[Scarecrow71]

I get that a fixer is supposed to get paid for pushing runners towards jobs, but the books I've read are rather vague on the topic other than to say they are supposed to get paid.  Maybe it's because I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and haven't seen it yet, but...

1.  How much do fixers get paid?  Is it a percentage of what the runners get paid to do the job, or is it a flat fee no matter what the runners get paid?

2.  When does the fixer get paid?  Does he get paid when the runners get paid, or does he get his fee up front?

3.  Where does the fee come from?  Does it come out of the money the runners get paid, or does it go to the fixer from the Johnson from a separate fund?

I am under the impression that a fixer gets a percentage of whatever the runners get, and that he gets paid at the completion of the job out of the money that the runners get paid.  That is, if the runners are contracted for 10,000 nuyen, and the fixer's percentage is 10%, he would get 1,000 nuyen from the runners out of the 10,000 they get paid, leaving them with 9,000.  Is that how it works?  And how does one determine what percentage to give the fixer (from a GM point of view)?

[Critias]

To me (dealing mostly with Missions games), the easy answer is to assume the Johnson pays the Fixer (so PCs don't have to worry about it), and -- if it matters -- earmark it at maybe 10% of what the PCs are getting paid.  It's just more fun, at least in my head, to make the Johnson handle that stuff, than for the PCs to get skimmed like that, and make less than the adventure has written as a suggestion. 

The 10% "finder's fee" is also a good starting point for jobs where the PCs try to use their Fixer, too, though;  asking him to find them an NPC hacker to help out, asking him to help them get some gear, etc, etc?  Then they certainly do have to deal with the headache and the fee.  But for the jobs, when someone else is actively seeking them out?  Nah.  I'd just as soon avoid the hassle.

[Glorthoron]

I have, in the past, had the Fixer's fee (being payed to him by the Johnson) dependant on the runner's success.  This puts the runners in a tough spot when deciding to back out of a run.  Does the risk out weigh the flak we'll have to deal with as a result of screwing our fixer?

[TheNarrator]

The assumption is usually that the Johnson pays the fixer to put together a team from the pool of running talent that he knows, and/or to arrange a meet with an established team so the Johnson can make the job offer.

Presumably if the team botches the job, then it reflects badly on the fixer for recommending screw-ups, who in turn might take it out on the runners for making him look bad. Whether or not this also means that the fixer doesn't get paid or gets paid less, I'm not sure; it probably depends on the particulars of the deal that the fixer and the Johnson cut. If I were the Johnson, I'd want some assurances that the fixer isn't going to take my money and just send the first morons he finds to the meet, but fixers also depend on a good rep to do business.

[raggedhalo]

As with other stuff, the fixer's fee is probably (Connection x 5)% but I agree that the Johnson pays it up front. Although quite why Johnsons don't just do the whole thing through fixers remains unclear...

[TheNarrator]

Although quite why Johnsons don't just do the whole thing through fixers remains unclear...

On rare occassions, that will actually happen. (The "Block War" adventure from Missions is the only one that comes to mind.) But I get the impression that the Johnsons don't want to do that because it means letting the fixer know what the job is, who the target is, and any intel that they intend to share with the runners. After all, the fixer knows lots of Johnsons, not to mention being well connected in general, and might be tempted to sell info on the run to a rival power.

As things stand, the fixer doesn't know what the target is, and the runners (in theory) don't know who the Johnson works for, so nobody has the full incriminating picture.

[Walks Through Walls]

I agree with Narrator that Mr. Johnson wants to let as few people know the details as possible. Also if he tells details to the fixer who then relays the info to the runners you get into the telephone game scenario. It is always best to five instructions directly to someone than to go through several people.

[All4BigGuns]

Best way IMNSHO is to just "gloss over" how and just assume the Fixer got his fee. The monetary awards for the run should be going entirely to the PCs, not split up (also paid per runner and not lump sum to be divided). I as well firmly believe that an extra sum should be given for expenses like bribes and other cred spent in legwork--as well as expenses incurred like ammunition expenditure and the like. The pay should be enough to cover a middle lifestyle for either one or two months with enough left over to be able to start seriously saving for more (or upgraded) gear/implants.

[Glorthoron]

Best way IMNSHO is to just "gloss over" how and just assume the Fixer got his fee. The monetary awards for the run should be going entirely to the PCs, not split up (also paid per runner and not lump sum to be divided). I as well firmly believe that an extra sum should be given for expenses like bribes and other cred spent in legwork--as well as expenses incurred like ammunition expenditure and the like. The pay should be enough to cover a middle lifestyle for either one or two months with enough left over to be able to start seriously saving for more (or upgraded) gear/implants.

