Brick Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Paranormals are living, thinking weapons. Just how much money could a paranormal mercenary expect to get from a job on average? Where does the minimum start? I am asking this because I think this is an important point for a campaign starring Super-Mercenaries... Opinions, anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries There are so many possible variables that the DM can pretty much fudge the #'s at will, keeping the characters as poor or as rich as would best help the game. So long as you avoid obvious ridiculousness like offering the party $1000 each for a job that will net the parent megacorp a profit of a hundred zillion hojillion clams, you should do fine. And if the players ever get really stubborn and hold out for astronomical fees, dust off your old 4e Classic Enemies, haul out Bullet and the Raiders, and have them keep stealing potential jobs from the party by offering lower bids. PS -- own any Shadowrun books? The mercenary economy gets a good discussion in 'Fields of Fire' and 'State of the Art 2063'. Likewise, the shadowrunner/street samurai economy gets a nice discussion in 'Sprawl Survival Guide'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Paranormals are living, thinking weapons. Just how much money could a paranormal mercenary expect to get from a job on average? Where does the minimum start? I am asking this because I think this is an important point for a campaign starring Super-Mercenaries... Opinions, anyone? Well, I have no idea how much RL mercs get paid, or I'd just double that for starters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Well' date=' I have no idea how much RL mercs get paid, or I'd just double that for starters.[/quote'] Blackwater Security, Inc., is at present offering $125,000 per year plus full benefits for qualified occupants to do convoy security work in Iraq. Ex-military (preferably ex-special-forces or similar units) only need apply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries ... I am an absolute freaking dunce. The best treatise of super-mercs that I can recall is, of course, Aberrant. The super-merc had an entire subculture in their world, that of the "elites". (Their 'Elites' supplement discusses this in depth.) And they made *millions*. (AAMOF, brushfire wars between third-world nations pretty much stopped being contests of armies and became contests of metahuman champions. Made sense, too. If Ugh the Dictator has $10 million to spend, he'll never be able to buy a conventional army capable of killing a First World armored battalion. But if he offered $1 million/week to the right 10 metahumans, they could very well drop 60 dead Abrams tanks on his doorstep by Thursday. Or obliterate pretty much the entire armed forces of his rival nation, Bananaland.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapsedgamer Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries (AAMOF' date=' brushfire wars between third-world nations pretty much stopped being contests of armies and became contests of metahuman champions. Made sense, too. If Ugh the Dictator has $10 million to spend, he'll never be able to buy a conventional army capable of killing a First World armored battalion. But if he offered $1 million/week to the right 10 metahumans, they could very well drop 60 dead Abrams tanks on his doorstep by Thursday. Or obliterate pretty much the entire armed forces of his rival nation, Bananaland.)[/quote'] That's a campaign in itsef right there. You could have the PC's squaring off against other mercs, goverment sponsored superteams , world dictator types and UNTIL-like agencies. It would work as Bronze Age or full Iron Age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug McCrae Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Just how much money could a paranormal mercenary expect to get from a job on average?Zilch, cause they're always arrested by superheroes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Zilch' date=' cause they're always arrested by superheroes.[/quote']Not all mercenaries (or supermercenaries) are bad guys. Some would just prefer to make lots of money rather than performing (super)feats gratis. Two or three supers might be a much better and more reliable protective detail or troubleshooting team than scores of normal men with guns. Heck, doesn't Luke Cage work for pay as a super? Don't the Avengers get sizable stipends? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Furthermore, if a merc is hired by a head of state to take care of things inside of his own country, the legal questions get very, very iffy. As in "Is it worth it to the UN, the US, or whoever to start a war just to stop what you're doing?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries That's a campaign in itsef right there. You could have the PC's squaring off against other mercs' date=' goverment sponsored superteams , world dictator types and UNTIL-like agencies. It would work as Bronze Age or full Iron Age.