How would you call in a fantasy setting the classic Shadowrun fixer type character, the guy with contacts who get's you the jobs and may or may not screw you over afterwards?
The Quest Giver? The Gm? Barkeep? That shadowy figure dressed in dark robes in the corner of the bar?
I'm not sure there was a medieval English equivalent as such, you could make up your own gutter patois title, most fantasy novels did. Come to think of it, I can't come up with much sci fi that had something similar, its always individuals like "the laughing man" or "madam tapdance".
Bawd.
Don't know how much this will work for you; but I've always been partial to Chamber's King in Yellow Repairer of Reputations. Always thought it was a cool title, have yet to actually use it in game play though.
The list I have so far, in case it helps engender ideas includes:
Go-between
Mediator
Intermediary
Impresario (total misuse of the term, but I could pull it off!)
Broker
Basket weaver
Face/Faceman
Channel
Cutout
Facilitator
Solicitor
rofl@basket-weaver, The Weaver or Spider could be good though.
I would kind of lay off the "it's not a shadowrun until your fixer has betrayed you twice" trope. Fixers whose clients disappear tend to not get other clients. Reputation is everything and is a much greater defense then hired guns/thugs.
Quote from: Soylent Green;589457How would you call in a fantasy setting the classic Shadowrun fixer type character, the guy with contacts who get's you the jobs and may or may not screw you over afterwards?
Meister.
Quote from: CRKrueger;589476I would kind of lay off the "it's not a shadowrun until your fixer has betrayed you twice" trope. Fixers whose clients disappear tend to not get other clients. Reputation is everything and is a much greater defense then hired guns/thugs.
It's the sort of trope that you use sparingly, else it loses it's impact.
For a fantasy fixer, "broker" sounds good, but how about... "Geoff". He's the guy who knows a guy. Taking the time and effort to develop that variety of contacts, in a fantasy world, requires much more hard work than in a modern-day, due to how much slower information travels. He's been everywhere, everyone knows him, and everyone trusts him.
Factor.
Courtier, possibly, or panderer, depending on what kind of default assumptions you want to evoke... "Jack" as in the character on the deck of cards... or "villain" in a more Shakespearian sense, perhaps? Or you can just play with current pop culture and call the class "Littlefinger."
I myself like the term "Factor" mentioned above. You also have mediator or alternately agent.
Quote from: One Horse Town;589486Factor.
Aha, another Belgariad fan. I was also going to say "rake".
Quote from: One Horse Town;589486Factor.
Quote from: The Traveller;589503Aha, another Belgariad fan. I was also going to say "rake".
Evokes Planescape for me.
or Rob Roy.
"My factor will call upon Your Grace's factor."- Montrose
I dig basket weaver. :rotfl:
I'd probably scrounge medieval professions for anything that sounds decent and then mock it up:
Page Errant
Limner of Vouwes
Remedie-monger
Apotheca Venia ('storehouse' 'permission')
Reconsyler (of Middle English, reconsyle: to recover, regain the possession of)
Recouerer (Mid English; restorer, savior. "returner of one's heart"?)
Vouche Sauf (vouchsafe)
here's the online Middle English Dictionary I used.
Gutenberg MED: Intro (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10625/10625-h/main.html)
Best name I've ever heard for one of these guys, I think it was ripped off a song, was "the cadging rambler", referring to a gypsy king with an enormously loaded wagon who travelled from burgh to burgh bringing news and lifting whatever wasn't nailed down.
Quote from: One Horse Town;589466Bawd.
Pimp.
In my Albion campaign, his name's "Sean the Cyrmi Bastard".
RPGPundit
Agent?
Quote from: Imp;589491Courtier, possibly, or panderer, depending on what kind of default assumptions you want to evoke... "Jack" as in the character on the deck of cards... or "villain" in a more Shakespearian sense, perhaps? Or you can just play with current pop culture and call the class "Littlefinger."
Like I said, "Pimp."
JG
Does it need a single name? If it did, I would probably just suggest "rogue". Though in some campaigns, "Tavern-owner" might be more appropriate.
RPGPundit