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silva
This is the front-page. For the back-page Ill include the downtime rolls my group adopted for simulating/sandboxing the runners life (roll for Finding a job, roll for Heat from autorities, roll for Side-jobs/gigs, roll for Personal issues, etc). Think about it as Shadowrun through the lens of GTA or Crusader Kings or any other sim/open-world videogame. First image is blank, the other is filled with examples.

Page 1: http://oi61.tinypic.com/bewisg.jpg

Page 2: http://oi61.tinypic.com/i448zk.jpg

So, what else should I include ?

Thanks!
silva
Oh, and I need help filling out a "random table" for Gigs and Side-jobs for the runners. The idea is that if they fail the "Find a Job" roll for the month, they still can do gigs for paying the rent.

Samurai table (roll 1d6)
1-2 Bodyguarding
3-4 Gang busting
5-6 Store robbing

Decker table (roll 1d6)
1-2 Datasteal
3-4 Host sec
5-6 Cheap programming

Mage table (roll 1d6)
1-2 Magical security
3-4 Conning innocents
5-6 Private investigation

Shaman table (roll 1d6)
1-2 Healing
3-4 Private investigation
5-6 Spirit talking

Rigger table (roll 1d6)
1-2 Smuggling
3-4 Street racing
5-6 Paid rides

Face table (roll 1d6)
1-2 Swaggin
3-4 Info dealing
5-6 Conning innocents

Any tips appreciated.
Shemhazai
Year: Could you make it tell you the full date?

Contacts: These should be on a per-character basis, I think. That way loyalty can be different for each PC.

Operatives: I would prefer a neat column rather than a circle in the center of the page. Perhaps rename this "Members".

Threats: This is a good idea. It could also be a place for enemies that the PCs don't know about.

Shadowrun Mission Control: I would prefer a neat heading at the top rather than taking up so much space.

Crew Info/Name: Cool idea.

Rep/Bad Rep/Heat: These should be on a per-character basis, I think. In 5th ed it's Street Cred, Notoriety, and Public Awareness.

Base Payoff: I don't know what that is supposed to represent. I hope it's not a magic number that Johnsons will offer.

Safehouse/Location: Cool idea. This can also be done on a per-character basis, but if the PCs chip in for one place, it can be handled this way.

(Safehouse) Lifestyle/Extras/Monthly Cost: Be careful of free riders. You should also keep track of how far in the future it's been paid up to (when the next payment is due).

Gigs and side jobs: I don't like that idea at all. Those choices are ridiculously limiting, stereotypical, and remind me of one of those dating sims. There is a Day Job negative quality in one of the sourcebooks, and I don't like that either. People don't choose their line of work at random. Why would different magical traditions have these different job choices? What about characters that fit two general archetypes, or otherwise blur the lines? I'm not into basing parts of the game world on video games.
silva
Thanks for you time in replying, Shemhazai. I did some adjustments. Here is the new preview:

Page 1: http://oi61.tinypic.com/bewisg.jpg

Page 2: http://oi61.tinypic.com/i448zk.jpg

QUOTE (Shemhazai)
Year: Could you make it tell you the full date?

Sure. Perhaps a better way for tracking the time would be to write each date related to a session, and then go scratching the old entries (without erasing them). Dont know if the space would support though.

QUOTE
Contacts: These should be on a per-character basis, I think. That way loyalty can be different for each PC.
Yup, Ill be drawing a line from each player name to their respective contacts. But I thought about putting only the most important contacts there, the ones more relevant to the group as a whole.

QUOTE
Operatives: I would prefer a neat column rather than a circle in the center of the page. Perhaps rename this "Members".
Changed to "crew", but still not sure. Will try members.

QUOTE
Base Payoff: I don't know what that is supposed to represent. I hope it's not a magic number that Johnsons will offer.

Thats the team base charge cost. My group uses the following reasoning: take the average of all lifestyles. Thats the base payoff the GM must take. It can be modified by a series of factors though, so its more of a guideline than a rigid formula. ALso, its modified by the team level of play (Street, Professional, Prime, as my group calls them).

QUOTE
Gigs and side jobs: I don't like that idea at all. Those choices are ridiculously limiting, stereotypical, and remind me of one of those dating sims. There is a Day Job negative quality in one of the sourcebooks, and I don't like that either. People don't choose their line of work at random. Why would different magical traditions have these different job choices? What about characters that fit two general archetypes, or otherwise blur the lines? I'm not into basing parts of the game world on video games.

The idea behind Gigs is twofold:

1) giving the runners another source of income for paying the bills, in case they dont find an actual run for the month.

2) injecting color and complications to the runners lives, in the form of botched Gigs rolls, that may result in debts, new enemies, contacts, ambushes, etc.

Notice they can actually choose the type of Gigs, or they can roll on the tables if they prefer. Its totally open to them.

