(Not urgent) IDLE issue with methods

[Gribouillis]

I don't think there is an Idle issue here. You only need a global variable which value can be shared by the different functions. Don't use the same names for the functions and the variable. This can be done simply like this

karma = 0

def init_karma():
    global karma # <- use this line if the function contains:  karma = ... or karma += ... etc
    if italyStart() == True:
        karma = 10

init_karma()  # <- don't forget to call the function that initializes the variable

def theyShouldntBeHere():
    while True:
        print("Wait, you're not supposed to be here! This is back-stage!")
        print("I guess you can [stay], but I'd rather you [leave].")
        print("")
 
        i = input(">")
        if i == "stay":
            print("Okay, I guess you can stay. Let's see what you did while you were here...")
            print("You had ", karma, " karma. Man, that's pretty ")
            if karma < 10:
                print("good.")
            elif karma > 10:
                print("screwed up.")

This method works well as long as there are not too many global variables. In this case, you'll have to learn how classes work.