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House Rules
 -> Team Karma
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Team Karma and Assets

The standard rules for team karma are good, but too general for practical long-term use. We've settled into a system of team karma that also involves team assets. We've really only expanded on the standard rules in this area.

The team karma pool is kept track of by the GM. He keeps a list of characters who have contributed points from their own karma pool and the number of those points. Points from the team karma pool are available for use by those team members who have contributed at least one of their own karma pool points to it. These points can be permanently burned for automatic successes, but remember that each player only has so many of their own points in the team pool. If they permanently burn all of the points that they have put in the team pool then they no longer have access to the team pool. That character will have to add at least one more point to the team pool to regain access.

If a character is to use points from the team pool a concensus is usually required by the contributing members. Not always, but if a person is operating on their own, for instance, outside of the team's knowledge, a vote should definitely be called for before the use is approved, even for points which that character has contributed. It is, after all, a team pool and should be used as a team. Also, if a character dies, the points that they had in the team pool stay there, but are permamanently removed once used, whether by normal use or by permanently burning them. When they are counted as being used is at the GM's discretion; usually they are the first ones used.

If a character leaves the team they do not get any points back from the team pool. The points stay in the pool and are treated as if the character to whom they belonged is dead. It is possible for a character to rejoin the group, and once again have access to the team pool, but if all of that character's contributed points have been used then they need to contribute a new point just as if they were a new team member.

Team Fund

Something that we have started doing that falls into the team karma pool concept is the team fund. A player usually volunteers to keep track of the team fund. It is made up of money and other assets that no particular character owns or cares to own.

The team fund counts as an additional person, or share, when dividing up the spoils, so to speak. Let's say that you are running a campaign with 5 characters and you, or your players, would like to use a team fund. When dividing up that last credstick from Mr. Johnson, you would divide it by six and the share for the team fund would be added to it's balance. Characters can use this money with approval from the group. It can be treated as an interest-free loan or not. We always try to put some of our own back into the team fund after borrowing out of it.

Assets in the team fund can be things like safe-houses, cars, radios, armor, hide-out pistols, movie passes, left-over pizza, etc... You get the idea. This can also be treated as a "No pay, no play" situation, but more often than not a character can borrow something out of the team fund before he has a chance to help contribute. We do this to help new mages buy armored clothing for instance.