[Serious Paul]

I think we've become distracted. Whether this character has 4 or 5 Initiative Passes is really kind of a side issue to me. How the player uses them is more important. Now this may not be the case in the game we're discussing, but often what I see is people taking more action than they should in a turn-not utilizing the limits set by the break down of free, simple and complex actions; not enforcing movement limits; etc....

Examine those, and if that's not the case then it's time to examine stuff that either slows down their actions (Greater space between targets, after all at their power level people will use cover and concealment, as well other resource or multiple targets); or scenarios that make traditional actions kind of less effective-if your job isn't to gun down the target but schmooze him into giving up information with out knowing it, who cares if you can pull the trigger 5 times in X seconds?

[Ronin]

The players are thinking and believing their characters are invincible, yes?  Well... entice them with a big juicy well-paying run.  How about a hit on Lofwyr himself?  No runner with an ego bigger than the moon could resist the oportunity to boost his rep like that and be renowned as the most badass runner their ever was. Or resist the money (about 3-6million should do) for that matter.  Of course nobody messes with a dragon and walks away (maybe crawls away clutching his severed leg in one hand) and it should teach your players to be bloody paranoid again, just like they should be 

[JustADude]

(I)f your job isn't to gun down the target but schmooze him into giving up information with out knowing it, who cares if you can pull the trigger 5 times in X seconds?

Well, the target's bodyguards, if any, for one, as well as local security. Also the mark, if they're savvy to the world of the street. They tend to all be able to pick up on those types of things, or at least the signs that accompany it. Of course, that just makes it harder.

The players are thinking and believing their characters are invincible, yes?  Well... entice them with a big juicy well-paying run.  How about a hit on Lofwyr himself?  No runner with an ego bigger than the moon could resist the oportunity to boost his rep like that and be renowned as the most badass runner their ever was. Or resist the money (about 3-6million should do) for that matter.  Of course nobody messes with a dragon and walks away (maybe crawls away clutching his severed leg in one hand) and it should teach your players to be bloody paranoid again, just like they should be 

I think you mis-spoke. I'm sure you meant to say "Billion" not "Million".

At least that's what my characters would say... right before laughing in the Johnson's face, of course.

[Ronin]

Hey!

I think you mis-spoke. I'm sure you meant to say "Billion" not "Million".

At least that's what my characters would say... right before laughing in the Johnson's face, of course.

Hey, my players are cheap and Im lucky they haven't gone roller-blading yet so they might well take on a dragon for a few million although Lofwyr would cost considerably more; say, a few million each. I also make an incredibly cheap Johnson.  Hitmen are not paid millions, or even hundreds of thousands, in the real world so I guess the same applies for the Sixth World.  Although we don't have dragons in the real world either 

[Mirikon]

There's hitmen, and then there's hitmen. You're right, the guy you get to put two in the back of the head of a local police captain isn't going to be paid millions of dollars. They guy you pay to shoot the President of the United States? Oh you better believe he will be getting well paid, and spending a healthy chunk of that change to disappear.

[Serious Paul]

Obviously your mileage will vary at every table-but the basic concepts are still the same. Get out of the win lose rat race, because it's a false dichotomy. I personally say stop the cash flow-stop the paying jobs from coming in, and get them to start addressing the world around them. Shorting them resources is the first step. flesh out their interactions with the world. Pushing them out side their comfort zone will change the game.

But again none of this will remotely work if you don't communicate with your players. Keep them in the loop.

[ArkangelWinter]

There's hitmen, and then there's hitmen. You're right, the guy you get to put two in the back of the head of a local police captain isn't going to be paid millions of dollars. They guy you pay to shoot the President of the United States? Oh you better believe he will be getting well paid, and spending a healthy chunk of that change to disappear.

Heck, it may be enough to retire for good, unless he's just addicted to the merc lifestyle. I've had players make huge freelance runs like that and then retire their surviving character to a sunny beach.

