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Saint Hallow
I play the cyber combat support character (aka razorboi/street sammy/gunbunny), & as such I have a number of restricted/forbidden implants in me. Our GM has been having us meet Johnsons a lot in triple AAA rated areas with scanners galore. This has been making going to meets difficult for me. Should I continue trying to go to these meets, or trust in my group to be able to talk/handle things when I am not there?

Its no surprise when the deckerhacker decides to appear at the meetup electronically, but the street samurai?

I would like to say I trust my team, but I don't. My fellow players are fine, but my character doesn't think they have the sense to know what jobs to take or for the right amount of coin.
Yerameyahu
If that's the setup, there's no reason to go. If you don't trust your team, and you can't be there via matrix, you need to not be on a team. smile.gif

It's kind of anachronistic to even have meat meets in the first place.
vladski
Meat meets are just cool. As a GM, I liked to have the characters meet up with the Johnson (or his rep) in a variety of places. There was their standard Runner bar where they were regulars and had some control over the meet. (Their communal fixer owned the place.) But frequently the runners would meet Mr. J where he wanted, which could be anything from a bar to a nightclub to a park to a posh residential penthouse. They've met in a church and in a McHughs! They once even met in the parking lot of a Lonestar precinct!!

The different locales provided a nice springboard for roleplaying as well as tactics. Usually a sniper was positioned outside the meet to deal with anyone that was trying to screw the party. Frequently the meet was attended by the non-cyber adept (with astral perception) and the face. The rigger would be near-by with his war wagon all warmed up. Admittedly, the party mostly trusted one another in these situations. At the very least, they trusted their face.

Sure, a meet could be handled purely electronically, encrypted and scrambled to high heaven. But, I tend to think that most folks want to see who they are hiring and see who is hiring them mutually.

Vlad
Midas
This is something for you to take up with your GM. How would he handle ID checks and cyberware checks in these AAA areas? This information is something your character should know about having lived in the gameworld for quite a while, so it is fair enough that your character know about the risks involved in going to such an area. If there is even a small chance that your fake SIN could be blown and/or you get arrested, then it is probably not worth the risk.

Do the rest of the team want you at the meet in case things go sour? In that case, you might want to try and negotiate a change of setting with the Johnson via your fixer, who should be diplomatic enough to ensure the meet goes ahead without you if the Johnson is unwilling to change the venue.

Also, depending on what security measures are being taken at the meet, it is possibe (with the J's understanding) that you attend virtually via the hacker's commlink or something.
Saint Hallow
QUOTE (Yerameyahu @ Oct 22 2011, 01:05 AM) *
If you don't trust your team, and you can't be there via matrix, you need to not be on a team. smile.gif


The distrust was acquired after a few missions and seeing how the "team" behaved IC. As a result my character's attitude toward teh "team" is shaky. I like my game group (as they are the only SR4A game going in NYC I could find), but the characters a mix of some very oddballs. As a result, IC friction has developed. Can't be helped.
TheOOB
Well, if saying "We're here to meet Mr. Johnson" doesn't get you past the scanners, Mr. Johnson doesn't have enough money to hire you, problem solved.
kzt
The whole idea that the guy who is hiring "deniable assets" to commit major crimes will want the people he is hiring to know anything about him, much less see and talk to him, has always been a bit of SR insanity. It's a lot easier to deny the assets when they don't know you exist, it's much harder when they can produce recordings of you soliciting them to commit crimes.

But the question is a GM issue. If the GM wants your character to show up he will arrange it. If not, then consider your options, which include changing characters, trusting your face to make a deal or leaving.
TheOOB
QUOTE (kzt @ Oct 22 2011, 02:21 AM) *
The whole idea that the guy who is hiring "deniable assets" to commit major crimes will want the people he is hiring to know anything about him, much less see and talk to him, has always been a bit of SR insanity. It's a lot easier to deny the assets when they don't know you exist, it's much harder when they can produce recordings of you soliciting them to commit crimes.

