 Magic Background Count |
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 Mar 6 2006, 07:00 PM
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#1
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Target  Group: Members Posts: 68 Joined: 16-August 05 Member No.: 7,558  |
Could someone explain Magic Background Count to me and how it effects players in the game.
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 Mar 6 2006, 07:09 PM
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#2
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jacked in Group: Admin Posts: 9,040 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 463 |
It's like using a radio in an electromagnetic storm. ;)
There are distracting influences, which can be light or strong depending on the rating of the background count. It gives penalties to all magical actions (including perception on the astral). Bye Thanee |
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Mar 6 2006, 07:15 PM
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#3
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
Mana is psychoreactive - it responds to thought and emotion. In some places, such as the site of a murder or a great act of magic, the intensity of the emotion can imprint itself on the astral plane in this place. Usually, this is only temporary. But truly powerful events or repeated exposure can permanently change the nature of astral space. Because the flow of mana in the place is changed, it becomes more difficult to perform magic there.
That's one explanation. Others might tell you that mana is just another type of energy and places with a background count are the magical equivalent of irradiated zones, magical "hot spots" of power that interferes with a magician's ability like static cutting through a radio broadcast. |
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Mar 6 2006, 07:16 PM
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#4
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,635 Joined: 27-November 05 Member No.: 8,006 |
In case you are looking for a SR4 rules reference, it isn't in yet. It is though pretty much a lock to be included in Street Magic as the SR3 counterpart to that book, Magic In The Shadows, is where it was previously found.
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Mar 6 2006, 07:24 PM
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#5
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,026 Joined: 23-November 05 From: Seattle (Really!) Member No.: 7,996 |
Given some of the examples in the previous editions magic books (the Grimoires, Awakenings, MITS) I've gotten the impression that low level (1-2) background counts are fairly common. In my games they are present almost universally in Sterile Lab Facilities, automated factories, Cube Farms, Hospitals, Sports Arenas, Churches, Prisons, and pretty much anywhere else you regularly get very intense, or long term homogenized emotional states, or great effort has been taken to sterilize or dehumanize an environment, or where significant pollution is present. |
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Mar 6 2006, 09:31 PM
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#6
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 327 Joined: 28-January 06 Member No.: 8,209 |
This is my interpretation, also. I'd almost say some of those - some churches, depending on size of congregation and specific uses of the church; prisons where torture took place on a regular basis for a long period of time; sports arenas with particularly rabid fan bases - would be higher than 2. |
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Mar 6 2006, 09:37 PM
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#7
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 617 Joined: 28-May 03 From: Orlando Member No.: 4,644 |
But aren't power sites a positive Background Count? Such as the power sites in ley lines in Britian and the Dragon Lines in China? Don't they give a positive bonus to casting?
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Mar 7 2006, 10:09 AM
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#8
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Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760 |
They only add a bonus if you are of a suitable tradition to be keyed into the twist they give mana ie a druid using british leylines to boost himself.
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Mar 7 2006, 10:45 PM
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#9
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Target Group: Members Posts: 16 Joined: 13-January 03 Member No.: 3,902 |
There are neutral mana sites; but cults and organizations tend to "aspect" them towards their tradition, thereby limiting or outright denying its use to other magic users. |
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Mar 7 2006, 11:09 PM
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#10
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 515 Joined: 19-January 04 Member No.: 5,992 |
Exactly. For example, a radioactive wastedump would be aspected towards a toxic shaman. Conversely, don't even think about slinging mojo in Mecca unless you're aspected towards Islam. I seem to remember that the entire city has a BG count of, like, 3.
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Mar 8 2006, 06:14 AM
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#11
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
The potential for corrupted magicians to aspect themselves toward a particular type of background count is the premise of one of my favorite ideas - Sterility Shamans in Space.
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