Resources (mage V20)
Resources
As any Syndicate rep could tell you, there’s good money to be made with magick – very good money if you play your cards right. Naturally, the Syndicate won’t refer to what they do as magick – it’s simply the Art of Desire, honed to a science. Whatever you choose to call it, this Background means that you’ve got cash and goods on hand... at the upper levels, lots of cash and goods.
Given the staggering wealth that certain mages can accrue, this Background goes to 10. Such wealth isn’t just the dominion of the Syndicate, either. Hermetic wizards are infamous for their luxuries, Choristers can command vast resources, and Ecstatic rock stars can make more money than anyone has a right to enjoy. The real fiscal wizards, though, are the so-called money men (and women) whose Convention began with the medieval High Guild and has been going strong ever since. Some mages come from that kind of old money; others make their own fortunes. Given the economic potential of Spheres like Entropy, Matter, Mind, and Life, after all, why not go for the gold?
If course, it’s often dangerous to rely too much upon magickal income. Transactions these days are mostly conducted in virtual money: debit cards, credit cards, bank withdrawals, online deposits, and so on. Throwing around a lot of cash will get you noticed too... why else do you think so many paper-money bills have those tracking strips? A wise mage charms people into fattening her bank account; changing lead into gold is too suspicious (and labor-intensive) to be effective. As with so many other things in this tech-heavy world, it’s far easier for a Technocrat to get around such obstacles than it is for a mystic mage to do so. That said, there’s quite a bit of old money floating around Hermetic circles and certain witches’ covens. Hell, some daring mages even make their fortunes writing New Age books, fantasy novels, or role-playing games!
High Resource ratings, like other high Backgrounds, take time and effort to control. It’s easier to lose fortunes, if you’re not careful, than it is to make them. Given the virtual nature of modern commerce, you probably don’t have stacks of paper money and precious metals lying around... although, if you’re old-school enough, you just might...
Note: As mentioned earlier, the Storyteller may wish to forbid player characters from assembling Resources worth 8, 9, or 10 dots. As described under the Art of Desire/ Hypereconomics practice, the Primal Utility Sphere, and the Money and Wealth instrument entries, money can provide a potent source of power for the 21 st century mage. See those entries in Chapter Ten (pp. 573, 526-527, and 596) for details.
- X -- Working poor: You live paycheck-to-paycheck, and that’s about it.
- • -- Slightly ahead of the game: You’ve got a small apartment and perhaps a cheap vehicle. By local standards, a working-class income.
- •• -- Lower middle class: You’ve got a condo or apartment, plus a vehicle, some savings, and enough money for occasional indulgences.
- ••• -- Middle class with property: You either own or have decent equity in some property, plus a vehicle, investments, and savings. You could maintain a one-dot standard of living indefinitely.
- •••• -- Well-off: You own a large house, some property, and at least two vehicles, as well as notable levels of savings and investments. By local standards, you’re a millionaire, and although that’s not worth as much as it once was, it’s still nothing to sneeze at.
- ••••• -- Welcome to the 1%: As a multimillionaire, you’ve got substantial holdings, investments, and savings.
- ••••• • -- Hollywood money: Whatever you want, you’ve got it.
- ••••• •• -- Billionaires’ club. You can influence an entire business or industry.
- ••••• ••• -- Bruce Wayne level wealth. You own companies.
- ••••• •••• -- Tony Stark level wealth. You own industries.
- ••••• ••••• -- Bill Gates level wealth. You own governments.
