Contact's too uber? Options

[Emrak]

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?

[Shrike30]

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?"

[James McMurray]

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 Mechs of Awesome DOOM!!!

[ShadowDragon8685]

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? :)

[Derek]

[ShadowDragon8685]

[Abschalten]

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.

[James McMurray]

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.

[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.

• 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.

[JongWK]

[Emrak]

[SL James]

[ShadowDragon]

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.

[coyote6]

[SL James]

That's a pretty lame rule, since it pisses away the whole point of getting a Loyalty 6 contact.

[Glyph]

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.

[stevebugge]

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.

[Dender]

[ShadowDragon8685]

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:

[hyzmarca]

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.

[ShadowDragon8685]

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.