How to use the President

[Michael Hopcroft]

How would you guys use the President of the United States in a campaign?

 

Is it possible to use him in such a way that he is actually a character who matters to the story?

 

The President is a popular backer for characters, but what would it do to the campaign is the President was for some reason an adversary of the PCs? And what would a group of PCs have to do to attract the personal attention and enmity of the most powerful man on Earth?

 

How does it change the campaign is the Presdient is evil and/or mad?

[keithcurtis]

Re: How to use the President

 

Well DC did it with Lex Luthor. I personally hated the whole storyline. Having the president be Evil (note the capital E) puts a moral stink on the country the heroes are defending. If they defend their country's actions or interests, they are in essence, the tools of Evil.

Note that this opinion is entirely from a stylistic, dramatic, storytelling point of view. It would probably work OK for a Dark Champions campaign (which is probably why you posted it here), where morality is necessarily gray, but in mainstream comics I don't like it. I'd prefer to put the whole President Luthor debacle in the same little memory whole that hold the electric Superman and the Millennium Giants.

 

Keith "No Resemblence to Any Real Presidents, Living or Dead, is Express or Implied" Curtis

[Killer Shrike]

Re: How to use the President

 

Ive used heads of states in various ways in various genres and settings, though never the actual POTUS. Same basic idea however.

 

The way I would probably approach the actual POTUS in a "Modern" genre is the same way most movies and books do -- by inference and intermediary.

 

In other words, the PC's wouldnt deal with the POTUS directly or in person -- theres at least one person between them and the Prez, or not even that much of connection.

[Chuckg]

Re: How to use the President

 

The President has shown up directly in one Champions game I've been in, but then again, that game definitely weren't Dark Champions. It was a JLA-level game.

 

Street-level dudes should only see the President in the sense of 'the President's in town giving a speech, some whacked-out dude tries to shoot him from a rooftop, you kick the dude's butt before the Secret Service can get there, and the President shakes your hand afterwards briefly and gee, Daredevil, thanks for saving my life.' That kinda thing.

[OddHat]

Re: How to use the President

 

The President should be a teenager, and he should fight vampires.

[ThothAmon]

Re: How to use the President

 

For my money any President has to be the ultimate pragmatist. If the heroes aren't 100% spotless and frogmarch the party line they won't ever meet the Prez for a photo op.

 

In a similar vein, the Prez won't call on heroes unless really desperate. He'd have to exhaust PRIMUS and any other official sources first.

 

As for making an enemy, well, a loudmouthed hero could realistically find himself on the Presidential s**t list. Look at the real life media circuses surrounding hot-topics such as the Enron scandal, BJs for cigars, inadequate disaster response, naming of spies or confidential sources etc etc. It would only take one Presidential aide to rubbish a PC and that person could be in significant hot water.

[Rapier]

Re: How to use the President

 

I've used the President a couple times. More frequently are councilman, mayors, senators, governors etc.

 

I don't think I would ever let anyone (without some darn good reasons and limitations) take the President as a contact or favour. Or if I did, I would make sure that the contact would degrade over time...how often can you pull on a presidential string before his political adversaries get wind and throw that to the New York Times. The President is not all powerful.

[Chuckg]

Re: How to use the President

 

The one time I've seen the President taken as a Contact, it was in the aforementioned JLA game, and the character in question was the campaign equivalent of Superman.

 

Short of this, or being the campaign equivalent of Captain America, I agree that it doesn't work well.

[OddHat]

Re: How to use the President

 

You should be able to define your powers as Summoning presidents as a special effect.

 

10d6HA, "Lincoln Log!"

 

10PD/10ED Personal Force Wall "Get Behind the President"

 

5d6 Entangle "Deep Inside Bill Clinton"

[Trained Chicken]

Re: How to use the President

 

The President makes a very good speedbump for a mountainbiking Secret Service Agent, or a good innocent bystander if one of your heroes has the Heimlich Maneuver skill and The President just happens to be eating pretzels.

 

Also, if your characters are actually terrorists, you can use The President to make the military come after them.

 

In addition, if one of your characters needs Social Security money to buy his super-soldier drugs, The Pesident can make that a lot easier.

 

If one of your characters is an illegal alien, The President can help him get a job in America.

 

If all else fails, The President is usually a tall and well-built man, perfect for use as a door stop in your Super Lair.

[Seenar]

Re: How to use the President

 

I have had the POTUS award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the group after they had saved the world from NeoVIPER (This was set in 2080).

[LittleDevil]

Re: How to use the President

 

You should be able to define your powers as Summoning presidents as a special effect.

 

10d6HA, "Lincoln Log!"

 

10PD/10ED Personal Force Wall "Get Behind the President"

 

5d6 Entangle "Deep Inside Bill Clinton"

 

 

You know, that gives some rather disturbing mental images.

