Here is the rough pitch for a game about politics powered by the Apocalypse and based roughly on West Wing:

Here is the rough pitch for a game about politics powered by the Apocalypse and based roughly on West Wing:

Politico Agenda

Portray a bitter world

 – Everyone is jaded, everyone feels that the weight of the world is falling on them and they want to make it your characters’ problem. Fill your character’s world with people who are willing to make their problems your characters’ problem.

Fill the character’s lives with frustration

 – Whatever they want there is someone who does not want it at all and isn’t shy about saying so. No issue is easy to decide on because there are good people on every side. Your candidate will never be led to any issue easily.

Play to find out what happens

Politico Principles

Draw schedules, leave spaces

 – Every day you are going to want to sit down with your team to talk about what happens today and what the weeks and months ahead look like. Put things on their schedules but leave room for them to put things there themselves. This gives the characters a direction to head in and the players a sense of the scenes ahead even though everyone knows that it will all go to hell the moment the meeting is over.

Address the characters, not the players

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Everyone wants something

 – There will be no support for your candidate if you can not give them something. It may be time on the air, their issue in a speech, time with your candidate, or just your presence near or far. No one is giving votes away.

Give faces to the issues

 – If the issue didn’t matter to someone then it would not be an issue. Sure, the ones that are the most visible are often other politicians but the ones that really matter are the voters. Give every issue politicians who care and voters who are affected. They need to be people with names and lives, not cardboard cutouts.

Think disastrous

 – Make them think, everyday, that today is the day that the campaign falls flat on it’s face and dies. Don’t let it happen unless it has to but the threat is always there. Then give them a day where you cause nothing to go wrong. Watch as they tear themselves apart in worry.

Playbooks

Policy Adviser

Political Adviser

Speech Writer

Press Secretary

Campaign Manager 

Chief of Staff

Executive Officer

Organizer?