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Originally Posted by Otaku
...then I need someone to justify existence of Contacts and it still needs a major overhaul.
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Sometimes a character just knows a guy. It's certainly a legitimate kind of relationship in adventure fiction.
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We can apply this same kind of logic to Patrons and Allies; even when they are designed as fully realized characters, your interaction with them can be extremely limited.
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If an Ally is going to fight in combat, you probably do want a lot of that information, and of course you need at least the point value based on the way Ally is constructed.
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Conversely, treating Contacts as no more than an externalized skill is begging for someone to "see the strings" because either you've got to be a master GM. Why? You're just begging for something to happen where you've either got to carefully keep your game from getting to a point where players have a chance to really interact with the Contact or design said Contact on the fly when the former eventually fails.
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It's trivial to make up additional details as needed about an NPC. Much easier than making a full character sheet for them. It's even possible to make a sheet for them later, and "upgrade" the Contact to Ally (Butters in
The Dresden Files). Ally requires the GM a character sheet for the character before the campaign even begins, which is, for me anyway, when the workload is the greatest already.
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In fiction, while Contacts are usually away from the action, not all are.
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In GURPS they are. Use Ally if your "contact" is going to fight alongside you.
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Much like an Ally, a regular and frequent Contact strikes me as a potential Dependent; you aren't especially close but especially if its a Contact your enemies perceive as valuable to you (or simply one prone to getting himself into trouble), that's not something I just pulled out of thin air.
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Sure. I think Contact/Dependent is as valid as Ally/Dependent.
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If we are really worried about simplicity... shouldn't Contacts just be hirelings?
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No. You can definitely have this kind of relationship without paying the person for their services. If the NPC is only performing ordinary for-pay services and doesn't give the PC any privileged treatment at all, it's a waste of points to take it as a Contact (or Ally, or whatever).