But the question is a GM issue. If the GM wants your character to show up he will arrange it. If not, then consider your options, which include changing characters, trusting your face to make a deal or leaving.


Remember that being a Shadowrunner is kind of like a badge of honor, any runner worth the name won't sell out Mr. J unless they are given a damn good reason, because if they do it they basically will never get any work every again, which means that Mr. J usually doesn't have much to worry about when hiring runners unless he is either a) hiring green runners who don't have a rep, or b) not doing legwork on the runners.

The physical meet in really for the runners, it helps the runners to trust Mr. J, and it's a sign of good faith from Mr. J, after all, if the Johnson was planning on betraying the runners or skipping out on payment, he wouldn't risk a face to face where the runners could get a good look at the Johnson and have a chance to do some legwork based on what they know. In effect, most good runner teams will end up charging more if they can't meet Johnson face to face, because there really is less security for the runners, if an Anonymous person over the matrix doesn't pay up, there isn't a lot you can do.
Ascalaphus
If it's Johnson that wants the face-to-face meet, and he wants to meet the entire team, then he should pick a meeting place that the entire team can go to.

On the other hand, I'm not wild about characters with so much findable illegal gear that they can't infiltrate a high-security place. I mean, infiltrating high-security places is a major part of what you're supposed to be doing as a shadowrunner...
Glyph
QUOTE (kzt @ Oct 21 2011, 11:21 PM) *
The whole idea that the guy who is hiring "deniable assets" to commit major crimes will want the people he is hiring to know anything about him, much less see and talk to him, has always been a bit of SR insanity.

Remember, though, the Johnson is a deniable asset himself, and usually has layers of disguise and misdirection for dealing with shadowrunners.


On meets in high security areas, I agree with TheOOB. The Johnson should be waving the characters past security. You shouldn't have to plan out a complex infiltration just to get to the meet - unless the meet is in a high security or exclusive place specifically to test the group's ability to get in. But it's an ill-conceived test, though, because not every member of the team is necessarily an infiltration expert - there is also the muscle, the getaway driver, etc. And those people might want to be at the meet, too - these guys may work together, but they are still more or less independent contractors.
Ascalaphus
Why does the Johnson want to meet physically? There's different possible reasons.

- He doesn't; the runners want to. Because they don't trust him, perhaps (didn't the fixer vouch for Johnson?). If Johnson picks a spot where the runners can't actually get to him, that doesn't help to create trust.

- Because he wants to assess them face to face. Maybe because he has Assensing, maybe just because he's better at face to face working with people. If he wants to assess all of the team, he should insist the entire team shows up (even the hacker!). It doesn't help a lot to deny entrance to the people you want to meet.

- To hand over objects the runners need, or to show them files or suchlike physically. In this case, the runners really only need a representative.



As for the player side...

- If you can't even trust your teammates with the Johnson meet, why do you trust them to watch your back during a run?

- Why not insist on a live feed from the Face's cybereyes/glasses, just like the hacker is getting?
UmaroVI
QUOTE (Ascalaphus @ Oct 22 2011, 04:39 AM) *
On the other hand, I'm not wild about characters with so much findable illegal gear that they can't infiltrate a high-security place. I mean, infiltrating high-security places is a major part of what you're supposed to be doing as a shadowrunner...

You do realize that the threshold for "can't reliably get past a Cyberware scanner" is "any F cyberware at all," right? There's really no way around that. Even with delta-grade cyberware, you have a 10% chance of getting busted every time you go through a scanner.

Also keep in mind there's a difference between "can't casually walk into a high security place through the front door like a normal visitor" and "can't break into a high security place." But the Johnson probably doesn't want you hacking his security system so that you can show up and talk to him in person.
Ascalaphus
QUOTE (UmaroVI @ Oct 22 2011, 03:19 PM) *
You do realize that the threshold for "can't reliably get past a Cyberware scanner" is "any F cyberware at all," right? There's really no way around that. Even with delta-grade cyberware, you have a 10% chance of getting busted every time you go through a scanner.


So maybe F-classified cyber is a liability, not necessarily an asset? How many F-cyber do you really need, that can't be disguised as something legal, or replaced with something less restricted?

