The Island: A Post-Communist Simulation (forum game)

[TheNewTeddy]

Note that I've spoilered out a large chunk of the game's background/rules/etc so that you can just get to the meat and potatoes if you so choose.

This is the thread where you sign up to play the game.


BACKGROUND

The United Sovereign States of Russia, or USSR, is the world's only remaining superpower. Russia is a capitalist country, and leads the capitalist "eastern bloc" and "warsaw pact". On the losing side was the United Socialists of America, or USA, which is in the process of collapsing from a Communist into a Capitalist state.

Spoiler!

In 1990, Russia watched as Germany re-united. Germany is in a bit of chaos as the successful economy in the East is trying to absorb the much more populated but weaker economy in the West.

A few Communist Countries do remain. Japan, and Island nation right beside the largest Capitalist country, retains it's communist system. As does South Korea, and Red China; which consists of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The question now is what happens to the former American republics. These are new countries that had been annexed by the USA, the United Socialists of America, during WW2. These are 10 countries, collectively known as "Canada" that now find themselves newly independent.




The USSR is the world's largest and most powerful economy. The second largest is it's asian ally, Indonesia.

Third is Poland, followed by Yugoslavia, and Spain, which had a Capitalist dictator for many decades. The new united Germany, however, is expected to change these numbers.

Great Britain is in a state of war as all the ethnic groups within the country fight for independence. Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall; all have massive violent revolts, while the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes; usually seen as one people as they all speak the same language (known as English) have found new ethnic pride in killing one another.



This is all the foreign information you get right now. Any future information will come in the form of news updates and as answers to questions. Note that's an and - if you ask me something about a country, I will make a decision, and report it in the news. I'd strongly uurge you to only interact with listed countries for the most part, as I'd rather not fill the entire game with lore. I will be developing stories on the development of our neighbouring republics, including Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. Each will be taking a different path and can be influenced by the path chosen by you, the players.




YOUR WORLD

The game takes place in the Free Socialist Democratic People's Republic of Prince Edward Island.

The country is a communist dictatorship in a world where Communism seems to be on the way out.

You play one of 7 members of the Politburo, and you will thus play a key role in what kind of place PEI becomes.

The PEI economy is primarily fueled by three things, Fishing, Agriculture, and Tourism.

Popular fish caught include Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, as well as Lobster.
By far the most popular farming product is Potatoes, other products include wheat, oats, and barley, as well as beef products and vegetables such as cauliflower, carrots, and brussel sprouts.

If you want to nerd out, here are some real PEI stats from 1990, the time (roughly) the game starts http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/1990_ASR.pdf
Since PEI was a communist country, the GDP is half that found in real life.

The population of 125,000 people is not distributed exactly as in real-life, but somewhat similar.

You'll be given a budget to play with, you are the government after all, but spoiler: things are very very bad.

Spoiler!

WHO ARE YOU

You are a member of the Continuing Central Committee of the Communist Party of The Free Socialist Democratic People's Republic of Prince Edward Island.
AKA
Politburo Members for PEI

There are 7 of you.
This game can (and if needed, will) run with fewer than 7 people.

The Politburo has 7 titles to distribute among it's members, they are:

President
Prime Minister
Chancellor
Party Secretary
Committee Chairman
Premier
Governor

None of you "legally" run the government; the National Plenipotentiary does. By tradition, the person who holds this position is the member of Parliament for Charlottetown Harbour.
Prefects hold the seats noted on the map as county capitals, while Reeves hold the positions noted as as Parish Capitals. Cities with only one MP have that MP be the Mayor. Rural MPs also serve a Sheriffs (Mayors) of the rural areas noted. The largest cities, Charlottetown, Summerside, and Stratford have their own city councils and Mayors, information about which will come out later.


WHAT YOU DO

You have just been elected as a Politburo member, and your term begins on January 1st 1991, the day the game opens. It's also the day the nation gains independence.

The Party Convention, which elected you, also passed a motion to "Examine the Communist System, and the possibility of moving to a Multi-Party and Capitalist Democracy" by a very narrow majority.

Some other former communist countries are already moving straight towards capitalist and multi-party systems, while others are reversing the reforms of the last few years and returning, in some cases, to an outright Stalinist system.

HOW YOU DO

Games will progress in "turns" that will be a 'quarter' (of a year) long each. Generally, deadlines will be a day or two or three (depending on how active people are) during which you do things. What you can do is very open. You can campaign to the public (which means posting in the forum thread).