Sometimes a Johnson will pay per runner, and sometime by the job.  Depends on the situation.  If the runners don't like the lump sum, they don't have to take the job and can go another month without getting work.  A few months of not getting work becuase they think they're better than everyone else and deserve better than the next runner will bring them back down to earth.

You are right, the Fixer's fee shouldn't come out of the payment going to the runners, but the players need to remember that the Fixer is getting paid by the Johnson, and their screwups look bad on him (or her) too.

The pay should be based on the job.  If it's a milk run or cake walk, they shouldn't be getting 10,000+ nuyen each for the job.  I personally gauge the fee on the difficulty and the equivalent lifestyle for each runner in the group.  If it is an easy run, enough for low lifestyle for a month.  Moderate run should pay medium for a month.  Difficult should be high for month.  Freakin' Hard should be 50,000+.  Of course, I'm offering up more than just one run per month, sometimes two, and if they are lucky, three.

The ammo and contact expenses, the Johnson won't, in most cases, care to cover.  Too many low lifes in the shadows have taken advantage of that.  I've even had runners tell the Johnson that they burned off grenades, rockets, and APDS ammo, and walk away with a whack of cash.  A good story and con roll will convince the Johnson, and so they would only let this happen once or twice until they put a stop to it, and word on the street would travel to all the Johnsons, effectively altering their negotation strategies.

[All4BigGuns]

Best way IMNSHO is to just "gloss over" how and just assume the Fixer got his fee. The monetary awards for the run should be going entirely to the PCs, not split up (also paid per runner and not lump sum to be divided). I as well firmly believe that an extra sum should be given for expenses like bribes and other cred spent in legwork--as well as expenses incurred like ammunition expenditure and the like. The pay should be enough to cover a middle lifestyle for either one or two months with enough left over to be able to start seriously saving for more (or upgraded) gear/implants.

Sometimes a Johnson will pay per runner, and sometime by the job.  Depends on the situation.  If the runners don't like the lump sum, they don't have to take the job and can go another month without getting work.  A few months of not getting work becuase they think they're better than everyone else and deserve better than the next runner will bring them back down to earth.

You are right, the Fixer's fee shouldn't come out of the payment going to the runners, but the players need to remember that the Fixer is getting paid by the Johnson, and their screwups look bad on him (or her) too.

The pay should be based on the job.  If it's a milk run or cake walk, they shouldn't be getting 10,000+ nuyen each for the job.  I personally gauge the fee on the difficulty and the equivalent lifestyle for each runner in the group.  If it is an easy run, enough for low lifestyle for a month.  Moderate run should pay medium for a month.  Difficult should be high for month.  Freakin' Hard should be 50,000+.  Of course, I'm offering up more than just one run per month, sometimes two, and if they are lucky, three.

The ammo and contact expenses, the Johnson won't, in most cases, care to cover.  Too many low lifes in the shadows have taken advantage of that.  I've even had runners tell the Johnson that they burned off grenades, rockets, and APDS ammo, and walk away with a whack of cash.  A good story and con roll will convince the Johnson, and so they would only let this happen once or twice until they put a stop to it, and word on the street would travel to all the Johnsons, effectively altering their negotation strategies.

I disagree with your pay scales because I feel that the pay should be enough for a decently fast rate of advancement progression (karma awards should be equally high IMO at 5 karma minimum per session--not per run). Slow advancement IMNSHO is the most sure way to kill a game.

[Glorthoron]

Best way IMNSHO is to just "gloss over" how and just assume the Fixer got his fee. The monetary awards for the run should be going entirely to the PCs, not split up (also paid per runner and not lump sum to be divided). I as well firmly believe that an extra sum should be given for expenses like bribes and other cred spent in legwork--as well as expenses incurred like ammunition expenditure and the like. The pay should be enough to cover a middle lifestyle for either one or two months with enough left over to be able to start seriously saving for more (or upgraded) gear/implants.

Sometimes a Johnson will pay per runner, and sometime by the job.  Depends on the situation.  If the runners don't like the lump sum, they don't have to take the job and can go another month without getting work.  A few months of not getting work becuase they think they're better than everyone else and deserve better than the next runner will bring them back down to earth.

You are right, the Fixer's fee shouldn't come out of the payment going to the runners, but the players need to remember that the Fixer is getting paid by the Johnson, and their screwups look bad on him (or her) too.

The pay should be based on the job.  If it's a milk run or cake walk, they shouldn't be getting 10,000+ nuyen each for the job.  I personally gauge the fee on the difficulty and the equivalent lifestyle for each runner in the group.  If it is an easy run, enough for low lifestyle for a month.  Moderate run should pay medium for a month.  Difficult should be high for month.  Freakin' Hard should be 50,000+.  Of course, I'm offering up more than just one run per month, sometimes two, and if they are lucky, three.

