Long ago, a guy I knew who was trying to get started as a GM
asked me for help in his grand task. He knew I was a major gamer,
and had often gotten to laugh at people who had wandered into
range and gotten caught in my web of gaming talk(a lot of people
I know tell me I can be nearly frightening when I really get
going). What he wanted at this point, was a way to figure out a
good way to pay his runners a fair amount for a run, as, I assume
at least, his first run left his players a bit too rich in the
end. ^_^ You learn as you go, but I was determined to find a way
out of this one, though I wished he had really just asked me for
some new guns to bring into his game...
But as I got to thinking about it, I realized that there really
weren't that many factors that it would ultimately be based on,
the Runner's rep and experience, and the Johnson's ability to pay
and just how bad they need the job done. With that in mind, I set
out again into my gaming world...
First start with the average of the team's lifestyles, the
cost per month it is for upkeep of the lifestyle, as listed in
SR2(or 3, now, as the situation may be) (Actually, when I wrote
this, it originally said "in the SR sourcebook" yeah,
it's old.)
This is the base amout that the runners are paid, now we add on
the extras.
Reputation:
Reputation covers the aspects of how well the
runners are known on the street and corporate sector. If they
botch a lot of runs, reputation goes down. They pull a good slick
run, or pull a smashing victory out of near-defeat. Either way,
word gets around.
Bad: The runners are bad news, and people know it. They frag jobs, they turn tail and run when trouble comes a'calling, or outright turncoating on contracts. (multiply current total by .6)
Poor: They're either not well known on the streets, or maybe they've screwed up once or twice in the recent past, or maybe have no rep at all. (multiply current total by 1.15)
Good: The runners have pulled off some solid scores, and made a pretty good rep for themselves, they may be even known in other cities. (current total *1.4)
Excellent: The runners are near legends in their city, people in the biz in other cities know who they are, and there's probably people across the globe who know who they are and felt the effects of their actions. (current total *1.6)
Experience:
Experience is just how much action the runners
have seen, and how long they've been on the streets.
None: The runners have done essentially nothing up until now. New arrivals on the streets, not good, and likely not to attract the wiz jobs. (current total *.8)
Newbee: They've pulled some easy jobs for local small-timers, gangs, or lower echelon guys in one of the Families, but nothing really bigtime yet. (current total *1.15)
Major League: The runners've pulled a few good ones, have done some difficult runs for some important people and have gotten a more than a few new scars and trophies under their belts. (current total *1.4)
Heavy Hitter: They've probably seen action world-wide, and across the nation at least. Whether Joe Public knows it or not, they've effected the very course of events in this part of the world, and some people HAVE noticed. (current total *1.8)
Importance of the Run:
The importance of the run reflects how much the
employer values this run, or quite simply, how much they have
riding on the success of the team.
Unimportant: The Johnson wants the job done, even though it doen't really effect much in the scheme of things, and may even be as simple as a passing whim. (current total *.9)
Slightly Important: The contract isn't critical, but the Johnson finds that having this done will be a general benefit to him overall, he wants it done, but won't go to any extreme lengths for it. (current total *1.4)
Very Important: The employer needs this done, it's likely quite critical for the Johnson's interests, if not his survival to see that this job is done, and done right. (current total *1.7)
Critical Importance: The Johnson is in a do-or-die, down to the wire point of near-critical mass. His world is about to explode, possibly even quite literally, and they need this done like yesterday! He needs the best, and he's willing to pay for it because he knows what's going to happen should he fail. (current price *2.1)
Employer's ability to pay:
The single most important factor in it all; the
employer's ability to pay for what they want. If he's not a big
player, he obviously can't afford much, but that's ok, since he's
probably not asking much. But if the employer is a Johnson for
one of the Big 7 multinationals, there's definitely a pile o'
money up on high.
Poor: The employer really has no money through some twist of fate, though they'll likely be able to offer compensation in some way, there wil be no money that changes hands for the simple fact that there is none. (current total set to 0¥)
Middle Class: The runner's new boss has very little in the way of funds, though they can pull some strings to get enough to pay them something, though often the job itself always has it's own rewards for a runner who sees it. (current total *.7 to .9 (depending on the employer))
Upper Echelon: The higher-ups on the streets, and Johnsons who likely have minor corporate backing, they've got money at their backs, and that money is wanting something done. (current total *1.4)
The Big Bosses: Could be Corp or even MegaCorp CEO's, government types, private millionares, druglords, rulers of fledgling nations, or even dragons if the runners foolishly attracted the attention of them, though it the dragon is paying them, it can't be all bad. (current total *1.9 to 2.4 (depending on employer))
At this point, you have some bizarre number with a lot of decimals. I've never had it any other way, you get it with percentages. Live with it. Now, since unless it's a serious end of the world situation, the contractor isn't likely to toss everything he has at you, so take what you have, and multiply it by .75 to .9, depending on how much they want to hold out on the runners. If your runners want more than that, they're going to have to talk it out of them.
The whole formula will give somewhere between 0 (though likely higher) to 1,400,000¥ or so for the team to divide. That may seem like a lot, but that's what the going price for a continent-hoping never-say-die group diehard runners who never fail, especially when their being paid by Richard Villers himself to save the world as we know it!. :) But of course, this is just a general guide, and the total figure can be lowered or raised seeing as you are the GM and all.
