[firebug]

I'm thinking about GMing a bounty hunter focused game, or perhaps including some bounty-hunting between more average runs.  It seems like a good way for there to be combat (potentially lethal combat) without it necessarily meaning somebody royally screwed up, which my players would like, while still being varied enough to give everyone a role.

But how does one get into bounty hunting?  I don't know anything about it, in real life or in Shadowrun.  How does one collect on bounties?  Where do they find them?  What kind of registering, if any, is necessary for it?  When a target is captured alive, where do you bring them usually?  If you killed them, what do you need to do to prove it?

Finally, I'm curious what kind of targets would have bounties.  I know some of the "higher pay" ones--  Toxic mages, influential criminal organization members, HMHVV like vampires or wendigo...  What would you consider an "entry level bounty"?  Something appropriate for fresh characters as their first?

[Zwischenzug]

In the modern world, the most common bounty is someone who jumps or skips bail; bondsmen often use bonafide bounty hunters (licensed, even) to capture (not kill) people who leave the bondsmen with the bill.

Might be a good intro-level gig to introduce them to the system; I imagine it would be much the same for various critters, but I'm not confident as to what would constitute appropriate level prey for starting characters. Toxics, mobsters, vampires and wendigo all sound like pretty dangerous foes to me.

You could also have them track down the missing dolphin of some sportsball team, or maybe a lost dog or something...

[Namikaze]

I gave my players a mission into the deep parts of the Redmond Barrens to hunt and kill as many Gabriel Hounds as they could get their hands on.  The client was a talismonger who wanted the specimens brought back and preserved in a very particular way.

[firebug]

Gabriel Hounds.  That must have been a weird session.

I suppose finding someone who tried to skip on bail would be a good first mission.  I suppose what they have to do depends on what kind of person the target is, and why they were in trouble in the first place.

Would someone who was (or still is, technically) part of a crime outfit, or maybe just a ganger, make sense?  They got caught, but tried to just run and are hiding out with their allies somewhere?

[Zwischenzug]

Sounds plausible to me; I'd recommend Running Wild for ideas on other targets.

[Namikaze]

Gabriel Hounds.  That must have been a weird session.

Yeah the first time they saw a hound, it looked like a naked bum digging through the garbage.  But the team ended up hitting their quota - problem is, they missed the Crimson Crush caravan out of the Barrens, and had to stay the night.  That was when they met an Incubus that nearly crushed one of their skulls before they realized what was happening.  Sneak attacks are awesome. 

That was a session where I kind of just wanted to remind the players that there are things that can kill you beyond guns and blades.  They certainly respect the deep parts of the Barrens a lot more now, I think.  It's been a while since I've done a run like this - maybe I should do another.

One of the runs I did with critters involved delivering a bunch of critters to the Fort Lewis Zoo.  Electric Martens, Stoats, and those hallucinogenic frogs.  They got ambushed en route by the team that was originally supposed to handle the run, and the van carrying the critters flipped.  The critters escaped into the alleys, and the team had to save the martens from being eaten by demon rats, while the rest of the team fought off their ambushers.  Great session.

[sidslick]

I've used bounty hunts for people as a premise for a small mission - usually to round up low time criminals that have done something wrong locally, and usually posted by one of the police corporations (I use "dead or alive" posters that are tweaked from the real world FBI website).  Especially useful if the "bounty" has skipped outside the jurisdiction of the police corporation (Lone Star, KE, Minuteman, Texas Rangers, etc), but is still wanted for a particular crime (zone hopping in Denver is fairly good fun, as are the various no go zones such as the Barrens or the SOX).  I also imagine that corporations use bounty hunters to track down missing corporate citizens or individuals who have wronged them somehow - having a team of bounty hunters turn up mid-run leading to a three-way firefight is also amusing.

[Michael Chandra]

There's a few hints in the 2010 CMPs about Bounty Hunting. In Sprawl Wilds we got a run where being a SINner lets you get the full bounty, while otherwise you need a cop (who takes a cut) for it or risk your fake SIN on a check. In the first of two Bounty Hunting runs, the Bounty Hunter might make clear to the players that he himself would have a far easier time cashing the Bounty than a Sinless Runner. So high government-bounties likely require a SIN, or a rating 6 fake one to get through the checks unscathed.

Meanwhile, non-police/army bounties may very well be easier to handle, since they likely do not care that much about your lack of a real SIN. And if you're helping the cops with something, they may cut you some slack and pass the bounty along to you. Such as done in Burn, where the bounty for the terrorists gets passed on to the players.

Oh, and several of my players have fake Bounty Hunter licenses. They're rating 4 out of chargen, so not good enough to reliably beat a Rating 6 system, but if a weaker system is used that's still plenty, if a system is used at all. Who knows, if you haven't made a mess they may just look "yup, it's a license" and be fine with it.

[Kincaid]

One of my favorite NPCs in an old campaign was a bounty hunter I basically designed off of today's NASCAR.  His armor was completely covered in sponsorship logos and he was constantly shilling for products--"I was nervous when I saw the Wendigo come over the ridge, but then I remembered I was packing Ares-brand munitions!"  His SimSense line (Thrill of the Hunt) was a big seller.  He was 50% a fraud, but it was a fun to blend the dystopian with the comedic in a Running Man sort of way.  In a world with P2.0, I have to imagine bounty hunting is big business.

[Michael Chandra]

Yup, Grendel makes a good living thanks to P2.0.

[Kincaid]

Yup, Grendel makes a good living thanks to P2.0.

Also the runners doing all his dirty work for him

[firebug]

P2.0 is like a youtube kinda thing, right?

A ganger in the Barrens, I realize, probably wouldn't have a bounty worth going after as a group.  I guess that'll be the hard part.  Finding something big enough that they pay being split won't be pathetic, but that won't result in everyone getting murderlated.

[Michael Chandra]

In game-terms: The Horizon P2.0 network acts as a contact of Loyalty 1 and Connection 3.

“Some of you may be wondering what this means for you. It means simply this: You will be increasing your prestige, your ‘street cred,’ without increasing your exposure. Our understanding of your lifestyle indicates that the need for a certain amount of anonymity can sometimes prove inconvenient in accessing the more public fruits of your labors. Horizon understands. One ping to the maître d’ from a link bearing our P2.0 signature, and you are perfectly situated in between the restrooms, bar and kitchen, in an isosceles love triangle."

It's also used for a media empire by Grendel and Wulf, so it can serve as Youtube & Twitch, where you can get money for videos under circumstances, like Grendel does.

[Kincaid]

A minor aside, but you have to have a valid SIN to collect a bounty in the UCAS.

The nuyen from the bounty could be part of the payment, PPV revenue from the P2.0 another part, appearance fees (once their Public Awareness gets high enough) another part, and so on.

[Michael Chandra]

Yup, as I referenced to before. Here's a quote I based that on:

"If runners are able to kill the wendigo, they can claim a 15,000¥ bounty on the critter. Claiming the bounty requires a valid SIN, or risking a fake SIN against a Rating 6 verification scanner (Using a Forged ID, p. 267, SR4A, or Checking a Fake SIN, p. 368, SR5). Otherwise, runners can attempt to fence the bounty through a non-Knight Errant contact, getting only 4,500 nuyen. Finally, if they go through Hua or a Knight Errant contact, they can get 7,500 nuyen for cashing in their bounty."

I imagine a Rating 4 system can be used as well, if the GM doesn't want to force people to have a Rating 6 fake SIN to be able to score bounties.