J.K. Stockholme
Right Opposition
OLD NEWS
Spoiler Democracy in Oz :
Spoiler 2010 :
Democracy in Oz (Regional Australia Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Europe: rolled a 7, failure. -1 FP for democracy evangelizing
Changes:
- new World Fact: News Corp is institutionally insulated from liberal-democratic capture and has almost complete dominance of the Australian infospace
- new World Fact: News Corp is growing its audience in the European Union and maintaining a strongly right-wing perspective in its coverage
- Europe gains 1 XP for rolling a fail
Spoiler Body Count :
Spoiler 2010 :
Body Count (Special Front): The Eurasia-Babylon War is believed to have cost several hundred thousand lives so far, and the body count continues to rise by the day. At this pace, both countries will have lost a generation to the horrors of war - but war can be fought by many means. Planners on both sides of the conflict are presumed to be busy finding alternative ways to defeat their adversary without resorting to another ground offensive.
Rules: this Front triggers for either Babylon or Eurasia or both if they involve themselves in another significant military operation; this includes both brand new conflicts, as well as extending the current conflict to new areas; this includes both offensive actions involving mobilization, as well as having to defend against another player’s offensive action (so this Front can be triggered by another player that attacks either Babylon or Eurasia); when this Front collapses the manpower concerns are resolved (so in this Front, Collapse is a good thing for Eurasia and Babylon)
Trajectory: By 2014, the manpower concerns worrying Babylonian and Eurasian generals will have subsided.
Rules: this Front triggers for either Babylon or Eurasia or both if they involve themselves in another significant military operation; this includes both brand new conflicts, as well as extending the current conflict to new areas; this includes both offensive actions involving mobilization, as well as having to defend against another player’s offensive action (so this Front can be triggered by another player that attacks either Babylon or Eurasia); when this Front collapses the manpower concerns are resolved (so in this Front, Collapse is a good thing for Eurasia and Babylon)
Trajectory: By 2014, the manpower concerns worrying Babylonian and Eurasian generals will have subsided.
Spoiler African Copper Belt :
Spoiler 2010 :
African Copper Belt (Regional Mozambique-Madagascar Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- East Asia: rolled 19, soft success. +1 for mining investments
Changes:
- new World Fact: minorities and farmers in Mozambique-Madagascar’s African Copper Belt region are agitated by the terms of the East Asian mining deal
- the East Asian Stress Front “degrowth policy” loses 1 Collapse Point
Spoiler Indian Tensions :
Spoiler 2010 :
Indian Tensions (Regional India-Hindustan-Bengal Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- India & Argentina: rolled 18.8, soft success. +1 for brinkmanship
Changes:
- new World Fact: India and Hindustan are engaged in a trade and economic war involving a vast exodus of Hindustani migrant workers from India back to Hindustan
Spoiler 2000 :
Indian Tensions (Regional India-Hindustan-Bengal Espionage/Front): The breakup of North India has left furious unresolved problems on the subcontinent. The Hindustani People’s Republic based out of Delhi, with nuclear arms and the world’s largest army by soldier count, regularly taunts and threatens rhetoric about retaking Mumbai or invading Bengal. The Bengalis, for their part, do the same over their own territorial grievances. This makes the Indo-Bengali-Hindustani border one of the most militarized in the world, and a place where inevitably a miscalculated military decision will escalate the armed peace into a nuclear war. Such a crisis could emerge when the fractious and untenable coalition government of Islamists and ultra-nationalists in Bengal finally collapses into a dictatorship of one or the other, which is seen as a likely next event in the ongoing tense geopolitical situation.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to prevent war and reach a stable political settlement across India, while Regress represents efforts to stoke a conflict.
Rewards: peace or war on the subcontinent, also regime direction in Bengal
Rules: Progress represents efforts to prevent war and reach a stable political settlement across India, while Regress represents efforts to stoke a conflict.
Rewards: peace or war on the subcontinent, also regime direction in Bengal
Spoiler Chaos Journalism :
Spoiler 2010 :
Chaos Journalism (Short-Term Eurasia Stress Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Short-Term Stress “chaos journalism” Collapses (4 out of 4 Collapse Points)
Changes:
- new World Fact: regular Russians have joined in general anti-government unrest, leaning increasingly towards demands for democracy in-addition to demands for peace
- new opposition Faction: liberal Russian activists and civil servants
Spoiler 2006 :
Chaos Journalism (Eurasia Short-Term Stress):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Long-Term Stress “inflexibility and corruption” Collapses (8 out of 8 Collapses Points)
Changes:
- Eurasia suffers a penalty from having 4 simultaneous Stresses: -4 Administrative Proficiency, -Legitimation Capability
Spoiler Eagles of Saladin :
Spoiler 2010 :
Eagles of Saladin (Regional Babylon Long-Term Stress Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Eurasia wins the Front (4 out of 4 Front Points)
Changes:
- new opposition Faction: clandestine ex-Nasserist officers (black)
- this Front and the Eagles of Saladin Stress have been merged; this Front can collapse multiple times and it’s Collapse Points are set to 4 out of 8
- this Front will have additional stakes for Babylon if it collapses again, namely the potential loss of Egypt, the loss of the counter-intel capability, and the loss of 2 Espionage Proficiency points
Spoiler 2009 :
Eagles of Saladin (Regional Babylon Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Eurasia: rolled 20.4, full success. +2 FP for supplying the Eagles of Saladin
Changes:
- when this Front succeeds, the Babylon Stress “Eagles of Saladin” will have additional stakes for Babylon, namely the potential loss of Egypt, the loss of the counter-intel capability, and the loss of 2 Espionage Proficiency points, should the Stress Collapse a second time (the time after next turn)
Spoiler 2006 :
Eagles of Saladin (Babylon Short-Term Stress):
New Events:
Rules: If this Stress is not resolved before it collapses, it will transform into a long-term Stress. Resolution of this Stress can be indirect (i.e. as a secondary consequence of an Action on a semi-related but distinct Front) or direct (i.e. making a Front specifically targeting this issue).
