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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Contact's too uber?
Posted by: Emrak Jun 23 2006, 11:54 PM
Hey all,
Is it legitimate to pick anyone as a contact during character creation?
Meaning, can I pick:
1.) The head of the Yakuza in Seattle
2.) The of the Sicilian Mafia in Seattle
3.) The president of the UCAS
etc....
What, if any, rules are there in this regard? Or is it entirely up to the GM's mandate?
Posted by: Shrike30 Jun 23 2006, 11:58 PM
The first rule is that if you WANT to stick 12 points into a contact, you can get a 6/6 contact, representing someone way, waaaay the hell up there.
The second rule is that the GM has to be okay with the character.
That's it. There's no written-down limit to who you know, just a GM saying "Yeah, I can dig that," or "Are you crazy?"
Posted by: James McMurray Jun 23 2006, 11:58 PM
Mostly GM Mandate. But remember, if someone is your contact, you're also theirs. The high and mighty don't give away favors, they trade them, and sometimes they just demand them. Knowing the president can save your butt, but it also might get it shipped off to Iraq to fight Shedim Hussein's http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/1750/11415338597564uj.jpg
Posted by: ShadowDragon8685 Jun 24 2006, 01:06 AM
Front Mission, heh.
Don't you know that Shadowrunners dig mechs? I garuntee, you combine Mechs and Shadowrun, and you will find your Shadowrunners going to great lengths to secure mecha. Remember how in the old days, a person would make a Rigger with great EWar gear, forsake all drones, and get his first drone by stealing a Lone Star Strato-9? 
Posted by: Derek Jun 24 2006, 02:35 AM
| QUOTE (James McMurray) |
| http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/1750/11415338597564uj.jpg |
I tell you what, if I ever saw that when I was patrolling downtown Ramadi, I would have shit myself, on the spot.
Dave
Posted by: ShadowDragon8685 Jun 24 2006, 03:04 AM
| QUOTE (Derek) | ||
I tell you what, if I ever saw that when I was patrolling downtown Ramadi, I would have shit myself, on the spot. Dave |
What if it'd had Old Glory on the shoulders?
Posted by: Abschalten Jun 24 2006, 06:48 PM
The rule I threw in (because one of my munchkin-assed former players) is that you can spend up to 6 BPs on a contact, and with a max of 4 BPs in either direction (Loyalty or Contacts.) This is to prevent people taking multiple 6/6 contacts and working them to get favors, cash, and prizes. I feel like if you have a 6/6 contact you shouldn't even be a damn shadowrunner.
Posted by: James McMurray Jun 24 2006, 07:28 PM
There's all sorts of reasons for having a 6/6 contact. that person may be highly loyal to you for any of a number of reasons (family ties, you saved their bacon once, you've got blackmail info on them, or whatever). But for other reasons (probably related to you being a criminal) they can't interact with you openly. so despite you being on fairly good terms with Dunkhelzahn, he can't just give you a bajillion dollars.
It's not for everyone. I probably wouldn't allow it unless it was well defined and could be fit into the campaign easily, but it's doable. the big thing to remember is reciprocity.
Posted by: hyzmarca Jun 24 2006, 08:03 PM
Do you know what the biggest problem with being the best friend of a world leader is? People know that you're the best friend of a world leader.
Here are some names to think about: Bloodyguts, Dark Father, John Timmons, Shavan, and Vincent Penchyk.
- Bloodyguts and Dark Father were Otaku created by Mirage. They were like family to the AI. One day Mirage steped on Deus' toes. Deus had Bloodyguts and Dark Father (among others) killed to send a message to Mirage.
- Vincent Penchyk was the brother of UCAS VP canidate Anne Penchyk. Some Mantids with political aspirations kidnapped and Invested him as part of a plan to capture and Invest Anne Penchyk herself.
- Shavan was a polititian with business connections to Lofwyr. Almaise ate her to send a messge to his brother.
