SR: Mr. Johnson and you...

[CykoSpin]

Something has been on my mind a lot lately, something that I haven't really given much thought to in the past because, frankly, I'd get a headache trying and so would just resort to "roll-playing" the situation out:

Digging up info on Mr. Johnson.

I'd expect Johnsons (or rather, those that employ them) to go to great pains to conceal their identities, so how much can Shadowrunners really expect to learn about someone with more incentive to "not exist" than they do?

[Jestyr]

how much can Shadowrunners really expect to learn about someone with more incentive to "not exist" than they do?

For a Mr. Johnson, anonymity is his job. For a shadowrunner, anonymity is his life.

[CykoSpin]

Let me elaborate on that.
It's a Johnson's prerogative to know abso-fucking-lutely everything he damn well can about the 'runners he employs. However, the reverse doesn't hold true; while it is expected for a Johnson to know a lot more about you than you know about him, it is a severe health risk for Shadowrunners to know "too much" about the guy on the other side of the table.

[WillyGilligan]

I agree with Cyko. I think a Johnson would have more anonymity than a runner for a lot of reasons. He's the link that makes or breaks 'plausible deniablity', so any corporation employing somebody for this is going to throw as many resources as they can to protecting information about him. I wouldn't be surprised if they had no fingerprints or dental work on file anywhere, for example. If he drives a car, it will be registered to a ghost with no connection to the corporation, that sort of thing. This works more for AAA corps that have this kinda money and clout, but there would still be a staff behind a professional Johnsons anonymity, whereas a runner has him/her self and a few contacts to work with.

Plus, a runner has to walk a line between reputation and anonymity. Nobody needs to know your favorite color or that you like to vacation in Cabo every Christmas, but the word on the street has to have your name, what kind of work you do, and 'references' to back up how good you are so that you can get jobs in the first place. Plus you need to let people in the shadows know how to contact you someway so that they can tell you there's a job opening, unless you rely on one fixer to hook you up with enough work to pay the bills. All a Johnson needs to let you know is that he has money for anyone that can get the job done.