riz@dsf> Riz Cramshot here, kid.  I’m leaking this one to the Global Matrix.

riz@dsf> I was a Runner once, I ran with the big Knights in 2216.  Once, I even ran with Eva Doll.  She almost put her chrome fist through my face.  Take my advice, know when to leave a woman like that alone.

riz@dfs> Read this one through and through.  Trust me on the advice, I’m no Knight, but I’ve watched it all from the outside.

riz@dfs> Initiating transfer…

Finding Your Team

If you are looking for Runners, they are hired out by Persona Fixers who hang in the backrooms across the NBZ.  Persona Fixers connect new or veteran talent with Knights. Each Persona Fixer is specialised, with access to a pool of Runners of a particular type.  If you are looking for more temporary muscle, start by looking for the gang princes and hire some Soldiers.

Your Team – Runners and Soldiers

In the New Boston Zone, if you are going to be doing the dangerous work of a Cyber Knight, you can’t go it alone.  Your enemies are too many and too well equipped.  Your Connectors will hand you completely varied jobs, requiring completely different skill sets.  One Knight can’t handle it all.  One Knight can’t watch his own back while he hacks the data terminal.  One Knight can’t blaze through the security forces protecting the target.

Don’t worry, chummer.  There is a solution–Runners like me.  As a Cyber Knight, you have sacrificed your chance at any other life.  You have accepted the quantum computer interface and organic cryptochip implants.  You can never have them removed, the way they are bound to your spine.  You can never go back.  But, us Runners, we can, we might.  Runners are criminals, citizens, and elite experts who know all about Cyber Knights, and the work you do, and are willing to risk their necks to make a cut of the profit you get on your unique talents and your implant.

Without you, Runners wouldn’t have a job.  Without Runners, you couldn’t get your job done.  When you hire a Runner, they will usually sign on for a week and for that time, they are yours and will follow your orders.  You pay them up front, just in case you don’t get as much work done as you hoped, so they still get their cut.

Now, if you can’t afford a Runner, you can hire a Soldier or two.  Certain factions are willing to rent out their muscle to a Cyber Knight for a much smaller fee.

Training and Equipping your Team

Runners like me try to find a good Knight and stick with them.  Knights aren’t easy to come by, and smart ones are even harder.  Working for a Knight whose pushing the edge too hard or not being careful can be a lethal proposition.  But, Runners know where all the money is coming from and that you need them, so they wield some unique advantages in the relationship.

As your work with a Runner, they will gain experience.  You can direct how they invest their experience to insure that they are training skills you need to complete your diverse work.

When it comes to gear and implants, its on your paycheck, chummer.  To keep up with you, Runners will need new armor and guns, high quality cyberware, medical equipment, and ammo–just like you do.  Since they are working at your side, the age-old tradition is that you get to pay.  Lucky you?  But by the Dome, they will have all that gear when you pick them back up again, so don’t sweat it, Knight.