03.06 Rd6 Advantages: Social

03.06 Rd6 Advantages: Social

Contacts (1-4 Points)

When a character purchases Contacts for a variable Advantage point cost, the character gets a contact or several contacts that regularly provide the character with information and/or help during the campaign. These contacts can be friends, associates, just people the character knows-of who will respond to the character’s plea for knowledge, or even enemies. The character may not always know who these contacts are. They could be a secret society or group that knows who the character is, but who choose to remain anonymous. The player should tell the gamemaster how many points to devote to this Advantage and let the gamemaster work out the details.

This gives a great resource to the GM throughout the campaign. Contacts can be used for many things, from starting an adventure or ending a subplot, or just getting the main plot to move along. Use the table below to determine what sort of power your contact has by point value. The gamemaster will then set it up so that your contacts are part of the game. Remember that Contacts have their own motivations, they are not always out for your own good, and they are influenced just as easy by others. Most have some sort of vested interest in keeping the character informed.

Contact Value Chart

Point ValueContacts
1The contact has a very limited sphere of influence/knowledge. Examples: a local barkeep with an ear to the ground; a group of friends with their eyes open; a bureaucrat who gives juicy tips at modest prices; a computer nerd who knows “everything” about one sort of computer
2The contact has a moderately extensive sphere of influence/knowledge. A small underground or low-level information net running throughout a city, base, or ship; an low-ranking Imperial or Rebel officer who keeps in touch; the head of a local law enforcement agency; a weaponsmith who has access to not-quite-legal weapons and underground information
3The contact has a wide range of influence/ knowledge, but may be difficult to get in touch with. A band of gypsies who travel around and have some way of contacting the character; extensive ties to a megacorporation’s personnel who feed the character information when it suits them; a crime boss who “owes the character a favor” and pays it back occasionally with information
4More than one contact, with extensive knowledge on many subjects. Lots of “old acquaintances” keep their eyes peeled for information the character might be interested in; a whole species (small species) feels friendly toward the character for past favors; people show up out of the shadows and tell the character things for no apparent reason.

Cultures (1-4 points)

The character has unusual knowledge of a species, culture, or society other than his or her own. This knowledge is not a skill – it is natural to the character. For example, it may occur to a character, while he is dealing with a culture he has knowledge of, that something isn’t right. Maybe someone is acting in a manner not consistent with the culture, or someone is about to commit a serious breach of etiquette. The table below shows possible point costs and examples of uses of this Advantage.

Culture Value Chart

Point ValueEffect
1The character’s knowledge is limited to one culture and is not very reliable. The character remembers small items and details of cultural significance but may not remember them all the time. The gamemaster has control over when this knowledge helps the character. Examples includes: anecdotes from the culture’s history, table manners, etc.
2The knowledge may be focused on one culture or spread out over a few and is useful in proportion to its focus. The character may know much of what is “common knowledge” within the culture. Either that, or perhaps the character has limited knowledge (like option one) of several cultures through limited contact, similar to the one-point Cultures but for a few cultures.
3The character has exhaustive knowledge of one culture, or passing knowledge of several. The character probably speaks the native language of the culture in question (free skill, like native language) and probably knows quite a bit about the culture and the culture’s secrets. Or the character may have fairly good knowledge of several cultures (as option two).
4The character is practically a native of the alien culture, perhaps raised in another culture that is not common to his species.

Noble Birth (1-6 points)

This character fell into luxury, born into a wealthy, perhaps noble, family. He wanted for nothing, attending the best schools, ordering servants around, and having everything she desired. The character begins play with double the amount of funds normally given to starting characters.

The amount of points spent is a general measure of the title and political power the player has.

Point ValueEffect
1This Noble Birth puts the character extremely low on the political latter, perhaps a Knight, Baron of very low standing, or just a Baronet.
2This level of Noble Birth can perhaps be a more powerful Baron or a low level Count of Earl.
3A 3-points Noble Birth could be a very high powered Baron, or a moderate to high level Count or a low-level Marquis.
4This level of Noble Birth would between a high level Marquis to a low level Duke.
5At this level, a character is a Duke on the verge of being a Lord.
6Lord to perhaps High Lord of a noble family or house.

High Lord – Highest Ranking Noble in a house, the attend the High Council meetings and form House policy. They rule the House as a whole as and serve the High Council. They are usually chosen from the most powerful Lords.

Lord – There are only a few Lords to a house (under a dozen or so) and they serve the High Lord and rule over their own portions of the House. They hold and control the vast majority of the Houses wealth, ruling over large sections of planets, industries, corporations and remote colonies. Lords oversee many Marquis, sometimes some Dukes.

Duke – Dukes and Duchesses are in direst relationship with the High Lord, but do not hold a Lordship title. If someone related to the High Lord is does not have a Lordship title, they can petition the High Lord for a Duke-title. The High-Lord can grant the title, but sometimes assign a Lord to oversee the Duke. Dukes hold and control smaller portions of a House ownings than the Lords, although many times are treated equally. However, technically, a Duke is lower than a Lord. Their ownings can include a large portion of a single world or control of a few corporations. Some Dukes are meaningless outside of the title while others have great autonomy. Some Dukes can become so powerful that they can vie for Lordship. Promotions from Duke to Lord are rare events that usually are accompanied by a lot of overt and covert maneuvering. Once the Bid for Lordship is public, the High Council oversees the promotion. Dukes oversee one or many Marquis

Marquis – Marquis are below Dukes. The Marquis is climbing the political latter within the power structure of the aristocracy, gaining his title by honoring either a Duke or a Lord with his actions. Marquis are promoted to Dukes when they have enough power and financial backing. They control several properties on many worlds or the same world, and over see portions of a particular portion of business. Marquis oversee one or many Counts/Earls.

Count or Earl – Below Marquis is a Earl or a Count. They oversee several Barons. They usually control a smaller portion of House ownings than the Marquis. They usually serve the Marquis in local court sessions and small events on specific worlds. Counts are commonly promoted to Marquis, as the House business grows.

Baron– The Baron controls a single small portion of House property or business, reporting to the Count or Earl. They are the Noble connection to the commoners. They usually have a manor, and a small property holding.

Baronet and KnightBaronet is roughly equivalent to a Knight. It is given to a commoner as an honorary title. It is hereditary. They are referred to as Sir as are Knights. Knights are usually the warriors of a House, while the Baronet is simply a civilian with equivalent honor.