[Joush]

Should the person the runners deal with be a power broker that represents danger and wealth they can barely imagine, or just a cutout, a low level stooge trying to pretend to be bigger then he is when he's nothing more then a cutout put between the deniable assets the 'runners represent and someone that needs their services?

Both ways can make sense in story, I'm just wondering how other people lean. There seems to be something of an assumption in the books and at a lot of tables that the Johnson is a powerful individuals that shouldn't be crossed, but it seems just as logical that if a run goes bad the Johnson will just get vanished or killed to break the link between the real power and the runners. I suppose when I run a game, I'll try to vary it up.

[Mystic]

This may sound like a cop out, but for me it's true: whatever I need him to be for my game.

But honestly, it depends on what is going on the SR universe or what the run details. Johnson could very well be some big powerful type who hires runners for X. On the flip side, Johnson could be some schmuch off the street who scrounged some 'yen up for a simple leg break job. One never knows, and thats part of the fun (in game terms).

[fallenson0512]

This may sound like a cop out, but for me it's true: whatever I need him to be for my game.

But honestly, it depends on what is going on the SR universe or what the run details. Johnson could very well be some big powerful type who hires runners for X. On the flip side, Johnson could be some schmuch off the street who scrounged some 'yen up for a simple leg break job. One never knows, and thats part of the fun (in game terms).

i agree, the high level corporate intrigue of the classic Mr. J is great, but sometimes the "schmuch" playing Mr.J adds alot of flavor and character to the game. personally, i like to lean towards the latter.

[Critias]

This may sound like a cop out, but for me it's true: whatever I need him to be for my game.

Exactly.

There's no rule saying they've got to be the same power level every time.  Make 'em whatever you need 'em to be, for the situation/game/campaign/adventure at your table that night.

Heck, the same guy could be in a very different position from one job to the next (especially depending on how the 'runners did the first time!), the way corporate politics work.

[CanRay]

Depends on the Johnson, depends on the job.

[Joush]

Good points. I just kind of like the idea that Mr. Johnson as a cutout between the runners and the person that really hired them. Just a face and a point where the person that acutely runs things can get rid of the only person that can identify them. (Rather then needing to wipe out a whole team of runners, in a classic Shadowrun betrayal)

I think I'd like to work in a mission where most of the way though they get contacted by the real power behind the operation.. with a request to eliminate the cutout and tie up the loose ends.

[The Cat]

In a long standing game, the Runners iwll run into both of multiple types throughout their careers.

In my longest running game (lasted years IC and OOC with one character surviving the entire time and two more being extremely long-lived in the game) the team worked with dozens of Johnsons on dozns of jobs and prett ymuch ran the gauntlet of types.

The first few were "Street Johnsons."  Schmucks on the low end of the scale, usualy in it for their own gain or own reasons (with revenge being very popular).  Then they moved up the scale as they got a bit more famous into a combination of Private Johnsons representing very limited (sometime slimited to just htemselves) interests and "better" Street Johnsons.  As they got better and more famous, they added Corporate Johnsons to the list of types and began seeing "Johnson as Johnson" and "Johnson as a Mask for the Real Boss" regularly.  They then graduated into top tier work and the return of Private Johnsons of the highest caliber, including gettign themselve beholden to a very powerful CEO who spoke with them directly via telecom and the occasional dragon in the mix.

IMHO, the "level" you're playign at will determine how often the Johnson is the Boss and how often the Johnson is a pawn.  At the lower levels, it's just not cost effective to have a pawn Johnson.  In the middle levels it will become common, and into the higher levels constantly growing in commonality.  Once they graduate into "almost Prime" turf, it'll die off to a rare thing, again, because it's not cost effective.