[/quote'] I just remembered an arc in HITMAN based on exactly this premise. Small fictional African nation hired ordinary mercs and bought an army. Other small fictional African nation sunk their entire defense budget into two people -- Skull (a low-powered Superman analogue) and The Rose (a powerful plant controller). Who between the two of them were pretty much beating the crap out of the other country's 'army', until Tommy Monaghan and friends showed them why Tommy's had such a thriving career in taking assassination contracts for metahuman targets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapsedgamer Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Of course, another nation or international entity could them hire some super mercs of thier own to interfere on behalf of the other side, where the UN or other concerned parties might not be willing to take a direct approach. This could be really fun to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug McCrae Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Salary would be pretty variable IMO, depending on the usefulness of powers. If Matter-Eater Lad decided to become a merc he'd make the same rate a normal would. OTOH if he wanted to go into the nuclear waste disposal business he could earn a tidy sum. Someone with Cyclops power wouldn't be much more effective than a man with a rifle. However his tactical genius would be a lot more useful. At the other end of the spectrum Silver Age Superman could name his price. Though anyone possessing that level of power and merely using it to make money could certainly be accused of lack of vision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Umm... at "fully-open visor wide-beam mode", Cyclops can blow away an entire hill w/ one shot. He'd be an entire direct-fire artillery battery all by himself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEmerged Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries #1> The product "Elite", for Aberrant, comes recommended. Some of it does fall into the Astro City trap of making excuses for genre conventions, or it would come highly recommended. #2> I pull the monetary numbers mostly out of my... er, an inconvient orifice for which another name for donkey is a common euphamism. I just make it more than the offers last session #3> I have to make my standard plug that the issue of the "employable super-powered person" is an underworked one in the genre, one that I'd like to see super-powered gaming deal with more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug McCrae Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries #1> The product "Elite", for Aberrant, comes recommended. Some of it does fall into the Astro City trap of making excuses for genre conventions, or it would come highly recommended. What's wrong with making excuses for genre conventions? Usually I'm too lazy to bother with an excuse but I respect those who take the time and trouble to find one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEmerged Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries What's wrong with making excuses for genre conventions? Usually I'm too lazy to bother with an excuse but I respect those who take the time and trouble to find one. Matter of personal taste; I don't like it when something that's trying to go for the "realistic" brush spends so much time bending over backwards to explain something -- which in the end only draws attention to the fact that it doesn't make sense. For people that *like* the Silver Age bits I can see where it would be a plus... /humor on ...but I lived through the Silver Age and, like the 80's, I don't care to be reminded of that fact /humor off Point being I can't give a product the tag "highly recommended" when I have what I consider to be a glaring flaw in it -- even when I know not everyone would think it's a flaw at all. It's still a good product worth looking for -- just not worth spending more than cover price for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Are you referring to the Elite custom of masks? Hey, I liked their variation of taking the mask of your fallen foe as a way of counting coup over him and earning merc cred at the expense of his reputation. I also liked how Lance "Stone Badass" Stryker took his unmasking and used PR spin to turn it into a point of pride -- "Masks are for cowards! I don't do nothin' that I'm ashamed to own up to, and that's a damn fact!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEmerged Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries To each their own, I acknowledge it's a personal taste issue. I'm a fan of CLOWN and Neutral Ground/Sanctuary and many don't feel they're realisitic, after all. And let's be clear -- I *am* recommending the product; it's probably the Aberrant product with the best potential for a campaign outside the Aberrant universe. But, being me, I have to mention the issue I have with it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries I always looked at it like... well, even in a world w/ superpowered people, kids still grow up reading comic books. If some of those kids then grow up and get *real* superpowers... ... they might just indulge themselves in some of the genre conventions. Not the ones that might actually get them killed, but the 'harmless' ones, like wearing masks and having fancy names. Not to mention the part in "Elites" where they mention that at least two of the top metahuman merc contracting agencies encourage such behavior just for the advertising