The ammo and contact expenses, the Johnson won't, in most cases, care to cover.  Too many low lifes in the shadows have taken advantage of that.  I've even had runners tell the Johnson that they burned off grenades, rockets, and APDS ammo, and walk away with a whack of cash.  A good story and con roll will convince the Johnson, and so they would only let this happen once or twice until they put a stop to it, and word on the street would travel to all the Johnsons, effectively altering their negotation strategies.

I disagree with your pay scales because I feel that the pay should be enough for a decently fast rate of advancement progression (karma awards should be equally high IMO at 5 karma minimum per session--not per run). Slow advancement IMNSHO is the most sure way to kill a game.

If the game gets killed, it is probably more because the GM doesn't know how to keep it enjoyable, rather than the reward.  High rewards are only necessary if the GM has to buy the player's fun for them.  IMO.

I've never had any complaints from my players about the rewards.  if they earn it, they get it.  But free karma for just showing up isn't on the agenda with me.  If my rewards are low, and my players are still coming back for more, I'm probably doing something right.

Now, it's been a long time since I've run a long SR campaign, but the two major campaigns I did run were scaled that way, and they lasted a very long time.  Minimum Karma of 3 per session (1 for roleplaying, 1 for survival, and 1 for taking part in everyone's fun (those who argue or sulk don't get this)).  Then, at the end of the run, 1 for each successful goal, and 1+ for threat.  Then there is extra for exceptional roleplaying, humour, ideas, etc.  Of course, my adventures usually result in a higher karma payout at the end of the run than, which probably makes up for it.

I'll never forget the best point of humour karma I ever awarded.  One of the players told his companions "ready your flare comp", and one of the other players said "ok" and put his hands over his eyes.

[ArkangelWinter]

I use a version the BT: Mercenaries Handbook system for contract negotiations, and it works well. Basic negotiation categories are flat pay, travel expense if applicable, remuneration for gear expenses (never over 10% of actual expense), command autonomy, and salvage privileges (can we take everything that's not bolted down, or does the Johnson reuire items be left, or taken to him) I just kinda assume the fixer handled his payday off-screen for 5-25%.

We give out a point of pity karma every run, to whoever got screwed the worst while trying to implement a good idea. Best one was when our "bad enough trog" (Thanks Umaro) ziplined into an pedestrian bridge-tunnel window to save everyone else's bacon and unfortunately went straight through, enemy earth spirit and all, to plunge into oncoming traffic 2 stories below.

It was a posthumous award.

[Kesslan]

I generally handle fixer fees for runs off screen. Honestly the percentages being worked can go a million different ways depending on the job, the fixer and the runners themselves. After all the fixer has to make a living, he's on the hook if the runners screw up and finger him to the cops/corpsec/other, he's also on the hook to who ever is actually behind the job for failing to find a team that can actually pull it off (Unless the whole job was a setup, and even then they might just screw the fixer too), and ultimately what the Fixer does for a living is illegal or at the very best, greyzone.

There are some pointers in some of the older books about how much of a percentage a fixer/jonhson would make from a run (Mr. Johnson's Black book or something like that. I've got the book around here somewhere).  It also depends on the attitude of the Fixer/J in the first place. Is he skimming off of the money pile for himself? Hell maybe it's even a legitimate bonus for getting the job done cheaper than the allotted budget.

Hell maybe a nasty enough J will negotiate their payment down from his initial offer if they try to negotiate a higher fee and fail the roll (Or worse yet, glitch). In which case it could be the J purposefully holds out certain bits of intel and says I'll pay you 20k. The PCs counter with 'Well we don't know X/Y/Z so we want 10% more. Then the J offers up several details but then says since he provided that intel he's only now offering them 15k for having had to do their work for them. IN the end it depends on just how mean you want to be as a GM and how it fits the story.

As a GM I personally time to time purposefully screw the PCs over in negotiations with the Johnson because simply that's how it works in the setting. Most of the time they come out ahead in salvaged gear or hell, even find out how badly they got screwed and force a new deal. Depends on the players really as I try not to rail road them too much into a specific outcome. (And when I do, they are completely free to seek revenge on the NPC(s) involved)

[Black]

My Mr Johnsons pay the fixer for organising the 'help' .  Fixers, in this case, are like high level recruitment agencies, keeping a pool of talent on call for when someone needs some 'expert consultation'.

One time the Johnson wasn't happy with the outcome and didn't pay, so the Fixer, wanting to keep his talent happy, split his take with them.

Occassionally, the Fixer is the sole handler for the job.  The Hareliquin campaign ran like this to almost the very end... (I would assume the Fixer takes a higher fee in these situations)

[Glorthoron]

To put it in very simple terms.

I see the Johnson as the shadow world's version of a headhunter for human resources for a company, and the fixer is the equivalent of the talent agent hired by an actor.