[Teyl_Iliar]

I feel the same way as most of the other posters here. Mr. Johnson is who ever you need him to be depending on the run and the job. he can fit any place you want him to on that scale from low end of the totem pole criminal, to sophisticated business strategist, a middle man, and everywhere in between. As a player though, no matter which Johnson I'm looking at I try as a runner and a professional to be be respectful until given a reason not to be. Just because your Mr. Johnson looks like a dirty mafia chump doesn't mean he is, and vice versa. Sort of a, "Always respect the people you deal with so they have a reason to respect you." thing. Depending on how you treat your Johnson's, you never know if you're going to suddenly find yourself in the middle of a double cross or being offered a full time job.

[Fnord]

The way I have played most Johnsons over the years have been that they have been powerful middlemen (not all, mind you). People of some influence that people turn to when they need something done. They in turn hire runners to do the actual work.

A Johnson is a person who has both resources and contacts, who in many cases can get both what and who he wants to get. The higher ups, the people who contact him, are well aware of this, and also know that a Johnson can turn them down, if they don't offer enough in return for his services.

There are of course those who only do petty work, having little more actual power than a person who runs a small (~5 man) small time criminal organisation. And then there are Johnsons who works directly under someone else, who have little real power.

[Weldûn]

The way I have played most Johnsons over the years have been that they have been powerful middlemen (not all, mind you). People of some influence that people turn to when they need something done. They in turn hire runners to do the actual work.

A Johnson is a person who has both resources and contacts, who in many cases can get both what and who he wants to get. The higher ups, the people who contact him, are well aware of this, and also know that a Johnson can turn them down, if they don't offer enough in return for his services.

There are of course those who only do petty work, having little more actual power than a person who runs a small (~5 man) small time criminal organisation. And then there are Johnsons who works directly under someone else, who have little real power.

Remember that some of the larger corporations maintain a staff of dedicated HR management personnel to handle "deniable assets", a.k.a. Johnsons.

[Cantor]

Mr Johnson's personality and motivations define the type of run you're playing. I tend to use lower-level managers, or independents who want to act against the corps. We even played a game once where one of the PCs WAS the Johnson who just wanted the group to steal something for him.

Your Johnsons can run the gamut from low level stooges to high level brokers. It just tells the players what type of run they're in for, and how much forgiveness they'll get for deviating from his plan.

[Weldûn]

Funnily enough, I'm planning on running my group through a heist where a contact that they have just recruited for their gang wants a shipment of Bust-a-Moves. You see, they're a ready source of lvl 2 Pilot systems, and he's cooked up this Skill: Software Autosoft for them. He want's to turn them into a thousand-monkey-array code-farm for updating and maintaining the groups software environment.

That and I want to subject my players to the imagery of walking into a room and seeing a bunch of little Cute-n-Fuzzy^tm critters who are all staring blankly out at them, twitching slightly as they hang from various wires and cables with patches of fur missing where the cables interface with their electronics, whilst being lit only by the glow of a display monitor that shows a slowly evolving code formation. 

[Cantor]

Funnily enough, I'm planning on running my group through a heist where a contact that they have just recruited for their gang wants a shipment of Bust-a-Moves. You see, they're a ready source of lvl 2 Pilot systems, and he's cooked up this Skill: Software Autosoft for them. He want's to turn them into a thousand-monkey-array code-farm for updating and maintaining the groups software environment.

That and I want to subject my players to the imagery of walking into a room and seeing a bunch of little Cute-n-Fuzzy^tm critters who are all staring blankly out at them, twitching slightly as they hang from various wires and cables with patches of fur missing where the cables interface with their electronics, whilst being lit only by the glow of a display monitor that shows a slowly evolving code formation. 

Yoink

[Mason]

i agree, the high level corporate intrigue of the classic Mr. J is great, but sometimes the "schmuch" playing Mr.J adds alot of flavor and character to the game. personally, i like to lean towards the latter.

Like the Johnson who hires the team to find a vintage 1990 mechanical pencil and when they bring him one, he clicks it a couple times and moans like the mage cast Orgasm on him!