Being professional ain't a switch. It's not a "You are, or not" situation, it's a complex graduation. Being all corporate and manners would be the "perfect professional ideal". Of course, it can't be reached, since SR are, by definition, another breed of persons who live in a world where such closed rules can be a danger. Which doesn't mean it isn't the "way to be" (a little like Ocean's Eleven, IIRC the movie).

I figure it also varies based on the skills and focus you bring to the table. The professionalism I expect from a school teacher varies a bit from the professionalism I expect from the guy I buy my lunch from. There may be some overlap in expectations, but it would really depend on how different the roles are.

Shadowrunners aren't a single entity with the same motivations, skills, personality, etc. They get hired for all sorts of things, and expectations vary based on the job.

Basically professionalism as I see it, would be primarially based on "Do the job I pay you to do." possibly balanced with "Don't leave crumbs that lead back to me"

Beyond that, there's some leeway.

Corporate isn't a simple concept, but in my mind it has a couple key factors. One is simple its definition: a corporation is an entity, comprised of many people, that has an existence of its very own. That entity is capable of ownership and such. Most shadowrunner groups don't organize like that; the 'group' does not, itself, have an existence outside the runners. They're almost always a collection of individuals who happen to work together; they're self-employed, if you will. For example, the Johnson doesn't make his payment out to the Shadowrunner group, which then pays the runners. They all just take a cut of the pay. It's a fine distinction, but important.

Second, a corp, particularly one with public stocks, is completely amoral and unethical. It has the legal rights and responsibilities of a person, but lacks any purpose or function other than to make money. People within the corporation might have ethics or morals; in Shadowrun, however, the corporate (non-)ethic usually has spread well thoughout the management. Since money has become the measure of virtue, there is no virtue but making money. Thus, most corporate employees with any chance for advancement are ruthless backstabbers, willing of doing whatever it takes to benefit themselves. Shadowrunners may be mercenaries, to be sure, but they usually have some scruples, and at the very least are usually not trying to take advantage of their fellow teammates. More than that, many teams are probably held together as much for personal reasons as profit; the team members just like each other or work well together.

All being professional really means is that you take your job seriously, generally because it keeps you fed and clothed. A plumber can be as professional as a corporate manager. And really, the Shadowrunner probably has more in common with the plumber; running usually has much more of a "blue collar" feel than a "white collar" feel, y'know? They WORK for their bread. Good runners don't act stupid, but they're usually entitled to their eccentricities, and are not required to wear a tie to work every day.

I have always thought that professionalism is more the exception than the rule in the shadows. Shadowrunners are not thought of as professionals by the Johnsons; they are thought of as street scum, deniable assets who can be used for dirty jobs, but who are not very reliable. They are people who washed out of the corps - too maverick to follow orders, or burnt out on black ops missions and tossed to the curb. They are street punks who might kill someone for beer money, but might just buy that beer and forget about the 'killing someone' part. They are thrill-seekers or bored corp kids up for some bullying and vandalism. They are violent social activists who are more concerned with punishing the despoilers of the earth than with making sure they get the chip before they torch the factory.


Look at the cover art. Look at the interior art. Look at the assortment of lowlifes that comprise the sample archetypes. A "professional" game is like a ganger or "starting runner" game - it is fairly common, but more of a variant campaign than "default" Shadowrun. Shadowrun has a veneer of grit, realism, and professionalism, but it actually is more about a romanticized, action-movie version of semi-good-guy criminals fighting 'the man" than it is about real pros.


Shadowrunners who have actually proven themselves to be reliable, and who do the job with minimal collateral damage, are probably the exception more than the rule. They represent the upper echelon of shadowrunning. A Johnson who finds such a team will probably be willing to overlook a lot of quirks and eccentricities. Look at it from his point of view. He deals with people who are likely to simply take the money and run, or try to sell him out or blackmail him. Some might shoot him just to rifle through his pockets - or maybe he tried to hire an eco-activist to silence a whistleblower who has discovered illegal chemical dumping. They might do the job, they might botch the job, or they might make a hellacious mess that he desperately scrambles to keep from being associated with him in any way. If he can actually find a group of people who can do the job consistently without giving him any trouble, then he has an asset.

Then why are they playing the game?

I wasn't clear. More specifically, while at least the more experienced people around here are aware of what Shadowrun is (ie Glyph's description— and it is what Shadowrun was written for), that game is still mostly rejected in favor of something more believable and less ludicrously silly. I'm not sure we're disagreeing, here.

[edit]

I mean, as I recall, I don't think you bought into the shadowrunner shoe endorsements any more than the rest of us.

But that doesn't mean that runners can't be refugees from the 80s.

~J

Ahhh, okay HELL NO. The shadowrunner endorsements are just as freaking ludicrously stupid as felon endorsements for mouthwash and Murderer endorsements for Rental Cars. That's probably the dumbest thing I have ever seen hands down come out of the game system, right up there with the "kid stealth" cyberlegs.

This is even added to the fact that the megas control 99% of all media, so they're going to glamorize jobs working against megas and promote neo anarchy? someone needs to be seriously slapped around for even coming up with that idea. That had it right in Shadowbeat. SR's were always the dark grungy criminals that got arrested by the good guy corp sec forces.

Endorsements from REAL shadowrunners is, no doubt, unheard of. I'm sure there are people who present themselves as Shadowrunners and give endorsements, however. And shadowrunners aren't precisely bad for corps, either; they may be a headache, but corps are their number one employers. Plus, no corp is going to turn down profit, even if it is something they wouldn't normally endorse. Corporate scruples end at the bottom line. If people want Runner approved sneakers, they get Runner approved sneakers--even if the "runner" is just an actor, or some washed up runner who couldn't cut it, but has just enough credibility to pull off a likeness.

Such indulgences, however, would no doubt be crass, purely guilty pleasures. B-Movies about Runners make a lot of money, but they're not getting any Oscars. And any neo-anarchist undertones are dialed way down by the corp-owned actors and directors, and dismissed by the corp-owned critics.

Runner : I pick up the phone, "Who is it?"

GM : The caller I.D. says it's Reed, the johnson you've been working with lately.

Runner : "I told you never to call me here, what's the score?"

GM <as johnson> : "I've got a proposition for you. Are you game?"

Runner : "Sure, gimme the details."

GM <as johnson> : "Meet me at foot locker, I'll tell you all about it..."

Hey, I happened to like the "Kid Stealth" legs.

Right along with the balance tail.

And yes, they were named after a character in the only good writing done by Michael Stackpole. In my humble opinion, naturally.

-Siege