- John Timmons was Dunkie's first interperator. He caught a bullet with his brain. Some say that it was an anti-metahuman nutcase. Others say that it was Dunkie himself.
A 6/6 contact isn't a titanium credit card that you never have to pay back. A 6/6contact is an excuse for the GM to proclaim ".... and suddenly, ninjas...." at any time. A 6/6 contact is why the GM asked you to roll perception to spot that sniper on your way to the corner Stuffer Shack. A 6/6 contact is a plot device to be used against you as often as it is used for you. And if you are too much of a liability "friend for life" can turn into "hires snipers to kill you" fairly quickly.
Posted by: JongWK Jun 24 2006, 08:28 PM
| QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685) | ||||
What if it'd had Old Glory on the shoulders? |
The http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c220/rvilliers/Humor/OP-President.jpg is sending in http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c220/rvilliers/Humor/tankbomb2zy.jpg
Posted by: Emrak Jun 24 2006, 11:30 PM
| QUOTE |
| Do you know what the biggest problem with being the best friend of a world leader is? People know that you're the best friend of a world leader. Here are some names to think about: Bloodyguts, Dark Father, John Timmons, Shavan, and Vincent Penchyk.
A 6/6 contact isn't a titanium credit card that you never have to pay back. A 6/6contact is an excuse for the GM to proclaim ".... and suddenly, ninjas...." at any time. A 6/6 contact is why the GM asked you to roll perception to spot that sniper on your way to the corner Stuffer Shack. A 6/6 contact is a plot device to be used against you as often as it is used for you. And if you are too much of a liability "friend for life" can turn into "hires snipers to kill you" fairly quickly. |
Excellent point!
Posted by: SL James Jun 25 2006, 01:33 AM
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
| A 6/6 contact isn't a titanium credit card that you never have to pay back. A 6/6contact is an excuse for the GM to proclaim ".... and suddenly, ninjas...." at any time. |
You win Dumpshock.
Posted by: ShadowDragon Jun 25 2006, 06:10 AM
I let my players take 6/6 contacts, but the higher the connection rating, the harder it is to get ahold of them. I let my players know that a 6 connection guy will make appoitments, or get back to the player in a matter of days (depending on loyalty). So that 6/6 contact will be useful when time isn't an issue, but for reutine legwork you'd be better off with a more modest contact.
The exact system I use is pretty simple. I roll a D6. If I roll the connection rating or above, they answer the commlink. If not, they get back to the player based on when I feel like it (and depending on how critical it is to the storyline), which is sooner the more loyal and less connected they are.
Posted by: coyote6 Jun 26 2006, 04:04 AM
| QUOTE (ShadowDragon) |
| The exact system I use is pretty simple. I roll a D6. If I roll the connection rating or above, they answer the commlink. If not, they get back to the player based on when I feel like it (and depending on how critical it is to the storyline), which is sooner the more loyal and less connected they are. |
That's actually the rule in 4e (or rather, the suggested rule for when the GM doesn't have specific plans; page 279).
I keep forgetting it, of course.
Posted by: SL James Jun 26 2006, 07:25 AM
That's a pretty lame rule, since it pisses away the whole point of getting a Loyalty 6 contact.
Posted by: Glyph Jun 26 2006, 07:58 AM
The sentence following that rule does mention that other factors can affect the contact's availability. If you want a rule, though, you could say that you have the option of adding half of the loyalty rating to the roll. For a contact with connection: 6 and loyalty: 6, that could represent that the character has emergency means of reaching that contact.
But maybe it should be a player choice as to whether or not to use that means of reaching the contact. If the CEO rushes out of his luncheon presentation because he's getting an emergency call from his best buddy from college who saved his life, he'll be less than pleased if the character is calling him to ask whether he's heard of a secret VIP room in a certain club, or whatever.
Loyalty should let you get ahold of a contact in an emergency, but usually they will be putting together a lot of deals, and otherwise maintaining that connection rating of 6. Disrupting their schedules for piddling queries would be pretty rude, and would probably start eroding that loyalty rating.
