Contacts

The Contacts skill represents who you know and how good you are at finding things out from them. You may know a guy, or know a guy who knows a guy, or maybe you just know the right questions to ask in the right places. Whatever your methods, you can find things out just by asking around. Characters with a high Contacts skill are connected, always with an ear to the ground, their fingers on the pulse of the city. They include reporters, private eyes, and spies. The Contacts skill doesn’t work in a vacuum—you need to be able to get out and talk to people for it to be useful; when that isn’t possible, neither is the skill. Contacts are also limited by familiarity. Finding yourself in an entirely unfamiliar environment means drastically increased difficulties (+4 or more) on your Contacts rolls. For every week you stay in the area and expand your social networks, the familiarity penalty is reduced by one.

### ***Gathering Information***

*As with the answers and research trappings from **Scholarship,** gathering information begins with a question. The difference here is that you’re posing the question to your contacts—you go out and talk to people, trying to learn the answer to a question like, “Who’s trying to kill me?”*

*Describe where you are going to talk to folks (usually “the street”), and the GM sets the difficulty. Roll normally, and then the GM explains what you discovered. If the roll fails, then you may take extra time to try to succeed.*

*This is much like scholarly research, but instead of needing a library, you need to talk to people. These people must have the right level of access to answer the question (this corresponds to the “quality” of the library). If you are being shut out for one reason or another, no amount of dogged persistence through time investment is going to help. When that happens, it usually means there’s another problem you need to solve first. One important warning about authenticity— being the most informed guy and knowing all the latest gossip aren’t necessarily the same thing. The Contacts skill discovers what people know, and people always have their own biases. Information is only as good as its source. Your use of Contacts rarely tests the truth of the information provided, save by the discovery—through several sources—that contradictory answers are coming in. If you want to determine the truthfulness of the information you’re uncovering, that means more in-depth conversation with individuals...and it may involve using **Empathy, Rapport, Deceit, Intimidation**, and more.*

*Finally, consider that it is difficult to use the Contacts skill secretly. Rolling the Contacts skill usually indicates that you are going out and talking to people. If you’re asking some particularly sensitive questions, word is going to get back to the people who have the real, deeper answers—people who might see shutting you up as the best way to keep their secrets.*

### ***Getting the Tip-Off***

*Contacts also keep you apprised of the general state of things, sometimes without you going out and making an active effort. In this way, the Contacts skill acts as a sort of social Alertness, keeping you abreast of things that might be coming your way. It’s far from foolproof and, like Alertness, the GM is usually the one to call for a roll—you can’t go out looking for a tip-off, though you can tell the GM that you’re going out and talking to your contacts just to check on what’s up, which is a good hint that you’d like a tip-off.*

### ***Knowing People***

*If you have a strong Contacts skill, you know a wide variety of people and have at least a cursory connection with virtually any organization in the places you live and work (sometimes even those where you don’t). Deeper connections may come about through concerted effort or the application of stunts. You can roll Contacts as a declaration in any scene to establish that you have a contact at hand, whether in a certain location or in a certain group of people. The more aspects (or other prior established context) that you have relevant to the location or group, the easier the declaration will be.*

### ***Rumors***

*Contacts are also useful for planting rumors, not just for ferreting them out. At its simplest, you can use Contacts to just “get the word out” effectively and quickly, but you can also use it to change some of the public’s perspective about someone or something over time.*

*Tell the GM what rumor you want to plant, and she assigns bonuses or penalties based on how preposterous or reasonable the rumor is. The GM uses the final roll to determine the result of the rumor.*

*It’s worth noting: your roll is also the target for someone else’s Contacts roll to find out who has been spreading rumors—so be careful! The most common effect of a successful Contacts roll to plant a rumor is a “sticky” temporary aspect. This might even be treated as a social attack in some circumstances.*