[Tagz]

3-5 Mill apiece sounds good.  Accept the deal.

THEN

Speak to known enemies of Lofwry.  If you're as bad ass as claimed your rep should proceed you.  Tell them that you'd be willing to remove him "for a price".  If you fail, no harm to them, but how much would success be worth to them?  Just be careful not to tip anyone on Lofwry's team.

[JustADude]

3-5 Mill apiece sounds good.  Accept the deal.

THEN

Speak to known enemies of Lofwry.  If you're as bad ass as claimed your rep should proceed you.  Tell them that you'd be willing to remove him "for a price".  If you fail, no harm to them, but how much would success be worth to them?  Just be careful not to tip anyone on Lofwry's team.

Or, alternatively, you record the conversation, take the deposit (no way I'd do it for less than 10% up front, and I'd try for 50%), and then mosey on over to Saeder-Krupp and sell them Mr. Johnson's face and voice. I'm sure Lofwyr, who believes in buying people's loyalty with pretty, shiny toys and cold hard nuyen, would be quite generous in paying out for such a thing. Sure it probably won't be 3,000,000¥ each but, then again, you won't have to try to kill Lofwyr.

[Simagal]

The bounty on a  vampire is 7,500 Nuyen in the UCAS (Running Wild page 64), only 6,000 in the CAS. The bounty might only attract the desperate  but the rest of the party may eventually get tired of wasting resources fighting every down on his luck bounty hunter looking for a quick nuyen. 

[Lethe]

Divide and conquer!

Players of that skill are probably proud and don't like people stealing their frags. So they normally want to finish their "own" fights.

Lure the vampire away from the troll by having a npc (closer to the vampire than to the troll) appear and shoot at him from not too far away(so he will still decide to attack that one in close combat) right after the vampire finished off his last one( that way you will kinda force him too attack the enemy you picked for him). After attacking that one lure him even farther away, same game. then have him attacked from two direction. there should always be one in his back. Make them aim for the head too (no regen), wear down his armor(the vampire might regenerate, his armor doesn't), and finally him. Those npcs don't need to be skilled, they just need the right tactics.

With vampire out of the way, let someone sneak to and surprise attack the troll in close combat, if its his weakness. Called attacks with +4 dv are important to go through his armor.
Used acid spells early on him. He might laugh while soaking the damage. Then tell him his armor rating has halved.
For shooting use cover, thermal smokes. The goal of defending npcs is to delay until they get stronger backup.

[Ronin]

Offer a job to deliver a package in a van... at rush hour.  Cue ambush. The chars can't escape cuz they're stuck in gridlocked traffic and if they're being attacked by guys in plain clothesyou can quite legitimately have more and more enemies appearing.  This can be a group of men at the side of the road pull out machine pistols and start raking the van with lead, the dudes in the car next to you pull out sawn-off shotguns, snipers at windows and maybe even a few RPGs on rooftops.  This is made even worse if the package is too large and heavy for them to carry on foot because they will have to choose between running for their lives and having their rep tarnished because they let the package be captured, or staying put and try to outlast the bad guys (which they can't because they'll keep coming).  The players will start off feeling pretty confident as they nail half a dozen with ease but as the guys start crawling out of the wood-work and start bringing bigger guns, their confidence will turn to paranoia.  It isn't a GM's job to try and kill the PCs unless they do something stupid but you certainly shouldn't be scared to give em a couple of bullet holes

[CanRay]

The flu.

No, I'm not joking.  Big job come across just as they're hitting the worst part of the flu.  Big pay, big rep boost, the works, and they can barely get out of bed. 

[ArkangelWinter]

CanRay: sadistic and funny and effective all at once. Except for Infected's Immunity to Pathogens

[CanRay]

CanRay: sadistic and funny and effective all at once. Except for Infected's Immunity to Pathogens

Do it on a day the Infected's player doesn't show up.

Or have the Johnson be prejudiced to HMHVV-Infected.