Private Investigation Agencies; Tough to Build

[Library Ogre]

I think I disagree with "Agent Sponsored" being so high a cost. While it's a great benefit to the players, it doesn't do a whole hell of a lot for the agency itself... there's no big advantage to it. I think I would take a page from later "Create an Organization" rules and make Sponsorship provide some benefits (for example, Government Sponsorship might provide a bonus of 5-10 points for "Administrative Control", but with the understood lost of autonomy). An agent-controlled agency wouldn't get a lot of benefits, but would have the niceness of not answering to anyone but clients.

[Glistam]

To make Private Industry believable, you could argue that the character was looking for money to start his investigative industry. For whatever reason (he used to work there, a friend in a high place, random chance, insidious conspiracy, etcetera), some company took note of him and decided to offer their financial backing. All they said wanted in exchange was the occasional job done by the PI for them. Some things they could have him do:

-Dig up dirt on a rival CEO or board member
-Act as a courier of top secret papers
-Retrieve top secret papers being transported by another agent
-Investigate a suspicious employee
-Investigate crimes against the company that the company would prefer stay out of the hands of the police/public

This way the agent would have the freedom to run his own show but he keeps getting jobs from the company that sponsored him. Occasionally he could have some free time to do his own freelance work, but he would be expected to drop what he's working on when the company that "got him started" shows up. Of course, he could just stop having to take their jobs if he just gave them back the money they gave him. With interest.

As far as the company expecting the PI to "turn a profit", that can mean more than just literally financially. The PI's discretion in the cases he works for them could be worth a lot to the company as far as helping them avoid public scandal, costly cover-ups, embarassment, etcetera.

[Regularguy]

A. OUTFITS: None.
B. EQUIPMENT: Cheap Gear.
C. WEAPONS: None.
D. VEHICLES: None.
E. COMMUNICATIONS: None.
F. OFFICES: None.
G. MILITARY POWER: None.
H. SPONSORSHIP: Private Industry.
I. BUDGET: None.
J. ADMINISTRATIVE: None.
K. INTERNAL: None.
L. EXTERNAL: None.
M. CREDENTIALS: Heroes.
N. SALARY: Pittance.

It could be a little rocky at the start; our hero will probably need to live off the $10,000 he's got in the bank while trying to get his agency on the right track. But so long as he can just make it to third level, he'll soon enough get it turning plenty enough of a profit to reimburse him for any and all travel expenses in between paying him like a freelancer making three times the base salary per job -- all while supplying him with free ammunition (and laundry service, at that).

Until that point, though, yes, he's got to handle a couple of first-level and second-level challenges as a gizmoteer relying on (a) dozens of skills, (b) a bunch of cover identities, (c) dozens of other skills, and -- oh, yeah, (d) the fact that "any official and any citizen will jump at the chance to risk their lives helping" this guy (who'll "always receive favorable press" in the process).

Can a PI like that make it through first-level and second-level challenges? Maybe not.

But his contacts? Yeah, they can blow right through that stuff.

[Stormseed]

I think I disagree with "Agent Sponsored" being so high a cost. While it's a great benefit to the players, it doesn't do a whole hell of a lot for the agency itself... there's no big advantage to it. I think I would take a page from later "Create an Organization" rules and make Sponsorship provide some benefits (for example, Government Sponsorship might provide a bonus of 5-10 points for "Administrative Control", but with the understood lost of autonomy). An agent-controlled agency wouldn't get a lot of benefits, but would have the niceness of not answering to anyone but clients.

Has anyone updated them? I think I saw an updated set with HU somewhere, but that was years ago.

[Library Ogre]

I think I disagree with "Agent Sponsored" being so high a cost. While it's a great benefit to the players, it doesn't do a whole hell of a lot for the agency itself... there's no big advantage to it. I think I would take a page from later "Create an Organization" rules and make Sponsorship provide some benefits (for example, Government Sponsorship might provide a bonus of 5-10 points for "Administrative Control", but with the understood lost of autonomy). An agent-controlled agency wouldn't get a lot of benefits, but would have the niceness of not answering to anyone but clients.

Has anyone updated them? I think I saw an updated set with HU somewhere, but that was years ago.

The benefit of "Agent Sponsored" is that you and whoever else works for you can be flexible and do whatever befits you. You are not under the thumb of any agency making YOU do THEIR bidding. Keep in mind, if you worked for a Government Agency, even as a private contractor, and you blew them off for whatever reason, even as a freelance agent, you are going to be subjected to a grilling, possible lawsuit, and a severe backlash from other government agencies, sullying your character's reputation along with his agency. And that's being nice. The worst that could happen is that your character "disappears" without a trace.

That is the benefit of an Agent Sponsored group. If you have a couple guys in your agency, and you allow them some flexibility, that will save them from within YOUR company that same twisted fate that I just discussed with the Government Agency, in theory.

But it is your game, and you can change those rules as you see fit. I don't steer too far from the book, but I do look at the book as more or less "guidelines" than set in stone rules.

Which is what I said. It's a benefit to the players... they get to do what they like. It's not a benefit to the agency... the agency itself gains nothing from being autonomous.