To a point BB also takes me back to the old Darklands and many of the situations you describe in your post were not that uncommon.
Without going too much overboard the already placed character backgrounds can also be re-used for events, such as Cultists generating covens, Flagellants in roaming bands, and robber knights leading deserter bands pillaging, etc.
NPC handing out missions in the open can definitely deliver a lot as well.
Beforehand I would like to see a penalty for dropped contracts, maybe tied to a company reputation ( which acts as a multiplier for contract money maybe ).
