The Karma expenditure section of SR4a doesn't seem to list Karma costs for contacts, but at least one adventure (on the run) mentions something like "if the players want to pay the Karma points, they can take X as a contact".

So which is it? Do you just gain contacts through RP, or do you need to spend Karma on them?

Thanks,
Juliean.

I've never heard of characters having to spend karma on contacts acquired in game, but it wouldn't surprise me if a module had a special circumstance or misused a rule. Going back to SR1, there has always been a proud tradition of modules in which very little seemed to be based on the rules that were actually in the book. (I'm looking at you "Mecurial" and your 5+1d6 NPC who is supposed to threaten the runners and then escape "before anyone can react".)

Yeah, there isn't any rule in the book about that kind of thing. I chock it up to roleplaying. If my PC's keep going to someone who isn't one of their stated contacts, plays nice, and gives them buisness, then they totally become at least a 1/1 contact.

I tend to use contact levels as rewards, especially on runs where the pay is low or they get screwed out of their money somehow.

In my current game the PC's were sent to a street doc's clinic to meet a johnson. The PC's liked the doc and when they got banged up went back to her for some fixing and the decker ended up asking her out on a date. Now she's a regular in the game and the decker has her as a 1/3 contact.

I'd say that people acquired in-game end up with whoever "earned" them - if A didn't interact with the potential contact, he can't buy him. While B saved the contact, and gets him for free.

In downtime, players might spend karma to generate a new contact out of the blue; "I'd like to make an arms dealer contact. I'll put down 12 Karma for Connection 4, Loyalty 2." Make them write a few lines about the contact and how they got together..

Just a thought.

I tend to make my 'runners look for them. If they want a fixer, I don't just get magic fixer points via karma, I make them do some street work.

This may seem like unnecessary nonsense, but since contacts are people that are going to be interacted with for more than one sentence or a mission brief, I figure my chars can find these guys on their own.

Oi Chums,

I have always liked to have PC's start with one contact in common so we can get things rolling as far as a team As the game progresses I use contacts and increased loyalty as a reward as well. It really gets the PC's to Role Play with my NPC's and we end up with some memorable characters and the neighborhood starts to take on a life of it's own. I definitly would not let PC's just buy contacts out of the blue in game for Karma. Make them work for it and every once in a while check the loyalty rating of your teams Contacts. If they have been straight with them increase the loyalty after a few sessions. But remeber PC's can do stuff that may affect their contacts in a negative way and decrease loyalty.

I've never heard of people spending karma in game to get contacts either, all the ones from the Denver campaign were earned through completing the run or roleplay.

While it is not RAW, I have PCs pay Karma for contacts. Most of the time it´s rather dedicated karma, they get through roleplaying, which goes directly into the contact, so it´s not different from other GMs in effect.

The cost is Conection*Loyalty.

This means that Conection 0 contacts are for free regardless of Loyalty - everybody can make up some relatives and friends for their background, as long as they don´t overdo (which is also unwise, because a lot of connections with no influence of their own are also a liability).

Loyalty 0 contacts of any conectionrating are also free and you basically can get everyone you meet in game that way, however these contacts are usually lost quickly.

If you do a lot of roleplaying with a contact you may get the karma for a loyalty increase for free. Same goes if they help a contact gaining more influence (increasing the Conection Rating). They can also pay karma to increase these ratings if it´s warrented from the gameworld side and they state that they want to use some down-time for it.

On the other hand, if through circumstances the Conectionrating of a contact increases, they would have to pay some Karma or the Loyalty rating would deteriorate accordingly (people often get a bit detached from old contacts, when they move into new circles).

What I wouldn´t alow, is that players just make up a contact in the middle of the game and only pay karma. it has to be someone they gained as a Loyalty 0 contact in game, then they may usually spent downtime and karma to improve loyalty.

New contacts should be earned only through role-playing. I know Karma is a form of time spent doing something (training, learning spells, etc), but I find that this way removes the role-playing side of the game.

In my game, contacts can be earned during a run while meeting people, as a bonus for completing a run, or even between runs where the runners are spending time doing role-playing.

I also believe all new contacts will start with a Loyalty Rating of 1, but the Connection Rating is already predetermined by the contact's description. I believe that Connection is totally not related to how the runner is chummy with the contact, and becomes one of the contact's attribut (like any other stats).

Loyalty can be increased is different ways, be it spending time with the contact, doing favors for them, accepting a run that helps a friend of a contact, and so on. I still have a hard time deciding how the players will be able to help their contacts increase their Connection Rating (besides having the contact create a run for that purpose).

When I was GMing, the PCs usually gained contacts in game as part of their roleplaying (e.g. Your mission succeeded and you rescued the little girl. You each gain 'X' karma, and the mother is now a grateful level 1 contact.) If a player wanted to add a contact outside of the normal game, they had to pay karma for it. I would however give them a substantial discount if they described/roleplayed tracking down and befriending the guy.