QUOTE (UmaroVI @ Oct 22 2011, 03:19 PM) *
Also keep in mind there's a difference between "can't casually walk into a high security place through the front door like a normal visitor" and "can't break into a high security place." But the Johnson probably doesn't want you hacking his security system so that you can show up and talk to him in person.


It's a pretty big hindrance if you can only infiltrate by being unseen, never by not being seen for what you are. It makes going in through the front door in disguise impossible, which is a serious sacrifice.
Wakshaani
A few other thoughts:

Having the big metal-throbbing tough helps if things go sour. The big slabs of meat that stand around when the smallguys yap know the drill ... they tend to be pretty calm about things and give each other a few looks that small people think are "Try anything and I mess you up", but really mean "Your twirp a PITA as well?" /"Yup."

Aside from that, those who are most fitting for the meeting area should be there (Topped by the face, natch) while the rest hangback and do overwatch rolls. When you're in a triple-A eatery, Clyde McClankypants should probably not be there. In contrast, if the Johnson is getting you to meet at some seedy Shadowrunner bar, then he *expects* big scary people to be there. It shows that you're a "legit" running team in his eyes.

Of course, a goo dmeeting area sets a whole lot of tones, and it's good to play with your players from time to time by mixing it up. It's refreshing to have them gather up in the zoo, for instance... it's public, but has enough twists and turns to give you some privacy, different groups wander around, linger at the same area, then seperate all the time, so it doesn't look suspicious. And, you know, your party's ork or troll meatshield gets to enjoy some cotton candy. I heart that.



Kirk
QUOTE (Wakshaani @ Oct 22 2011, 09:59 AM) *
A few other thoughts:

Having the big metal-throbbing tough helps if things go sour. The big slabs of meat that stand around when the smallguys yap know the drill ... they tend to be pretty calm about things and give each other a few looks that small people think are "Try anything and I mess you up", but really mean "Your twirp a PITA as well?" /"Yup."

Aside from that, those who are most fitting for the meeting area should be there (Topped by the face, natch) while the rest hangback and do overwatch rolls. When you're in a triple-A eatery, Clyde McClankypants should probably not be there. In contrast, if the Johnson is getting you to meet at some seedy Shadowrunner bar, then he *expects* big scary people to be there. It shows that you're a "legit" running team in his eyes.

Of course, a goo dmeeting area sets a whole lot of tones, and it's good to play with your players from time to time by mixing it up. It's refreshing to have them gather up in the zoo, for instance... it's public, but has enough twists and turns to give you some privacy, different groups wander around, linger at the same area, then seperate all the time, so it doesn't look suspicious. And, you know, your party's ork or troll meatshield gets to enjoy some cotton candy. I heart that.

heh. Zoo's one of my places. In addition to what you mentioned, there are a lot of places in the zoo that are ungood for sensors. Amusement parks are good as well.

I tend to go to matrix meetings, though. First, it neuters most of the face boosts. Second, it's difficult for third parties to intercept the discussion. Third... put your meat in a vehicle and tell it to go walkabout, and even if you're traced it's hard to catch you. The downside is there's a lot less evidence for identifying Mr. Johnson. Of course, if you're the GM doing this that's not necessarily a bad thing from your point of view (grin).
Yerameyahu
Saint Hallow, I'm talking about the IC side. You can't run (repeatedly) with people you don't even trust enough to go get the job. smile.gif
CanRay
The major question: Will Mr. "I have less than 1 Essence" behave himself during the interview?

The one game I sort-of played (Everyone save me and another player got called away, and the GM had to revise the whole thing on the fly!), had this nutbar show up while I was Mr. Cool with my Norse Tradition Magician/Face.

As I asked one of my contacts right after the meet, "Did they start putting Lead in the water after I left Seattle?" "Did they ever stop?" "Good point."
HunterHerne
QUOTE (CanRay @ Oct 22 2011, 12:02 PM) *
The major question: Will Mr. "I have less than 1 Essence" behave himself during the interview?

