Rules of the Game

There is a delicate balance between corporate need and corporate greed. Runners walk that line. One step too far in the wrong direction, and a corporation may decide you're worth more to it dead than alive. If we were nothing more than a constant threat to corporate security, the corps would wipe us out in a second. But the corps need runners, so they observe certain unwritten "rules" when it comes to hiring and using runners. There is no profit in wiping out a useful asset. Good runners know the rules of the corporate chess game and how to play by them. Bad runners usually end up dead.

It is important to get down and dirty with the basics so here is an outline written as simply as possible but no more.

Rule Numero Uno of Shadowrunning. Whatever you do, don't get caught doing it. The corps may regard a certain amount of shadowrunning as part of doing business, but don't expect that to help you if you set off an alarm in the middle of a high-security corporation compound. The guards won't buy "Hey chummers, it's just biz!", and your employer will deny ever hiring you, Runners who frag up usually die; even if they live, their reputation will have gone down the tubes.

One thing to keep in mind if you do get caught: play it cool and keep your mouth shut. The Corp-cops and the Star will do everything they can to lean on you and make you talk. If you manage to keep your wits about you and don't give away anything, your Johnson might, and I stress might, decided to pull some strings and get you out of troouble. It's certainly in his best interest to make sure you don't talk to the authorities....

Of course, I've known some Johnsons to bail a runner out, only to have him killed to ensure his silence. Dead men tell no tales.

In which case you might be better off cutting a deal with the other side. Trick is to know which way to jump, and hope somebody is there to catch you.

You're supposed to be a professional, so act like one. I can't tell you how many times I've gone into meets with runners who are fresh out of some urban hellhole like the Redmond Barrens or El Infierno. They're usually gangers or ex-gangers accustomed to being hot drek on the streets. They bluster, show off and play dominance games with the Johnson, like he even cares who's the big man in the Sprawl. Most of those runner wannabes got passed over, or worse, hired as cannon fodder for suicide runs. Don't be stupid. Want to be treated like a professional? Then be professional.

This includes knowing where and when to haggle, and what to haggle for. If you assk for too little or too much, you might come off as a novice or over confident. Keep in mind that some Jonsons have better acces to assets other than nuyen. And as a general rule, remember: half up front.

Simple fact of life: your Mr. Johnson won't tell you everything. He won't tell you you his real name, who he really works for or why he's really hiring you, and half the time he won't even tell you the point of the shadowrun. Everything in the shadows is on a need-to-know basis, and most of the time runners don't need to know. In fact the more you know, the worse off you are in a lot of ways; even in this day and age, there's such a thing as "knowing too much." A Johnson who thinks you're too much of a risk is likely to try to have you silenced, permanently.

On the other hand, you should find out as much as you can on your own. It's considered bad form to let a Johnson know you're checking up on him, but it's also stupid not to do a little sniffing around to make sure of a Johnson's motives and ties. Likewise, when it comes to the run, do your legwork, it may save your life as well as your rep. Find out all you can about your target before you make the run. Talk to your contacts and find out what they know. Put together a plan in advance, and a backup plan for when Plan A gets shot to hell (it almost always does). Above all, remember that no plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

This one is a double-edged sword. You need to do leg work and gather information, but if you poke and prod too much you risk alerting your target that something is up. Do what "Spartacus" suggest and gather intel, but don't push your luck or you could end up walking into a carefully prepared trap.

Your Contacts are some of the most valuable resources you've got. Take good care of them and they'll take good care of you. That means Protecting the identity of your sources, and not asking about other people's (a sure sign of a newbie shadowrunner). Don't put your sources in positions you wouldn't want to be in. If you've got a friend working for a corp, and she passes information on to you that gets her fired, you've just lost a contact as well as a friend. Make sure to reward your contacts for helping you out.

A wide network of contacts also means you're more likely to hear about it if someone's taking an interest in you.

The Corps expect a certain number of shadowrunners to happen; that's the price of doing business. However, the more damage you do, the more you cost the corp. The more you cost it, the more likely the corp is to come down hard on you. In other words, never make it more worthwhile for the corp to geek you than leave you alone.

Collateral damage includes wrecking anything you don't absolutely need to in order to get at your target: killing or wounding corporate personnel, destroying corporate property, trashing security systems and so forth. The ideal shadowrun leaves no clue that you were ever there. The less damage you do, the better. Generally, Johnsons want their runs done quietly, which means not leaving a trail of bodies behind you for corp security to follow.

Of course, if your client wants collateral damage-go nuts!

I'm endlessly amazed by the number of newbie runners who think they can kick down the front door of a corporate facility and come in, guns blazing, mow down some corporate guards and take what they want. No finesse, no subtlety-and then they wonder when the corp comes down on them like a ton of bricks and their Johnson won't return their calls.

Limiting collateral damage keeps your Johnson happy, unless he's specifically hiring you to cause a lot of damage, in which case I suggest doing some digging to find out why. Most of the time, it means your Johnson is looking to hire a distraction for something else, or that he's involved in something really nasty.

Pay attention; the next sentence is the most important one you'll ever read. Do not frag over your employer. A shadowrunner who gets caught double-dealing or trying to betray an employer is almost certainly a dead shadowrunner. Even if you manage to survive scamming your Johnson, you can pretty much forget about ever working the shadows again. (You can always change your name and face, or go somewhere they've never heard of you, but it better be somewhere your Johnson and his corporation can't find you.) Corporates rely on shadowrunners but they can't afford to let runners think they can pull drek and get away with it. Shadowrunners who turn against their employer are usuallymade an example for the rest of us. I've seen a few in my time, and I learned my lesson well. Don't frag with Mr. Johnson-it's just not worth it.

This rule is related to not fragging over your employer. Once you've finished a run, keep your mouth shut about it. The corp is paying for your silence along with your expertise. That means don't go blabbing at the local watering hole about the latest run you pulled off, don't post the gory details all over the Matrix and don't go telling your friends how you helped pull off the run of the century. If you just have to talk about a run on a secure node like Shadowland, at least change the names and dates to protect your employer's interests. If world leaks about a run, Mr. Johnson will come lookingfor you first. And if you think that having this information gives you something to hold over Mr. Johnson's head, think again. It just makes you worth more to him dead than alive.

On the other hand, share as much as you can with your runner chummers. I know that sounds like a contradiction but if you tell us about the bleeding-edge security measures at a Novatech site you just hit, we don't care who hired you or why-we just need to know the stuff that may impact us.

The whole point of these rules is to build some kind of trust between runners and Johnsons. Laugh all you want, but that's the deal. Shadowrunners and those who hire them have to be able to trust each other, if only a little, or the whole system falls apart. A Johnson who gets a reputation for fragging over runners and hiring for suicide missions won't be able to hire very many runners after a while.

A runner who gets a rep for burning employers and flapping his lips about every run will end up unemployable (or floating face down in the nearest body of water).

This is where the quality they used to call honor comes in. If you tell a Johnson you're going to do something, do it. If a Johnson betrays you, make sure everyone knows it. Remember, the shadows work both ways. The corps need us like we need them; they don't want a rogue Johnson making them target number one (or worse, blacklisted by the quality talent). The pressure on a corp with a rogue Johnson is immense-and if you get the plum job of hunting the bastich down, think of where you stand with the corp and the shadow community.