Difference between revisions of "Backgrounds"

Revision as of 14:54, 23 January 2016

Aside from their basic game functions, there are two mechanics around backgrounds that are important to understand for play on From The Ashes: pooling and taxing.

Pooling Backgrounds

Backgrounds may be pooled by groups that have reasons to do so. Packs, Cabals, and Motleys automatically have this ability, though they will still have to justify the specific methods by which the pooling is taking place. Most pooled backgrounds are additive (Totem, Node, etc.).

NOTE: Any member of the group may freely tax pooled backgrounds. Pooling involves trust, and staff will not be policing internal policies. Groups whose members violate internal agreements must be dealt with ICly.

Once a background is pooled, it becomes difficult to separate the pool again, and doing so may incur damage or taxation to the relevant backgrounds. Some backgrounds may not be unpooled once pooled, (totem and node in particular) and in the event of the group's dissolution, the background will be lost.

Pooling the Resources Background

Due to the non-linear nature of the Resources background, a special system is needed. When a group agrees to pool their resources they must decide if the group is pooling full-on communist style, or pooling their disposable income only.

Under 'Communist Style' the Resources dots are added together, then divided by the square-root of the size of the group, rounding down. This becomes the Resources background available to any member of the group. All member resources backgrounds are fully taxed for the duration of this arrangement.

For example: Five garou form a pack and pool their Resources under this scheme. Their Resource backgrounds are 2, 2, 4, 0, and 0, 8 dots in total. The square root of 5 is ~2.2, 8/2.2 rounding down = 3. Each member of the group has access to Resources 3, reflected in the Pack possessing the Resources 3 background.

Under the 'Disposable Income' mode, the group is given a Resources background equal to the highest level of the background held by a contributing member - this member's top dot is taxed permanently, this happens prior to contributions. All members tax their Resources as hard as they see fit, for the duration of the arrangement (they may not tax their last dot). The number of dots contributed to the pool raises the group's Resources rating by spending pooled dots equal to twice the current level. Once spent, those dots cannot be spent a second time. A 4th dot of Resources contributed counts double, a 5th dot counts triple.

Using the example above: The garou pack's Resources is set to 4 taxing the third member's Resources to 3, the first member taxes their background by 1 point, the second by 1 point, and the third by 2 more points. The pack's Resources background remains at 4. To raise it to 5, the group would need to gather 4 more dots of donated Resources background.

A Changeling motley is using a similar scheme: Their resource backgrounds are 2, 3, 3, 2, and 2. They decide that Member #2 is the one who taxes their background to establish the motley's Resources of 3. Then they donate 1, 1, 2, 1, and 1 dots, respectively. Pooling their resources in this way, they can attain a Resources background of 4, for the Motley. They enjoy the benefits thereof - they may live together in a rather nice (and large) apartment or house, etc.

Resources become more difficult to unpool the longer they remained pooled. Resources backgrounds of 4+ owned by groups may require levels of the Finance knowledge to manage successfully, and frequent use will attract more scrutiny, making such rolls more difficult.

Taxing Backgrounds

Backgrounds often represent some kind of resource (money, minions, wellsprings of magical power) that can be devoted to projects. The taxation system is used to represent the commitment of these resources and avoid abuse.

When a resource is 'taxed' its effective rating is reduced by the given number of dots. The most commonly taxed backgrounds are Resources, Influence, and Contacts.

Any instance of taxation has a duration, noted in the jnote, and tracked by an Anomaly job with a due date. When the job expires, or the date passes, the jnote is no longer binding, even if staff take a bit to actually remove the thing.

Any time the taxed background is rolled, the taxed dots are subtracted from the background for purposes of defining the pool.

Pooled backgrounds may be taxed.

While the background's effectiveness for general use is disrupted by most instances of taxation, the ability to further tax the background is not; additionally nothing about the character's status quo is significantly changed.

E.g. If a character has Resources 4 and taxes that background by 2 dots, they are forced to "live lean" for the duration, but they do not lose the ability to pay the rent/mortgage on their Resources 4 home, nor do they have their Resources 4 BMW repossessed. They simply can't afford any new toys for a while. If the opportunity comes along to tax their resources again, their resources are considered to be Resources 4 for these purposes, but they may not tax more than the two untaxed dots they have left.

Taxing the Resources Background

Resources is a non-linear background, and so situations that tax it are dependent upon the background itself.

Often, a financial proposition that would require Resources 4 to tax itself a single dot, will not require taxation on a Resources 5 character, and could require a taxation of 2 or even 3 dots from a Resources 3 character.

Loans are a common financial vehicle in our setting. Generally speaking, if a character can obtain a loan (made easier with dots in Finance), then they may treat their resources as if it was one higher - but they endure the taxation for significantly longer than would a character who actually possessed the higher background.

For example: A cop with Resources 2 is offered the ability to purchase a new, larger home. It will require that he taxes his Resources background completely for a period of a year. By securing a mortgage, he can tax his Resources score by 1 dot, but it remains taxed for 4 years, instead. If he'd had Resources 3, he could've taxed that score by 1 dot for a year and been done with it.

Loans are never a means to escape taxation entirely.

A taxed Resources background that is raised through IC events retains should be reviewed by staff to determine what taxed dots are restored, and which tax durations are reduced, to reflect the new financial picture. +request/req for this.