[Bradd]

I'm looking for feedback on a house rule that I'm considering. The rules tell us:

It is also possible to acquire contacts during the game, but only through roleplaying. Characters cannot “buy” contacts once the game begins; they have to earn them the hard way.

However, that isn't always desirable. A new drug dealer contact is cool, but I don't especially want to see how you hooked up with him. A new boyfriend is cool too, but I'm not interested in playing Bad Romance. Even in the cases where the relationship-building part is interesting, there are just too many contacts in the game to develop many of them. I think players should have a way to meet and improve contacts off-stage.

The rules I'm considering are simple: You can buy a new contact at any time – even mid-session – for [Connection + Loyalty] karma points. During downtime, you can add +1 Loyalty to an existing contact for 1 karma point. (If you acquired the contact through role-play, you must first pay karma for Connection but not for earned Loyalty.) As with all contacts, you should develop them as characters and share the interesting bits with the group.

In support of this idea, I'd also like to award extra karma for ongoing background development. I'm not sure how much extra to award, but I'm thinking a 10% match is roughly appropriate. My group has so far earned 105 karma each, and about 105 karma worth of cash & gear. They would get an extra 21 karma points to spend on contact development and knowledge/language skills.

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

[raggedhalo]

It should cost twice as much as that, because the normal rate of conversion is 2 Karma = 1BP.  This isn't an idea I'd use, but if it works for you, then I say go for it.

[Bradd]

The relative value of build points and karma actually varies a lot. It's 2:1 for qualities and cash, but it's 1:1 for other things, including contacts and specializations. (I got the cost from the karmagen system.)

[Walks Through Walls]

I would say if you want to use karma to represent gaining a new contact that is one thing. I can understand not wanting to roleplay how you got a new drug dealer especially if it is only one character in a group that wants it, but I wouldn't allow the paying to raise connection or even more so loyalty.

The rule I might use would be you can buy a new connection 1 loyalty 1 contact for 2 karma, but have to raise the loyalty through roleplaying. You can then roleplay this contact introducing you to a higher connection contact within the same field which you would repay in favors or money or some other service.

[topcat]

You could try bluebooking, with players writing their own RP material between sessions.  Just have the player tell you what they plan to do so you can approve it beforehand ("I save Damien Knight's life!" might not work for most games).

Maybe allow no more than one contact per session at 1/1 with a single additional point (assignable to either connection or loyalty) accumulating each session until cashed in?  So if a player wanted a broad range of weak, disloyal contacts, he could pick one up every session.  If you want a better contact, you have to wait several sessions (and bluebook a bit more) to put that together.

As an aside, I generate contacts by putting down somewhere between five and ten words to describe them and threat ratings for each of four possible pools (social, physical, hacking, magic).  No need to go around figuring out how they get those pools, just put down the numbers you want.  Quick and easy.

[Bradd]

Making the players role-play every improvement in Loyalty, or every step up toward higher Connection contacts, defeats much of the purpose of doing this. It's not any more pleasant to RP a slow climb up the drug dealing hierarchy, and it's still impractical to handle every contact interaction with the full group.