Improving contacts (the person kind) Options

[phlapjack77]

How would you think improving the Contact ratings (Connection, Loyalty) during a game would be accomplished? I can't find anything in the book(s) about it.

Roleplaying, xor Karma, or both? If Karma is allowed to be spent, what would it cost?

[Makki]

save his life and loyalty jumps 3 steps. hire a colleague to shoot but not kill him etc
connection is difficult. you need to find him a new job or introduce him to many many new people.

just RP, no karma

[Zyerne]

I don't see connection changing that much during play but loyalty should definately be impacted by player actions.

I believe some of the published scenarios have "increase loyalty by x if runners do y"

[Cheops]

Our group is playing with the concept of personal missions -- fast little 15 minute scenarios that explores your character's life outside the team. One of the "rewards" you can get from that is +1 connections or +1 loyalty for a contact. Obviously the vignette would have to do with the contact in that case.

[Jizmack]

There is an optional rule in Runners Companion, Maintaining Contacts, on page 131.

[Ascalaphus]

So does it bother anyone else that you keep track of an NPC's real loyalty to you on your character sheet? Shouldn't players be somewhat in the dark about the real loyalty rating of their contacts, at least after CharGen?

[ShadowPavement]

I use contact ratings as extra rewards, on top of karma, for my players. It's all RP driven.

Our ork gunslinger did a favor and called his Lone Star contact when they found a kidnaped girl. She got the credit for finding the girl so her loyalty rating went up by 1.

Later he asked a favor of the same contact that put her at personal risk and used some resourses. Her Loyalty and connection rating dropped by 1.

for example.

[ShadowPavement]

So does it bother anyone else that you keep track of an NPC's real loyalty to you on your character sheet? Shouldn't players be somewhat in the dark about the real loyalty rating of their contacts, at least after CharGen?

I have enough to keep track of during the game. The PC's can keep track of their own drek just fine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[phlapjack77]

Good stuff - thanks for the input. Sounds like it's all RP-driven. I missed the Runner's Companion sidebar, that seems like a good way to handle maintaining Contacts.

[Straight Razor]

i find a good etching in sulfuric acid, then an electroplating of what ever platinum metal group you can get, rhodium is the easiest to find; works great for me.
Remember to clean and organic residue off the object before the etching. a strong lye solution is good for that. just rinse it with a little distilled water before putting it in the acid.

when plating low voltage and long exposure makes a thicker more even plating.

if it also needs to be abrasion resistant then ether chrome plate it first, or if you really do not want anything less that the best use a thorium doped tungsten contact. there not to hard to come by, try looking at radiation calibration samples. also surplus high voltage spark gaps.

[phlapjack77]

So does it bother anyone else that you keep track of an NPC's real loyalty to you on your character sheet? Shouldn't players be somewhat in the dark about the real loyalty rating of their contacts, at least after CharGen?

I see your point, I somewhat agree. But this is something the player paid BP for, the same as a skill or a stat or something. They should feel just as confident in their Contact ratings as they are in their stat ratings, since they paid for both. The player isn't going to be happy if they spent points on raising their BOD to 4, then find out the GM has secretly given them a heart-condition that means their BOD is a 1 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If the GM gives free contacts for the game, it's def. up to the GM as to the real loyalty / connection. Maybe also if using the Chr*2 rule for free contacts?

Side note, I have this perspective because I ran a game where at the very beginning, I cut the players off from all contact with the outside world. One player was upset because he had spent a lot of points on contacts and now couldn't use them. He felt like he'd wasted those points. Something I hadn't thought about, before...

[Redcrow]

PCs in my game can not only earn bonuses to the loyalty ratings of their contacts, but they can also incur penalties as well. For instance a PC has a "Johnson" contact who hires the team for a datasteal, but after the group has the data in-hand they are offered a much larger sum of money by another party which they gladly accept. While the team might receive more money for the job, the "Johnson" isn't pleased and their loyalty rating decreases. PCs can even lose contacts altogether if their loyalty rating reaches zero because the players have repeatedly "burned" them in one way or another. The loyalty ratings of contacts tend to fluctuate a bit in my games because I like to create scenarios in which the PCs contacts are a more active part of the world and not simply waiting around for a phone call.

[Ascalaphus]

I see your point, I somewhat agree. But this is something the player paid BP for, the same as a skill or a stat or something. They should feel just as confident in their Contact ratings as they are in their stat ratings, since they paid for both. The player isn't going to be happy if they spent points on raising their BOD to 4, then find out the GM has secretly given them a heart-condition that means their BOD is a 1 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If the GM gives free contacts for the game, it's def. up to the GM as to the real loyalty / connection. Maybe also if using the Chr*2 rule for free contacts?

Side note, I have this perspective because I ran a game where at the very beginning, I cut the players off from all contact with the outside world. One player was upset because he had spent a lot of points on contacts and now couldn't use them. He felt like he'd wasted those points. Something I hadn't thought about, before...

I agree with your doubts; I have them myself too. Players should get what they paid for. But on the other hand, in a supposedly paranoid world, having an accurate list of how much you can trust people is also wonky.

[Raiki]

I agree with your doubts; I have them myself too. Players should get what they paid for. But on the other hand, in a supposedly paranoid world, having an accurate list of how much you can trust people is also wonky.

I don't see it as a list of trustworthiness so much as a gut feeling.

For example: "Jimmy and I have been best friends since the second grade. We've robbed banks together, stolen cars, done time. He was the best man at my wedding...to his sister. Hell, he even took my side in the divorce. We've saved each others lives countless times. Whenever the chips get low and the drek hits the fan, I know for a fact that Jimmy's got my back. Hell, I've bailed him out of worse anyway."



