From:	allen.versfeld@*****.com (Allen Versfeld)
Subject:	An innocent Johnson...?
Date:	Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:46:46 +0200

On 8/19/05, Stefanos Patelis <sp@*****.gr> wrote:
>
>
> Michael Weber wrote:
>
> >Graht <graht1@*****.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >>Anyone need some truck bomb data for their campaigns? The US
> >>Department of Energy is going to test detonate a couple of truck bombs
> >>(to find out how much of a security threat they are to nuclear power
> >>plants). You might find the story itself interesting, but there's
> >>also blast radius, crater size, etc. Just enough for a GM to describe
> >>what would happen :)
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Cool! I have an adventure in which the Johnson blows up the truck the
> >team he's double-crossing (imagine that!) is using.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> What you are _seriously_ going to have a Johnson double cross the
> party????? Man these things only happen in the movies! :-)
>
> Seriously though how many poeple have actually ran or played in an
> adventure that actually has the Johnson deliver? (The only one I can
> think of is an intro to Shadowrun I ran based on the SR3 quickstart
> rules' exmaple module - everything else had at least a bit of white lie
> and double crossing in there... MJRA would sue the hell out of me
> otherwise (Mr Johnson's Rights Association))...
>
> --

I don't think I've ever had a Johnson shaft my players. At least, not
a proper official Mr Johnson (c), affiliated with a real
corporation... Private operators (jealous husbands, that insect
shaman, the mob) don't play by the same rules.

My experience with business people is that they generally play it
quite straight. Big business isn't like a used car dealership. It
relies heavily on it's reputation, and one reneged deal can undo a
fortune in Public Relations budget. Or "expose the company to risk"
from a team of heavily armed pissed off Shadowrunners.

My Johnsons seldom have good intel, though - If they knew enough about
the target to guarantee a clean job, they wouldn't need the
Deniability of shadowrunners. End result: occasionally something
goes horribly wrong, and they fail to complete the job, or attract a
truckload of publicity, or whatever it is that ends up violating the
terms of their agreement, and end up not getting paid.

It's a whole different class of 'getting screwed', all the more
frustrating because the blame basically lies at their own feet.