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View Full Version : Ping: RTTWH owners or political sim fans


Wolfpack
02-10-2004, 02:49 PM
(RTTWH is "Road to the White House" for those unfamiliar)

I'm kicking around the notion of trying to GM or solo-play a game of RTTWH and posting the resulting play on the Dynasty board. There would be some rules modifications to make it somewhat more realistic.

What I am curious about is whether there are individuals willing to spend a bit of time trying to play as one of the campaigns (as candidate or manager). I'd do all the physical piece movement and die rolling and card play, while the players would inform as to what they wanted to do during their turns. In turn, I'd post headlines to the Dynasty thread indicating what's going on with the candidates and events of the world.

Other questions:
--If no interest in actually playing the game, then interest in me handling it all myself and posting it?
--In either case, should I use real people (figuring out how to cull game-equivalent positions from real-life ones would be a bit of work and I'd probably need a little help), candidates that the game makers created for use in the game, or completely new, somewhat random candidates (or, if players are willing to play, designed candidates representing themselves)?
--The setting: should it be a campaign in the 90s or 2000s? This will affect votes in various cities (I have adjusted numbers for the 2000 census) as well as perhaps updating headlines to suit the times. (For instance, "Japanese land on Mars, Space becomes active issue" could become "US probe successfully lands on Mars, Space becomes active issue".) Also, if it's a campaign set in 2004, I'm considering modifying the issues rules to allow for two permanent issue slots, one for the economy (Finance, Jobs), and one for foreign issues (Defense, Foreign Relations) and having two other slots for issues to live and die as they do in normal games, so there could be up to four issues in play at one time instead of three. It would be an attempt to reflect the dominance of the economic issues and the War on Terror in the real world. Also, a game set in 2004 would use the new apportionment of seats rather than what would be used in 1992, 1996, or 2000.
--Should there be a primary season for both parties (run simultaneously with events occuring to both primary campaigns at the same time) or should there be an incumbent president or VP for the primary winner to run against? Remember, this probably will not be like the real world in that early wins in Iowa or New Hampshire will result in a sudden and rapid shift of votes to one candidate and thus trigger what has happened in real life where it becomes nearly impossible to stop the winning candidate. (Granted, I could introduce a rule or two that could make it more likely....)

Thoughts?

Aylmar
02-10-2004, 03:22 PM
I've been wanting to buy this game and force three of my friends to play it with me for quite some time now. Suffice it to say, if you're looking for players, I'm game. :)

Swaggs
02-10-2004, 03:51 PM
Link to more info on this game? :)

Wolfpack
02-10-2004, 04:29 PM
Here (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/470)

It's not a widely known or played game because of its complexity. Do note that if I'm running the show on this, I'm adding a bit to it by having a calendar that follows the primary season as it really is, rather than a "national primary" arrangement that this and other games like it typically employ. If we have enough interest, we could do a true general election campaign later on.

Wolfpack
02-10-2004, 04:50 PM
Just for kicks, I made up a candidate totally at random, based on a few charts and such:

Senator Neil Crader
Home: Douglas, Arizona
Charisma: 3 (out of 4)
Surrogate turns: 8+9
(Surrogates are helpers who gather votes and money in various parts of the country for a candidate for a given period of time, though a candidate isn't limited to these and can get other surrogates by having issues in his favor come up for play)
Positions:
Pro-Banks +5
Anti-Blacks +2
Civil Rights +2
Legalize Drugs +3
Exploit Environment +2
Tougher gun control +2
Status quo health care system +3
Anti-welfare rights +2

These positions generally will affect how many bonus (or deducted in some cases) votes a player gets for moving to a city or state that favors the position he holds. Do note that there is a bit of stereotyping in the game and some regions are going to be more like what people think they might be rather than what they actually are. For example, taking an anti-Black position earns support in the South, though taking a pro-Black one also earns support in the same region. From my perspective, taking pro- and anti- positions means you are in favor of government intervention and support for that group or oppose it rather than actually opposing (essentially hating) those groups, though there is a caricatured southern redneck senator created in the game that is supposed to be offensive to just about anyone outside the south because he's anti-all-minorities.

At any rate, it would really lengthen the post to list all the possible impacts taking these positions have on voting totals. Suffice to say, there's a certain rule that's very damaging to this candidate because his position regarding African-Americans is not in step with his position on Civil Rights in general, which I attempted an explanation for in his biography. He loses a lot of votes in the South and several other places because of it.

Organization
Arizona--10 votes--x3
California--0 votes--x2
Mississippi--2 votes--x1
New Hampshire--0 votes--x2.5
South Carolina--2 votes--x1
Utah--0 votes--x2.5

Organization reflects your at-start vote counts in each state. Typically you'll only start with votes accumulated in your home state and maybe a few other states depending on your background. The multiplier represents the strength of your organization in the state and multiplies the votes you pick up for making a stop in that state. (x1 just means there's no organization set up...I put it there to place-hold)

Crader's bio:
Senator Neil Crader is a fairly conservative individual who has a couple of stands that break ranks with his party. Coming from a town bordering Mexico has influenced his perspective on drugs and guns, feeling that legalization would help reduce crime and gun violence. He's also taken a stand supporting more gun regulation as a result. However, he's become more known for having supported efforts to stop the Martin Luther King Holiday in Arizona while in the state legislature. Though he has tried in years since to become a stronger advocate of Civil Rights in general, many in the black community will probably not accept his message, sensing that if he couldn't support MLK Day, how could he support more important issues to blacks in America?

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If players want to create their own candidate, they have 1200 points with which they can allocate to background (job, home state), charisma (scores bonus votes in certain situations), war chest (gotta have money), surrogates, positions (the more extreme, the more expensive, points-wise), and organizations. You'd be amazed how fast points disappear, particularly if you are creating a charismatic person holding down the governorship or senate seat from a very populous state. In addition, there is an optional rule that allows a 300-point budget for "spin doctoring" a candidate so that he can change positions and various other unsavory things about himself during the course of a campaign. We could do that, increase the points budget to 1500 to allow for a lot more positions (and more extreme ones) to be taken, or just leave it at 1200.

Wolfpack
02-11-2004, 05:01 PM
Bump BTTT to see if there are any further nibbles...doesn't look very promising, aylmar.