~R~

[Aku]

I'd say once the game is on, it's fair that the players dont get the exact crunch from losing loyalty ratings. After all, whats the mechanical difference of telling a player "Because you did/didnt do THIS you're loyalty with X drops y points" and "When you next talk to X, they seem a bit upset, perhaps because you did/didnt do THIS" and you secretly drop the loyalty y points? After all, if you TELL them about the decrease, you're still taking away something they paid for.

[phlapjack77]

I agree with your doubts; I have them myself too. Players should get what they paid for. But on the other hand, in a supposedly paranoid world, having an accurate list of how much you can trust people is also wonky.

I guess some of that depends on the game, the level of paranoia. I agree, I think the GM should have some amount of leeway in throwing a curveball the PCs way. If there is one contact that totally turns out to be opposite of what the char thinks the loyalty is, that's interesting. Doing it repeatedly just seems...mean. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Anyway, I don't think the loyalty ratings REALLY totally nail-down the trustworthiness (except at like rating 5 and up?). Just because you have a loyalty 2 contact doesn't mean they won't sell you out, does it?

[Neurosis]

Definitely roleplaying, I think. That's how contacts are improved, awarded, degraded, and lost over the course of my games.

[rofltehcat]

What if someone wants to get a specific new contact or wants to increase a specific existing contact outside the game?
When the Sam wants to increase his Automatics from 5 to 6, most people won't roleplay his training at the shooting range either. He just pays the karma and maybe a little money/lifestyle cost for the training time.
So if someone wants to get a new contact, let's say he wants a mechanic/junkyard contact, are you going to roleplay him calling his fixer, paying a hundred Nuyen and then talking to the mechanic to get a 2/1 connection that can later be raised? Or are you just gonna give it to him for X karma and a few hundred Nuyen? Or do you tell him that he can't find new contacts outside the game? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleepy.gif)
After all there normally is a week or so downtime between runs, isn't it? Characters need something to do in that time.
I guess increasing a contact's connection rating is kinda hard, but increasing the loyalty? Can't you just say 'you spend 3 days helping him with <whatever>', pay a little karma and then you are done?

Roleplaying every single increase just seems to be so much effort to me. I guess big steps in character development like initiation should be roleplayed, maybe even be one of the topics in an adventure, but small steps?
However, I am a big fan of collecting contacts from runs.

[Aku]

I would say acquiring a contact fresh should be done somewhere within in the game, some how. or, atleast, in an IC manner, for the most part.

[Makki]

gaining a Loyalty 1 contact requires no more than meet him twice, so he will store your number in his phone book. there's really nothing more to it. he won't care about you in any way, but you know a guy that does X or knows Y or sells Z

[Redcrow]

I tend to use a mix of roleplaying and Karma for gaining contacts and improving their loyalty rating. It really depends on the situation. I may grant an increase in a contacts loyalty rating after a run in which the character(s) aided the contact in some important way. Karma can also be spent between runs to represent things done during "downtime" to improve a characters standing with a contact. Unfortunately, players in my game have a tendency to overlook the importance of having loyal contacts in favor of improving skills and other things and then are left wondering which of their contacts sold them out.

As an aside, I also have players in my game name at least 3 non-contacts who are important in their lives. This can be friends, family, rivals, enemies, etc., but it represents NPCs the character knows who are important to them, but who can't neccessarily provide them the type of aid/support that a standard contact would.

[phlapjack77]

And I can see the Loyalty factor only being allowed to be advanced through RP. But the Connection rating? Is there really a way to RP that? Maybe if the GM sets up a small adventure where the actions of the PC(s) advance the Connection of the contact. Otherwise it seems like it'd have to be spending karma...

rofltehcat has a point, I think, in favor of allowing karma to be spent. Contacts are definitely a part of the character, something that is often overlooked in favor of adding 1 to Pistols. Creating a more well-rounded, realistic character seems like it should be encouraged. Depending on the table and the style of game, of course (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Makki]

I remember a story where the group asked its GM to create a plot to increase their fixer's Connection rating.
sounds kinda cool, but only worth it within a very long lasting plot

[Mäx]

And I can see the Loyalty factor only being allowed to be advanced through RP. But the Connection rating? Is there really a way to RP that? Maybe if the GM sets up a small adventure where the actions of the PC(s) advance the Connection of the contact. Otherwise it seems like it'd have to be spending karma...

If you don't allow raising a connection raiting throught RP, how on eart are you justifying the karma spend by player magically improving his contacts connection rating.

Raising that should reguier some major roleplaying, if its possible at all, some contact types are after all allready defined by thier contact rating and wouldn't make that much sense with a higher one.

[Hamsnibit]

Depends on the GM.
I simply dont allow raising a contacts rating or loyalty per karma because it just seems just to easy (and crunchy) for me to raise a 1/1 homeless dude who runs around with some insiders about the local gang to a 6/6 corp exec.
If my runners want to improve their contacts they have to work and to bleed for them. Increasing loyalty at low ratings is an easy task but the higher it goes the harder it gets all done by ingame actions.
I adjust connection rating only when major events happen e.g. my runners in their current mission may improve the connection rating of their anarchist community if they finish their job in the right way. They would not only get their personal reward but also a massive donation by ares to their community (700k (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) for their community) and a preliminay amistice for their ground (as long as they stay in there). All inofficial of course - an upright con like ares would never ever abandon their sworn duty to protect honorably citizens of ucas from sinless criminal anarchist scumbags somewhere out there.

How you handle this question depends on your personal point of view, i think.