Background Count, Isn't too frequent? Options

[Luca]

Magic in the Shadows page 84 says about Background level 1:

" Any place where background count was briefly or recently generated: the site of a heated argument or passionate affair, a magician's convention or a bar frequented by the Awakened, an alienating corporate office environment, any site where violence was committed or a heroic action taken within the past hour"

In other words a lot of (too many) places frequented by shadowrunners are Background Count 1!!
The list above in fact comprehends places like:
Redmond barrens (certainly a lot of violence, murders and despair at each hour),
prisons (the same things),
Yakuza or Mafia dens (violence, etcc..),
corporate offices where the runners run (places of oppression),
lairs of critters (violence +a place very frequented by awakened),
places where someone was killed (everywhere shadowrunners go they kill someone!!!),
etc.....
Don't you think that TOO often runners must suffer the +1 on the target numbers of theirs magical skills in too many places??

[The Jopp]

What about POSITIVE background count then? Shouldn't there be something like "good" feelings like happiness to counter anger and such things that lowers the background count or cancels each other out?

[Luca]

NO, Positive bonus are given only by the power sites.
Background COunt is produced by strong feelings, good or bad, whatever they are.
But back to my question:
reading the description above, don't you think that BAckground Count is TOO frequent? Or probably I've not really understood the sense of the paragraph?

[ting-bu-dong]

Hi,
I think a background count should not be caused by a simple murder; it is caused by strong emotions. While the victim most likely has strong feelings about the issue, the murderer most likely has not. A simple murder is far too frequent in shadowrun to cause much attention. Think about it like this; do you always get nightmares when you see a new suicide bombing, a plane crash or the current war on the news?
However, places that are frequently haunted by strong emotions should have a background count of 1, 2 in extreme cases. A yakuza den will constantly the the stage for corruption, greed, murder and so on, thus qualifying for background count. Also, as you mentioned, the Barrens should have a small background count due to the ruined and hopeless conditions the area is in.
Regular corporate offices probably won't have background count. While there is greed and rivalry among the employees, it is "normal" for this environment. If they had background count, the whole sprawl would have it so it would be normal for a street shaman or hermetic.

tbd

[Abstruse]

Also remember that most background counts fade pretty quickly, lasting only a day or two.

The Abstruse One

[Kagetenshi]

I'd say a normal killing with some strong emotions involved would create a background count in a small area for up to an hour or so. Unless we're talking major betrayal or similar, nothing more lasting.
The barrens, though, are a good possibility.

~J

[Rev]

Background counts are also supposed to make magic unpredictable.

-1 dice or +1 t#'s or whatever for every level of background count whatever the cause isnt unpredictable.

Its much more fun to say: +1 to damaging combat spells, -1 to all others (site of hidious murder) or +2t#s to astral perception +2 to illusion spells (huge drug crazed party), or +1 to all spells by catholics acting according to thier faith +1 t# for anyone else (in a cathedral), or whatever. Then it is like a whole big roleplaying thing rather than just another boring environmental modifier.

[Luca]

yeah but Magic in the shadows says:
"...any site where violence was committed or a heroic action taken within the past hour..."
They speak about "violence", not "big" or "small" violence and, for what I can understand, any murder is violence and (consequently) any murder causes at least a Background Count of 1.
I think that a lot of violence is committed in all the places where shadowrunners go and if you consider that shadowrunners invading a place usually make a lot of kills this means that, if they remain in such places (for whatever reason) for more than 10 minutes, they suffer the Background Count penality of at least 1.
I see no other way to understand the rules, although I think that probably it is too much to qualify as Background Count any place where shadowrunners run and fight.
Consequently I think that, although the rules suggest so, I will not give background count to any place where they make at least a kill. It would be too much stress for the players!!

[The White Dwarf]

Yes its possible that runners will have to deal with a background count of 1, or possibly 2, with some frequency. However, there are two things to keep in mind. First, considering how useful/powerful magic is already, having to deal with a few "astral complications" is well within normalcy... I mean simply letting magic get by unopposed would be rather like never using cover in a gunfight. And second, there is a reason techniques like cleansing and flitering, etc, were created. If your players dont like it they can work around it. Most sams would be overjoyed if they could spend some karma to get an "ignore cover" technique; try to keep it all in perspective.

[Sunday_Gamer]

the Barrens are usually like a forest for background count, a mage astrally perceiving can see the zones like patches of bushes. They usually last about an hour (as in the example: if a heroic action or heated argument has occurred in the last hour) and new ones grow and old ones fade constantly... a mage can navigated around them but at times, he's got to cross one of even walk right into it. Comes with the territory.

Sunday

[Abstruse]

You'd get the same crap in an office building. An employee stresses out over a deadline, an exec sexually harasses the copy girl, the security team kills some squatter trying to sneak in for a warm place to sleep, the hellhounds running around the place at night.

The Abstruse One

[Rev]

You could also say that the area of background count from a murder might be really small, so they can just step out of it. Personally I think it should also matter how many people know about whatever happened. So you cant find a serial killer who is butchering and eating people just by noticing that his entire building is radiading evil, but once everyone knows there was a serial killer there eating people it will reach outside the building and stain the whole place.

So in the barrens a murder might be so commonplace that after only a few hours the background would be gone, because everyone forgot that it happened; while that book depository, and street (and maybe the grassy knoll) in Dallas texas might still have a bit of background 100 years later.

[Luca]

I don't think that it really matters how many people know about the fact.
Background Count is created independently from the amount of people knowing about the fact, in fact in shadowrun world there are also magically active detective that use their astral senses to detect murders and other things that no one else know.
If a man kills his wife in his house and after that he destroys the corpse no one will know and no one will notice. The fact will be known only if an awakened character enters that particular house and survey it with his magic senses.
In this case anyone will know AFTER the Background Count is done and so this means that the number of people knowing about the fact has no importance.

[Game2BHappy]

[Rev]

Firstly I was talking about people knowing about whatever caused the background, not knowing about the astral fuzz. This does mean that background counts can change or expand after the events that cause them as more people become aware of those events, or as people forget about the events.

Secondly there are almost always at least two people who know about a murder: the killer and the victim.

I think all of this is fertile ground for role playing.


PS Aspected background counts is what I was talking about earlier (looked it up in mits).

[DR.PaiN]

[Lucyfersam]

Personally, I much prefer to work with background counts as aspected things, helping some spells or magic done with certain intentions, hindering others, and possibly neutral to some effects. It just makes more sense and is a bit more fun. It doesn't make much sense that a bar frequented by awakened people would make magic harder, it also seems logical that a background count defined by pain and suffering would make magic along those same lines easier, not harder. I look at a background count as a certain pattern imposed on the magical environment, and actions following that pattern are easier and those that go against the pattern are harder. Combining this with the relative ease of creating a low level background count could be make magic a bit more interesting and less consistent, which I think would be a good thing. I may have to start paying attention to what might cause low background counts more often in my games...