| From: | Jason Ustica <usticaj@****.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: What is a Contact? |
| Date: | Sun, 3 Sep 1995 01:09:38 -0700 |
> On Sat, 2 Sep 1995, Thomas Schreiner wrote:
>
> > What is a Contact?
>
> not cost as much as a follower or a gang member, which might imply a
> weaker relationship, I think that the contact concept is meant as a
> vehicle to include not only buisness contacts, but also ex-spouses,
> ex-roomates, etc.
Also, don't be afraid (if you're the GM) to yank a runners contact. I
once had a runner who had a Lone Star cop as a contact. I needed some
info about a Lone Star detective, so I naturally I called him up and we
arranged a meet. Unfortunately, the day before, our party had gotten a
little... how should I say it... out of hand with some major firepower,
and needless to say a significant number of innocent bystanders got
wasted. So anyway, I go and meet my LS cop contact at a small resturant.
We talk, I get the info I needed, and in turn he asks me about the
incident I was involved in the day before. I tell him about it (stupidly
thinking he was going to put our aqquaintence before his job), then I say
good bye and get up to leave. As I approach the front door, I notice
through the window a Lone Star APC parked outside with it's complement
of SWAT team members pouring out and surrounding the building. I turn
around to see my contact informing me I have the right to remain silent,
blah blah blah, and to lay down on the ground. I was pretty pissed, so I
killed the contact for being a jerk, and, though it wasn't easy ,believe
me, I escaped capture from the SWAT team.
Basically, if the runners do something stupid with a contact to the point
that the contact wouldn't want to help the runner any more, don't be
afraid to yank it. In the end I wasn't mad my cop contact tried to arrest
me, he had the perfect chance to advance his career by apprehending a
vicious murderer. Of course, I wasn't going to let him get away with it,
hence the reason I wasted him.
I think the moral of the story is that contacts are just that: contacts.
They aren't friends, they are aqquaintences. Like an old high school
chum, or someone you used to work with, or even, for lack of a better
example, the members of this mailing list. I don't know anything about
you people, yet we still interact every day. If I saw, perhaps in your
sig, that you worked for a certain company, I could possibly write to you
and ask you a little inside info on it. Of course a little cash would
butter you up, but if the info I wanted was too sensitive, you would tell
me either to take a hike, or to give you a whole bunch more money. That's
how I imagine contacts would worl in the SR context.
Hope my explanation and example helps more than confuses. :)
--
Jason Ustica * Coming to you from Lancaster,CA * Email: usticaj@****.com