Other things you can try to do, but are not limited to doing, include:

Trying to influence a MP
Trying to influence an important person who is not an MP (such as an army General)
Contacting/influencing a foreign government.

These are all done by talking to me personally. I can be found in the #Goonstation IRC, and I'll pay attention to the Discord as well, and will be checking forum PMs. 

You can also talk to one another. That's kind of the point of the game, so please do so. 
check out the board game Diplomacy which some have described as RISK meets CHESS. It has 7 players.
The point of that game is that the 7 people playing all do 3 things; work with other players, lie to other players, and backstab other players. The objective in that game, and this game, is the same. The game ends when one person "wins" 

There are a few ways to do this, ways you'll see happening in neighbouring nations. Here are 4 suggestions:


1 - Democracy
You can start a political party, and run in open free and democratic elections. To do this you will first need to convince the sitting Parliament that a multi-party system is best, then you will need to run in, and win, an election (or multiple elections) 

Steps you'd want to take are:
Convince the MPs to start a movement for democracy in Parliament and get 50%+1 of its members to vote for it.
Start a party. You can either do this on your own, or working with one or more other players. In which case all the players that are members of the party would play as that party. Alternatively, you can try to take over and democratize the Communist Party itself; this is easier to do if other players leave it for their own parties.
Next you will want to win elections. You'd do this by campaigning in the thread (I will simulate the electorate). 
Last, after winning one or more elections you will want to knock off all your opponents. One way to do this is to hit them with scandals to force them to retire, or, if they are in your own party, outmaneuver them.


2 - Stalinism
You can strengthen the existing communist party. Doing this will require the Parliament to officially reject the request for a democratic nation, and so you will want to push Parliament towards that sort of vote.

Steps you'd want to take are:
Quash any democratic movements among Parliament, the public, and the other players. Killing them is one way to achieve this. 
Continue to build up your own keys to power so that you and force other players into retirement, or, just flat out kill them when possible.
Pass laws through Parliament that reverse progress in "civil liberties" and bring back control over the state.
Ensure control over government departments as well as the armed forces.
And finally, when you think your power is strong enough, purge all opposition.


3 - War
Things begin very badly, the government will need to make drastic budget cuts, which may well cause mass protests and riots. Chaos is a good time to overturn the political order and control over the Police, Guard, and Military. With enough control over these forces, and some bloodshed, you can come out on top.

Steps you'd want to take are:
Find people with martial power and befriend them. This may be Generals, Police Chiefs, Mayors, etc, as well as foreign powers. 
Use those hired guns to fight against the hired guns of other agents (IE players) and defeat them on the field of battle.
Stamp out opposition with the butt of a rifle. Crush your opponents under the tread of a tank. 



4 - China
Like the "Communist" China that we know today, you could try to keep the Communist Party together, while liberalizing the economy. This would clearly be the most stable route, and would probably lead to the largest economic growth. 

Steps you'd want to take are:
Ensure economic reforms pass Parliament but political reforms do not. 
3 words: Trade, Trade, Trade. The best way to start would be manufacturing items for use in the rich Capitalist "Eastern Bloc". Ideally, you want to flood Russia with small cheap trinkets with small "MADE IN PEI" stickers on the bottom.
Stamp out corruption within the party itself.
Note: This is the most likely to result in a non-solo win.



IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE GAME TO END IN A JOINT VICTORY, BUT ALL REMAINING PLAYERS NEED TO AGREE.

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A few things just to be clear:

This is set in PEI. A Province of Canada, but alternate history. There are very few russians here. Please do not pick a Russian Name as the "character" you are playing. Feel free to invent a name for this person, and, to select a real-world person to be your "Avatar" so that news stories can post pictures of "you" doing things.

Example:

Jim Runson
43 years old
Barrister
Joined the Communist Party through his Father
Known for being a reformer who supported the "democracy" idea.


or



Jane Kennedy
age 38
Lifelong Party Activist
Recruited into the Youth Wing of the party after being recognized as skilled in Political Class in High School. 
Known hard-liner who often praises the dictators of the past.

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If it helps, many last-names in PEI are English, Scottish, Irish, and French in origin. Popular last names include...


MacDonald Desroches Arsenault Gaudet Gallant Brown Casey MacLaughlan Fox MacKay Aylward McIsaac Compton MacDougal Lawson Lord White Clark Grant Lea Crane Greenan Shea Deighan Murphy Kelly Walsh