New Events:
- Long-Term Stress “Egyptian Islamism” Collapses (8 out of 8 Collapses Points)
Rules: If this Stress is not resolved before it collapses, it will transform into a long-term Stress. Resolution of this Stress can be indirect (i.e. as a secondary consequence of an Action on a semi-related but distinct Front) or direct (i.e. making a Front specifically targeting this issue).
Spoiler Islamism & Jihadism :
Spoiler 2010 :
Islamism & Jihadism (Super Worldwide Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Front Collapses (8 out of 8 Front Points)
Changes:
- new Stress World Fact: al-Qaeda is responsible for an ongoing terror campaign in Ethiopia
- new Stress World Fact: al-Qaeda is responsible for an ongoing terror campaign in East Africa
Spoiler 2003 :
Islamism & Jihadism (Super Worldwide Social Control/Espionage Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Front Collapses (8 out of 8 Collapse Points)
Changes:
- new World Fact: al-Qaeda’s strength as a terrorist organization is growing and their number one target is Babylon
Spoiler 2002 :
Islamism & Jihadism (Super Worldwide Social Control/Espionage Front):
New Actions:
Changes:
New Actions:
- Argentina: rolled 5, failure. -1 FP for social science efforts representing Regress
Changes:
- new World Fact: the great majority of technocratic Islamic thinkers are imprisoned in Babylon, Libya, Kush, and Persia
Spoiler 2000 :
Islamism & Jihadism (Super Worldwide Social Control/Espionage Front): Despite decades of Babylonian and American suppression, most prominently with the smothering of the Islamic Republic of Iran in its cradle, political Islam continues to be a powerful undercurrent throughout the Islamic world. This undercurrent is fluid and in desperate need of a major role model to decide its fate in the early twenty-first century. The two current pulls across the Islamic world are those between the moderates of Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt and Islamic Congress of East Asian Indonesia, and the fanatics like al-Qaeda and the Bengali Islamic faction. Moreover a niche technocratic angle on Islam as a religion of science has taken hold among guerrillas in northern Nigeria. Should a decisively religious Islamic society emerge in world affairs, whether in Bengal, Egypt, Indonesia or elsewhere, it could serve as a role model to determine the future character of Islamic activities.
Rules: Regress represents efforts to eliminate moderate Islamic Republicanism and bolster/harness fanatical Islamism, Progress represents the bolstering of moderate Islamic Republicanism and crushing of fanatical Islamism; collapse is recurring
Rewards: consolidation of global Islamic politics around an ideologically preferred axis
Related Fronts: Indian Tensions
Rules: Regress represents efforts to eliminate moderate Islamic Republicanism and bolster/harness fanatical Islamism, Progress represents the bolstering of moderate Islamic Republicanism and crushing of fanatical Islamism; collapse is recurring
Rewards: consolidation of global Islamic politics around an ideologically preferred axis
Related Fronts: Indian Tensions
Spoiler Equatorial War :
Spoiler 2010 :
Equatorial War (Middle Equatorial Africa Front): After independence from France in 1945, Equatorial Africa was ruled by a dictator who prevented any opposition from coalescing among the country’s numerous ethnic groups and classes. That ended in 1992, when democratic elections launched a multiethnic coalition of students, soldiers, and farmers into government. Their newfound power was weak, and Chad-affiliated Suzukians swept the interior throughout the 1990s, which were marred by instability due as well to the government’s Azania-inspired land redistribution schemes. As of this year, the situation rapidly destabilized from the compounding problems of the Eurasia-Babylon War. The first factor was the energy crisis, which has yielded a fuel shortage in Equatorial Africa similar to that in the Mali Federation. The second factor has been the collapse of the international arms trade, foreshadowed years ago with the end of the European black market of ex-Soviet kit, and now even the legal markets, as Babylon and Eurasia have switched from exporters to importers and are crowding out countries like Equatorial Africa. Having bid their time for precisely this opportunity, an array of rebel groups decided to strike this year: a new campaign of attacks against government positions throughout the country commenced, and momentum is on the side of the rebels who fight discredited and under-armed government forces. Although the Chad-supported Suzukians, known as the “Ninjas,” are the largest and most disciplined of the country’s rebel groups, other fighters exist in pockets throughout the country and the resumption of civil war is accelerating their growth too.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to prop up the pink government; Regress represents efforts to support the Suzukian rebels. Collapse will result in the splintering of the government and opposition and the creation of a failed state.
