Perhaps it’s just me, but the thought of seeing 1,000,000 nuyen sitting on the credstick of a PC makes me kinda nervous. Even if the PC mentions that he’s saving up the cash for a Move By Wire system and some SOTA head gear, I’d still feel a bit jittery as I ponder how many zeros are in the number ‘one million’.

Lucky for me, I’ll probably never have to experience such pain, because the odds of one of my PCs accumulating 1,000,000 nuyen are about 1,000,000 to one. Since the average payment of my Shadowruns rarely exceeds about 50k, it is unlikely that the PC wishing to purchase the gear would last through the 20 or so sessions necessary to accumulate such a value. At least not with his patients intact. Also, by the time 20 sessions had past, FASA would surely come out with a few new sourcebooks with titles like Killerware, and the PC would no longer be interested in saving up for some puny Move By Wire getup, and would instead be saving for a Teleportation Brain Matrix, or whatever headache inducing paraphernalia FASA has up their sleeves.

So, exactly how do my runners get neato stuff if both I, and they, know that the odds of them scoring enough cash are so slim? Well, there’s a couple of different methods I use, most of which not only apply to high priced cyberstuff, but vehicle mods, magic, and decker gear as well. But first let me explain why I make it so difficult for runners to accumulate so much raw cash in the first place.

First off, I have many a bad experience with players who have accumulated too much cash. Half the time they didn’t even end up spending the cash on stuff they needed; they blew it on extremely exorbitant ‘toys’ which did absolutely nothing to improve the way they function in the Shadowrun world. An extreme example involves my friend Mike blowing about half a mil in order to - this is true - coat his cyberdeck with Orichalcum. Second, I often find that a player becomes a rather disagreeable person when it’s time to receive payment for their run and they realize that, at the rate they’re going, it’s going to take them 500 years to buy that cyberdeck in the window. Even if I paid them 100 grand a run, the thought of waiting a whole 10 gaming sessions is sometimes too much for their morale to take. Third, I'd practically get my throat ripped out should something occur within the game (such as the PC having to purchase a new car, deck, or face) that results in them spending their hard earned cash on something other than their grand goal. Finally, it seems that finally accumulating 1,000,000 nuyen wouldn’t give the runners much of a reason to run anymore. Look through the player’s 20 Questions and I’ll bet that half of them mention a desire to quit running once they reach some kind of monetary or property goal. Most of these goals could probably be bought for 1,000,000 nuyen, thus leaving the runner with absolutely no good reason to continue working in the profession.

Because of the preceding reasons (and many more) I created a rather chaotic system of payment and purchasing designed keep the runners with a minimal amount of cash, but still giving them the capital they need to get the ware, vehicles, foci, and stuff they want. To go about purchasing high priced gear, the runner usually uses a combination of 3 or more of the following methods:

Cash: No matter what the runner is purchasing, there is usually at least some cash exchanged. The amount may be almost negligible compared to the total value of the item purchased, but it comforts the seller since he knows that he’ll at least get something out of the transaction should things go bad.

Exchange Of Services: A runner will often perform a service for the seller in exchange for a discount off the price of an item. For magic users, this may involve participating in a ritual of some kind, running off to find a magical item, or engaging in some procedure than involves the exchange of a karma point or two. A rigger may be given a discount on a vehicle is he makes an few deliveries for the seller. Sammy’s may get a discount of their ware if they go and steal designs for new cyberware from some corporation. No matter what the exchange is, the value of the runner’s actions or the booty they pull in as a result will usually never exceed more than 50% of the price of the item they want to purchase. Also, since this is in independent run, they usually don’t receive the benefit of medical coverage or other expenses.

Exchange Of Goods: Often times the payment setup of one of my shadowruns may involve the runner receiving a certain amount of good for use on a particular run. For instance, a rigger may receive a few air-to-air missiles if his mission involves taking down a Panzer. Usually, if the runner manages to hold onto some of these items (perhaps the totaled the Panzer on the first shot and had two missiles left over) he may want to exchange them for a portion of the price of a new object.

Gifts From Their Fixer: If a group of runners is doing rather well, it’s in the interest of the group’s Fixer to make sure the group gets even better. He may offer the services of a friendly mechanic, tech, talismonger, etc. to upgrade some of the runner’s stuff for a relatively low price.

Blackmail: A runner may come across some information they can use to pressure the seller into giving them the item at a lower price. Occasionally, during a run, I’ll plant information that the runner can use later in life to help themselves gain an upper hand in negotiations. The runner must not become too greedy, however, as sometimes it will be cheaper for the seller to simply hire some thugs to kill the runner off than offer them a discount. Also, if the deal goes bad, the damage done to the runner’s rep may be devastating - especially if the info the GM planted was wrong.

Big Scores: Once in a blue moon the runners may hit on a high profile run or come across an opened vault containing SOTA technical schematics. The payment or booty generated from these types of runs can suddenly net the runners hundreds for thousands of dollars. I usually engineer a big score when I get the general feeling that the runners have their sights firmly set on a big purchase, or are in need of a morale boost.

Payment Plan: In my runs, paying for an expensive item in installments is a common activity. Usually this occurs when the runner purchases the item from a contact, but occasionally a runner may be forced to go into debt if the costs of surgery or an unexpected accident results in a batch of unexpected charges that the runner can’t cover at the moment. If the runner goes into debt with a trusted contact, they payment plan is normally pretty relaxed. However, if the runner is forced to upgrade his ware in some dingy cyberclinic named Grog’s Cutups, he may wish to pay his debtor back as soon as possible, lest he wish Grog to reacquire his cyberware via a rather messy procedure involving large pliers and no anesthetic.

The key to making all of this work is to listen to your players hopes and desires and gently mold the game in a way that if the runners work hard, they’ll eventually get what they want. I tend to keep my runners fairly poor as I’ve found that desperation is sometimes the best motivation a runner can have to do the job well. But this doesn’t mean I annihilate their dreams at the same time. In the end - if they play the game of 2050 life well - the runner can have anything he or she wants.