Hi

In a game I'm currently playing in my character is probably the most street-smart (which is in no small part because I'm the only one who owns the books and has read all the rules). He's sort of the Face of the team although I'm trying to set him up in the role of the team's Fixer, people can come to him with jobs, he can go out and find jobs, and acts as a go-between, is the one that meets Johnsons etc. There are 2 reasons for this. Firstly, while the GM is experienced at running cyberpunk he's still new to Shadowrun and I've been sort of helping by suggesting and finding jobs for us to do. Secondly, the team is generally a bunch of arseholes. Partly in jest, partly playing characters, but they tend to insult and upset people they meet (like to think they're more powerful than they are) and so I'm trying to stop them from meeting anyone important

Now, having adopted this role I started thinking about Fixers, and more specifically what they need. Is being a fixer anything more than a good reputation and a network of useful contacts?

Has anyone tried playing a character in the Fixer role?

You'll want social skills, of course. But I assume that as a face the character already has those.

IMHO fixer PCs need knowledge skills relevant to their specialty. If you specialize in setting the team up with corp-sponsored runs, get a knowledge skill (location) corp scene (and probably the professional skill business too). If you want political runs get (location) politics. And so on.
This can also apply to certain active skills: A fixer who specializes in procuring weapons for runners would do well to put some karma into the armorer skill to ensure that his merchandise is in good condition.

a Fixer is someone who "fixes" things. He connects the team to whoever or whatever they need when they need it. They need an Arms merchant to unload an inventory of guns they stole? He knows a guy, he'll make a call. They have a shipment of Meds? He knows a Streetdoc who needs a bit of extra supply, he'll make a call. They need a guy who is good with muscle & can drive a car fast, He knows a company, he'll make a call get someone out in an hour or so.

A Fixer is ALL about his connections, he can get you in touch with someone for just about anything you need when you need them.

Basically. A Fixer is an awesome marketeer that gets paid to put people in touch with people.

A low level fixer might be Nick the Greek from Lock, Stock and Two smoking barrels. He's got every one of his fingers in a number of different pies. He'll get you some hardware (ie guns) when you need them in a pinch, and when you score a load of drugs, he'll find a buyer for you.

a fixer knows people and knows how to keep the connections up. That's about it. Rarely does a fixer do something by himself, because usually he knows the perfect man for the job and this guy also owes him a favor.

If you got a problem, he "Fixes" it.

Usually that problem is "I need [blah] gear." or "I need [blah] talent." or "I need money, I have [blah] talent, and am willing to sell [blah] gear."

Wash, rinse, repeat as needed for profit and favors.

The Fixer role doesn't suit the typical runner, since to be an effective fixer you have to develop and maintain a whole Rolodex full of contacts. Remember, the fixer is who you go to when your own contacts just can't provide something you need or would create some sort of complication. A really good fixer won't run at all, he'll just skim off the dealings of other runners.

Also remember that the fixer is going to have fairly high visibility in the criminal underground, since he's so heavily networked. A lot of people are going to have him on speed dial, and he's going to get a lot of requests to do things. To keep up the idea that he's a real fixer, a PC is going to have to spend a lot of time fulfilling requests, almost like working a day job, so if played out it might get in the way of a regular campaign.

A thought for a character hook might be a fixer-turned-runner who largely got out of the fixing game, but still has a bunch of old contacts, and instead of fixing he sells his services in tracking down criminals who've wronged other criminals. That way, he could assist the team with his contacts network, and you could occasionally theme a run based on the idea that the fixer has gotten a job to, say, track down a BTL junkie who nicked a MacGuffin from an Ork Mafia safehouse. That way you could get most of the meat of being a fixer, with little of the gristle.

Brad Pitt's character in "Killing Them Softly" is a mob fixer, but IMDB calls him an "enforcer."

Not really, all you need to really do to be a fixer is to know a few Johnsons who can and do front the cash, and a variety of runners with different areas of expertise who can carry out the operation. Yeah, "a few" is strictly small time, but that's all it takes to start. These Johnsons can be contacts the PC has bought.

Also, I do not think it is strictly necessary for a fixer to know gun runners, street docs and all that sort of jazz. He provides the jobs, he doesn't necessarily have to deliver the groceries as well. Who is he, their mother?
... Of course those sort of contacts can help, and provide the fixer further opportunities for paying the rent on that luxury condo. Being able to access high end vehicles and guns, as well as provide logistics (transportation, fake IDs) spring to mind as useful for starters.

I am gearing up to post a character background for just one such "proto-fixer". Stay tuned on that one, but I think a face (or any ex-runner, for that matter) could become a fixer, just so long as they know some guys that can get the job done and some guys that have jobs that need doing and fat credsticks ...

well a Fixer by definition is someone who can get you what you need or get you in touch with the people who can, they specialize in a large network of contacts, everything from johnsons, to the corner store thug holding smuggled guns, he knows people, whether he can get them or just connects you, he should know them.

A Fixer is often a once-Runner Face who got out of the 'doing' side of things and got into the 'connecting people' side of them.


