Contact Rules
We use a slightly modified version of the RAW Run Faster and Cutting Aces contact systems. This guide will walk you through how to use it. There are also sample contacts on pages 182-195 of Run Faster and community contact examples are linked here.
Creating a Contact
Choose a Contact Type
Under the ShadowHaven contact system, every contact - in addition to the stat block - possesses a type which gives them certain characteristics and affects how they use their stat block. Every contact on ShadowHaven is one, and only one, of the below types.
Swag: They’re the folks who find you that wiz new gun or the fancy new focus. They are able to use Negotiation to find you gear at no markup, and to fence gear for you based on their loyalty, but are (generally) unable to do anything else for you. You can choose for them to be specialized in a type of gear, giving them a +4 to negotiation rolls to find and +1 loyalty for fencing that kind of gear, but leaving them unable to get gear outside that type. Some specialized swag contacts can use select active skills.
Specializations are:
Tailors:Armor/Clothing: Can use Armorer
Chemists or Drug dealers: Drugs/Toxins
Gun runners: Weapons/Ammo
Bomb cookers: Explosives and explosives accessories
Talislegger: Magic gear
Mechanics and sleazy car salesmen: Vehicles/Drones and mods, can use mechanic skills
Nerds: Electronics/Software: Can use Hardware
Breeders: Animals/Animal Gear
SIN Forger: SINs and Licenses: SINs rating 4 or lower and burner SINs have an immediate delivery time.
Street Docs: Medical and biotech gear, ware. Can Also use First Aid and Medicine
Fixers: Everyone needs one. Fixers are able to do just about everything… as long as they can fit it into their busy schedule. Aside from being necessary to find you jobs, they are able to use any of their knowledge skills to help you, they are able to network for you, and they are able to find you gear using their Negotiation skill… but finding gear is going to cost you a markup of 35%-(Loyalty*5%) added to the final cost of the item. They don’t have the dedicated networks swag contacts do, and they gotta get their cut.
Shadow Services: Everyone else, pretty much. They’re not able to use Negotiation to find you gear, but they’re able to network, use knowledge skills, and use active skills for you. There are a couple exceptions - they’re not willing to risk their hoop enough to craft you anything that’ll have their signature attached to it. No fancy explosives, no alchemical preps, and no other fruits of artificing. That stuff’s gotta go through a Swag contact finding someone *else’s* stuff to pawn off on you, keeps everyone safer that way. Except the poor sap getting picked up by KE because his focus was used in a terrorist attack… And you wonder why foci are so expensive.
Personal Details
Specify your contact's sex, age, metatype, preferred type of payment (p. 173-176, Run Faster; p. 180, Run Faster), their hobbies or vices and their personal life (p. 181, Run Faster).
Choose your contact's connection and loyalty
As per normal rules at character generation. Contacts at connection 7 or higher must be approved by the Thematics department, and can only be gained as run rewards.
Assign Attributes
All contacts have attributes starting at metatype minimum. Add the number of attribute points equal to the value listed in the table below. Deduct 3 from the total listed value if they have a Magic or Resonance Rating.
Assign Special Attributes
Contacts that are Human gain one additional special attribute point.
Starting with your contact's metatype base attribute array (contacts will have one edge and no Magic/Resonance to start), increase the amount of the contact's Edge, Magic or Resonance, Initiations or Submersions until the sum of those attributes or number of Initiations/Submersions is equal to the amount listed in the table below. A contact cannot both have a Magic and a Resonance rating, as the two are mutually exclusive. Likewise, a contact with a Magic rating cannot gain Submersions, and a contact with Resonance cannot gain Initiations. You must choose the type of Awakened the contact is (Adept, Magician, and so on). Ex: You have a Connection 6 Awakened Contact, meaning you have five points to increase between the previously mentioned characteristics. You choose to raise Edge to two, Magic to three and give them one initiation, which equals the five available points you had.
Adepts receive power points equal to their magic rating.
If you choose not to give your contact a Magic or Resonance rating, meaning they are mundane, they cannot gain any Initiations or Submersions.
Contacts cannot be Mystic Adepts.
Assign Active Skills
Add active skills to your contact. Each skill rank is worth 1 point, each Specialization is worth 1, each Skill Group point is worth 2. Do this until the number of points is equal to the skill listing in the table below. Skill ratings are limited to the contact's Connection+4. Deduct 6 from the total listed value if they have a Magic or Resonance Rating.
Assign Knowledge Skills
Add Knowledge Skills to your contact. Each Skill Rank is worth 1 point, each Specialization is worth 1. Contacts get 1 native language for free. Knowledge Skill Ranks are limited to Connection+4.
Purchase Gear
You may add gear such as cyberware, vehicles, weapons and so on up to the Nuyen value listed on the table below. The contact may purchase up to Connection+12 Availability items. Assume items such as Fake SINs, Fake Licenses, all Decker Programs if they are a Decker Contact (not including Program Carrier), and the like are already in possession. Only include items that may come up in play or could be borrowed. Awakened and Emerged contacts who install cyberware, bioware, geneware, etc. lose essence and Magic/Resonance normally. Ex: You spend 4 Special Attribute points to to make your Contact Resonance 4, and they install a Standard Gastric Neurostimulator. They lose the appropriate .2 Essence and 1 Resonance, making their final Resonance Rating; 3.
Awakened Contacts have their total Nuyen reduced by Magic*20,000 Nuyen. Calculate the penalty after any Magic lost. This penalty still applies even if Connection is upgraded/lowered (to a minimum of a total 20,000 Nuyen), however gaining or losing additional Magic after the initial creation of the contact does not increase or decrease initial the penalty.
