So, the title of this little discussion is Contacts.

You as a player, or a GM, what do you think are your top 3 contacts that you just cannot live without, or are absolutely awesome to have?

Go ahead and put em here! I am interested to see what you story-mongers and power-gamers can come up with to wow me and the rest of the people! Show us what you got and why. This could be ones you have in game, or ones you would start with, or hell.. even made up ones you think are awesomely cool.


[Contact]:
[Loyalty]:
[Connection]:
[Reason Why]:


Have fun!

Stuffer Shack Clerk
Loyalty 1
Connection 1
You gotta eat eventually.

~Umidori

fixer, script kiddie (hacker wannabe), and Juan Carlos I would say are the top three I would pick

fixer
He provides the jobs and knows the guy who knows the guy to get the goods.

script kiddie
He spends all his time on the matrix and hears rumors. You can get him to try and obtain info or do risky actions by getting him to prove his "133t S|<iLlz". And best, he can act as a fall guy for your own hacker.

Juan Carlos is an NPC I made up. A smuggler from Atlezan, and the PC at the table who happened to be Latino jumped at the opportunity to role play him. Between his roleplaying and my directing, we made an NPC that half the team were willing to die for (and DID) just to break him out of a heavy Knight Errant holding facility. Now he helps out every now and then with some comic relief and party drugs.

A fixer. It doesn't need to have a great loyalty but not so slow to the point he might prefer selling you out when shit hits the proverbial fan. Connection 3-4 is a nice level.

A street doc with loyalty no less than 4, seriously, most of the time when you will need a doctor is when you are most helpless, specially when you go visit your doc for a nice augmentation upgrade or add-on, you won't someone who will literally rip off your guts and sell it.

A smugler. Best way to get new toys, besides smuglers are always leaving and coming and they might come very handy when you need to leave town, like, NOW!

Depends on if you're awakened or not and what Archetype you are. Every awakened (Not adepts I guess) character will have a talismonger. Every Sammy will likely have a weapons dealer. Every Rigger will know a mechanic or vehicle dealer or junkyard owner or something similar. Every Hacker will know someone to get programs from.

Well, I say every and will, but it is really 'most' and 'should' or 'likely do'

Sizeable gangs make frigging awesome contacts, especially using the rules for groups as contacts in RC. They can find people and things, tell you the latest buzz on the streets, provide extra manpower, be your eyes and ears and show you a good time when you need it.

The best way to mitigate the power of such contacts is for the GM to get politics involved (i.e. being a known affiliate of a particular gang has implications on your dealings with their allies and enemies) which I think just makes them all the more interesting as a contact.

Personal must-haves:

Fixer: C6/L4
He can get you pretty much anything and won't sel you out at the first sign.

Other than the fixer there is nothing I consider absolutely nescessary.

My personal favorites, though:

Crimson Crush Ork Gang (Seattle): C2(8 )/L4
Always good to have the friendly neighbourhood watch on a first name basis and as regular spare time bros.

Street Doc (Lagos): C2/L4
When in Lagos, you need a Doc that can patch you up, without you having to worry that after the anaesthetic wears of, you will wake up in a, ice-filled bathtub with a few friendly Tamanous associates coming back to finish what they already started.

Barkeeper (anywhere were you live): C1/L4
Given the amount of time at least my chars regularly spend in Bars after a job well done (or clinics after a job gone bad), the Barkeeper is easily the closest thing they have to a friend outside their line of work =) That, and nothing beats the epic moment of the barkeep yellng you to get down, while he grabs for the shotgun under his desk to negotiate admission fees with the Corp Goons that are looking for you.

Mages can't go wrong with the C:3 or C:4 Talismonger, just lik Hackers like a Warez gang or Software salesguy. Street Sams like the Weapons Dealer, and the Face loves his Fixer. Everyone wants a street doc.
Me? I personally love the bus driver who doesn't ask fucking questions about the assault cannon on your back, or the dead body you're dragging.