat training and weapons. This is worth about 2000¥, which split between a group of 4 would be about 500¥ a head. Not much? Remember, the gangers might have some credsticks and some gear to take and sell/use.*
2) Mr. Johnson wants the team to infiltrate a medium-sized corporate office and kidnap a senior exec so they can get some vital project information from him. The exec has bodyguards, the facility has good security and armed sec-teams guarding it, but is not expecting an assault. The value of the information alone is worth quite a deal to the Mr. Johnson, so he's more than willing to part with 10,000¥ or more for it. This would give a team of four 2500¥ each, not too much. This is the area where good `Runners can make a living, and bad ones get killed.
3) Mr. Johnson wants a team to assault a heavily armed corp facility and destroy a lab and the files on their mainframes, and to get it done before the corp can send in a heavy security team (the latter detail being simply in the team's best interest). This is a big deal, and Mr. Johnson likely wants to see the lab gone for a good reason. He'll part with 50,000¥ or so to do it, counting on the `Runners to be capable of getting it done. A team of four gets 12,500¥ out of this.
In each of these, the missions is being done for a good reason. The pay scale has less to do with some magical scale of how much the `Runners need each month and more the nature of the mission. A few good provisos on this;
1) Make a pact with the players out-of-character. Every mission they come across is worth taking. It's up to the players to decide why their `Runners take the job. This means you have to make sure the mission does not sound ridiculous or like a loosing deal.
2) Remind the player's that their characters are criminals when they do complain. There is no good deal for criminals, especially Shadowrunners. If you watch heist movies, a team a the best `Runners get together to make a huge heist that will set them up for life. This is a series ender, not the meat of a typical game. Little missions with low pay might not meet their needs, but that's not the Mr. Johnson's problems.
3) Use double-crossing as a dramatic element, not the assumed result. The entire "Mr. Johnson will betray you" schtick is overused. Use it moderately and remember: hiring a group of infiltrators to go in and do illegal things that often involve murder has to have a good chance of not backfiring in order for you, the MJ, to screw them. If the live, they have the skills to track you down and murder you.
Anyways, that's my 2¥ and I'm sure it's not the way everyone feels, so take it as it is.
* Heck, they might even ask they do it for free up front, and offer free contacts and whatever loot the ganger's have as pay.
While I agree with your sentiments and rationales, I do not agree with the pay for those jobs at all.
1) The citizen's group seems to be terrorized by these gangers. Why don't they hire security services to ward them off? Why do they instead hire assassins to kill them all instead? Also I don't really get why such a large gang wouldn't have more resources to begin with.
2000:nuyen: is... very little. Yeah sure for a single wageslave it could be a considerable sum, but for actually killing someone? Maybe in the Barrens. 2000 nuyen is pretty much a month of pay for a single ordinary blue-collar worker, maybe a bit less. In a pinch a single worker could pay the team this amount, and probably for a much less dangerous mission. Few competent runners would accept a job like this unless there were some serious loot involved, that the runners easily could guess.
Doing this mission at all constitutes "hooding." The goal isn't income, but helping out people and making a name for themselves.
In a similar mission my Mr. Johnson (a rival gang) offered 10k nuyen total in order to destroy a drug lab. The gangers were fairly dangerous, with some automatic weapons, ok armor etc., but nothing Elite. Also, they didn't have to kill anyone although they did shoot 3 gangers and blew up 3 more, plus 2 scientists and a bunch of children.
2) Vital project information.. and just 10k? The company might make millions, the Johnson alone probably hundreds of thousands, and the ones who actually do the dangerous work... maybe 2500 each.
3) Ok a bit better pay here, but considering the enemy's high security and heavily armed guards, the pay is fairly low. 3-4 times the amount might be appropriate.
Now it's true the pay should reflect the value of the service rendered and the reputation of the team, but remember that income vs costs does matter. The team will want to be able to live off the runs or they won't accept them. If they can work as wage slaves and be better off than when they're risking their lives repeatedly, they'll probably quit shadowrunning very fast. Also, gear costs money, and there may be other expenses involved. Ammo, drones, damage to equipment, bribes, greasing contacts etc.
And then there is the car theft option...
Now I know not every run should be the big heist... then again a retiring job in SR would probably pay millions of nuyen... enough to buy a luxury lifestyle somewhere far away. In the meantime, well paying jobs should be enough to live well (high or maybe some luxury), upgrade equipment/ware etc. They are criminals, but criminals wouldn't do the things they do if it didn't pay up. Crime pays, it's a fact of life and anyone telling you different is just spouting propaganda. The more risk, the more pay. And if the runners think they're being cheated, they can always turn the job down. They became runners probably to avoid being wageslaves where the boss screws you over constantly and there is nothing you can do about it. And if no one will take the job, THEN it becomes Mr. Johnson's problem after all.
And if Johnson finds a team of suckers willing to risk their lives for change, then the team might be interesting in ambushing THEM instead and looting them - after all runners like them can often pack gear worth 50-250k nuyen EACH. Now how's that for a payoff? Sure they're harder to kill than security goons, but with a proper ambush it's doable. And really 250 combats against lots of lightly armed gangers will statistically kill you a lot faster than a single job against an enemy team of well-equipped runners.