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Message no. 1
From: bullcon@*****.com (Bull)
Subject: Contacts (Was Re: Players (was Re: Do dragons astrally project?)
Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005 09:07:38 -0400
On 10/8/05, Gurth <gurth@******.nl> wrote:
>
> > I made an Astral Adept and wound up buying every contact in existence.
> Hey,
> > he was a detective, so it made sense. :-)
>
> That's even worse than the guy who used to play Face-type characters in
> my group had. He only had something like 30-35 contacts with one of his
> characters ...
>

The worst I ever saw was 20. The player imagined his character to be,
basically, a fixer.

The real problem was that his 20 contacts included an Ares Research
Department VP, the Seattle Lone Star Commisioner, the Seattle District
Attorny, the Mayor of Seattle, etc. I think he had one "street" contact, and
that was a Club Owner. Club happened to be Dante's, but,,,

That's one thing I'm LOVING about SR4... The new contact system. SOmething
that's been needed for a LOOOOONG time.

Bull
Message no. 2
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Contacts (Was Re: Players (was Re: Do dragons astrally project?)
Date: Sat, 08 Oct 2005 18:57:45 +0200
According to Bull, on 8-10-05 15:07 the word on the street was...

> The real problem was that his 20 contacts included an Ares Research
> Department VP, the Seattle Lone Star Commisioner, the Seattle District
> Attorny, the Mayor of Seattle, etc. I think he had one "street" contact,
and
> that was a Club Owner. Club happened to be Dante's, but,,,

The player in my group selected his contacts from a more varied range of
occupations :) A lot more shadow-types than high-ups, for starters.

> That's one thing I'm LOVING about SR4... The new contact system. SOmething
> that's been needed for a LOOOOONG time.

Yes, this does balance buying contacts a lot better than before, and
makes them a bit more flexible (for the GM) at the same time.

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours
-> Possibly NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UB+ P(+) L++ E W++(--) N o? K w-- O
M+ PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 3
From: zebulingod@*****.com (zebulingod)
Subject: Contacts (Was Re: Players (was Re: Do dragons astrally project?)
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:24:10 -0700
#At 06:57 PM 10/8/2005 +0200, you wrote:
#>According to Bull, on 8-10-05 15:07 the word on the street was...
#
#>> The real problem was that his 20 contacts included an Ares Research
#>> Department VP, the Seattle Lone Star Commisioner, the Seattle
#>> District Attorny, the Mayor of Seattle, etc. I think he had one
#>> "street" contact,
#and
#>> that was a Club Owner. Club happened to be Dante's, but,,,
#>

As a GM, I'd have to disallow contacts like that without a VERY good reason.
Contacts are meant to help runners out in what they do. While those sort can
do that, their use is, IMO, limited. Their power, on the other hand, is
almost limitless, and I think that's what the player was going for. \:

Zebulin
Message no. 4
From: bullcon@*****.com (Bull)
Subject: Contacts (Was Re: Players (was Re: Do dragons astrally project?)
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 02:44:28 -0400
On 10/22/05, zebulingod <zebulingod@*****.com> wrote:
>
> #At 06:57 PM 10/8/2005 +0200, you wrote:
> #>According to Bull, on 8-10-05 15:07 the word on the street was...
> #
> #>> The real problem was that his 20 contacts included an Ares Research
> #>> Department VP, the Seattle Lone Star Commisioner, the Seattle
> #>> District Attorny, the Mayor of Seattle, etc. I think he had one
> #>> "street" contact,
> #and
> #>> that was a Club Owner. Club happened to be Dante's, but,,,
> #>
>
> As a GM, I'd have to disallow contacts like that without a VERY good
> reason.
> Contacts are meant to help runners out in what they do. While those sort
> can
> do that, their use is, IMO, limited. Their power, on the other hand, is
> almost limitless, and I think that's what the player was going for. \:
>
> Zebulin
>
> Normally I would, but at the time we were running something of a "Shared
world" game at a local college gaming club. There were 3 or 4 of us GMing,
and due to work schedules and such, not everyone could always make game, so
we kind of had this open, rotating game going for a while. Any of the
characters were allowed to play in any of the games.
Problem was, not all the GMs agreed on what was and wasn't allowed... So we
occasionaly ran into wierd problems like this.
Still, was kind of fun. Kinda gave us a representation of a Shadow
Community. Several Fixers, a pool of runners, everyone knew everyone else,
but no real "set" teams, and not every runner was available whenever a fixer
(aka us GMs) had a run for em :)
Bull
Message no. 5
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Contacts (Was Re: Players (was Re: Do dragons astrally project?)
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 11:07:03 +0200
According to Ubiquitous, on 22-10-05 21:55 the word on the street was...

> The problem we found was that there weren't enough of them, although I sppse
> there was nothing keeping the player from buying multiples of the same
> contact.

Sure, why not? You could known an Ares Company Official, a Saeder-Krupp
Company Official, a Renraku Company Official, and so on. Hell, you could
know fifteen Ares Company Officials if you really want to :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours
-> Possibly NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UB+ P(+) L++ E W++(--) N o? K w-- O
M+ PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 6
From: geoff@*************.co.uk (Euphonium)
Subject: Contacts (Was Re: Players (was Re: Do dragons astrally project?)
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 12:48:32 +0100
---- Original Message -----
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
To: "Shadowrun Discussion" <shadowrn@*****.dumpshock.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: Contacts (Was Re: Players (was Re: Do dragons astrally
project?)


> According to Ubiquitous, on 22-10-05 21:55 the word on the street was...
>
> > The problem we found was that there weren't enough of them, although I
sppse
> > there was nothing keeping the player from buying multiples of the same
> > contact.
>
> Sure, why not? You could known an Ares Company Official, a Saeder-Krupp
> Company Official, a Renraku Company Official, and so on. Hell, you could
> know fifteen Ares Company Officials if you really want to :)
>

Sometimes it can be very valuable to have multiple similar contacts. Your
middle-manager in AresSpace not talking? See what your middle-manager in
AresArms or Night-Errant can pick up on the office grapevine. And it's
always worth having an in with several gangs in different areas of the
Sprawl. Similarly, law enforcements contacts in Vice, Homicide and
Burglary departments, or just Vice in two different precincts.

Overall, I've come to the conclusion that in an on-going campaign, there is
no such thing as too many contacts.

Further Reading

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