Pawns of Power: an RPG

[M]

I have an idea for an Atlas RPG. Please read this, and than respond if you are interested. Here is how it works.

The inspiration: An old thread on google usenet's soc.history.what-if

The story: An alien species arrives in our planet's orbit. They announce that they view our geo-political situation as unaceptable. They demand that the world unite under exactly ten absolute monarchies.

Naturally no one is too enthusiastic about this, and everyone responds in the negative to the alien ambassador. The next day all 193 world leaders are teleported to the UN General Assembly room, which is sealed off by an imopenetrable force field.

George Bush begins yelling at Fidel Castro, who punches him in the chest, wounding him. Kim Jong Il almost karates Bush from behind, but Tony Blair smcks him with a strong uppercut. Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon is badly beaten by Bashar NixonNow and Ayatollah Khamenei. Several other fights start as well.

Ten boxes appear in the room, numbered one through ten. A voice fills the rooms: "Each of you has one card in his left pocket. Deposit these into the chambers you wish to use, and ten kingdoms will be formed, with absolute monarchies. The ruler will be the current leader of the largest populated nation in the box."

George Bush and Tony Blair discuss the possibility of a US merged with the core Commonwealth countries and the rest of the Americas. Blair puts his card in box one. Bush is about to follow, when Brazillian president Lula de Silva places his card in box 2 and demands that Bush choose. As each places his card in a box he disappears. Bush decides to wait.

As the Commonwealth enters box 1 and the OAS box 2, Schroeder puts his card in Box 3 and announces the formation of a United Europe. Most of Europe follows suit. The Euro-skeptic Scaandinavians surprisingly decide to join the Commonwealth in box 2.

Putin places a card in box 4 and demands the CIS follow suit, which they do. Egypt places a card in box 5, followed by most of the rest of the Arab world, Turkey and Iran decide to wait for now. (Egypt is a bit larger than both). India and Pakistan make the surprising decision to join in box 6, as the Arabs would never except Musharraf as sultan, and it solves the Kashmir crisis. The arefollowed by most of South Asia and Greater Indochina. China enters box 7, execting the Pacific Rim to follow suit; but they decide to join Japan in box 8, even North Korea, which sees greater indepensdence against a smaller master. The African Union establishes its own nation in box 9, though some members have defecte to the Commonwealth or the United Arab Republic. At the last, Turkey picks Europe (box 3) over Araby (box 5), while Iran picks Araby (box 5) over South-Southeast Asia (box 6). Sharon decides to lead his own independent state, easily the world's smallest. However, he suggests Bush join him in box 10 to protect the old American-Israeli alliance.

Bush teeters between box 1 (Commonwealth), box 2(Americas), box 3 (Europe), box 8 (Pacific Rim), or box 10 (Israel). Eventually he decides to join the English speaking nations in box 1.

The Kingdoms:
1.) Despotic Federated Republic of the English Speaking Peoples
Hereditary President George W. Bush
Members:
United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Ireland
Iceland
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Australia
New Zealand
South Afrca
Lesotho
Swaziland
Marshall Islands
Fiji
Kiribati
Tuvalu
Samoa
Nauru
Micronesia
Vunuatu
Solomon Islands
Papua New Guinea
East Timor
Bahamas
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago
St. Kitts and Nevis
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Anguilla
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Brenadines
Belize
Guyana
Suriname
All US, British, and Anzac colonies and dependencies, including Puerto Rico, Gibraltar, Bermuda, the Falklands, and various Pacific and Caribbean Islands

2.) Viceroyalty of the Americas
Viceroy Lula de Silva
Members:
Mexico
Guatemala
Nicaragua
Honduras
El Salvador
Panama
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Haiti
Colombia
Venezuela
Brazil
Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Paraguay
Uruguay
Chile
Argentina

3.) European Zollverein
Kaiser Gerhard Schroeder
Members:
Portugal
Spain
Andorra
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Germany
Switzerland
Lichtenstein
Austria
Italy
San Marino
Vatican City
Monaco
Poland
Estonia
Lithuania
Latvia
Hungary
Czeckia
Slovakia
Romania
Bulgaria
Slovenia
Croatia
Bosnia
Serbia & Montenegro
Albania
Greece
Macedonia
Cyprus
Turkey
Malta
Colonies and dependencies of France, Holland, Spain, and Portugal, including French Polynesia, French Guiana, islands in the Caribbean, Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, Ceuta and Melilla.

