Questions about Contacts

[RedMattis]

I think you're trying to define something that has been deliberately left rather obscure.

You roll to see if the guy on the police force can tell you something that is of relevance. If it is about secret papers of importance to the plot, and the police grunts don't have open access to them he'll probably just tell you that he doesn't have access to them.

The primary use for a, for example, police contact, is to call them and ask "Hey, I've been looking into these nasty murders where people have had their spines removed somehow, do you have anything on that?".
On a success he might know something "Yeah, I've heard talk about that. 'Been five cases now, all women in their twenties. I've heard there was something weird at the autopsy, but I haven't got the faintest what. Perhaps you should go ask?"
On a failure he'll tell you something you already know, or nothing at all "Sorry, I heard there was some psycho running around, and I'm guessing this must be the one. You're on your own on this one I'm afraid" *click*


...
If he was an Ally he might say "Yeah, I've heard talk about that. 'Been five cases now, all women in their twenties, I've heard there was something weird at the autopsy. I could check it out and call you back later, how's that?"
Allies unlike Contacts are actual parts of the plot. They have a face, body and a personality, which also means that they can get themselves into trouble on their own. Contacts usually don't.

Edit:
In many cases you might not even have a real conversation with a Contact(s), the GM just tells you what you find out via your contacts, but I made it a conversation to clear up the difference between a Contact's Job and an Ally's.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Generally, if you want an NPC who actually does diverse deeds to help with an adventure, you want an Ally. Contacts are nothing more than a fancy way to buy a skill that doesn't suit your character. The specific details of the Contact's life, training, and access are deliberately left vague because the PC cannot exploit them directly. An alternative is to take a Contact Group, which covers any number of related skills within a social context that is specified in detail. I'd say that the effective skill of a Contact Group would be of use for finding out who's doing what within the organization of which the Contact Group is a subset.

I guess people will consider me ranting, but IME Contacts are not very cost-effective unless they're treated 'broadly'. If they're treated just as 'remotely accessible skills' of some sort, the PC is better off buying the skill for herself, and not bothering with contact rolls, reliability, and the limited number of uses. I mean hey, for an ex-cop PC I once made, a Completely Reliable Police Department (Police Procedure-12) on an 9 or less was worth [3]. For comparison, her own Criminology was 12 for [1]. I took the contact mostly for flavour. [edit]Sure, with above-average IQ, but still . . . [/edit]

Contact Groups are more useful because they're similar to Wildcards (i.e. they have all the appropriate skills on a theme, even if the PC didn't think about choosing them properly).

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

For example, if the Contact is asked to look through some files that he really shouldn't be looking at (this counts as non-hazardous, since he might be reprimanded but he probably wouldn't be killed on the spot), then he might need Stealth or Lockpicking or Fast-Talk or other skills to get it done.

I wouldn't consider that a small favour, when he's risking his job security. Contacts shouldn't be relied upon to take any risks beyond those involved in talking to you and giving you information he actually has access to. Thus you could get a Contact to, say, talk to the desk sergeant, distracting him while you sneak past. Getting him to personally break into files he has no access to? That's Ally stuff.

Now, Contacts are people of course, and you can deal with them as people as well as Contacts. If you have Warrick as a Contact for hid Forensics-16 skill and you happen to ask him what Gil Grissom's connection to Sara Seidel is, he's no more likely to know, or tell you than any random member of the crime lab who likes you would...and no less. But giving you in-house gossip is not part of his arrangement with you. Warrick the Contact is mechanically separate from Warrick the person, and you'll have to use Influence skills and interaction on him to get more than his knowledge of the cases the lab is working on and his expertise when examining various bits of stuff you want him to examine. If you wanted a contact who would reliably tell you whats going on between the members of the lab, and what the lab is working on, then you should probably get an Administration contact, not a Forensics contact, but such a contact probably would not be willing to run tests under the table for you, because they lack the skill or because they just don't have time when they've got real work to do.

