Contacts on Playbook-sheets: I seem to recall someone asking what you do when you have two characters. How come your fresh lurk knows all the people my veteran does?
I also remember Andrew Shields had a list of names, by groupings (shady friends, dangerous friends, weird friends, etc). Would you be willing to share it, please?
I was just thinking about this the other day, and I thought it’d be fun to brainstorm some new ones. Like, it seems completely legit that the Cutter might know, I dunno, a bookie, or a bouncer, or even a bar owner. I bet we could come up with alternate lists of friend types pretty fast. Having an alternate list that you could sub in some but not all of when adding a second character to the game would be awesome. (Some-but-not-all because I think it’d be a great tie in for two characters to share one acquaintance in all cases.)
Rather than have all the same Sly Friends as our team’s initial Slide, I made up my own. Here’s what I made up:
Meryl – An actress, Brightstone
Celeste – A courtesan, the Veil, Nightmarket
Lord Whitford – A noble, Six Towers
Phin – A musician, Charterhall
Lena – A masseuse, Silkshore
One of the things I did for my form-fillable sheets was make all the contact lists editable. So you have the standard names by default, but if someone goes and kills Baszo Baz (like our group did), a player coming in with a new Slide doesn’t get short-changed.
I’ve always just created my own contacts for each of my characters, even for my very first character. Of course, I’ve also suggested that my players do the same, ‘though I’ve never forced the matter. I only mention this because it often seems like people either forget or don’t realize that they can change what is, for many, an oddly static part of the game. The contacts given for each playbook are really only suggestions — or, at least, a guideline for the sort of contacts that might be useful for that type of character or crew.
Kelly Jolliffe Cite for the contacts being “suggestions”? I’ve always taken them as pretty canon. Yes, they’re most powerful in one shots and new games, but nonetheless.
I’ve been in two games now and these were always treated as suggestions. I can’t really see any good reason they’d need to be enforced or why one class can be friends with a physicker and the other can’t?
It’s often more fun and makes the character more personal to pick contacts that fit them.
Jacob Kriegisch I tend to think that they are reflective of the nature of the playbook, and that it makes very little sense for the Cutter to be friends with Lord Scurlock or the like. While they’re obviously not locked in stone or we wouldn’t be having this conversation, I think they are stronger than suggestions – they are defaults. You should use them unless there’s a more compelling reason than “I don’t feel like it” to not do so.
Mike Pureka I disagree with that premise. Why wouldn’t Lord Scurlock have a few trusted Cutters to take care of some business? Never know when you’re going to need to have some uppity noble get beat up in an ally. Since good help is hard to find, Scurlock would look out for this Cutter… until he becomes more trouble than he’s worth. That is a completely legitimate character who is going to end up in all kinds of different trouble from a Cutter that hangs out with Thugs and Extortionists. How is that not a compelling reason?
Similarly, why wouldn’t a Whisper be close friends with somebody not involved in magic? Or how about a Spider that, at a young age, made friends with a rough Thug who protected him from bullies and now benefits from the Spider’s plans, so he’s still a close contact and bodyguard?
Why can’t the Hound have angered a rich noble in the past, maybe by collecting a bounty on a loved one, and now is in over his head because the noble is his Rival? That’s a rough place to start, but sounds like it could be pretty fun.
My point is there are few things that really set the tone and characterization of who you are playing more than your contacts. I can think of no compelling reason to force players to use that list, when they have such a powerful opportunity to really shape their story.
The most compelling reason I can think of is that most of the time they don’t have that info, or they don’t have enough of a grasp on the setting to make informed decisions about it.
I can think of good reasons “why not” for all of your examples, too, but they’re no better or worse than your “why’s”. That’s just playing hypothetical games.
Mike Pureka If your players are truly new to the concept of role-playing or can’t rightly grasp the genre and aesthetic of Blades in general, then by all means, use the standard contacts lists — like yourself, I’m certain that’s what they’re there for. However, I’ve always been willing to work with and alongside my players to better and more accurately flesh out that aspect of their character sheet, regardless of whether or not they know what a spirit warden is or that ghosts and the like can also be contacts, because I know those things. Even in my first game, I had a good grasp of the game’s setting and mechanics because I had watched others play the game on a few separate occasions before I’d even touched it, myself.
That said, the main reason one should only treat the various contacts lists as only suggestions, is because it’s so very, very boring for each crew and each character to have the very same contacts from one game to the next, depending on their playbook, ignoring just how restrictive that is for a creative mind.
I thknk Mike Pureka is right, and I also think there’s some kind of balance her. A cutter with a phisicker-friend is more powerful than a cutter without one, no?
I think the contacts/friends list is people that you’re not going to leave, even if the friendship sours the person …or “person will still be around.
I think they’re like the side cast of a television series – often involved. Sure, they could enter ANY nightclub, but our (anti-)heroes will always enter the same place, especially when it’s hectic time, and then.
My Lurk has had a on-and-off-on-again with Roslyn Kelis, ad I think there is reasons to be careful about using them as all player choice.
I just realized that in a Ghost/Echo run we had two characters that just was professionals, but their friendship was hampered by the ex-wife leaving Grip for Coil, and then Coil for saphire-meth. Like I say, it dawned on me that there’s a strength in the playbooks sharing contacts /friends.
I think it all comes down to group preference and what people find fun. Having the preset lists helps by having preforged connections, but in a group that regularly plays together and understands what makes the game fun for the rest of the players, these kind of connections come up naturally anyway.
I agree that choosing your close friend and your rival is important because it makes them a recurring character, but I’d argue that is why players should be allowed to make them up. Why should every Leech have the same important people in their life? I definitely do not agree that a Cutter with a Physicker is more powerful than one without. If the Cutter chooses a Physicker friend, sure, they have an easier time healing, but then they miss out on Gondolier friend, who can help them out when the ghosts of victims start to seek revenge.
By opening up the friends list, our game has a few new factions, and our crew of Shadows is mixed up with things all over the place. It works well for us and it brings in many of the different parts of the setting.
The main reason I think the list needs
I don’t really agree that every group that plays together regularly is going to be automatically good at creating connections. That’s a skill, and it’s definitely not one every long term group develops.
Basically, I would only recommend mixing up the friends list for “advanced players” – people who already have a game of this system (preferably a long game of this system) under their belt. They know the ropes, they know how it works, they can tamper with it. Otherwise, asking “Why does every Leech have the same list of friends?” is much like asking “Why does every Leech have the same list of abilities?” or “Why does every Leech have the same list of gear?” – because it works as designed.
There’s no right or wrong: that’s kind of the point. It absolutely depends on the group and the GM in question. Using myself as an example, I’m simply more willing to “trust” (if that’s even the right word — I don’t think so) my players with creating their own, unique contacts because I think it ultimately makes for a more fun and personalized campaign. Conversely, there’s no shame in thinking your players might not be ready for that level of customization. I personally tend to play with well-thought and generally experienced adults: people that are more than able to adapt to any game or setting, regardless of their prior experience with such things.