Standard trap and removal fee.

[Ronin Shinobi]

Considering that the agency creation in boxed nightmare has a Crime and Supernatural busting agency option. What would be the stand fees for investigating paranormal activities and combating supernatural horrors?

[Lord Z]

Ohh, I don't think that there would be a standardized fee. Most Lazlo characters work pro-bono. On the other extreme, Nemesis was offered about a few million dollars to clean out a major infestation of shadow beasts in DuBai. Typically, people pay what they can afford. Your group can establish its own standard fees.

If you would rather have a formula to use, look up the Funding Rules that I wrote in the in the Court of Tarot erata. It's an article in pdf for over at Nexus Nine dot net.

[mrloucifer]

Its true, in such a unique "business" as this, you really CANT charge anything standard. In most cases you'd probrably see a "private eye" like schedule where there may be a flat daily/hourly fee amd then expenses.

On the other hand, the supernatural love to hang out in the most low class, downtrodden places where the best the family may be able to offer the group is a their heart felt appreciation, their friendship and a home cooked meal.

[mrloucifer]

Its true, in such a unique "business" as this, you really CANT charge anything standard. In most cases you'd probrably see a "private eye" like schedule where there may be a flat daily/hourly fee amd then expenses.

On the other hand, the supernatural love to hang out in the most low class, downtrodden places where the best the family may be able to offer the group is a their heart felt appreciation, their friendship and a home cooked meal.

I actually plan to include something about this in the ghost book. In my ghost hunting days we once helped out a very financially poor (but extremely rich in heart) family by helping them them to discover that the weird sounds in the dead of night are just loose boards and an old, beat up house that settles and has bad habits in the temperature changes.

They treated us all to a authentic mexican home cooked meal as a grateful thank you and wouldnt take our insistent "no's" for an answer. We never charged for our sevices and no payment was ever neccessary, but the thought and effort was much more gratifying and fullfilling than any "thank you" I'd ever received from a client.

That can translate very easily to the conclusion of a BTS game, where in a world where the gang is so unappreciated by the world at large, they were heroes to a family that had no one else they COULD HAVE turned to for help.

[Ronin Shinobi]

So suggestion would be charge on a case by case basis.

[Cybermancer]

If you're going the agency route, that charges for its services then you can use the weekly or monthly salaries of the group as a starting point. Say that their salary represents about 20% of the cost of hiring them, just as a starting off point. Now, you're going to want to further divide this based on how often they are hired.

Take for example four teammates who earn $1,000 a week. If they only typically have one job a week, then it costs $4,000 just to pay them that week. Their salary with overhead and such based on the above equation would be about $20,000. That means if they're only doing one job a week, it needs to cost $20,000 to pay the bills. If the team gets one job a day, Monday to Friday than each job can cost $4,000 and still cover the bills based on the above equation. Two jobs a day drops the price even lower to $2,000.

If the team has a finicial wiz, say someone with business and finance who makes their roll and lowers expenses then you can probably drop the price to the customer by 20-30%. Fewer team members or lower salaries are also likely to lower the cost. Multiple teams that are busy and sharing infrastructure can reduce the price by as much as 50%. It also creates NPC's for the PC's to have friendships and rivalries with.

So if you have an agency with maybe four teams, doing maybe five jobs a week each, sharing infrastructure and support staff with a real finicial wiz overseeing things, you could drop the cost per job to between $1,000 to $2,000 per job. Although the agency is still going to be small, and have tight purse strings. They will also likely need a very large city such as New York to support that much activity.

Other sources of income might also be considered. Research grants from a variety of sources could help. An eccentric philanthropist might also be footing part of the bill.

The better funded the agency is, and the better paid the agents are, the more the customer is going to have to pay out.

