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Small group as a contact?

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« on: <01-14-19/1406:07> »
I'm just looking for ideas on the best way to represent having a small group that a character is a member of (in terms of character creation).  Specifically I’m looking at the idea of a character with some ritual magic skill, who has the 'Day Job' quality representing being part of a ritual group that does things like put in place low level wards and the like.  But I’d also like to build in the potential to hire members from the group to help with rituals (day job rate suggests 100nY an hour, which would make hiring help expensive, but feasible when needed).  But the same basic idea could come up with any number of character concepts.

Buying three or four individual (and largely interchangeable) contacts would really suck up contact points, but it is A possible solution (especially if karma is used to buy some ‘filler’ members at C1 L1.  Although having L1 is always worrisome -- Naomi, how could you sell me out like that?).

Back in first edition I remember there was the ability to buy a ‘gang’ of similar characters, but that hasn’t been carried forward to new editions.

There were some rules for group contacts in, I think, Cutting Aces,.  However those seemed to be for large groups where the relationship is fairly impersonal.

Have I forgotten some quality or rule that would fit better with being part of a small gang or group?  Or is this something that they just decided to discourage?



Banshee

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« Reply #1 on: <01-14-19/1433:46> »
check out Run Faster page 176
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
Freelancer & FAQ Committee member
Former RPG Lead Agent
Catalyst Demo Team

Tecumseh

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« Reply #2 on: <01-14-19/1830:37> »
Run Faster does mention the possibilities of groups as contacts, but there are harsh restrictions including capping Loyalty at 1, some contractual obligations, and "it cannot do the character any favors," which - depending on how you interpret it - largely defeats the purpose of having a contact.

If you have Runner's Companion, I like 4E's approach better. Not only were the group contacts more useful, but the rules did a better job of distinguishing between groups of various sizes and capabilities.

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« Reply #3 on: <01-15-19/1621:32> »
Thanks Tecumseh, I agree about the limitations on the rules in Run Faster.

Thinking about it a bit more, I think the easiest way to handle it under current rules would be to have a contact who is a group leader.  Give them enough connection rating to represent that they have a group they can call on, and enough loyalty that they would entertain such requests.

I know that groups can be a problem, but there are some things that really do call for a number of people with a shared skill (rituals, tailing someone, many types of performances, etc).  It would be nice to be able to make that call directly, but doing it indirectly through a contact works I guess.