Hello Atlas, I am not happy with the current state of election games (e.g. the 2008 Presidential Election Game) on the current forum. There is no objective or clear way to play the current flavor, putting players at both the mercy of often biased narrators, and too often players burn out in the role play. I wanted to make a game that would be more President Forever-esque and playable on the forum.
My Aims- Maximize player ability to affect the game, while minimizing narrator control.
- Create clear mechanisms so players can easily play, but still be free to build roleplay on top of game actions.
- Gives players the ability to strategize and take risks. They can see the results of their actions but do not always know that end outcomes to their actions.
- Replayability
GameplayThe game has three phases: primaries (up to 14 players. 7 per party), possible conventions (whomever is left), and the general (tentatively four players: President/VP each party) . Primaries will last from mid-October the year preceding the general (e.g. October 2007 in a 2008 election), until the conclusion of the primary season in June. After their conclusion, time skips ahead to the shortest phase, the conventions, in late August. The general election lasts from Labor Day until Election Day. Actions will be performed in week long turns (turn length may shorten in crowded primary periods, and in the weeks running up to Election Day).
General GameplayPlayers each control a candidate and their campaign.
Candidates will have various attributes, some will be public in the game, some will be available only the the player, and some will be unknown. Candidate attributes include but are not limited to nor final are: electability (perceived as how electable they are in the general), supporter enthusiasm, money, favorability, how well known, charisma, issue familiarity, momentum.
In the candidate declarations, an issue card needs to be filled out for each candidate (yes, it’s simplistic). You need to put either (left, center left, centrist, center right, or right) on each issue:
Abortion
Affirmative Action
Balanced Budget
Campaign Finance
Cuban Embargo
Global Warming
Gun Control
Immigration
LBGT Rights
Right to Work
Role of Government
These issues are subject to change.
A candidate has several things to do each turn, some public (forum post), or private (PM me):
Spend their “action points” (APs) on various activities. All are forum posts except for attributes. The candidate will publicly announce that ‘x’ points are being spent there, but not on what specifically:
Fundraise (player determined)
Travel (1 per state traveled. players can spend 3 to travel to any state in the Union)
Talkshow (2) (can attack other candidates)
Wooing endorsements (player determined) (separate component)
Campaign (1) (can attack other candidates) (select CD)
Attributes (e.g. Charisma Enhancement, Debate Prep, Issue Research) (player determined)
Spend their money on various activities:Upgrade state campaign infrastructure (invest by CD) (used for turnout)
Private polling.
Pay/hire campaign operatives (tentative, more coming)The Guile: Tries to dig up dirt on a candidate of the player’s choice.
Veteran: Generates political capital.
Speech Consultant: Gradually raises charisma
Professor: Gradually raises knowledge in a singular issue.
Statistician: Reveals the amount of political capital invested in three endorsers.
Pay for TV ads. Can be negative.
Choose CD.
And gather endorsements:There will be a list of politicians provided at the beginning of each turn who are potential endorsers.
Endorsers are superdelegates.
Every candidate will generate political capital points (PCs) per turn. The amount given to each candidate will be calculated each turn will be calculated by a formula encompassing various values (e.g. polling numbers, money, electability, etc.) Each possible endorser will have a ‘primary issue.’ Candidates who ideologically match this issue get a bonus. Candidates spend their political capital on politicians in an attempt to get their endorsement. Some candidates will have a certain sway over certain politicians, and will receive a multiplier on their political capital spent. This will most often manifest in three cases: a. multiplier going across parties (a Rep is going to have a harder time getting a Dem endorsement), b. ideological match. c. home state. All endorsers require 100 points for an endorsement. If two players both cross 100 on the same turn, whoever is higher wins. If they are tied, that endorsers will still be listed as undecided.
The amount of PC invested will not be publicly revealed, only who is leading.
EventsTo add some luck and random flair to the game, random events can occur based on a RNG in the background. There will be the possibility for up to three ‘major events’ to occur in a turn, that can affect everyone, a political party, a few candidates, or an individual (e.g. a democrat incumbent with an unexpected rise in employment could drag the democrats’ GE numbers down). Individual events undertaken by candidates can also trigger events (although most of the time, they will go off without fanfare). When an event occurs, a secondary RNG occurs on its severity.
The major events RNG will tentatively run from 0 to 1000. A sizable chunk will be no event, or will not trigger an event unless certain events have triggered already. I’ll probably include an ‘assassination attempt’ event, but leave that at a 1/1000 chance for the attempt, an RNG (1/14) for which player the attempt is on, and then a coin toss to see if it goes through.
PollingPolls released will have a margin of error accompanying them (the degree up or down set by RNG). Three will be three public polling firms with various house effects, that will post at the beginning of each turn. In the primaries, there will always be polls for the next two contests; if there are more than two contests on a day, then the two states will be picked at random. Each player can PM me a state they’d like to be polled before the turn, and those will be publicly released for all players. Players have the option of paying for private polling which has a smaller MoE, and the results will be privately sent, for the player to do with as they please. Private polling cost will scale on CD.
Initial general election polling will start at 50/50. Primary polling will be more tricky: I’ll probably create a minimum base of support for each candidate nationally depending on their office (e.g. senate, governor, cabinet, congressman), with state/regional bonuses, favorables and national exposure both factored in as well.
Primary DelegatesAll primaries are proportional, with 10% of the vote required for being eligible for delegates.
ConventionThe convention phase only occurs if nobody has secured a majority of delegates. This will become more flushed out later.
Let me know what you guys think. Some specifics (exact formulas I'd use, specific costs of actions, etc.) still need working out. Any suggestions, criticisms, or interest in signing up are all welcome.
