Below is a new skill to add to the game Call of Cthulhu.  I have used it in other games systems and I found that it works with CoC as well. 

Contacts (00%)

This skill is a measure of who the player knows and how willing they are to help. The player must specify which groups she has contacts with and the GM is free to override anything that is unreasonable. Contacts might be with local police, federal police, at a local university, or something else along those lines. Starting characters should only have contacts within their profession, and then not more than around 20%. Giving this skill away free shouldn't disrupt the game too much, but keepers might have their players purchase the skill like any other during character generation.

Contacts should not be used to bail players out of major messes. They are sources of information and possibly small favors. A successful use of the skill gives the player the help that she needs. Failure just means that the contact was either too busy or unable to help the player. Critical failures and successes should depend on the situation. As a guide, fumbles should mean that the contact is lost while a critical success results in an extra bit of help.

For example, a contact at a university library might get the characters in to see a forbidden book. Or a contact in the local police department might help get the players out of jail a little faster. A contact at city hall might allow characters to see sealed city records concerning that old haunted house on the hill.

Like the Cthulhu Mythos skill, Contacts receive no skill checks. If the players do some great service to an individual or a group then the GM can grant the skill at some nominal level. For example, if a group of characters help a scientist turn back some horror he accidentally unleashed then they might suddenly find they have a contact in the Miskatonic U's physics department. This would show up as contact(MU physics department) 15% on the players character sheet.

Likewise, if the players overuse a contact the GM is free to lower or remove the skill (as the contact becomes annoyed at being bothered). Also, just because a character has a contact doesn't mean that the contact automatically believes everything she is told. If a character goes to a police contact asking for help against some blasphemy a local outstanding citizen has conjured up but doesn't bring any proof then the police will probably do nothing. In this case a fumbled roll might mean that the character has been institutionalized. The GM has final say in what the contact can, can't, and wont do.

To limit overuse and abuse of the skill I would recommend that GMs keep the percentage chance down. There is no reason for any player to have a contact skill above 40%, and most should be much lower. Any higher and they might start relying on who they know and not what they know. NPCs, of course, can have contacts at any level desired by the GM.

This skill is meant to supplement the fast talk, persuade, and credit rating skills by offering another means for players to get information. I thought of this skill while reading the 5th edition rules. There, it states that the biology skill gives the character knowledge of noted biologists as well as general biology. But what, if the character knew a number of biologists but no biology? Then she would have the skill contacts(local university biology department).

Using this skill properly can add a new way for the characters to collect much needed information. It shouldn't, however, be used as a substitute for role playing. I almost hesitate to suggest adding the skill because it might make the game more dice rolls and less character interaction. Still, it is a nice way to quantify favors owed and who knows who. It could also be used for adventure threads, as a contact comes to the players because she knows they can be trusted. As long as the skill isn't abused the I think it could make a nice addition to the game.