So yeah, the two would cancel each other out. This is exactly how they create usable mana areas in outer space, they cancel out some of the negative void with positive things (living things like plants and people mostly).

Well in space there is a lot more nothingness than in a city. I assume it is more than twelve times as much.

I never made that point.

No, since concentration camps where tens of thousands of people died are at a 3.....

I think you're low-balling a bit. According to the sidebar that's more like a 5, 6 for the worst ones such as Auschwitz. I wouldn't think a death camp where thousands died would be less then 4.

Rating 3:
These domains are created by a significant event in the recent past (usually within the last century). The event may be long over, but the area still reflects the event in some way. Examples include the site of a major battle or the ruined land from an environmental accident. An important cathedral or monastery where a great spiritual event occurred also qualifies.

Rating 6:
These domains were created by historic events of epic scope that have significance to most of humanity. The blast sites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are Rating 6 domains, as is the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz and the Native American "Re-Education Center" at Abilene.

Sorry, my bad.

Still, there is a good point to be made from that. There are maybe... what, a dozen places in the world that would qualify for this level of BC? Based on that criteria anyway, there are more based on 'natural' ebb and flow, and various other things. If that's the case, I hardly think the 3-4 suggested earlier for a hospital seems reasonable. A normal hospital generates almost as much disturbance as things that were among the greatest (Big, not good) events in the last century?

It puts a bit of perspective on things.

Would Cherry Creek Lake near Denver, where Dunkelzahn's 12-hour interview by Holly Brighton took place, qualify as a Rating 6 BC, then? Or Mt. Fuji, where Ryumyo Awakened and officially started the Awakening?

I doubt it. While it was a fairly big event, I don't think it was of the same.... type as the others. It was big/important and perhaps even world changing, but I don't think it had the kind of emotional content required for a BC. Actually, because of the lower level of emotion, I wouldn't think it would even be a BC 1.

I think another contributing factor to this is the fact that not all that many people were actually at the lake. Most people who were highly emotional (Angry, happy, whatever) were sitting in their homes watching TV. Now, maybe if you had all the people who were mad at his apointment in a single place at a single time while watching that interview, you would likely get a BC of 2 or so (like the rock concert), but it wouldn't last past that time at all.

Edit: My SR history isn't the best, but night of rage was a specific spot right? I'd imagine that would be an exceptionally high BC. Likely 5. World Trade Centers would likely be a 4.

An hosptital is continuously generating an emotional load, that's why the background count stay high, it is replenished. If the hospital stopped it's activity the BG count would probably drop back to normal in no more than a few years, while the exemples given can persist for a century or even longer.

I think 6 way too low.

The 3 major Reynhard action camps - Treblinka II, Sobibor, Belzec. Auschwitz. Basement of the Lubyanka, Katyn Forest, Solovetsk Special Camp, The Danube-Black Sea Canal, Kolyma camp, the Vorkuta Gulag death camps, Choeung Ek and S-21, ....

Yeah, I have no idea what any of those are.

Various concentration/death camps where thousands upon thousands met their end. Spill enough blood in one place and the ground's going to become (un)hallowed.

Right, I kind of guessed that much at least, but it lacks a point. I don't see how 'list of deathcamps' is linked to '6 is way too low'. It requires some form of argument. Without that, all I can say is that those others are likely 5s.

I don't think you're actually reading what's being put down, then.

You have a list of concentrated areas where literally thousands of people died in pain, misery and in many cases, pants-wetting fear. If a normal hospital rates a four at most, then these places - that are meant for nothing but death - would rank high above that.

Do you see the point now?

Shadowrun ratings tend to scale up rapidly past rating 4, at least in descriptive effect. It's not linear.

Remember, a 4 in most things is "above average", where a 6 is "among the best or worst in the world".

Which, incidentally, would make ratings 7+ all that more "extreme".



-k

Not really, because I said that a hospital shouldn't rate a 4 because that is too high. They should be a 2 or maybe a 3 at most. The person who said they should be 4 was throwing out a rating 2-3 for an office building just because it is an office building. Besides, it seems to be kind of logarithmic about what is required to go from one rating to another.

Not much point in continuing, then.

@KarmaInferno - That's why I'm figuring the death camps and locations listed would have lasting 6's or 7's because of the sheer naughtiness that happened there.

If office buildings have 2-3 BC.. how do WageMages ever work?
Most of them don't have 8 Magic and Sorcery 6. They're modest Magic 3, sorcery 2-3 guys.

If an office building had a 3 BC, they basically would not be able to cast anything but the most minor of spells.

The vast majority of office buildings shouldn't even register a change in background count. Even in the Shadowrun universe.

Perhaps a particularly draconian and oppressive office might score a 1. It should underscore just how bad a workplace it is, to even have that 1.




-k

R6, Aspected for Nazi-mages.

EDIT: If it were R7, it'd be a mana warp and be destructive to all magic in the area.

Not that I'm arguing for an office to have 3 BC, that's silly, but magic aspect is a consideration of corporations. If they intend to use a wagemage they'll likely invest a little in making the area aspected, or brought back to nominal levels. Domains are easier to manipulate then ebbs/voids/warps/surges/storms.

Well, on the other hand...

I recently played a mission where we ran into an office surrounded by a Background Count that kept getting worse as we got closer, up to like rating 4 right next to the building. Some seriously bad mojo was going on there.

But as soon as we actually got INTO the building, the background count vanished.

They had initiate mages with Cleansing on duty inside, you see.



-k

Wuxing does exactly this with their buildings. Then they have their feng shui master come in and aspect the geomancy to the tradition of their wagemages. Now your Magic 3 wagemage is suddenly magic 6. This is why I don't like using background counts -- because now the team is suddenly facing Force 12 stunballs.

Wrong. He gets +3 Dicepool bonus for using Magic and +3 Dicepool for Drain, not +3 Magic. So he'd still only be able to overcast to 6, but it'd be way, way easier for him to do.

yes sir you are correct!