Posted by: stevebugge Jun 26 2006, 03:33 PM
For me the ratings aren't so much the issue as how the player uses the contact. IF a situation comes up and the player out of character instantly says "Hey I have a Blah Blah Contact, I'll just call him and he'll take care of it" then even if it's a 1/1 contact it's a problem, on the other hand if the player can handle the situation in character (these kinds of players usually take contacts that fit their character anyway) and make a deal that is mutually beneficial to contact and character (ok maybe a bit in favor of the contact) then it's OK. Of course making a deal with Lofwyr is probably a step worse than selling your soul to the devil where as the neighborhood snitch is probably much easier to satisfy.
Posted by: Dender Jun 26 2006, 03:55 PM
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
| Do you know what the biggest problem with being the best friend of a world leader is? People know that you're the best friend of a world leader. Here are some names to think about: Bloodyguts, Dark Father, John Timmons, Shavan, and Vincent Penchyk.
a A 6/6 contact isn't a titanium credit card that you never have to pay back. A 6/6contact is an excuse for the GM to proclaim ".... and suddenly, ninjas...." at any time. A 6/6 contact is why the GM asked you to roll perception to spot that sniper on your way to the corner Stuffer Shack. A 6/6 contact is a plot device to be used against you as often as it is used for you. And if you are too much of a liability "friend for life" can turn into "hires snipers to kill you" fairly quickly. |
perfect, thank you for this one. Especially the bold part
Posted by: ShadowDragon8685 Jun 26 2006, 05:23 PM
Of course if you're going to do that, you might as well just narrate to the players what happens.
And obviously, John Timmons had a 1/6 rating with Big D, not a 6/6. The exact definition of a 6 Loyalty is:
| QUOTE (Shadowrun 4th Edition @ P. 279) |
Friend for Lie. The contact will do whatever he can for the character, even if it means putting his own life on the line. |
Yes, if you yank him out of multinational deals with your emergency contact system to ask him to look up something for you, he's going to be pissed, but he'll do it. You'll probably drop his Loyalty to 5 for it, though, but he'll assume it's THAT important to you.
Or you can make a regular call with a data burst that says "Hey man, I got some stuff going down. Do you know anything about this guy?" <Attached IMG>
And when he sees it, probably in 3d6 hours when he gets around to checking his mail, he'll AR up a quick querry to his own resources, asking them to put out feelers about this. He won't flag it urgent so it dosen't raise suspicion, and when he gets their info back, he'll forward it.
If, on the other hand, you pull him out with the emergency line, and it's something like "Oh god Jack, you gotta help me! They - they're dead! They're all dead! The bastards geeked 'em man, it was a set up! You gotta get me out of here, I slipped out, but they're after me! They - they think I know something, and I don't know what they think I know, but they're coming for me anyway!"
It won't drop his Loyalty, because it's a genuine emergency. That's when having a connections 6 contact helps.
Posted by: hyzmarca Jun 26 2006, 05:51 PM
The only evidence that Big D had Timmons killed are the facts that he was unable to stop the shooting, that he was unable to heal Timmons magically, and that he reduced the sniper to "flaming component atoms" with a single glance. The later is perfectly normal for an angry dragon. Healing Timmons would have been impossible if the bullet killed him instantly (gotta love overdamage rules) and it is likely that he had Detect Enemies on himself, not Timmons. Bullet Barrier probably hadn't been invented yet.
There are cases in real life where people who are otherwise best friends kill each other over relatively petty things. A Loyalty rating of 6 doesn't stop him from challanging you to a duel to the death because you both like the same girl, for example, unless he's into polyandry.
Posted by: ShadowDragon8685 Jun 26 2006, 07:55 PM
Rule #1:
Always let the dragon have the girl.
2: Hyz has a really good point. It's not impossible for even a GD to be taken unawares, so long as your target isen't the GD. And with major overdamage (like say, eating a .50 cal to the brain), it's not impossible to suppose that ole Timmons was dead in a flash, before Big D could react.
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