Pcs and the presidency

[Patriot]

How would A pc wanting to run for the presidency affect your campaign (good or bad) ?

Would you roleplay it out?

Would you grant the Superteam involve executive sanction?

There are tons of other possibilities here, any input?

[incrdbil]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

How would A pc wanting to run for the presidency affect your campaign (good or bad) ?

Would you roleplay it out?

Would you grant the Superteam involve executive sanction?

There are tons of other possibilities here, any input?

 

In a traditional campaign, probably a bad idea. Talk about jobs that interfere with your hero life. Your schedule is tight, inflexible, no time for you to go off and save the world. Everythign you do becomes a public policy statement. A incidental fight could become an act of war, as you, the head of state, lead an agressive action that leads to harm to a representitive of a foreign power.

 

Then the inevitable PC use of power begins. Head of State perks work better for villains.

 

It also makes the game rotate around one PC. Comeone--he's the president--everyone elses 'day job' is pretty inconsequential to that.

 

You'ld have to tailor make a campaign around something liek that, or minimize it. "You are the President..but the world has been invaded, the country destroyed, and you are on the run alone. On the bright side, you have no bad press."

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

How would A pc wanting to run for the presidency affect your campaign (good or bad) ?

 

Sounds like a fine way to change a PC to an NPC.

[Hermit]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

Sounds like a fine way to change a PC to an NPC.

I'll second that. At least, if he wins.

 

Kind of reminds me of the classic Captain America comic where a third party tried to get ole Winghead to be their canadate for pres. That was a great one.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

Kind of reminds me of the classic Captain America comic where a third party tried to get ole Winghead to be their canadate for pres. That was a great one.

 

Dude, everything reminds you of a Captain America comic. It's like your "band camp".

 

"Man, that waiter was lousy. Reminds me of the time when Cap was in South America looking for the Bloodstones, and..."

 

[Hermit]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

Dude' date=' [i']everything[/i] reminds you of a Captain America comic. It's like your "band camp".

 

"Man, that waiter was lousy. Reminds me of the time when Cap was in South America looking for the Bloodstones, and..."

 

 

This teasing is so unfair

 

Reminds me of when of when Cap had to take a long ride on a quinjet with Hawkeye....

 

[Seenar]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

Dude' date=' [i']everything[/i] reminds you of a Captain America comic. It's like your "band camp".

 

"Man, that waiter was lousy. Reminds me of the time when Cap was in South America looking for the Bloodstones, and..."

 

 

LOL

[incrdbil]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

This teasing is so unfair

 

Reminds me of when of when Cap had to take a long ride on a quinjet with Hawkeye....

 

 

No slash fiction please.

[David Johnston]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

I would have my characters point out to the character that winning would necessarily mean retirement from the field. And if he did win, I'd have him assassinated so the remaining PCs can track down the assassin.

[Tiree]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

It shouldn't be a problem if he wants to be a Vice President. Just think about it - Most VP's do nothing, and have little power. The President sends them off to get them out of their hair.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

A super appointed "Secretary of Metahuman Affairs" or "Director of the Superpowered Response Agency" could be interesting. Enough into the politics and stuff, but still with primary task being superheroing and coordinating responses, with the ability to call on a lot of resources. Able to pull in the federal govt into the campaign more directly without getting bogged down in the Presidential-specific stuff.

[OddHat]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

In a comedy campaign, no problem. Remember the "Prez" comic book, with a teen president who fights vampires?

 

In a serious traditional Supers campaign, I'd retire the character when he one. Contrary to Harison Ford movies, being Preident is all about not having to fight the bad guys one-on-one.

 

In a very political campaign where I did allow it (West Wing with Superheroes), the President would not participate in the combat section of adventures. The Players would have two sets of characters. Set 1 would be the President and his Staff, Set 2 would be some kind of Executive Super Team that actually engaged in combat.

 

At any rate, 10 points is absurdly cheap for what being the President of the United States would actually gets a PC in my campaigns (if I allowed it at all).

[OddHat]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

Tell your Player he needs to save up the Experience for this package:

Perks

Super President

70 1) Basic Presidential Package: Fringe Benefit: CIA Director's Boss, Diplomatic Immunity, Director/leader of governmental department or branch, Head of State, Improved Equipment Availability Advanced Military equipment, Security Clearance

9 2) Reputation: The President of the United States of America and Leader of the Free World (A large group) 14-, +3/+3d6

39 3) Hey, dude: President: Contact: United States Government (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has extremely useful Skills or resources, Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Very Good relationship with Contact), Organization Contact (x3) (39 Active Points) 15-

Notes: See optional slots

24 4) Diplomatic Powers: Contact : Foreign Governments (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has extremely useful Skills or resources, Contact has significant Contacts of his own), Organization Contact (x3) (24 Active Points) 12-

15 5) Effective control of vast sums: Money: Filthy Rich

 

Options: If you think that a contact is too cheap, add:

175 6) Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Staff, etc.: Followers

200 7) Super Bunkers, Jets, etc, etc: Vehicles & Bases

[David Johnston]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

It shouldn't be a problem if he wants to be a Vice President. Just think about it - Most VP's do nothing' date=' and have little power. The President sends them off to get them out of their hair.[/quote']

 

That's a really intriguing idea. The superhero boosts the ticket with his presumable popularity and then helps the administration with those little

terrorist problems or flood relief. I wonder though, whether a President would tolerate having a V.P. who is much more popular and respected, and in some ways more powerful than he is.