The one game I sort-of played (Everyone save me and another player got called away, and the GM had to revise the whole thing on the fly!), had this nutbar show up while I was Mr. Cool with my Norse Tradition Magician/Face.

As I asked one of my contacts right after the meet, "Did they start putting Lead in the water after I left Seattle?" "Did they ever stop?" "Good point."


*Sigh* My first time GM'ing SR, I had a player like that. He loved the combat side, and pretty much used skillwires to compensate for all his other skills. His Essance was about 1, and he actually threatened another PC during the Johnson meet. Needless to say, he pissed off the other players (which wasn't hard. I had been DM'ing D&D for that same group, and they were sick of his spotlight hogging and the group had literally taken time to kill 3 of his characters that were just evil SOB's)
Yerameyahu
There's not particular connection between low Essence, Forbidden gear, or too-crazy-to-exist-ness, though.
HunterHerne
QUOTE (Yerameyahu @ Oct 22 2011, 12:15 PM) *
There's not particular connection between low Essence, Forbidden gear, or too-crazy-to-exist-ness, though.


That all depends. Much of the Augmentaton negative qualities require an amount of essence to be lost before you qualify (cyberpsychosis), which indicates there is supposed to be a link. This is largely a fluff thing though, and it's up to a GM to make use of the fluff to impede an overly cybered character, if he feels it necessary.
Yerameyahu
*shrug* Combat Monster, Prejudice, Compulsion, etc. have no such requirements, and neither does 'being a stupid, bad player'. smile.gif There is some Cyber Eats Your Soul in SR4, but so does everything. biggrin.gif
Ryu
QUOTE (kzt @ Oct 22 2011, 09:21 AM) *
The whole idea that the guy who is hiring "deniable assets" to commit major crimes will want the people he is hiring to know anything about him, much less see and talk to him, has always been a bit of SR insanity. It's a lot easier to deny the assets when they don't know you exist, it's much harder when they can produce recordings of you soliciting them to commit crimes.

I envision a triple-blind scenario for that - runners, fixers and johnsons all know what everyone else is basically doing. But not the details.

Knowledge of individual runs would not spread far as long as the run didnīt make "15 minutes of fame" and the J fulfilled all promises. Loose lips, sink ships.

The fixer does not want to screw either the runners or Mr. J as that is dangerous business.

Runners srewing their pipeline will not have many subsequent runs. A pro merc has to stay bought for the agreed-upon task.

And Jīs srewing runners have to deal with surviving crews.
HunterHerne
QUOTE (Yerameyahu @ Oct 22 2011, 12:23 PM) *
*shrug* Combat Monster, Prejudice, Compulsion, etc. have no such requirements, and neither does 'being a stupid, bad player'. smile.gif There is some Cyber Eats Your Soul in SR4, but so does everything. biggrin.gif

True. Much of those are also likely to occur without augmentation. I'm not saying it's going to happen to everyone, but I have no issue with causing mental anguish for overly augmented characters. Fortunitely, my current players have no low essence issues, the lowest being 3.2
Ascalaphus
QUOTE (Yerameyahu @ Oct 22 2011, 06:15 PM) *
There's not particular connection between low Essence, Forbidden gear, or too-crazy-to-exist-ness, though.


I think in practice they're often correlated, with the player being the common factor...
Paul
In my own games it's rare for the players to actually meet "Mr. Johnson"-the guy who's actually paying for the job. Usually it's a cut out, or an anonymous online meeting.

The idea that being a "Shadowrunner" is some how a badge of honor, or some how makes you part of some self styled Bushido like code is ridiculous to us as well. (At your own table do as you'd like, obviously.)This isn't to say my players are constantly selling out their employers, but rather they understand that doing so can increase their risks. So every time they look at the situation it becomes a risk management scenario-what carries the least risk with the greatest benefit?
kzt
QUOTE (TheOOB @ Oct 22 2011, 12:27 AM) *
Remember that being a Shadowrunner is kind of like a badge of honor, any runner worth the name won't sell out Mr. J unless they are given a damn good reason, because if they do it they basically will never get any work every again, which means that Mr. J usually doesn't have much to worry about when hiring runners unless he is either a) hiring green runners who don't have a rep, or b) not doing legwork on the runners.