I'd rep you again, but I just did.

[Lamrok]

Re: How to use the President

 

In one of my old games, the "Skull and Bones" were modern descendants of ancient wizards tasked with protecting the North American continent. The powerful magic had faded, but, wouldn't you know it, during the course of the campaign, it began to re-emerge. Bush (the Herbert Walker one) had to scramble some of his close friends and help the gang confront Cthulhu on R'lyeh. Cap Weinberger didn't survive the ordeal (squish). After leading a magical group ritual, G.H.W.B was also called upon to fly an attack aircraft after one of the pilots went insane.

 

In Zornwil's game, our group is currently serving as body guards for Bush II on a diplomatic mission to Atlantis.

[Willow]

Re: How to use the President

 

To actually answer the OP's question:

 

There's plenty of fun you can have with the President as an antagonist.

 

A couple of things to keep in mind in any event- the President is incredibly protected, connected, and powerful, even if his points would make him a -20 Incompetent Normal. Take a look at someone like the leader of Viper. That's kind of the same level of social perks.

 

The President as Illuminatus: A fairly common theme. If the PCs are opposing a shadowy conspiracy and the President is a member of that conspiracy, then the conspiracy is going to have a lot of resources to throw at the PCs.

 

The President as Cultist: What if the President belonged to an evil cult? The cult made up of the rich and powerful is a common idea. (And it might help explain his political success.)

 

The President as Mobster: See Sin City for a good example of Senator as Mobster. The President has covert ties to powerful crime syndicates, and running the United States is an enjoyable side business.

 

The President as Supervillain: Dr. Doom is certainly capable of rigging a Presidential Election. But once the high crimes and misdemeanors start, can the heroes keep him at bay long enough for the Impeachment Trial to finish?

 

The Deadlands game line has a villanous Presidential figure. In a way, so did the Metal Gear video games.

[NightStick]

Re: How to use the President

 

In all of the games that I have played in, I only remember One that we were any where near the Prez.

Does it count, If the PC's were in a group co-founded by Teddy Roosevelt? Several years After his demise?

[HeroGM]

Re: How to use the President

 

I normally do it the way Marvel did back in the 70s and 80s. A nameless face on the screen that has a direct line to any & all government controled groups. Brought in as the mcguffin to show the heroes how serious it is.

[Foxiekins]

Re: How to use the President

 

I used the President once... But the PCs were Time-Traveling at the time, due to a horrific bizarre accident...

[dark_claw]

Re: How to use the President

 

Hmm I used the President of the US as a target for a nuke

However as the game is set in britain the Prime minister is the equivelent character and the actions of the PM are felt throughout the game and they are a major plotline the morality of which is relative to which side of a very specific veiwpoint you come down on (security and safety vs personal liberty) I am of the opinion that if you are going to use high powered political figures in your game then they should be handled in a complex manner and never be right or wrong about everything (the mistakes can lead to all sorts of interesting plots).

[Foxiekins]

Re: How to use the President

 

Well, like I said, they were time-travelling... So they knew things everyone else didn't, from reading the history books... So they were able to figure out the President had been replaced by a doppelganger, and grab him from where he was being held captive, in northern New Mexico, and get him back where he was supposed to be...

 

It was a bad morning, early that day...

 

July 16th, 1945...

[Gadodel]

Re: How to use the President

 

Former Presidents offer a plethora of opportunities to be used. You know, unfinished business and so forth. Particularily in the areas where they could have done something as President, but couldn't because of political considerations. The library of a Former President makes an excellent HQ as well.

[Trained Chicken]

Re: How to use the President

 

I'm still awaiting all the rep from my earlier attempt at derailment.

[kave99]

Re: How to use the President

 

cant think of anything i could do with GWB2 that would not lead to me being labeled a security risk ,at least his dad had a half a brain

[Guest Suleyman Rashid]

Re: How to use the President

 

My campaign's current story revolves around time travel and a really complicated plot to "remove" the current president and his 11 predecessors from history. But its not Dark Champions, its standard superheroes.

[Gadodel]

Re: How to use the President

 

cant think of anything i could do with GWB2 that would not lead to me being labeled a security risk ' date='at least his dad had a half a brain[/quote']

So, work for Uncle Dick instead?

[korovan]

Re: How to use the President

 

Taking on the POTUS and his accomplices would make for an interesting DC campaign, I think.... but it would probably be best if the initial set-up and PCs were purpose built for that kinda thing. A group of heroes that wanted to specialize in bringing justice to those that abuse their political power and take advantage of the public trust (one crooked Congressman could do a lot more damage than any Mafia Don). could eventually wind up taking on the POTUS.... either nailing him for some kind of Watergate scam, or finding proof that the whole "WMDs in Iraq" was a crock and the Prez knew, or blowing the lid off of the Roswell cover-up, or whatever....