[DT_]

After reading this thread I re-read the Contacts advantage and now I'm wondering if they are every wrong. They either know, don't know or lie depending on their reliability and skill roll. I didn't see any result where they unknowingly gave incorrect infomation.

So, are they ever just wrong?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by DT_

After reading this thread I re-read the Contacts advantage and now I'm wondering if they are every wrong. They either know, don't know or lie depending on their reliability and skill roll. I didn't see any result where they unknowingly gave incorrect infomation.

So, are they ever just wrong?

No. What they tell you is what they know. What they know could be wrong, as in "The word on the street is that Jack the Ripper is really the Crown Prince". If the contact says, that, then yes, the rumour is that the Jack is the Prince, but the rumour itself may not be right. But they didn't tell you that Jack is the Prince, just that people are saying Jack is the Prince. Although of course the distinction between lying and getting the facts wrong is kind of abstract. Depends on how or if you want to characterise your contact I guess.

[Anaraxes]

See 2:10 into this clip for a Contact with a really high success roll:

What's the word on the street, Johnny?

[warmachine]

I'd just list the Contact with a second skill called Administration for anything not directly related to Criminology. The Contact's position should make the scope of his information and abusable powers obvious.

If that's not precise enough, you can use one of my house rules for modifying Contacts.

Authority

Not all Contacts can access secret information or have much authority they can use and abuse. There are four levels of Authority for information and favours and the highest level the Contact can muster multiplies his point cost. If an Authority is not stated, it is assumed to be Confidential.

Public Info or No Authority: For information, the contact's knowledge is widespread and can be found in a library but can be difficult to understand or time consuming to learn. The contact already knows it and will explain it. This is useful for scientific and technical skills. For favours, the action asked can be done by anyone but the contact already knows how to do it or is in the correct place. x1/4.

Open Secret or Minor Authority: For information, it is known or searchable by many people who need to know but not by the public. Or it's supposed to be confidential but it's commonly leaked. This can include car registrations, criminal records, commodity shipments, police reports or assignment of an army division. For favours, the action uses equipment that's not dangerous but isn't public, such as forensic labs, flight simulators or museum collections, or would anger few people, such as obtaining a search warrant on flimsy evidence, speeding a bureaucratic process, booking a surprise appointment with a businessman or getting a backstage pass. x1/2.

Confidential or Full Authority: For information, it is confidential and only a few, specific groups are meant to have access. This can be military personnel files, diplomatic reports or secure shipment routes. For favours, the action breaks or abuses important rules but the Contact can deflect angry enforcers. This can be altering news reports, arresting someone on flimsy evidence, obtaining a visa, letting you in the back door of a secure building at night or 'losing' police evidence. x1.

Top Secret or Overriding Authority: For information, it is highly sensitive and only a select few at national level are meant to have access. This can be military research in wartime, lists of intelligence agents or secret, business deals. For favours, the action normally requires high level approval, such as raiding a large corporation for fraud investigations, re-assigning important officers, diverting a national leader's motorcade or purging archived, secret evidence. x2.

[Mgellis]

A related question...

If one is designing a character for a Pyramid or JTAS article, and writing him up both as complete character and as a contact, because he might be used either way, is it all right that his effective skill (as a contact) may be different from his actual skill (as a character)?

For example, a character might have Tactics-12 for planning battles that he is going to be involved in, but as a contact he has an effective skill of Tactics-15.

I get the impression that the answer is "Yes." The explanation is simply that the effective skill of a contact includes any context-specific knowledge, extra time taken to do research or ask other people questions, etc.

Am I getting this right? (I want to make sure I am because this is for an article, so I don't want to accidentally spread incorrect information about the rules system.)

Mark

[Lupo]

I don't know about Pyramid articles guidelines, but yes, in GURPS Characters it's clearly stated that Contacts effective skill is often higher than is actual skill level.

[Crispythemighty]

Originally Posted by warmachine

I'd just list the Contact with a second skill called Administration for anything not directly related to Criminology. The Contact's position should make the scope of his information and abusable powers obvious.

If that's not precise enough, you can use one of my house rules for modifying Contacts.

I like this... stolen.