We have you for 4 count of attempted murder, 13 counts of grand theft, two of kidnapping and 43 counts of illegal weapons possession. On average that's good for about 57 years of making little rocks out of big rocks. However the DA is willing to make a deal with you, as he would really like to know who hired you to do this. ...
HunterHerne
QUOTE (kzt @ Oct 22 2011, 02:40 PM) *
We have you for 4 count of attempted murder, 13 counts of grand theft, two of kidnapping and 43 counts of illegal weapons possession. On average that's good for about 57 years of making little rocks out of big rocks. However the DA is willing to make a deal with you, as he would really like to know who hired you to do this. ...


Do DA's really do much in SR? Especially in places where policing and criminal imprisonment are handled by the same corp (usually Lonestar or Knight Errant)?
Paul
The game does not officially address this in any significant fashion. For my own part I see no reason why the Justice system would cease to exist.
Kirk
QUOTE (Paul @ Oct 22 2011, 02:04 PM) *
The game does not officially address this in any significant fashion. For my own part I see no reason why the Justice system would cease to exist.

Ah?
Explain the barrens.
Paul
Well I said "Cease to exist" not "unchanged." One of the biggest parts of the setting as I see it is that "Justice" is no longer a "right" seen as available to all.
Kirk
QUOTE (Paul @ Oct 22 2011, 03:19 PM) *
Well I said "Cease to exist" not "unchanged." One of the biggest parts of the setting as I see it is that "Justice" is no longer a "right" seen as available to all.

So you're actually in agreement with Hunterherne's point?
Paul
I'd say we don't have completely differing opinions. As I read his post, he asked if the Justice system had any real use-since it only served the those involved in the system. I'd say overall, that's exactly how it works, but I'd say that it's not always the case. Does that make sense? Or am I as clear as mud? smile.gif
kzt
It's extremely likely that in anything but a corp state that the decision whether to prosecute and what to charge someone with will belong to elected officials and not to a corp functionary. The the average SR player it matters not at all, as everyone is willing to throw the book at terrorists and criminals like them.
Paul
Learn to play the cards that are dealt chummer.
CanRay
Back to Meeting Mr. Johnson...

In my games, meeting places done by Professional Johnsons were done in neutral locations. Decent enough neighborhoods that surveillance was done, but not intrinsically pervasive. They'll make you check your firearm (And ammo for cyberguns) at the door, but could care less about your knives or spurs, that type of place. Neutral ground where both sides can feel comfortable. Some places in Tacoma or Auburn, typically, or on the border of Touristville in the Redmond Barrens.

The less professional ones would insist on a place they felt more comfortable, or a more stereotypical place like a dive in the Barrens like they saw on the 'Trid. One that was pretending to be a complete newb on the scene had the group meet at Club Penumbra, because, "Well, this is where you meet Shadowrunners, right?" (They never did get the second part of their payment for that one.).
HunterHerne
I haven't GM'd a group long enough to get them to the big leagues (I like to start small. Like breaking in to a Ganger HQ to rescue a kid, or infiltrating the local mall to alter records. Most of the group was also new to the game, though) so the Johnson's are usually not professional J's. The last one, was an NPC runner looking for a group that could get him out of the area. The meet happened in neutral territory (an unused warehouse) and they only got to talk to him after they rescued him from the Biodrone tracker/retrieval unit.

They weren't happy, in fact, the mage got her throat ripped out (I use severe damage rules), and they are currently part of the local police's checkpoint. Being inspected by K-9...

(The Johnson is still with them)
Ol' Scratch
QUOTE (kzt @ Oct 22 2011, 01:21 AM) *
The whole idea that the guy who is hiring "deniable assets" to commit major crimes will want the people he is hiring to know anything about him, much less see and talk to him, has always been a bit of SR insanity.