4.)Russian Empire
Tsar Vladimir Putin
Members:
Russia
Belarus
Ukraine
Moldova
Georgia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Tajikistan
Kyrgyzstan
Includes Russian enclave at Kaliningrad

5.) Arabian Caliphate
Sultan Hosni Mubarak
Members:
Morocco (includes Western Sahara)
Algeria
Tunisia
Libya
Egypt
Sudan
Jordan
Syria
Lebanon
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
Oman
Yemen
UAE
Qatar
Bahrein
Kuwait
Iran

6.) Hindustani Empire
Maharajah Singh
Members:
Afghanistan
Pakistan
India
Maldives
Nepal
Bhutan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Burma
Thailand
Vietnam
Laos
Cambodia
Malaysia
Indonesia

7.)Middle Kingdom, or Chinese Empire
Great Khan Hu Jintao
Members:
China (including Hong Kong, Macao)
Mongolia

8.) Pacific Rim Co-Prosperity Sphere
Shogun Junichiro Koizumi
Japan
North Korea
South Korea
Taiwan
Phillipines
Brunei
Singapore

9.) Kingdom of Africa
Negus Obasanjo
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Cape Verde Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros Islands
Congo
Côte d’Ivoire
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
São Tomé e Principe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Tanzania
Togo
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe

10.) Kingdom of Israel and Judah
Melekh Arik Sharon
Members:
Israel

The Plot twist:
The aliens have decided to give the new kings an incredible power- mind control. This mind control can be exerted on any person born in your nation. (Exp: For player of country 1, you can control Bush, Blair, or Bobby Fischer (who is in Kingdom 8 ), but not Penelope Cruz or a random Mexican immigrant, though they may be on your countries soil). However, this mind control only works on one for whom you know both the name and the face. (Exp: your teacher, a politician, or an entertainment personality, yes; the random guy in front of you or a name in Who's Who, no). The mind control ability works by the player giving an appropriate target any though and making it his own.

Characters: But, for some reason, these powers suffered a mix up and were given to the wrong people. Players will choose this alternate persona. This can be anyone other than the monarch. For example, a U.S. player doing Kingdom 1 could play himself, a persoanl acquaintance,Tom Hanks, Dick Cheney, or even Laura Bush. Whatever floats your boat.

Gameplay: As the gamemaster, I will set a date by which to send your responses to me at my e-mail address. These periods of time will vary. I will than post your character's actions at the exact same time to
avoid specifically outsmarting the first player(s) to post.

The game is played primarily by writing a detailed summary of your character's actions. The turn's fictional timespan will be set by me at the beginning of the turn. These may be in story form, personal narrative, or detailed history-biography type. International relations must be handles between players of different countries via e-mail; also, no event in your summary concerning a foreign realtion may occur without diplomatic e-mails, proven to me by being present in the e-mail of both yoursself and the other nation's player. For example, the Israeli player can not simply tell me that the Arabians are afraid to attack Israel, the Arabs must agree to this first, probably in exchange for something. (I would, however, encourage the Israeli player to shy away from giving something tangible, as land, for mere prommises).

Goals will be set by myself. These will certainly include, in the first play period, taking over your chosen nation from the original ruler. There will also be diplomatic goals to be accomplished by "diplomacy" with other players through the e-mail, and personal goals. As constants, taking over you country will earn you fifty points; seducing a well-known woman will earn you 5 points and seducing a politically powerful woman 10; being perceived as powerful internationally will net you 3 a turn, and accomplishing specific goals will give you a gain of between 10 and thirty. I will post current point stats at the end of every turn, after the posts.

Signing Up: Please post the country you wish to play, your game persona (must be areal person, famous or not is up to you), and you email address. I will contact you via e-mail with the first turn information and goals once everyone has signed up. Remember, I need ten players, one for each box-kingdom; and it's first come first serve.

Do not hesitate to encourage your non-Leipian friends to sign up and join this game if we have a shortage. They can register, make this one post, and then never post here again if they wish. The game will develop a life of its own.

Sign up on this thread, please.

[M]

Josh, I urge you to take the time to read this in depth, but- aliens have reshaped the world into several meganations. You must choose a character to take over one of these, and then fulfill specific goals, which I will make up. You will send an in depth summary of your actions to me via e-mail. Diplomacy will be conducted betwixt players via e-mail.

You start out not as a nation's leader, but as a persona you create. This can be any real person, famours or not.

The USA is the leader of a larger bloc; Kingdom 1, or the Despotic Federated Republic of the English Speaking Peoples. (See Kingdom 1 for its full territory). This is the most powerful nation on Earth, and is currently governed by Hereditary President George W. Bush.

Please repost in the following format:

Country (ie, Kingdom 1)
Player (ie, yourself, Jesse Helms, Tim McGraw, Tony Blair, or whatever- just not Bush, the nation's current leader).
E-mail address

*Also, please not that there is a new rule. You, the player, may not exert mind-control on your nation's leader, even if he meets all other conditions.

[M]

Awesome. One teency detail- the country led by the USA includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the British Isles, Scandinavia, South Africa, and much of the Caribbean and Pacific. It's correct name id the Despotic Federated Republic of the English Speaking Peoples; it's leaders title is Hereditary President. Your main preliminary goal is taking over this country from the inside.

Josh, it would be cool if you could find other interested players as well. Good to have you aboard!