The max Force of a Focus allowed on a Awakened Contact is Magic+1, with the exception of a Power Focus, which has a max Force of Magic/2, rounded down. Ex: A Magic 3 Contact could have a Force 4 Sustaining, Health Focus and a Force 1 Power Focus. They are automatically considered bound to the contact.
Choose Spells or Complex Forms
If your contact has at least one point in the skill needed to cast spells or use Complex Forms and is Awakened/Emerged, they may choose spells or Complex Forms appropriate to their Magic/Resonance. Note that this does not mean those with a Magic Rating can use Complex Forms or vice versa, as Magic and Resonance Score are mutually exclusive.
An Awakened contact who is capable of casting spells knows Magic Rating*2 in spells. An Emerged Contact knows Resonance+3 number of Complex Forms. Adepts, of course, have the normal power point limits.
Contact Stat Table
| Connection | Attribute Points | Special Attribute Points | Active Skills Points | Knowledge Skill Points | Nuyen for Equipment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 6,000¥ |
| 2 | 19 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 50,000¥ |
| 3 | 20 | 2 | 22 | 22 | 140,000¥ |
| 4 | 20 | 4 | 26 | 26 | 175,000¥ |
| 5 | 21 | 4 | 28 | 28 | 225,000¥ |
| 6 | 21 | 5 | 30 | 30 | 250,000¥ |
| 7 | 21 | 5 | 34 | 34 | 275,000¥ |
| 8 | 21 | 6 | 36 | 36 | 275,000¥ |
| 9 | 21 | 6 | 38 | 38 | 300,000¥ |
| 10 | 22 | 7 | 40 | 40 | 375,000¥ |
| 11 | 22 | 8 | 42 | 42 | 450,000¥ |
| 12 | 22 | 10 | 46 | 46 | 500,000¥ |
Make a Wikipage
After you create your contact, make a wikipage for them and link them to your PC's wikipage. Decide if you want the contact to be public or private. Some community contact examples are linked here.
Buying Contacts
You may buy a new contact in several ways.
- Negotiation with your Johnson with a value of 1 RVP per connection will gain a contact. The loyalty, in this case, is set by your GM.
- You may also buy contacts for 1 RVP per connection and 1 loyalty outside of runs.
- You may spend 20 faction reputation (Page 160, Cutting Aces) to buy of contact with a connection equal to that faction's connection.
- You may buy a public contacts for Connection + starting loyalty in RVP.
- Contacts with a connection rating greater than 6 may only be gained as run rewards.
Upgrading Contacts
Contacts tend to stay at the same connection, however, they can be upgraded using the faction contact upgrade rules (p. 159 Cutting Aces), or by a GM due to actions in a game.
To upgrade the loyalty of a contact, you must pay the new loyalty in karma, it takes new loyalty weeks, and can only be done on interval at a time. Upgrading a contact to loyalty 5 or 6 requires a run, and cannot be done simply with karma.
Upgrading Contact Connection
As the result of a run, a a public contact's connection rating might increase by 1, due to player action. This upgrade is for all players who have the contact, not just the players who are responsible. For this to happen:
- A Probational GM must seek approval from the Thematics Department
- A standard GM must seek approval if the contact's connection is being increased over 6
- An Advanced GM is free to do as they wish
Using Contacts for Services
Contacts will perform services for you in exchange for a favor. We use the "chips" system, as described by the "Favor" system (p. 388-389, Core; p. 176, Run Faster). Consult the Favor Rating Table (p. 389, Core) for the value of a particular favor; the GM, as usual, is the final arbiter for the rating of a favor. Favors that involve loaning goods to a character have the following ratings, reproduced for convenience below:
| Favor Rating | Value of Goods |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2025 nuyen |
| 2 | 5000 nuyen |
| 3 | 11175 nuyen |
| 4 | 50000 nuyen |
| 5 | 176100 nuyen |
| 6 | 500000 nuyen |
Favors owed can be paid down at twice these rates, or they may be worked off with in-kind payment (as described on p. 176, Run Faster).
The use of an Active skill follows a different set of rules. Contacts can be paid for their labor according to the formula (p. 162, Cutting Aces):
cost in nuyen = (dice pool / 4) x hours worked x 150
Contacts will bill you for materials needed to use the skill, as well as any additional time not directly related to the use of the skill. For example, an Awakened contact that casts spells for you will charge for the time they spent healing any drain incurred.
Contacts will refuse to do work that is likely to result in physical harm to them. To continue the previous example, an Awakened contact will not agree to cast spells for you at a Force that might cause lethal amounts of drain for them.
Any dice gained from assistance, including the Leadership skill or situational bonuses determined by the GM does not factor into cost, only the base dicepool comes into play. Things that give constant/permanent modifiers, such as Power Foci to Magic tests, factor into cost, as they are considered part of the base dicepool.
An opposed Negotiation test can be used to lower the final cost of the service. Each net hit you receive lowers the final cost of the service by 5%.
Contacts and Gear
Although fixers can pick up the Negotiation skill to find gear, Swag contacts are specifically tailored to do so. When you use a non-Swag contact with Negotiation to find you gear, weapons, etc. you pay them an extra amount according to the table below.
| Fixer Contact Finder's Fee | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Loyalty | Finder's Fee Markup | ||
| 1 | 25% | ||
| 2 | 20% | ||
| 3 | 15% | ||
| 4 | 10% | ||
| 5 | 5% | ||
| 6 | None | ||
Contact Restrictions
- Contacts may not have qualities.
- Contacts tend not to use their edge for the players, but the GM may rule they can for certain rolls.
- Contacts may not be current or retired player characters, Drakes or Dragons, or Named NPCs from a Shadowrun sourcebook.
- Contacts will only operate in the way specified by the GM.
- Contacts are people as well and are not at the beck and call of the PCs. GMs should portray them as such and the contact might require payment/favors for some tasks.