When reading the rules in Inquisitors Handbook about contacts I started to think (yes, really I did):

Isn't it strange that newly rolled PCs dont seem to know ANYONE from their homeworld at all? And sure, in a Mind Wiped PCs case that might be understandable, but what about all those hivers out there (who are typically social people sporting a higher Fellowship value than others)?

Wouldnt it be logical to provide new PCs with a few extra experience points that can only be spent on contacts. And those contacts have certain restrictions. For example, being very local contacts that can only be interacted with when the Acolytes are on that particular world. And the contacts nature is restricted to the PCs career path (its not very logical for a Dross Hound underhiver to socialize with a Captain of the Imperial Guard, but a drug dealing Dreg on the other hand). Also one could establish a sort of formula of how many "contact-points" a PC gets to spend, based on the PCs Fellowship-value (low Fellowship characters = not very social people and probably have very few friends. High Fellowship characters = probably well liked and have many connections).

And also, If a PC during play really takes the time to impress an NPC, he or she could get some bonus experience to spend on getting that NPC as a contact? (sort of like an elite advance)

What do you think?

I ignore contacts rules in every RPG in favor of good RP and common sense. Putting a hard fast quantity or quality on contacts is silly.

Mark It Zero said:

I agree that different rules systems have had a little silly rules concerning contacts. But the reason for bringing this up is more for establish the background of any given PC, and not putting silly hard fast quantity or quality on the contacts. Although I do believe that contacts can be measured by gagues concerning the contacts stature, relation to the Player Character etc. some game systems handle it better than others.

I use the rules and prefer them. Remember that characters gain Peer Talents and basic homeworld data to cover the incidental friends they've picked up over the years. Contacts are for people whom one can (semi-) reliably call upon to perform certain tasks on one's behalf. They're specific business or businesslike relationships, not the "friends and family" you've gained (the kinds of people who may let you crash for the night but won't send an encrypted message through an Astropath to an unknown destination communicating potentially heretical information.

EDIT: Also note that a "Contact" can be an entire organization, up to and including an entire Adeptus. This would indicate that you're something of a fixture to them - you're somebody they work with and they know, somebody whose name will be recognized by many of them. Whatever the organization, you're a business partner with them.

I am not quiet sure what to think about the contact-rules in DH. After all, I normally take the pc out of their forma lives by sending them on a mission. If we are not talking about a sector wide organisation (noble houses, interplanetar guilds, huge crime syndicates, major assasine temples) I doubt that they would "run into familiar face" or would be able to contact their friends whom a month of warp travel away.

On the other hand, if it comes to "making contacts" I tend have an eye on the role playing interaction with the npc more then anything else.

But I have to agree that I am not experienced with running continueing campaigns in DH

I just prefer to have complete flexibility and motivate players to form bonds with new NPCs and Organizations rather than just rely on those from their past. Suddenly they might not be so rude to my short tempered weaponsmith because they need his help with something. Eventually they may even come to love his abrasive attitude and come to rely on him for future work. I like roleplaying those types of interactions.

The way we do it is that the contacts in DH are really the guys you can count on in a pinch to come up with something. Since if you started at tier 1, you came into the game pretty much as a recruit so as far as your job is concerned you're pretty much the new guy, and no one knows the new guy. Remember how any of your jobs were for the first month, and that's pretty much a tier 1 job.

As for your background homeworld, you've probably lost touch with most of your friends and buddies. You've gone off to bigger and better things, and they're still the slumps back home working in the factory or living off of mommy and daddy's bankroll. Either that or they've gone off to different things. You've joined the guard, they went to seminary or what have you. This is especially true if you're a psyker. Chances are everyone you knew doesn't want to know you, those you met on the Black Ship are feeding the Emperor right now, those you met in class are off in other sectors of space doing gods knows what, and here you are.

Besides sure you may still know Josephus the Nobles Son back on Scintalla but you've grown apart over the years, and to be honest Josephus doesn't know jack except where to get laid at and find Quaddis Wine. Great guy to know how to party, but lousy to know where to find the local heretical cult at. And he's unreliable, you can't call him up at a moments notice because simply he's sleeping off the night before.

Or you have Francine the Factory Worker who can't be bothered with you anymore. She's dirt poor, barely feeding her 3 kids. She's a single mom, and honestly you're rich and powerful. Okay so you're not super rich and powerful to a noble, but to the other scum you grew up with, you're THEM not US anymore.