[OddHat]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

That's a really intriguing idea. The superhero boosts the ticket with his presumable popularity and then helps the administration with those little

terrorist problems or flood relief. I wonder though, whether a President would tolerate having a V.P. who is much more popular and respected, and in some ways more powerful than he is.

 

Is this meant to be a Bush-Cheney refference?

[David Johnston]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

Well, no. Great popularity is not a burden that Cheney struggles with.

[Patriot]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

I agree the head of state option is way to undercosted

I was looking at 50 points base, plus depending on how roleplaying and such went, numerous owed favors. The Head of Superpower affairs would be a great option also......Ill have to put more thought into it.

 

 

 

Please keep this from becoming a Political thread

[OddHat]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

I agree the head of state option is way to undercosted

I was looking at 50 points base, plus depending on how roleplaying and such went, numerous owed favors. The Head of Superpower affairs would be a great option also......Ill have to put more thought into it.

 

While the package I posted above is pricy, I'd say that 50 points is still too cheap if you look at all the things a PC President could actually do in game. Need to investigate something? The CIA, FBI and NSA are all at your beck and call. Want a base? Every military base in the country is at your command, every secret government bunker and lab. Want equipment? You can give your friends everything short of a nuke. Heck, you can probably get away with giving them a nuke if you don't care about being re-elected. Need some bad guys put down? You have the army, navy, air force, marines, any Super Agents and agencies that exist in your game world, every patriotic hero...

 

It's far more power than being able to fly and bounce bullets. It should cost something appropriate to that.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

But when you look at the various limitations on those powers, and the disadvantages and Disadvantages that would come with the job, the cost would come down.

 

How many people vote each Presidential election? 90 some million? Let's just say they each put in one XP, and the winner gets to use them for the next four years.

[OddHat]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

But when you look at the various limitations on those powers' date=' and the disadvantages and Disadvantages that would come with the job, the cost would come down.[/quote']

 

Those go on his sheet as disads acquired in play, and are worth 0 points.

 

How many people vote each Presidential election? 90 some million? Let's just say they each put in one XP, and the winner gets to use them for the next four years.

 

Well...OK, I like this idea, but I'd still say no to the player.

[incrdbil]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

anyone want to point out the nuclear 'football'?

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

anyone want to point out the nuclear 'football'?

 

To my players? Probably not.

[Lamrok]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

Well, if you're going to allow for PCs who can shoot laser beams out of their eyes, fly to mars and back, and pay a surprise visit to Zeus, I don't think allowing one of them to juggle the duties of president with crime-fighting is very far fetched. Any sort of real tangible rewards from the office could easily be duplicated by a sufficient amount of mind control. Official duties can be handled through effective delegation, and Life Support: Doesn't Sleep. A secret ID would probably be a good idea.

 

Any PC who tried to push things too far to his advantage would just hit a wall of red tape and beaurocracy and could easily run afoul of a Congressional Inquiry. It strikes me as fairly self balancing. In a lot of games, I wouldn't see a real problem with it, and in those cases, I think the price is about right.

[Egyptoid]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

I need ideas:

How many different ways can an election be rigged in the average supers universe?

my thoughts so far:

Candidate could be “Manchurian”.

Voting machines can be hacked.

Electors could be mindless drones; Voters could be mindless drones.

News Networks can be hacked, controlled, or bamboozled.

Candidate could be an illusion, construct, proxy, robot, or alien shapeshifter.

White House completely replaced by _____ type of construct.

Constitution can be amended to make any of the above easier or unnecessary.

more?

 

 

Please: Save your "witty" political banter or party jokes for non-gaming discussion area...

Necromancy and Thread-Jacking: super-crime at its very best....

Thanks.

[Ice9]

Re: Pcs and the presidency

 

I think the Head of State perk isn't necessarily underpriced, but it doesn't - by itself - cover being president of the US, or any major country. The "Super President" package above seems about right, with Head of State just representing your official status. So you could have a 60p "Power Behind the Throne" package where you had most of the same powers, but you wouldn't officially be the head of state, which could sometimes be inconvenient (and sometimes more convenient, but that's just the effect of not having the various Complications being president entails).

 

On the other hand, the cost hardly matters. In most campaigns, such a character wouldn't really be playable, and in a game where it was, the other PCs probably have similar levels of political power. Kind of like LS: Immortal in that respect.