Devil May Cry: how do I make shop?

[Kakashi Hatake]

It seems like it would mostly involve you or others coming up with characters to be your Hirelings and then having folks drop by and 'hire' one for their storyline or quest. They could then RP that person them-self or you could if it's easier/makes more sense. Nealaphh has a similar thing going on with RPing his flunkies in threads all over the place. It's a pretty cool idea, honestly. It can help people that otherwise would get bored solo-ing in their storyline.

The only caveats would be that they wouldn't be actually useful in combat unless permanently bought as assists by the person hiring, it'd just be for writing goodness. You also wouldn't actually swap OM in the process, but it's definitely doable otherwise. As for how it can be done, it sounds like you've got it down with what you have here. Come up with mercenaries, advertise your services and start the fun. Just bear in mind that you'd be running/coordinating all of this.