Contacts are those who look through all that, that you've spent time keeping up with, sending Emperor's Day cards to, calling them on their Birthday, and sending them that bottle of 125 year old Amsec that you found hidden in that heretic nobles wine seller. They're the people that you call from Gunmetal City, they'll actually go out on a limb and send you to talk to the crime boss that they heard about and not worry about being shot, because that's what friends do. You show up at their door step bleeding, they'll take you in and patch you up and let you stay as long as you like, without saying you have to go because you're putting my kids at risk.

Sure you have a bunch of aquainences back on your homeworld, and more from whatever advance school you went to, but contacts... contacts are those who'll go out on a limb for you, and who you spend time grooming.

It should also be noted that your background and upbringing are especially important to the Contacts system. The "I used to know a guy" rule makes it drastically cheaper to pry contacts from your character's background (and thus encourages having more detail in your background). Also, taking a full Adeptus as a Contact requires that you have Peerage among that group, and I would generally houserule that you need the Talent of Peer to take any complete group as a Contact if it has reach greater than a single world or single system or a background that specifically makes you a part of them (like Contact (Cold Guild) if you're a Cold Guild Courrier, or the Adepta Sororitas if you're also Adepta Sororitas).

For those who don't like that last bit, keep in mind that if you've worked for an agency that doesn't mean they're willing to do things for you, or that you're still now in touch with them when you've gone and joined the Inquisition. Having the Contact means you've forged a connection that has transcended distance and time (even if it may be a bit shaky).

Well unless the PC is on a mission on their homeworld or with their former organization then the normal course of contacts acquired are not likely to come into play. If events do take a player back to their homeworld, then I give them all sorts of resources and knowledge around that area. Contacts developed outside their background have to occur in-game, and can't just be bought for cash or xp (well, some fairly sketchy one's could be bought with cash, but that's different).

I like the rules as they are. You can easily buy a number of contacts that can help you a little and flesh out your background with them (a Common contact with one useful skill costs a whopping 20 XP...), you can simply have a few friends at no cost that are just not too helpful or you can go the whole way to get some "Get out of Jail free" contacts by stuffing an Adeptus of your choice (and career) with all the juicy upgrades.

Obviously though, contacts apart from system-wide ones are helpful only when your GM plays a comparably local campaign - but that's IMO the most logical way to run DH anyway, as most inquisitors will find it much more easy to get additional acolyte cells set up on different worlds than arrange for warp transit every time something happens that requires their attention.

One thing my group have used contacts extensively for is to increase thier ability to obtain items quickly and easily. The Techpriest and Guardsman alike became swiftly frustrated by their social ineptness and thus inability to find rare equipment during downtime (the only circumstance in which I use the availability rules), so they sought out contacts to assist them in this regard (in the former case, a Munitorum Quartermaster was the contact, though he still required the correct forms to be filled in for each requisition).

In general, I think the way to approach them is "these are the mechanical benefits a character can obtain from the people he knows". You don't just get a contact out of thin air, you have to cultivate the relationship or otherwise have some reason for this person doing you favours or finding you information or whatever.

Mark It Zero said:

I like that sort of interaction as well. The problem is that there is a worrying theme that shows its ugly face throughout our campaigns, namely the fact that usually everyone involved in our PCs investigations DIE somwhere along the line. (usually during the same adventure, or even gaming session at some times!).. : /

Its not that we act like the Emperors murdering pet psychopaths... all the time, its just that someone always seem to be acting like it at the wrong place and time, and that leads to almot every familiar NPCs demise eventually. Suffice to say that shoot-out endings where everything explodes and our "heroes" narrowly escapes are pretty common. And lets not forget that our bastard Black Priest of Maccabeus has a tendency to want to have every surviving bystander burned for some obscure heresy commited.

How does one keep NPCs alive under such conditions? : /

However, we are extremely adept at making enemies that hates our guts and wants us dead. Thats always something, I guess

I know lots of people on my homeworld of Earth.

None of them are useful.

None of them help me get ahead.

None of them have any secret knowledge I can't get from Google.

I should have spent more experience points on Contacts I guess.

Maxim C. Gatling said:

I also know lots of people on my homeworld of Earth.

Several of them are useful (although I wouldnt see a friend as "useful" since the lable is kind of distasteful)

Several of them can and have helped me get ahead.

Several of them have obscure and secret knowledge, and although I could probably find it on Google, it doesnt make them any less knowledgable.

And even if I did join the holy Inquisition and went away for a few decades to battle humanity's enemies, I seriously dont think they would have any qualms about helping me when I get back. Not that im a particularly lovable person, but i do feel I've created strong bonds with my friends.

Thats kind of why I started this thread in the first place. Sure the dark future of the forty-first millenium is harsh and bleak, but that doesn't necessarly mean that the concept of friendship is just eliminated in total...