Contacting Contacts, House Rule: Making it easier to contact Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Switch to: Outline Standard Switch to: Linear+

[DMFubar]

Okay, I have discussed this with Psychopete, and decided to once again bring a matter before the forums.

The current rules for getting in touch with a specific contact is to roll 1d6, if the roll is equal or greater than the contacts connection rating, you have made contact (need to use the word contact a little more in that sentence). Therefore, the contacts of the most use are the hardest to reach. This die roll is not affected by anything else, and is therefore a matter of straight up luck. Even for the runner who has been around awhile with a high rep has the same chance to contact his connection 6 contact as the noob just coming off the bus. What I want to do is make this a little easier for players to do.

Option 1: A new Positive Quality - Connected For every 5 BP spent, you get one additional die to roll on reaching your contact, Max 20 BP.
Option 2: Edge - For every point of Edge, you get an additional die to roll for reaching your contact. This use of Edge does not burn or count as spent in any way, and even if you have spent edge previously, you add your full Edge Attribute to your dice pool in regards to reaching your contact only. This is being considered as we already use a House Rule that beginning characters only receive 1 Edge to start with, no more.
Option 3: Street Cred/Notoriety - I just thought of this one, and had not discussed it with Pete, but it may be the best option. Your dice pool for reaching your Contact is equal to your Street Cred - Notoriety +1 (initial Die) with a minimum of one die.

Opinions, thoughts, and just general thrashing of my ideas here?

[Slymoon]

1d6 for any contact roll? (I have no clue as to the SR4 method of contacting them)

Maybe tie it in with Loyalty rating?
Then have the GM impose a threshold if necessary for certain "the contact is harder to get ahold of" situations.

So maybe, a Connection 4 Loyalty 2 contact would have 2d6 to roll. If that contact happened to be tied up for a bit give him a threshold of 1.

Really if the TN is the connection rating, then either a Connection 1 contact is always a success or a failure? Odd and the only case where a TN is not 5... right?

[Edge2054]

I like those ideas.

Here's another one that takes loyalty into account.

If you fail your initial roll to get a hold of your contact most people would leave a message of some kind. So to determine if the contact calls you back roll 1d6 and if the die roll comes up their loyalty rating or lower then they return your call. GMs discretion of when they actually get a hold of you. Note that within this system a loyalty six contact will always call you back if they're physically able to, which could lead to an interesting plot hook. (I don't get it, Jimmy always returns my calls, it's been days and no word).

If you don't want to go with GM fiat on call backs here's some options. Something simple would just be within some time increment determined by connection rating, for example a connection rating 1 contact gets a hold of you within an hour, a rating 2 within 2 hours, etc. etc. Something more complicated could be rolling loyalty as a dice pool on an extended (connection rating) test with a base time of one hour.

[Jhaiisiin]

I agree with tying in loyalty. I'd have had 1/2 or 1/3 loyalty (round down, so range 0-3 or 0-2 respectively) reduce the difficulty in reaching said contact. Someone closer to you will know better ways to reach you, after all. So a 6/6 contact would be reachable on a roll of 4 or higher (with the 1/3 loyalty way of doing it), wheras a 1/6 contact would still require the 6 straight up. Edge's rule a bout making the loyalty a second roll for a call back works wonderfully too I think.

EDITED to clarify my own idea. Sheesh.

[StormWatcher]

Wow, i just RP the contacting the contact stuff..
didn't know there was rules for it..

why role a dice when you can just make a judgement call?

[Slymoon]

RP the contact is what I typically have done in SR3. However, sometimes it seems to be just a whim whether or not I decide the character reaches the contact.

Neither way is incorrect

[Fortune]

I never use those rules. I just wing it.

[Pyritefoolsgold]

loyalty should have something to do with the first roll too. After all, if you're the daughter of Damien Knight, you probably don't have to go through his secretary to contact him.

[nathanross]

SR4 does have some kinks in it's contact system. The "do you get in contact" rule is stupid and against the core mechanic. I just assume that you can always get in contact or at least leave a message and they will get back to you soon. If you cant contact a connection 6 contact no matter how loyal they are to you, what is the point?

Also, I think contact unavailability should be a GM device to either keep info from a character at a certain time or as a plot device.

[Method]

1.) I like the idea of a connected edge.

2.) I don't like the idea of an alternate dice mechanic (where'd this single die roll come from?).

I would make an extended test like:
- DP = Charisma + Loyalty
- Threshold = Connection (as a rough estimate for how busy a contact is)
- Interval of 1 hour (ish).
- Dice modifiers: Street Cred (+), Notoriety (-), the proposed Connected edge (+1 die per level), the amount of (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) involved, and probably a social adept power here and there

[deek]

I use the single die mechanic all the time. I guess the twist that I put on it is that if they don't get in "contact" by the roll, then they leave a message and then I make another d6 roll to determine when they get a callback. For our game, that is sufficient in most situations. I really don't figure loyalty into the rolls, as that comes into play when they are actually talking to their contact and asking them for something.

I never thought of using Edge on these rolls, but I'd allow it and just use the normal rules. Give them extra Edge dice and exploding 6's, or let them reroll failures...I mean, unless I have a reason the contact is not reachable, I don't see a problem with Edge giving the runner a guaranteed contact...

[DMFubar]

Thanks to everyone for their opinions and comments, that is what I love about this forum compared to many of the other rpg forums out there. I think I am going to use Edge2054's idea. It is the simplest and incorporates everything needed without my ideas adding too much additional b.s. to the system.

Thanks again all!