revenue alone, not to mention the merchandising potential... after all, if they didn't have fancy code names and wear distinctive costumes, who the hell would buy their action figures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Which prompts a mention of one of the best things about "Elites" -- the DeVries Agency, run by Anna DeVries. Formerly known as 'Executive Decisions' (a real-life mercenary contracting agency/company based in South Africa), in the Aberrant timeline they were the first to branch out into the recruiting, training, and hiring of metahuman talent. Very lavish contract terms, mucho perks to maintain long-term loyalty, and a marketing strategy that made Microsoft look like a pansy. Cmoe to work for Anna DeVries, and they'll set you up with everything -- gear, costume, fancy code name, etc... ... and then make money off of you every way they could. Forget just renting your body out at astronomical sums to clients who want to fight wars(*), they'll also do you for an action figure, farm out the contract for cranking out a line of toys, ghostwrite your biography, and book you for as many talk shows as you can stomach.(**) (And collect as much *cha-ching* for your doing so as they can get away with.) Ah yes, join the DeVries agency, and see the world -- and make yourself rich while you make Anna DeVries really rich. Now that's a realistic attitude towards the existence of super-mercs, no? (*) DeVries also had an extensive employment agency for non-combat metahuman talents, and made good money on the industrial side doing so -- but it's the bang-bang division that got the majority of the attention, and the majority of the $$$. (**) While DeVries also maintains a stable of, ahem, people who don't officially work for them, the also have a whole lot of 'face' elites -- after all, combat-trained metahumans kicking the crap out of each other in Third World hellholes looks great on camera, and collecting money for the TV rights to the war they've rented you out to fight is just mercenary enough for them to love it. Popular and charismatic elites became walking media circuses after a while... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries Are you referring to the Elite custom of masks? Hey, I liked their variation of taking the mask of your fallen foe as a way of counting coup over him and earning merc cred at the expense of his reputation. I also liked how Lance "Stone Badass" Stryker took his unmasking and used PR spin to turn it into a point of pride -- "Masks are for cowards! I don't do nothin' that I'm ashamed to own up to, and that's a damn fact!" I liked the fact that certain elites were thinly disguised clones of certain WWE superstars. Also like the fact that there's actually a write up of Ric Flair in the XWF book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries I always looked at it like... well, even in a world w/ superpowered people, kids still grow up reading comic books. If some of those kids then grow up and get *real* superpowers... ... they might just indulge themselves in some of the genre conventions. Not the ones that might actually get them killed, but the 'harmless' ones, like wearing masks and having fancy names. Not to mention the part in "Elites" where they mention that at least two of the top metahuman merc contracting agencies encourage such behavior just for the advertising revenue alone, not to mention the merchandising potential... after all, if they didn't have fancy code names and wear distinctive costumes, who the hell would buy their action figures? In the real world, costumed superheroes (if they existed) would have to trademark their costumes to prevent Mattel from selling action figures of themselves and then suing them for unauthorized use of a Mattel trademark! Our Silver-Age-like campaign for the most part glosses over such ugly truths, but we make up for it by having supers treated as major celebrities; on a par with any Hollywood diva or leading man. That's right down to the unauthorized biographies, poorly done TV "documentaries", checkout-stand magazines such as the Weekly Globe Enquirer, and doctored pornographic pics of favorite heroines. (In our world, when my character Zl'f said in an interview she liked horseback riding, 12 million teenaged girls in Europe and America immediately signed up for horseback riding lessons; starting the biggest teen fad for horses since the heyday of Secretariat in the 70's.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug McCrae Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries In our world' date=' when my character Zl'f said in an interview she liked horseback riding, 12 million teenaged girls in Europe and America immediately signed up for horseback riding lessons; starting the biggest teen fad for horses since the heyday of Secretariat in the 70's.[/quote']With great power comes great responsibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Divago Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries With great power comes great responsibility. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Re: Money And Super-Mercenaries With great power comes great responsibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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