I tried to explain these more or less in the Page 2 above. But Im still working on it, so take it as a draft. And again, any feedback is welcome. wink.gif
Stahlseele
Mr.Johnsons Blackbook had, if i remember correctly, a random generated run table in it.
And i think the street survival guide had one for random encounters.
Both based on d6 rolls, so you might want to take a look at that maybe?
Shaidar
pg 108 has a random Encounter table & 115 has a Random Run table.

I personally dislike random tables, their regular use tends to be a sure sign of a weak imagination.

QUOTE (MJLBB pg 115)
RUNS ON THE FLY
At some point in your Shadowrun gamemastering career, you're going to need a quickie run. Maybe your group's getting together unexpectedly. they don't like the run you have planned, or you just can't come up with anything. You can use these tables to generate the skeleton of a run. After you've got the structure, you can flesh it out with your own ideas or suggestions from other parts of this book or the Shadowrun Companion. Remember, the tables are a tool, so If you don't like something you roll up, feel free to re-roll or just substitute something you like better.
To use the tables, roll the indicated number of D6s and add the totals together.

THE TEAM IS CONTACTED BY (2D6):
2-3 A friend In distress
4-8 Their usual fixer
9 Directly by Mr. Johnson or another sponsor
10 Team isn't contacted---the situation directly affects one of the team members
11 An unusual person/entity (free spirit, shapeshlfter, dragon In disguise, etc.)
12 An unknown or secret person

The motivation for the Job Is (1D6):
1-2 Monetary: The sponsor stands to gain money from the run.
3 Revenge; The sponsor seeks to avenge a past deed or slight.
4 Personal: The sponsor is pursuing some kind of personal aim.
5 Moral: The sponsor seeks to right a real or perceived wrong.
6 Corporate: The sponsor wants to gain some advantage over a corporation.

The meet occurs at (1D6):
1 The usual kind of place the team meets
2 A place the team has never been
3 The Matrix
4 Another city
5 An exotic or unusual place (underwater. in an airplane, etc.)
6 Jn a remote outdoor location

The Job Involves (2D6):
2 Bodyguardlng
3 Courier/Smuggling
4 Datasteal
5-6 Investigation
7 Extractlon {K!dnapping)
8 Plant
9-1 O Retrieval of Object
11 Security
12 Roll on Table X
(See p. 100. SRComp. for descriptions of these run types.)

Table X (2D6):
2 Assassination
3-4 Blackmail
5 Distraction
6 Destruction
7 Encryption/Decryption
8 Enforcement
9 Hoax/Counterfeit
10 Tailchaser
11 War
12 Wild Things

The pay offered ls (ID6):
1-2 Standard rate for the team
3 A bit lower than standard
4 A bit higher than standard
5 In a nonstandard format (for example, gear or Information)
6 Very unusual in type: a rare item. magical gear, etc .

The sponsor Is (1D6):
1 Relatively honest: he is giving the team the straight story (as he knows It)
2-3 Mostly honest, but hiding some facts from the team
4-5 Mostly dJshonest; he misrepresents the job to more easily convince the team to rake It
6 Totally dishonest and Jn fact doesn't care if the team Is killed on the run

The physical location of the job is (1D6):
2-3 In another UCAS city
4-8 In the runners' hometown
8-9 In another city outside the UCAS
10 Jn a normal wilderness area (forest, snow, mountain. etc.)
I I In a hostile locale (underwater, space, desert. etc.)
12 In an exotic locale (the metaplanes, the Matrix, a dragon's lair. etc.)

The security level of the job is (2D6):
2-4 Low: fairly easy to get in and out
5-9 Medium: normal level of security, not too low or too high
10-11 High: extra security measures, exotic security (paracritters, magic. etc.)
12 Very High: likelihood of getting out unscathed is low

Planned things that go wrong during the run are (2D6):
2 Nothing. This almost never happens!
3-6 Run parameters are very different than the sponsor describes
7-8 Extra/unexpected security
9-10 Doublecross by sponsor and/or his agents
11 Enemy of the team or team member shows up
12 Something unexpected happens to a team member (Illness, contact crisis, SURGE)

On successful completion of the run, sponsor (2d6):
2 Tries to eliminate the team
3-6 Pays the team the remainder of the agreed-upon fee, grudgingly
7-9 Pays the remainder of the fee and promises to recommend team for future Jobs
10-11 Tries to negotiate the fee down
12. Does not show up at the meet

Remember, these tables are just guidelines. If you start rolling up a run and your rolls give you a great idea. skip the rest of the tables and go with your own Imagination.


QUOTE (silva @ Mar 14 2015, 02:07 AM) *
That's the team base charge cost. My group uses the following reasoning: take the average of all lifestyles. That's the base payoff the GM must take. It can be modified by a series of factors though, so its more of a guideline than a rigid formula. Also, it's modified by the team level of play (Street, Professional, Prime, as my group calls them).


SR5 calculates Run payout on pg 371-372 of the Core Book.

