How to earn/purchase more contacts Options

[hyulf]

Hello folks,

I feel that I have looked everywhere but cannot find how players earn or purchase more contacts. I believe in 2E/3E you could spend Karma but I cannot find anything for 4E. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

hyulf

[Eight Bit]

Roleplay and in game actions. Page 70 SR4A.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Note that a not uncommon houserule is to allow buying them at (Connection + Loyalty) x 2 karma.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I have also seen just Loyalty x2 in Karma Cost.
We just use in game actions and Roleplay as the standard for acquisition at our table though.

[Snow_Fox]

We do it through role play, purchase when you set them up and after that, good play.

[Midas]

Eight Bit is right in as much as the RAW gets into it, and I seem to remember Missions characters can take some of the folks they come across as contacts if they do the job right or whatever.

Saying that, I prefer players not to shirk or starting contacts, and because I don't want them to think of contacts as a "waste of BP", so under my house rules a character must pay (Connection x Connection)/2 karma to get the contact at Loyalty 1 (this represents efforts the character makes to "form a bond" with the contact, the higher the Connection rating, the harder it is to get "in"), then allow them to increase Loyalty through roleplay (sometimes doing a job for expenses as a favour, helping the contact better themselves etc).

In my game, PC contact relationships are dynamic 2-way streets, and they thread into and out of the PCs narrative all the time.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Eight Bit is right in as much as the RAW gets into it, and I seem to remember Missions characters can take some of the folks they come across as contacts if they do the job right or whatever.

Saying that, I prefer players not to shirk or starting contacts, and because I don't want them to think of contacts as a "waste of BP", so under my house rules a character must pay (Connection x Connection)/2 karma to get the contact at Loyalty 1 (this represents efforts the character makes to "form a bond" with the contact, the higher the Connection rating, the harder it is to get "in"), then allow them to increase Loyalty through roleplay (sometimes doing a job for expenses as a favour, helping the contact better themselves etc).

In my game, PC contact relationships are dynamic 2-way streets, and they thread into and out of the PCs narrative all the time.

*ouch* Pretty pricey there Midas... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Though if you are rounding down, then those 1/1 Contacts are Free.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[hyulf]

Awesome! Thank you for the page rulings and ideas. I think I will be sure to point out potential contacts and how it could work as this is a group of new players. New even to role playing games.

[Jaid]

*ouch* Pretty pricey there Midas... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Though if you are rounding down, then those 1/1 Contacts are Free.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

last i checked, the cashier at the stuffer shack who is willing to let you buy stuff from the store is almost indistinguishable from a 1/1 contact. free is about the right price.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

last i checked, the cashier at the stuffer shack who is willing to let you buy stuff from the store is almost indistinguishable from a 1/1 contact. free is about the right price.

No arguments on that one, but that 1/3 contact is costing you 4 Karma, and the 1/6 is costing you 18. I vastly prefer the roleplay and acquisition over time than I do having to actually pay for them with Karma. Both are viable, but paying Karma grates on me. Fortunately, you do not have to pay for Contacts with Karma by default.

[Jaid]

No arguments on that one, but that 1/3 contact is costing you 4 Karma, and the 1/6 is costing you 18. I vastly prefer the roleplay and acquisition over time than I do having to actually pay for them with Karma. Both are viable, but paying Karma grates on me. Fortunately, you do not have to pay for Contacts with Karma by default.

oh, i won't argue that. the cost for getting a contact at loyalty 1 shouldn't be in karma, and only occasionally should be in nuyen (given that loyalty 1 is "willing to do business with you", i think paying for an introduction to someone is not an unreasonable way to gain certain contacts. in fact, i rather expect this is one of the services a fixer offers. need a smuggler to get your gear someplace while you fly there? your fixer can introduce you to someone who does that sort of thing...)

in general, contacts should be acquired and improved based on role play. the only time i might agree you should pay more karma would be if you have a quality with a cost based on the contact's ratings (the only one that comes to mind would be that a spirit's connection rating should reflect it's power, and the spirit's force rating will therefore increase connection rating, though not necessarily at a 1:1 ratio... and if a spirit's rating improves, then your spirit pact's cost - and effectiveness - will both go up.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Since I don't think I mentioned before, let me chime in with what I do.

Taking a lead off of CRPGS, I separate contacts into Storyline Contacts and Other Contacts. Storyline contacts are people that you know because of stuff that happens in game, and are important to the overall campaign. These have a fixed Connection rating and cannot be improved any way besides roleplay. Other contacts are either mechanical in nature (guy who I can buy stuff from, guy who will teach me how to improve Skill X) or give the character in question sidequests (personal contact with no bearing on the main plot, in other words). Either of the latter type can be bought for (C+L)x2, or can have their existing ratings improved by 2 karma per rating.

[Cain]

No arguments on that one, but that 1/3 contact is costing you 4 Karma, and the 1/6 is costing you 18. I vastly prefer the roleplay and acquisition over time than I do having to actually pay for them with Karma. Both are viable, but paying Karma grates on me. Fortunately, you do not have to pay for Contacts with Karma by default.

I personally prefer the middle road. You can purchase contacts with karma, but you get a discount (or even a penalty) depending on in game actions. I also like the thought that you can raise a contact's Connection rating; they're not supposed to be static, they're evolving characters just like the PC's, and so they should be able to improve. Of course, the only way to raise a Connection rating is through in-game actions and karma expenditure. Between the two of them, you can make something fair and fun for everyone.

[Midas]

No arguments on that one, but that 1/3 contact is costing you 4 Karma, and the 1/6 is costing you 18. I vastly prefer the roleplay and acquisition over time than I do having to actually pay for them with Karma. Both are viable, but paying Karma grates on me. Fortunately, you do not have to pay for Contacts with Karma by default.

Yes, RAW does not require contacts to be bought with karma, and yes, with my house rules getting in with that Connection 6 dude (who, let's face it, is likely to know a shedload of people and be a Very Busy Person) is probably gonna require some karmic effort. Still, such short term pain can lead to long term gain, especially if the PC puts the RP effort into increasing the contact's loyalty rating through doing them favours or making them rich.

As a clarification, I would like to add that I sometimes give my PCs contacts for free. This usually only happens in situations such as the PCs do something particularly advantageous for the NPC outside/above and beyond the call of duty such as save their life, rescue a loved one or waste a hated rival (human nature being what it is), or if the relationship will be financially rewarding to the NPC (because biz is biz) ... or simply pragmatically because I want to introduce the NPC into the ongoing narrative for adventure seed or plot hook reasons.

[Krishach]

My 2 cents: we have never allowed purchases of contacts by karma, and never required karma to be spent. All contacts after game-start require roleplaying, and all contacts require upkeep. Typically anything 3 or more (either getting or maintaining such a rank) is going to involve favors.

Quite a few of the contacts I have ever earned were because I could do someone a favor while taking care of something, and worked it to advantage. For example: on a run requiring stopping a local serial killer from taking out prostitutes, we decided to feed the killer to the gang(s) that "owned" the working girls. He also hadn't been exclusive: 3 total syndicates came gunning to get their money out of his psycho ass. He isn't dead (yet), though we are watching him. He probably wishes we had just killed him.

And thus we gained a loyalty 1 connection 3 contact for a local lieutenant whom we made look good.

[Thanee]

I have adopted a house rule to give an extra 50% Karma in addition to the regular Karma awards, which can only be used to learn/improve Knowledge Skills and to acquire new contacts (or raise the loyalty of existing contacts, subject to GM's approval) during downtime.

Bye
Thanee