Usually, PCs who become Fixers are PCs who have successfully retired from the "hurting people and breaking things for money" game, by way of getting into the "connecting people who have money and want things broken and people hurt with people who need money and are good at hurting people and breaking things" game.


In short, a Fixer is usually going to be someone whose life consists largely of keeping his Contacts loyal, making new Contacts, and connecting them. Remember, the Fixer may be your contact, but to him, you're "a guy he knows who does <whatever>" - or your team is, anyway.

A fixer has a lot of contacts but doesn't get his hands dirty. I wouldn't think a character COULD be a fixer, because a fixer is too "behind the scenes". A character can have a lot of contacts but not be a fixer.

A fixer would be Jon Voight's character from Heat. Gets jobs for the team, fences the loot, gets fake ids for the team etc. But never directly involves himself.

A character with a lot of contacts would be Jean Reno's character from Ronin. "Knows a guy" for weapons, cars, street-doc'ing, but still participates in the run.

Yes, but there is no reason they cannot specialize (especially when they are starting out). Also, if the fixer is the source of all things, why do runners need that street doc, gun runner or warez contacts if they can just ask their fixer for it?

At the high end (the sort of fixers the PCs might have) will probably be established and have that large network of contacts, strings that can be pulled and favours that can be called in as you say, but all these things are not strictly necessary.

Fixers can come in all shapes and sizes, and there is room in the SRverse for small-timers as well as the movers and shakers ...

Good social skills and a drek load of contacts all over the place. People you would not expect to be contacts. A fixer should be as agressive as an insurance salesman in their ability to talk to people but no where near annoying so that he can know people and ask them things.

A successful fixer will certainly keep his hands clean - why risk your life running when you can get other suckers to do the dirty work for you? - but there is no reason a face PC with the right credentials cannot start trying to "fix" jobs for his fellow PCs if he has contacts that might require discrete services and have the cred to bankroll such jobs.

Nathan Ford on Leverage is probably close to the fixer/PC the OP might want to look for as a start. As the team's face-like leader, he is (more often than not) the one who arranges the client for the team, and he also takes part in the operation ...

We're just going to argue semantics here

But here goes - Nathan Ford is about as pure of a Face as there is. I wouldn't call him a fixer, a character can find jobs through their contacts without being a fixer. All the other team members in Leverage have found jobs for the team too. First one that springs to mind is Elliot with the horse one in season 1.

Look at Firefly. Mal gets most of the jobs for the team, but I doubt anyone would call him a fixer. Simon Tam arranges a job for the team, but he's the doc, not a fixer. The fixers in that series are Badger and Fanty/Mingo.

I would argue that by their very "definition" (my definition?), fixers must be NPCs.

Usually, you want it because the Fixer will charge you a finder's fee - that, or the Fixer doesn't actually interact with that person on your behalf, he sells you the contact for a large upfront fee.

Also, if you take your contact yourself, you have it, and can work them as a contact - getting perks thereof, potentially, if you get their Loyalty up high. With deals through a Fixer, it's business as usual.

For example: after the first run in my game, the group face/hacker wanted to upgrade the implanted rating 4 commercial commlink in her head with a Rating 7 Milspec commlink they stole. None of the group was a cybersurgeon, and none of the group had a cybersurgeon contact, and they didn't want to trust the job to a patch-you-up street sawbones. Nor could they go through the usual route of getting some false IDs and taking her to a commercial bodymods shop, because the ware in her body is all Beta-grade and black - no serial numbers or anything.

They paid their Fixer to arrange the deal, and the character (and the character who went with her) were picked up at their Fixer's warehouse by a black car with tinted windows, prevented from seeing where they were going, and driven to an off-the-grid Shadows clinic somewhere. The job was done professionally and quickly (just an outpatient procedure to change the guts of an implanted commlink, really,) and after being briefly lectured on the unusuality of her hardware (and being given the name of someone in New York who might be knowledgeable about such things, if they wanted to pursue it,) they were taken back the same way.

Quick, clean, professional - exactly what was paid for, and little more besides a story hook they didn't bite on.





In the small-time, anyone with some good local Contacts can be a Fixer, and a small-timer might be more useful to you than a big mover/shaker, depending on what you need.

Need to get guns in Seattle? Any Fixer can do it, or you can do it yourself by calling up your friendly local gun-runner or Ancients lieutenant.

Need to get a sniper rifle into position in the empty corner apartment on the 19th floor of the Hylonome building, a job complicated by the fact that they have a security force made up of unemployed Lone Star officers carrying better gear than they had when working for the Star? A big timer can do it, but he'll do it expensively, by arranging to have a small-timer Shadowrun to do it. A local, small-timer Fixer knows the guy who does the building maintenance, and pays him a reasonable fee to just take the gun into the apartment and leave it under the bed.

In the overall, a mover/shaker is someone you'll get more use out of, but it might be worth taking a small-timer with lots of local contacts if you do a lot of work in, or live in, an area.

