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Facilitators are the best archetype to play because they are
the brains of the whole operation.
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Without a Facilitator a Runner team is adrift and will run aground
more often than not.
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It's also sweet to be able to call most of the shots -- it's
always better to be the man with the plan than a minion.
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ROLE
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Facilitators are movers and shakers, face men, planners, and
leaders.
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Often times the difference bewteen a successful Runner team
and an unsuccesful (or dead) one is a good Facilitator.
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While Facilitators typically also have a small selection of
some other Archetype's abilities, they lack the focus necessary
to be truly successful in that line of work in the long term.
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It's their ability to facilitate the success of a Run in the
setup & planning phase that makes or breaks them, and determines
the level of esteem in which they are held by Runners and Fixers.
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FOCUS
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Facilitators need to be able to wheel and deal, make intelligent
decisions, develop game plans, and otherwise inject a method
to the madness of Running.
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They also need to be generally capable and able to win the respect
of often times fractious Runners.
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Facilitators must have people skills, plain and simple. If they
can't finesse a supplier, make nice with neutral parties, grease
palms smoothly, and otherwise interface with the human element
of a Run, they will not be successful.
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This isn't to say that they have to be personable, but
it definitely helps to not piss off people who can put a team
in a bad place through either action or inaction. Contacts and
networking are crucial.
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Aside from that, Facilitators can't afford to be liabilities
in the actual execution of a Run, and tend to be decent at several
things.
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An ability to fill in wherever a team is weak by being a generally
capable individual is an excellent asset for a Facilitator to
have. Mechanically Overall Levels are very handy for Facilitators
with a broad skill base as they allow them to be decent at anything
they have basic ability at, including combat.
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Facilitators need to be able to communicate and stay in touch
with their contacts, and should start with enough gear to ensure
that they can do so. Aside from that, the usual basics of some
armor and a gun are also useful.
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FACILITATORS AND FIXERS
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The line between Facilitators and Fixers can seem a little blurry
at times, but while they have some of the same basic operating
principles in theory, and in fact a few Facilitators are also
Fixers and many Facilitators retire into being Fixers, they
are in fact different in practice.
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PICK UP WORK
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To understand where Fixers and Facilitators overlap and where
they differ, it helps to think of Runs in terms of tiers. At
the bottom tier you have the simplest, lowest payoff Runs. Some
of them are even solo Runs, like simple courier missions, some
bodyguard / escort missions, the occasional gumshoe mission.
Things like that. Others require a few people to carryout like
simple extractions, simple raids, simple reprisals, and so on,
but at the end of the day these types of missions don't take
a lot of planning or close management.
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In case it slipped your attention, the emphasis here is on simple.
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These types of missions don't require a crack team of Runners;
they can be staffed by the equivalent of Runner day labor, and
they can usually be summed up in a simple directive or two.
Fixers handle this sort of contract entirely.
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FREELANCE FACILITATOR
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More complicated Runs require a degree of planning and direct
management that a Fixer can handle, but can also offload to
a freelance Facilitator. Basically in this scenario a Fixer
subcontracts or hires the Facilitator to handle the planning
and execution of the Run and the Facilitator is looking out
of the best interests of the Fixer rather than the Runners.
The Fixer might handle recruitment or might not. This is a practice
that is becoming more popular in recent years as SecForces get
better and having a decision maker close to the action becomes
more important.
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Freelancers always have their asses on the line and are in the
unenviable position of being purely middle management -- thus
disliked by the work force (Runners) and frequently bent over
by upper management (Fixers). However, on the pro side their
options are always open.
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TEAM FACILITATOR
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Then you have the classic role of the Facilitator, which is
in the context of established Runner teams that function with
something between semi and full autonomy.
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Most Facilitators feel safest and seek success as part of a
Runner team.
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In this scenario the Facilitator is aligned with the Runners
of their team, and the Fixer is merely a source of work. In
many Runner teams the Facilitator is the leader, but in others
they are just one of the crew and either represent the collective
will of the group or take their orders from whoever happens
to lead the team.
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WHOLESALING
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One of the things that blurs the line a bit between Fixers and
Facilitators is that some Facilitators get some or all of their
work directly from one or more sources rather that from a Fixer.
This is referred to as "wholesaling" or "cutting
out the middleman". This can be lucrative since the Fixer's
cut isnt paid out, but its also dangerous.
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Established Fixers have built up support networks, wracked up
favors, and when all else fails can contract some work on their
own behalf to wreak vengeance on an contractor that frags them
over. Fixers also have avenues of inquiry to collect enough
information to determine if a suspicious contract is bogus or
not. Facilitators rarely have farflung enough contacts to provide
themselves with the same security.
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This can be done by either freelance or team Facilitators, though
it is even more dangerous for freelancers...unless they are
really "Company Men". And the potential for a freelance
Facilitator doing some Wholesaling to really be a Company Man
makes it much more difficult for the freelancer to pull this
off.
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COMPANY MAN
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Some Facilitators work directly for a corporation, though usually
outside the normal hierarchy of a line and block chart (not
always though). Company Men, which is a unisex epithet, are
many and varied in their M.O., openness as to what they are,
and the level to which they work with Runners. At the end of
the day though, they have an agenda and their loyalty is not
to their fellow Runners.
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Most Company Men handle the really sensitive stuff that their
employers want resolved completely off the radar. This sort
of thing is usually high level shenanigans, very black and often
very wet, and it can be correspondingly very dangerous for mere
mortals such as Runners to get involved in them even by accident.
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