He's not (or shouldn't be) the one hiring anyone. Mr. Johnson is as much a deniable asset as the team is.

Instead, he was hired by someone who hired someone to go out and contact known fixers in order to meet with the runners in order to hire them for the person who hired the guy who hired him. At the very least for corporate-sponsored runs. Underworld and "little people" hirings either don't need or don't have the resources to go through all that trouble, and in the case of the latter they're not nearly as concerned about the "deniable asset" part.
Kirk
QUOTE (Ol' Scratch @ Oct 22 2011, 04:52 PM) *
He's not (or shouldn't be) the one hiring anyone. Mr. Johnson is as much a deniable asset as the team is.

Instead, he was hired by someone who hired someone to go out and contact known fixers in order to meet with the runners in order to hire them for the person who hired the guy who hired him. At the very least for corporate-sponsored runs. Underworld and "little people" hirings either don't need or don't have the resources to go through all that trouble, and in the case of the latter they're not nearly as concerned about the "deniable asset" part.

Actually, I use a third category as much as possible. Every largish organization has its own troubleshooter(s). They might be part of the organization, they might be part of a personal staff, doesn't matter. Their job is to take care of it when normal procedures are not what are needed - deniability being the most typical reason.

Such a person always sets up a scapegoat in the corporation in case it's necessary.
Wakshaani
Yeah, that's one that I use but most others rarely use, I think.

Johnson is a Fixer, more or less, an intermediary between you and your client... the client needs a job done, so gets a Mr Johnson to act as the hiring agent.

Johnson sits at one end of teh table, the team at the other, and the Fixer *might* act as a go-between, depending on the team's relationship and whether or not they have their own faceman to handle contract negotiations. Johnson is USUALLY not the client.

Usually.

An example of this might be Mercy Graves, hiring for Lex Luthor ... she's clearly a rogue operative in his organization, a bad apple, and he wants to thank you for ferreting out such a traitor. (cough cough).

You also have what I call "Mrs Smith", which is a client-Johnson combination, usually someone who's never done this sort of thing, has no idea how it's supposed to work, relying heavily on trid/sim programs. They're nervous, they speak in badly broken codewords, they seek out seedy bars because "That's how it's done, right?" and they usually don't pay that well... but th ejobs are usually easy, it's good karma, and sometimes the intel you wind up with is astounding. Good ways to try out new team members, too. If they can't handle a "Mrs Smith" run, they'll never work on a Johnson run.
Saint Hallow
QUOTE (Yerameyahu @ Oct 22 2011, 10:02 AM) *
Saint Hallow, I'm talking about the IC side. You can't run (repeatedly) with people you don't even trust enough to go get the job. smile.gif


I agree with you. Realistically & honestly, IC distrust should stop me from going on the run. However, there are runs in which some solo folk have to work with others. My character is a gunbunny. If I have to work with a hacker on something, so be it. I don't know the guy/girl or really trust them... but I have to accept that its a part of the job. That's why I've been IC keep going with these people. Cause I need to get the job done. Plus I have no desire to get rid of my character, just to bring in a new guy so a clean slate can be had.
Saint Hallow
Well, its moot now. The entire party died on a run. New slate for everyone. nyahnyah.gif
Mayhem_2006
Whilst moot, there was always the possibility it was a test.

"If the Runner's can't get in to see me without getting arrested, they are not good enough for me to hire."
CanRay
QUOTE (Saint Hallow @ Oct 23 2011, 12:46 AM) *
Well, its moot now. The entire party died on a run. New slate for everyone. nyahnyah.gif
Know when to retreat.
kzt
QUOTE (CanRay @ Oct 23 2011, 01:17 AM) *
Know when to retreat.

Yes. And know when to say "Fuck the bonus"
CanRay
QUOTE (kzt @ Oct 23 2011, 04:04 AM) *
Yes. And know when to say "Fuck the bonus"
Bob Hauk: "You going to kill me, Snake?"
Snake Plissken: "Not now, I'm too tired. [pause] Maybe later." - Escape From New York
Zoot
Well, the Missions scenarios specifically say the Johnson will only pay for the runners who show at the meet. So send a proxy. Or several...