Honestly, if I have a "fixer" who can only help me get cars for instance, then he's not a fixer, he's a car guy, same goes for a "fixer" who only knows weapons dealers, he's a death dealer, not a fixer, if they specialize & are only in one area, IMO, they give up the fixer concept to become someone who focuses. & thats fine, I like having someone I can call up for just guns, but if I am on the run & find myself in a new city, I wanna be able to call my fixer who happens to be in this area to help me: 1. Get my new ID set-up in the city, 2. Get me in touch with someone to get a good safehouse in the area (assuming I don't already have one) 3. Get me a guy who can replace any weapons or gear I lost on the way that I need. 4. Find the best local streetdoc to patch me up.

Sure, I could do all the legwork to do this myself, but then again I am new in town, no one is gonna trust me, having my Fixer be able to call up someone he knows gives me some credibility with the person I am trying to do business with, once I make personal contact I can sway him to work with me a bit more.

Yeah really what defines a fixer is the quality and size of his rolodex.

Fixer is for most all purposes synonomous with middle-man. Like most operations cutting out the middle man increases profits. His biggest asset is the value added proposition he can make (such as acting as a single point of contact with MANY other contacts which you can't afford to upkeep... people always forget contacts change over time... you ignore a rating3 loyalty contact too long, or don't give him business don't be surprised if his loyalty goes down).

It's not really something a player does because far far too much of it is behind the scenes.

The fixer is the guy the Johnson's contact when they need work.
He's the guy who others come to when they need something especially something less than legal.
He's the guy who knows how to turn that corp script into certified credsticks by matching your cred up with someone who wants that corps products.
He's the guy who knows who sells what and to whom... and will take a small fee to share that with you.
He's the guy who lives and dies by his own intel network... knowing when to go to ground and disappear and when to be out there. It's not unknown for fixers to be disappeared when their continued existence is problematic to a Johnson.

The fixer isn't really the teams agent... good chance he'll have contacts with multiple runner teams. Be able to link up the best fit/most available one to the Johnson when he needs things done.


So like others state... fixer is where good faces go when they 'retire'.

a Fixer is the guy who gets the right people together with the right job. That's pretty well covered here. The name fixer is based in old mob terms, and used to mean someone who can solve problems, legally or not, that clients needed. Often, since these people were not superman, it was connecting the right client with the right talent.

Jimmy Ford, Nathan Ford's father in the TV show Leverage, is a fixer. Nathan Ford does many fixer jobs as well. Or Charlie, from charlies angels, just more dangerous, and less supermodels. Or Mercury (the guy on the other end of the radio), from Mirror's Edge, is a good example. "Agent" really doesn't cover it. "Barry" the money launderer does some of this job in Burn Notice, too, which is a good example because he's very leery about his contacts getting hurt and his name getting smeared for it.

If you can get ahold of the book Attitude, it has buckets of information on how the Johnsons and Fixers work, and how they relate to runners.


Some thoughts though, from Attitude: I don't adhere to these always

It is a Fixers job to vet the Johnson. It's his job to make sure the Johnson is on the level, is reputable, etc.
It is the shadowrunners job to vet the Fixer. This is the guy asking you to walk into a small room and leave your gun outside.
The shadowrunners rarely meet the Johnson directly. Typically, the fixer is the runners contact point for info, money, and jobs.
Fixers live and die by their reputation. They go through great lengths to keep and upgrade their rep, and it's (usually) the best reason a shadowrunner has to work with them. Fixers would require a LOT to burn their rep, and don't like to risk it. But if their rep is safe, they often won't mind doing something for a buck (as in, if there are no witnesses leftover...)
Shadowrunners reputation is partly due to their Fixer. Shadowrunners also need their rep. And the fixers tend to know a LOT of people and collect a LOT of favors from these people. Cross a Fixer at your own peril.
Fixers are the go to guy to arrange most anything, which includes hooking shadowrunners up. Need illegal tech, but no contact? Talk to you fixer. Want to meet the local consigliere? Call your fixer. Want the "word on the street?" You get the idea.

Hope that helps.

To me the boiled-down bare-bones essence of "the fixer" in SR is that he is the middleman between the Johnson and the runners, and the bread-and-butter side of his business is marrying the guy that needs the fixing done (the Johnson) with the deniable assets that can do the job (the runners). As such his pared down role is in providing professional "deniable assets" to the former and "employment opportunities" to the latter, so your car guy and gun guy are not fixers to me either.

When I said that a starting-out fixer might "specialize", I was thinking more in the line of someone with a military background providing ex-soldiers for muscle/bodyguard work, or someone with ties in the runner community finding the right people for his buddy with the big black ops budget if he needs them, that sort of thing. A character I am developing has a fixer called Mr. Blue, a guy who specializes in finding quasi-legal or downright illegal shadowrun jobs for ex-cops.

I agree that any fixer worth his salt should be able to fix you up with all those basic things you say, but then again so could any semi-competent face. What I don't agree with is the general assumption in this thread that a fixer should have a bazillion contacts and be able to get you anything under the sun. The better ones will to be sure, but even they will probably have gaps in their repetoire.

well naturally no fixer will have everything, that's why you have multiple fixers, ones that offset the gaps in others, or have the ones from yur team do the same, my statement was to the general purpose for fixers as a whole, they are the people that are meant to help you get anything you need. Not that every fixer should be able to get everything.