QUOTE (SR5 pg372)
CASH REWARDS
BASE COST 3,000¥
SITUATION MODIFIERS
Highest opposing Dice Pool + (Dice Pool / 4) Runners were outnumbered three to one in a combat situation
+1
Runners were outnumbered two to one in a combat situation by NPCs with Professional Rating 4 or higher (not cumulative with modifier listed above)
+1
Runners faced a pack of at least six critters +1
Runners encountered at least three different spirits (besides watchers) in a single encounter
+1
Runners accomplished the task with impressive speed and/or subtlety
+1
Runners risked public exposure or a raised profile as a natural part of the run*
+1
Job brings runners into direct contact with a notably dangerous part or element of Sixth World lore (the Red Samurai, a Mitsuhama Zero Zone, etc.)
+1
COST MODIFIERS
Standard run 0%
(nothing special, normal work for a runner)
Run will make you a cold-hearted bastard +10-20%
(wetwork, helping corps oppress people, drug running, human trafficking)
Run has good feelings as part of its reward –10-20%
(hooding, helping the little guy, taking some “dys” out of “dystopia”)


If this isn't enough to "Pay The Bills" then Runners can seek Side Jobs from other sources (Usually their contacts). Side Jobs should run the risk of derailing the primary Run and endangering the Team's reputation. Them's the brakes Chummer.
Stahlseele
OR . . you could simply flush the core book payout calculation down the toilet and go with another 0 behind most of them there numbers . .
Glyph
Or just the first part.

The part I don't like about it is the assumption that runners will always get paid more for difficult jobs. I prefer to shake things up a bit. Maybe they take a cheap and easy job that goes sideways, and after going through six kinds of Hell, they still get paid chump change. Or maybe they get a high-paying job body-guarding some spoiled brat of a simsense star, expecting to deal with crazed stalker fans, tabloid reporters, an assassin from a media rival, and keeping her alive as she goes slumming through Seattle's most dangerous night clubs. Only they just wind up standing around as she vegges in front of the tridscreen in her hotel room eating bon-bons.

Yes, overall, the runners should get paid what they're worth, dangerous jobs should pay better, and payouts should be balanced so that characters who improve themselves by spending money can keep up with the mages and technomancers. But the individual runs should vary a lot. Tables should be used only as the most general guidelines. And I agree that the amounts they give in SR5 are too low, especially given how gear-dependent some character types are.
silva
Thanks for the input and detailed descriptions, folks. wink.gif Ill be adding the more important of those tables to the document.

About the default payment rules on SR5 core book, I dont like them, and vastly prefer my Lifestyle-based house-rule. Ie: a "street level" runner with a middle lifestyle charges 5.000 nuyen per run. While a "professional level" runner with the same lifestyle charges 10.000, and a Prime level runner charges 15.000. Add some variance through difficulty, run type, bargain, Rep, etc. to find the final suggested value. The intended effect behind this is that "street level" runners will be struggling to just survive and pay the bills, while "professional level" runners will breath easier and actually save for upgrades, and "prime level" runners will be all about upgrades and luxury.

QUOTE (Shaidar)
If this isn't enough to "Pay The Bills" then Runners can seek Side Jobs from other sources (Usually their contacts). Side Jobs should run the risk of derailing the primary Run and endangering the Team's reputation. Them's the brakes Chummer.

Yup, this is exactly my idea, only we call them "gigs" instead. But the principle is the same - a complementary source of income for the runners, with the potential to add complications, hooks, or simply color, to their lives.
silva
Remind to myself: (as always, suggestions DEMANDED! biggrin.gif )

1. insert a "Fixer fee" table, more or less like this:

Fixer Loyalty - Fee
1 - 30%
2 - 20%
3 - 10%
4 - 5%
5 - 2%
6 - 0%

(the idea behind this is that, if the group dont have a good Face for finding jobs - preferrentially helped by teamwork rolls - the Fixer is their best option for doing so, because if he fails/glitches the team dont face complications. The downside is that the Fixer charges a fee, of course )

2. consider passing all "color" (names, gangs, places, businesses, gigs) to a 3rd page (while inserting a TON more ), and letting the first 2 pages with only the relationship map, crew info and downtime mechanics

3. create specific complications for each gig, more or less like this:

Decker
1 - Datasteal / traced
2 - Snooping / discovered
3 - Courier / hunted
4 - Programming / vilified
5 - Host security / infiltrated
6 - Hardware repair / indebted

Street Samurai
1- Assassination / discovered
2 - Bodyguarding / vilified
3 - Gang Busting / embattled
4 - Inimidation / ?
5 - Bounty Hunting / discovered
6 - Stuffer Shack robbing / wanted

Face
1 - Fixing / vilified
2 - Companionship / entangled
3 - Info Brokering / shut out
4 - Conning / embattled
4 - Swaggin / indebted
5 - Pimping / wanted
etc.

Obs: the complications from gigs can be made into full session themselves, when apropriated. "Hey chummers, I tried to heal a badly wounded ganger to earn a little jink, but I failed and the boy died. Yeah, those bikes you hear in the distance is the gang coming for us. Oops."
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