[M]

Cool. Could you fill me in on this character?

[M]

Josh- the whole deal. There is no more USA by itself.

Soulty- nation two is most of Latin America, the Viceroyalty of the Americas. You must choose a character role.

[M]

Correct Josh, one player per Kingdom.

[M]

Bullmoose, here is fine. Just in short, is Richard Arage a celebrity or public figure, or an ordinary person with whom you are acquainted? What nation is he from, and maybe a little background.

[M]

Soulty, your character must have been born in one of the following countries:

Mexico
Guatemala
Nicaragua
Honduras
El Salvador
Panama
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Haiti
Colombia
Venezuela
Brazil
Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Paraguay
Uruguay
Chile
Argentina

He needs not reside their currently.

[M]

No invented characters. You could choose the actual current president of France, if you wish.

[M]

Bullmoose, an interesting choice. We'll see how tha plays out.

Josh, maps would be nice. I'm stinky with graphics though, maybe someone skilled like htmldon will give us a hand? Also, correct about power over Brits, BUT read the exceptions. One important distinction is that you have mindpower over those BORN in your country, not those RESIDING on its soil.

[M]

Soulty, I am still waiting on your character choice.

[M]

Soulty, Ernest- check and check. Rahul is Sonia's son, right?

Josh- indeed, that might present major policy problems for your character eventually. Who knows whether a thoroughly assimilated proud American patriot, is actually a spy or assassin for Soulty's Castro?

[M]

Soulty: works for me.

Josh: you will make such decisions as the game progresses. But even Brambilla, for example, could become a mind-controlled assassin.

[M]

A more challenging character might gain point bonuses for gaining power faster than a powerful character would. Or you may relish the personal challende, or prefer to play it cooler. Sosa would clearly have more trouble disappearing Lula than Castro would.

Ernset: a good choice. Remember, seductions may earn you points as well.

[M]

Not sure about immortality. I could either give each player eternal youth and immortality (which would lessen but not eliminate the importance of assassinations), or I could give physical (including sexual) penalties to older characters and leave them at much greater risk of termination. If I do the latter, I will have to find an heir sytem.

What do you all think?

[M]

BTW Josh, we will start as soon as we have 10 players.

[M]

Elves can also die of sadness, usually over lost love. That's what happened to Arwen, for example.

But I get your drift. So let it be written, so let it be done. Characters are eternally youthful with loins of steel, and can only be killed outright.

[M]

Nah, I don't think so, about the sadness.

And their will be an heir system, a very simple one: if you are killed, you may request a new character on this thread. However, you will lose an entire turn before this takes effect, forcing you to fall behind your rivals in points. There will also be no bonus for taking over your country for the second, or higher, time.

[M]

Does Jesse Helms keep cats?

[M]

So, our current player list is:

Josh22
Kingdom 1, Despotic Federated Republic of the English Speaking Peoples
Jesse Helms
Dukeguy06@aol.com
AIM- Dukeguy06

Supersoulty
Kingdom 2, Viceroyalty of the Americas
Sammy Sosa
soult001@gannon.edu

Bullmoose88
Kingdom 3, European Zollverein
Jacques Chirac
rga1466@hotmail.com

Ernest
Kingdom 6, Hindustani Empire
Rahul Gandhi
ernestcline@mindspring.com

M
Gamemaster
superamerican@hotmail.com

[M]

We need 6 more. The sooner we get 'em, the sooner we start.

Remaining vacancies are:
Kingdom 4, Russian Empire
Kingdom 5, Arabian Caliphate
Kingdom 7, Middle Kingdom or Chinese Empire
Kingdom 8, Pacific Rim Co-Prosperity Sphere
Kingdom 9, Kingdom of Africa
Kingdom 10, Kingdom of Israel and Judah

Also, if anyome is interested in doing maps, that would be cool. I wonder if my respected Senate opponent Harry could help with this, he's more or less our resident expert. I imagine he might also enjoy playing this game with us.

[M]

Bono, could you give me some background info on this character? You picked an interesting kingdom, btw.

Al: You cannot bring Dayan back, although you could play one of his relatives, like his son, Uzi. (The Dayans are all hawkish Labourites). Or you could olay Peres, Barak, Netanyahu, Beilin, or whoever. Just not Sharon. You have picked easily the hardest nation; clearly you relish a challenge.

[M]

I need four more. I'd also like a graphics guy, but the four players are the crucial limiting step.

[M]

No, that would be cheating and would not be much fun to try to utwit yourself. Nor do I want to have to use NPCs because a Non-Player-Character is really a GM character, and this'll be anough work already.

[M]

C'mon, folks, sign up! I mean, who desn't want to be Emperor Svengali?

Al, you may research Uzi Dayan on your own, but he has served as a Major General in the IDF and as Israel's National Security Adviser. Actually, there will be a lot of independent player research in this game.