Contacts

[tendentious]

I like the idea of a Contacts system for RPGs; a way of reflecting a character’s past life without having to describe everyone the character knows in advance.

In CoC the Contacts system (roll the relevant skill to see if you have a contact) is simple, but leaves a few unanswered questions. While the skill check for professional contacts is usually obvious (Medicine, Science, Language, Archaeology, etc), the skill check required for other contacts is less clear. What is the skill check for a criminal contact? A street contact?

Also, how often can one attempt to establish a contact? There are rules around pushing the skill check to establish a contact, but no guidelines about how many contacts it's reasonable to establish.

Finally, I find that I as Keeper as well as the players tend to forget about the option of creating Contacts, so it remains an interesting but under-used game option.

So here are some Contacts house rules I’ve come up with.

Contacts

 - Contacts is a skill reflecting a character’s network of contacts. During character creation points are allocated to the Contacts skill. These points may be from either Occupational Skills or Personal Interests. Starting Contacts skill is 25%
 - a contact is a person with whom the player has an existing relationship. The contact is open to assisting the character, based on their own interests.
 - At start of play each player makes a Contacts check; The character starts with one Contact Point (CP) plus additional points based on the outcome of the check. Regular success equals one extra CP, Hard success equals two extra CP; Extreme success equals three extra CP. The skill is not checked on a success.
 - (Optional) a fumble on the Contacts check creates a pool for the Keeper to create enemies or rivals or to establish history between the character and existing adversaries and villains, making it harder for the character to operate around the NPC.
 - During play players can spend CP to create a relevant contact. The number of CP required for the contact depends on character background and skills. A contact in the character’s country consistent with their background costs one CP. A contact outside their character concept costs an extra CP. A contact from another country costs an extra CP.
 - Extra CP can be spent to increase the PC’s relationship with the contact. A basic contact will assist the character by performing tasks consistent with their profession or role, and will probably require remuneration if risk is involved. For an extra CP the contact is Significant and will accept significant inconvenience and possibly even risk without necessarily requiring remuneration. For two extra CP the contact is Strong and will go out of the way to assist the character, to the extent of risking their own life.
 - (Optional) Extra CP can be spent to increase the contact’s power and influence. A police chief, faculty head, head of a hospital, city councillor, mob captain, CEO of a mid-sized corporation, bishop, captain or major in the armed forces, or newspaper editor as a contact would cost one extra CP. Police commissioner, dean of a university, city mayor, senator, mob boss, CEO of a large corporation, archbishop, general in the armed forces, or newspaper magnate would cost two extra CP. It is recommended that such contacts are never more than basic contacts when they are first established. Their contact level may improve based on in-game events.
 - Ultimately cost is based on Keeper judgement.
 - As contacts are created the player should note their contacts and the level of the contact (basic, significant, strong). The level of a contact may change over time based on in-game events.
 - During character improvement phase players make another Contacts check to generate more CP. Unspent CP carry over.
 - The Contacts skill can be improved during down time if the player has the PC spend time developing their social network. Make a standard improvement check.

Example of creating a contact: The PCs find themselves in need of a medical professional who won’t ask any questions. One of the PCs, Mike, is a gangster. Mike’s player says that Mike knows a disgraced former doctor, Dr Westcott, who does work for the mob. As the character’s are in their home city, creating this contact costs Mike 1 CP. If another local PC, Gerald, who is a book seller, were to come up with the same contact it would cost him 2 CP, as he has little experience with the underworld. And Andre, a miner who has just arrived from Peru, would have to spend 3 CP for the same contact.

Suppose that the PCs are being hunted by the mob. While Dr Westcott would normally help Mike, as no-questions-asked medical service is what he does, in this case he may decline to help if he is aware that Mike is wanted, or he may help Mike but then spill his guts if the mob come knocking at his door.
Mike’s PC may want to spend an extra CP to make Dr Westcott a Significant contact. Mike reminds Westcott about that time he destroyed those incriminating medical records for Westcott and how Mike beat up those gangsters who were strong-arming him. Westcott agrees to help Mike. He’ll also keep his mouth shut if anyone comes around asking after Mike. Of course, if the gangsters have reason to believe that Westcott knows anything about Mike, and hold a gun to his head, Westcott is going to tell them everything he knows.

[tendentious]

A simpler version that doesn't use Contact Points.

 - Contacts is a skill reflecting a character’s network of contacts. During character creation points are allocated to the Contacts skill. These points may be from either Occupational Skills or Personal Interests. Starting Contacts skill is 25%
 - a contact is a person with whom the player has an existing relationship. The contact is open to assisting the character, based on their own interests.
 - when a player wants to establish a contact they make a Contacts skill check; a contact from the same country and background requires a Regular success; a contact from another country or from another background (but not both) requires a Hard success; a contact from both another country and another background requires an Extreme success. Again, Contacts skill is not checked on a success.
 - (Optional) a fumble on the Contacts check creates an enemy or rival, or establishes history between the character and existing adversaries and villains, making it harder for the character to operate around the NPC.
 - If successful, the Player decides if contact is basic, significant or strong (as defined above)
 - (Optional) Penalty die applied to the roll may increase the contact’s power and influence. A police chief, faculty head, head of a hospital, city councillor, mob captain, CEO of a mid-sized corporation, bishop, captain or major in the armed forces, or newspaper editor as a contact would add a penalty die. Police commissioner, dean of a university, city mayor, senator, mob boss, CEO of a large corporation, archbishop, general in the armed forces, or newspaper magnate would add two penalty die. It is recommended that such contacts are never more than basic contacts when they are first established. Their contact level may improve based on in-game events.
 - creating a contact reduces Contact skill; -1d6 for basic contact, -2d6 for significant contact, -3d6 for strong contact. This reflects the fact that, as the character's network of contacts becomes more and more defined, the pool of remaining (undefined) contacts grows smaller and smaller.
 - As contacts are created the player should note their contacts and the level of the contact (basic, significant, strong). The level of a contact may change over time based on in-game events.
 - The Contacts skill can be improved during down time if the player has the PC spend time developing their social network. Make a standard improvement check.

In the previous example, Mike would require a Regular success, Gerald a Hard success, and Andre an Extreme success to establish Dr Westcott as a contact. If Mike wanted Dr Westcott as a Significant contact, his Contacts skill would be reduced by 2d6 points.