A lot of money can actually be saved by cutting out the agency altogether. Four guys can get together, figure out what they want as a living wage plus their overhead and expenses (be sure to remind them of liscensing requirements, taxes and so forth) can keep costs low. Especially if they're fairly busy. If they decided to pay themselves $750 a week each and managed to keep overhead down to about $1,000 a week, they would have to make $4,000 a week to stay afloat. If they average one job a week, that's what they'll have to charge. If they get five jobs a week, they can charge $1,000 a week or less.

If they all have full time jobs and are doing this as a second job or hobby, then all they really need to be worried about is operating costs. If they're out to help others, they may swallow those costs from their own incomes, being able to offer their services for free.

Ohh, I don't think that there would be a standardized fee. Most Lazlo characters work pro-bono. On the other extreme, Nemesis was offered about a few million dollars to clean out a major infestation of shadow beasts in DuBai. Typically, people pay what they can afford. Your group can establish its own standard fees.

As an interesting aside, the most that Nemesis has ever actually been paid for a supernatural job was $600,000 by a fellow poster over at LS.Org. Someone who has requested to remain unknown although Nemesis will shortly begin working on that story now that things have quieted down for a bit.

Also, thanks for posting that Dubai Job, Lord Z. It was a hoot.

[Ronin Shinobi]

That's perfect. It was basic formula I was looking for. Thanks.

[Armorlord]

Peter: Now, Let's talk seriously, now. For the entrapment, we're gonna have to ask you for (glances at Egon who subtly holds up four fingers) …four big ones. Four thousand dollars for that. But we are having a special this week on proton charging and storage of the beast, and that's only going to come to (looks at Egon again who holds up one finger) …one thousand dollars, fortunately.
Hotel Manager: Five thousand dollars? I had no idea it would be so much. I won't pay it.
Peter: Well, that's all right! We can just put it right back in there.
Ray: We certainly can, Dr. Venkman.
Hotel Manager: No, no, no, no! All right! I'll pay anything!
Peter: Thanks so much.
Ray: Thank you! Hope we can help you again! All right, coming through! Watch out! Class Five full roaming vapor! Watch out!

When in doubt, consult the classics.
Which goes by the general formula as well, they weren't paying themselves so much as covering overhead and board at this point, when they were fortunate enough to hit upon a customer with pockets deep enough charge sufficiently to keep them out of the red. At points where they get more business you see them advertising more and offering 'specials and discounts', afford enough that they can have apartments and homes separate from firehouse, and hire additional help.

[Lord Z]

Yes Ronin, I would handle it on a case by case basis.

Uncle Cifer, great story!

Mancer, thank you for inviting me to be involved. I had fun too. Your explanation of price structures, by the way, look good. My funding formula is based off of occupation wage also, but your take on it is a little more realistic and elegant. My version is designed to simulate negotiations with a sponsor.

Armor, thanks for the quote from my favorite movie. I needed that.

[Jasper]

Another couple considerations.

If trying to keep expenses down the organization could look into finding an office/base/HQ by checking out haunted buildings that won't rent. They sign a long-term lease for really cheap first, THEN go in and remove the ghosts. Now they've secured a low-rent home.

Also jobs might be seasonal with the busy periods after solstices, equinoxoes, eclipses and pagan religious holidays (Beltane) as practitioners of magic using nexus points on these days for magic casting lets basic beasties like poltergeists and minor entities slip through into our world. Things would slow down for periods after the rush.

Also, employees at your organizations might be paid as contract workers not salaried (except for key staff). This prevents slow periods from draining company coffers. Less called upon workers may have to get day jobs and you could get company politics as certain favorite employees get more work or cushy jobs or the ones involving less travel (or travel to exotic locations like Paris...)

Expenses should also be mentioned. Taking a job 10 miles from the office is a low cost job. Taking one involving serious travel and hotel costs will jack the job cost right up. Damages are another consideration, if that annoying poltergiest throws rocks at the company car that's another cost. Insurance is a sound investment, though rewriting claims to sound more plausible would be a must .

[Lord Z]

I am so tempted to write up a character who is a stressed insurance agent.