A few thoughts on playing characters persistently and how to make sense of choosing Shadow Running as a career:
Regarding alternate identities, street rep, infamy, and public awareness --- Impersonation /Acting/ Con/ Disguise skills can allow you to reasonably assume an alternate identity. While this may seem obvious, it is worth noting that this need not be just for a particular run. So if you have been running the shadows for a considerable time, your rep is solid, and the public is starting to take notice of you it may be time to "retire" from active running and start brokering jobs to (apprentices/students/ up and comers). Obtain a good fake identity or steal an identity of a dead person (which I find has its perks). Then formulate a good disguise to utilize with that identity. Your character becomes a "new" shadowrunner for purposes of who NPC's think they are dealing with, so your rep for that identity should be tracked separately. Your old identity is now your "fixer" or "talent scout" identity. You keep running the shadows and keep making the nuyen and earning the karma while spending a bit on a separate lifestyle to shore up the fake id against scrutiny. If you make a mistake, or once your rep and public awareness with the new id get too well known for comfort, fake the death of the fake identity. Rinse and repeat. This is a great alternative to having investigate reporters chasing your rep and trying to score an interview. It does suck that when you start a new identity, you usually can't command the same top flight runs for a while and thus make a bit less nuyen. But a new identity can let you pass through areas where you wouldn't otherwise be welcome.
Choosing Shadowrunning as a career ---- lets face it, you aren't likely to retire as a Shadowrunner unless you hit an awesome score and get as far away as the planet allows. Shadow runners often are stuck in shadows throughout their lives. Those lives can be AWESOME! You can live on a yacht six months out of the year, or travel the world under different identities to make it hard to track you, while living the tourist life for all its worth. The thing is, something is keeping you out of polite society, and keeping you for making at least that much money legitimately. So what is it? Does it matter?
If you are going to die an old Shadow Runner you need to have the nuyen, you need to have connections, and you need to make sure the enemies you make know its not worth coming after you. To this end I offer the following suggestions.
A) Don't kill security officers or law enforcement. This is more trouble for a runner than its worth. EVER. Additionally, as a player I find it distasteful and avoid it when ever I can. So stun weapons are your friend with this point as much as stealth. Get away cleanly and this never becomes an issue... usually.
B) Take care of your contacts. I make a habit of keeping notes on things I learn about individual contacts (what is she smoking, what does she drink, what clothing brand is she wearing, does he wear a watch, did I see her/him at a Seahawk's game?, and other things such as that). I then make a point to pick up things I think they may like. I'll set up a meet with a contact just to buy them a meal and give them something. I do favors that don't conflict with other interests. I helped my talismonger contact move to a new apartment. I had a bar-b-que at my new doss and had several of them over and made polite professional introductions (be careful with this). Keeping your contacts close doesn't mean they won't betray you, but it may give you more signs as to when they might. Who you know in the biz can help keep you alive. The merc you deal with for heavy weapons might run his own outfit one day, and the fixer you go to might inherit a bar from a dragon. Keep this in mind.
C) Keep some cash on hand in multiple locations, keep some secret accounts, keep some items on hand you can turn into cash, and have safe houses in multiple jurisdictions/countries. In other words, have a place to run to. Who knows, one day you might need to be CAS citizen for the rest of your life. Or at least for the rest of your life under that identity :-).
D) Tech guys (deckers, riggers, street sams)... keep your tech state of the art. Don't fall victim to obsolescence. Sharpen your skills as you upgrade your chrome and bioware, and remember to take the ideas above to heart. Don't just tip your street doc, your mechanic, and your equipment suppliers... become an important part of their biz. Spread the nuyen around a bit.
E) Magicians... take care of your spirits if you summon them. Learn to utilize your electronic devices (it is often the weak point on magicians, more so than physicality). If you find a place to live with a background count aspected to your tradition, STAY THERE! (In this case learn some geomancy and warding, then create a home that is truly your castle in the magical sense).
F) Everyone... sometimes you have things go terribly wrong. Get over it. Pick yourself up and learn what you did wrong. Then don't do it again.
G) Back to contacts... if someone messes with your contacts, make them regret it. Don't take it personally, but make it look like it was extremely personal. Someone puts pressure on your street doc... make sure they need a doc to patch them up. Someone tries to extort your fence... make them use their insurance. Someone kidnaps your fixer's kid.... cut them into pieces and mail them to their parents. You get the idea. Protect your assets as well as your own ass.
These thoughts brought to you today, by me having a lot of free time today (which is really rare).
Have great fun on your runs.