To boost our numbers we hired some porn extras (one of the characters is a pornstar/hacker. don't ask. no seriously, the first rule of porn club is we don't talk about porn club). We briefed them it was an improv audition for a Carl Combat Mage spin-off and fed them lines wirelessly. Our 2 man party got paid for 6 runners. got paid 9k per head, paid the extras 200 each. Sweet.
Midas
There are all manner of Johnsons in SR canon, from the nervous newb to the smooth-talking AAA corp troubleshooter. The former may let their mask slip a little through nerves or naivety, but the latter will take all manner of precautions often including disguise and a fake commlink leading to a red herring corp (with their 'real' commlink turned off until they are well away from the meet and sure they are not being followed).

The Fixer is the glue that binds the Johnson to the runners - he/she vouches for the deniable assets and tells the J that they are capable of getting the job done, and also vouches for the Johnson to the runners, having confirmed that the Johnson is good for the payment. The Fixer will have connections with a number of clients and runner teams, and he/she neither wants to lose these valuable assets or his paying clients. Hence, if the run goes south the fixer will be screaming blue murder to the runners, and if the Johnson double-crosses the runners the fixer will do his/her best to help them out. Fixers live and die on their contacts and reputation, so they want to take their cut and see both runners and clients walk away satisfied.

As for the meet, it can be done virtually or face-to-face, and the GM should make sure it takes place in a variety of locations, spice of life and all that. In general, the Johnson will choose a place where they can be anonymous; after all, should the runners hose up and get captured or killed, the Johnson will not want to have been seen with them by anyone who could join the dots and connect the Johnson to the run. Hence the staple meet location of a back room in a random restaurant/bar which the Johnson can pay for anonymously in cash/certified credstick. The zoo and the funfair are also legitimate anonymous places for a meet.

If the Johnson wants to meet all the runners, he/she may have to compromise on a location which all the PCs can access, or just meet with those runners who can get in. You takes your choices ...
Midas
QUOTE (Zoot @ Oct 24 2011, 03:52 PM) *
Well, the Missions scenarios specifically say the Johnson will only pay for the runners who show at the meet. So send a proxy. Or several...

To boost our numbers we hired some porn extras (one of the characters is a pornstar/hacker. don't ask. no seriously, the first rule of porn club is we don't talk about porn club). We briefed them it was an improv audition for a Carl Combat Mage spin-off and fed them lines wirelessly. Our 2 man party got paid for 6 runners. got paid 9k per head, paid the extras 200 each. Sweet.


YMMV, but that wouldn't wash in my game, not unless the fixer was gonna vouch for a bunch of porn extras. And no fixer worth his reputation would be prepared to do that ...
Wakshaani
The Fixer's also there to keep both sides relatively unsure of the other side's ID, even if he knows it.

Should the PCs start sniffing around Johnson's ID, the Fixer should step in and be, like, "Look, I told you he was legit. EIther you trust me on this or find another deal-maker." ... Johnson's employer relies on being a deniable resource, just as he needs the Shadowrunners as deniable assets. When names come out, everybody's in trouble.

Similarly, the Fixer won't call you 'Jeff' in front of the Johnson, even if you married his brother. You get to be 'Mad Dog' as long as an outsider is around.

So, the groupings look like:

Shadowrunners --> Fixer --> neutral <-- Johnson <-- Client

SOmetimes, Johnson *is* the Client, but usually not.

(edit)
Oh, and, yes, teh Fixer's rep is on the line, almost as much as your own. Trying to scam the Johnson makes the fixer look bad and hurts his business. Never a good idea.
Paul
QUOTE (Zoot @ Oct 24 2011, 10:52 AM) *
Well, the Missions scenarios specifically say the Johnson will only pay for the runners who show at the meet. So send a proxy. Or several...


To be honest that's one of many reasons why I don't use any of the Missions stuff. I can see the appeal to some people, but I generate my own stuff, and like ti that way.
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