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Did your GM give you full points for your (probable) Burn-Out level Addiction: CrackBerry? Mine vanished (under my GM's couch as it later turned out) for nearly a week, and it was then that I discovered it's not a joke when people call the damned things "CrackBerrys".
I've only had it for two weeks, and "hi my name is jon and i'm a crackberry addict". I now wonder what I did when I couldn't read dumpshock anywhere.
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Die? No. Betray? The loyalty rating would give SOME indication of the likelyhood of that, especially depending on the amount/quality of the backstory associated with it, wouldn't it? See my reference to Uncle Jack, above.
My whole point that I did a great job of dancing around, is that its kinda foolish to make players pay BP for contacts that are really NPC's which are just tools for the GM. Sure relationships and backgrounds factor, and I don't arbitrarily kill off someone's super loyal fixer, but at the same time, he works in the shadows, he can get capped, maybe just to get at the player.
Once game starts, there is no karma buy system for the connection/loyalty. That is adjusted based on play, ditch your fixer for a slightly better deal after he worked weeks, good luck getting him to call you back. Contact = relationships, and they're not static things.
I felt like characters definitely should flesh out contacts for RP and background reasons, but not really pay for them as i'm going to use them to whatever effect works best for the game (fun). Loyalty 6 stripper girlfriend? She's going to be upset you won't let her crash at the safe house when you and the team is laying low. Next time it might be a little more "just business" than before.
So essentially I'm buying their contacts, they get to pick them and define the starting relationship, but after that they're mine. Do I factor in their loyalty and connection in running them as NPC's, definitely, but the player actions towards the contact go a long way to keeping those ratings high or improving them, or losing a friend.
Meeting new contacts is in the course of play (and the real question is, should players really know the ratings?). Its cool to know where you started at creation, but do I tell them all the adjustments...usually no. I like them to wonder if the grinning street doc really likes them or has something more macabre in mind.
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Plenty of "low charisma" people have lots of "acquaintances" as opposed to "friends". (Side note: I really can't STAND how loosely most Americans seem to interchangeably use the words "acquaintance" and "friend";
Good point and I can't disagree really. For me it was the psuedo-fact that Charisma tends to be a dump stat for most archetypes, tying it to the free contacts and further limiting the max rating ensures players don't just disregard it. I didn't tie in another stat because logic and intuition were used for free knowledge skills. Maybe willpower will work as some relationships can take a certain mental stamina...
Also, they're still free to spend BP on more contacts (most don't), but the charisma cap to loyalty/connection still applies. Its not to limit their contacts so much as to not make me feel guilty when I want to do something with them, or have them cry cause they paid good BP for a "friend" who sold them out after they did something completely abusive to their contact. So again i'm not disagreeing with you, i'm actually over-agreeing. roleplaying = points, not points = roleplaying.
player: but he's really loyal...
Me: You can't just shoot his mom, get his sister addicted to nova-coke and dancing at the neon flamingo, let him take the rap for you, then not ever visit him in jail or send any "care" packages, and expect everything to be all chummy when he gets out.
And man do they love free BP's. I feel like the store that lets them steal the petty merchandise to protect the important stuff.