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Failed Meetings.

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Nautilust

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« Reply #30 on: <09-13-18/1846:58> »
I was being cranky the other day, my blood sugar was out of control and I wasn't in the best mood. I apologize.

I wasn't being completely accurate with how I was wording things. I took a step back and calmed down a little.

You've all given good advice.
« Last Edit: <09-13-18/1850:34> by Nautilust »

elbruce

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« Reply #31 on: <10-01-18/2338:31> »
It is a fact that we've seen adventures and stories where the Johnson does turn on his runners.  Whether it's sending them into a suicide run, stiffing them at the payoff, or trying to eliminate them as soon as the job is done, it does happen.  There are good Johnsons and bad Johnsons.

And that's also something that should be impressed on the characters, perhaps by their friendly neighborhood fixer.  Act like worthless street scum and you're more and more likely to only get the bad Johnsons to be willing to hire you.  Act professional and you'll attract more professional employers over time.  Hopefully you won't have to go so far as have all their runs go south just impress that on them (sounds as if they might take that the wrong way and be even more uncouth towards future Johnsons) but try to get it into their heads both IC and OOC.

gilga

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« Reply #32 on: <10-02-18/1523:10> »
From the Jhonson perspective, spending plenty of money because some punk told him to 'watch cop shows' seems awfully unprofessional. Heck, even not calling the team again if they did the job very well because he personally dislikes them - seems strange to me. The Jhonson is a professional and he calls these runners because they get the job done, if they insult him - they'll just find it harder to negotiate their pay later. Or they would not get to improve his loyalty at the end of a successful run. Johnson is not an all mighty demi-god - he is a middleman. Getting people killed just for saying the wrong thing in a meetup would get him such a dreadful reputation that runners would not work for him. 

For these aspects, I agree that the players behaved in a way that should be sanctioned - but I'd settle with negative dice pool to social roles with him (wrong clothes, wrong attitude etc). Less social rewards, e.g. he would not become a contact after the run, and likely slightly less pay due to less dice to negotiate with.  I think it should be enough - I don't think you get notoriety for being rude to a Jhonson, I think you get it from failing to do your job. But if the Jhonson dislikes you personally, well - you should know better whom to ask for favors afterward.

Remember that the Jhonson works with misfits, people at the edges of society, he cannot be so volatile if he wants to keep doing this kind of job. He should be reasonably loyal to his team - as it is his reputation too. He'll just damage himself by mistreating the people he just hired. The worst thing I think is that he does not hire them, the team lost all income and has to do drek jobs to pay rent. Or worse, borrow money for lifestyle - (In debt quality?). Then the next time, they are more eager to work and more polite. Problem solved nobody died.


DocRock089

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« Reply #33 on: <10-17-18/0713:09> »
Stuff like this happens, don't take it too hard, chum. Think we've all been there at some point. I remember a "first run" years ago which ended with 3/5 characters, another 2 severely wounded and the johnson dead, because they got into each others hair in a pissing match, which ended with someone popping a handgrenade in the middle of a downtown street cafe just to show the others they were serious. Suffice it to say, I took my shit and ran and never hosted that group again :).

Sounds to me, like you lost control there and just went along with the situation. I recommend either having the Johnson be the adult at the meet and just outright call the runners on it ("Your conduct seems really unprofessional, what do you hope to gain by insulting me and discussing things in front of me? There is a reason why shadowrunners are called deniable assets and I want to make sure we're on the same page here."), or - if you don't think of a solution in that situation, just calling things to a halt. If things go this awry (and yes, it happens), I am willing to call a break out of game to discuss it. This is something I do rarely as a GM (actually: something I try to avoid at all times), but sometimes it can't be avoided if you don't wanna scrap the whole evening. You are there to have fun as well. 

If playing with a new group, I usually tend to write up something like the "20 most important dos and don'ts" for my shadowrun universe, because I want to make sure were all on the same assumptions about how things are "supposed" to go. I will start emailing documents to the players about 1 week before the first "run". Usually one or two dossiers a day, just to get them excited and in the mood for the session. This usually includes a "professional conduct in the shadowrun community dossier" with something like 20 dos and don'ts.
 
Especially since I am forcing some choices on the characters before we even start.