I've seen a lot of players complain about Background Count. Its primary function is to work as a balancing factor for Awakened characters, but from what I've seen, it doesn't often accomplish that because people either find the rules too punishing and don't use it, or else just don't really know when to apply Background Count as so hesitate to make it come up. Personally, I find the issue to be that if you follow the chart on Page 31 of *Street Grimoire*, BC is extremely common, and becomes way too punishing to the point of being overkill, resulting in a lot of people choosing not to use it so their Awakened characters aren't penalized 99.9% of the time. I want to know if this is how it is for most players. In your games, does Background Count work as a balancing mechanic that doesn't seem overly punishing? Or do you find that most groups your in aren't able to use Background Count effectively, at least not without making it seem unfun for players with Awakened characters?