Rewards: regime change/stabilizing the country
Rules: Progress represents efforts to prop up the pink government; Regress represents efforts to support the Suzukian rebels. Collapse will result in the splintering of the government and opposition and the creation of a failed state.
Rewards: regime change/stabilizing the country
Spoiler Metapolitefsi :
Spoiler 2010 :
Metapolitefsi (Middle Greece Front): Greece’s political future is wide open in the wake of its dictator’s death. Georgios Papadopoulos began his rule in a military coup in 1960, widely assumed to have CIA approval. Greece was a centrepiece of the Cold War, with the Iron Curtain to its north, Soviet and Yugoslav-backed KKE guerrillas waging a low-level conflict internally, and the United States navy ever present in its ports. Papadopoulos was never bold enough to pursue Greek territorial ambitions against Turkey, nor competent enough to quash the KKE, which transitioned into a Suzukian outfit after the Autumn of Nations. He was however, great at muddling along, preserving both the internal conflict as well as Greece’s nineteenth century territorial claims into the twenty-first century. The death of Papadopoulos this year has sparked disorganized protests demanding some kind of change from the status quo, mixing anti-authoritarian grievances, resentment over economic stagnation since the departure of American forces in 1991, and also nationalism bitterly defensive of Eurasia’s valiant struggle in its motherland against the scourge of Babylon (who is notably now the new puppet master over Greek territorial claims across the Aegean). A highly likely outcome of this instability is the reassertion of dictatorship under one of the military leaders. Greece’s top admiral has already shown himself the leading contender in this race, showboating after a non-lethal exchange of fire between Greek and Ottoman ships in the Aegean this summer. The admiral claims Ottoman ships violated Greek waters, something the Ottomans deny and claim is exactly the reverse of what happened. With Babylon tied up in a continental showdown, and the Ottomans a weak shadow of the threat that Turkey once posed, the Greek military establishment is likely to see a war against the Ottomans as a way to rally people around the flag and drown out complaints against their continued rule. Another pair of plausible outcomes might see the Greek military regime finally come to an end, either voluntarily stepping aside and allowing elections, or with forceful persuasion by a renewed attack from the KKE. The KKE, after decades of futile war, have for a little while now limited their demands to peace negotiation terms, such as that they be included in government, something they reasserted again this year, alongside demands for unconditional amnesty and an indefinite right for them to maintain their militias in-case the government should backtrack. Many Greeks oppose peace with the KKE, including the rank-and-file and lower level officers of the Hellenic Merchant Marine, who sided with vaguely pro-democratic protests and might be seen by the junta as a more acceptable force to keep the military establishment in power even after democratization. Finally there’s King Constantine II, who for decades has bid his time and kept quiet as a figurehead - this has earned him a great deal of legitimacy, as he’s never been blamed for Greece’s problems, instead serving a vessel into which Greeks imagine whatever they prefer he be to them. The reality of Constantine II is known in intelligence circles - he’s long hoped that Babylon would offer an olive branch and help him restore his ancient mandate from god to lead the Greeks as absolute sovereign. Greece is in a brief moment of uncertainty where Metapolitefsi, or regime change, is well within the realm of possibility - will it come to pass?
Rules: Progress and Regress represents the top two rolling sides who attempt to consolidate a government Faction. Collapse of this Front will trigger a d6 roll to determine which ideology takes power and whether war with the Ottomans breaks out. Results on a d6 roll are as follows: (1 or 2) Greek ultranationalists remain in-power and declare war on the Ottomans, (3) Greek military establishment transition to democracy, excluding the KKE, by boosting popular leaders in the Hellenic Merchant Marine to democratic power, (4) King Constantine coups the government with backing of a conspiracy of mid-level colonels, (5-6) the KKE’s renewed attacks fracture the military and propel them to popularity in the country’s first elections, solidifying a Suzukian dominated quasi-democratic state. These outcomes are of course subject to change if the underlying fiction changes in Greece or among its neighbours.
Rewards: fate of Greece
Rules: Progress and Regress represents the top two rolling sides who attempt to consolidate a government Faction. Collapse of this Front will trigger a d6 roll to determine which ideology takes power and whether war with the Ottomans breaks out. Results on a d6 roll are as follows: (1 or 2) Greek ultranationalists remain in-power and declare war on the Ottomans, (3) Greek military establishment transition to democracy, excluding the KKE, by boosting popular leaders in the Hellenic Merchant Marine to democratic power, (4) King Constantine coups the government with backing of a conspiracy of mid-level colonels, (5-6) the KKE’s renewed attacks fracture the military and propel them to popularity in the country’s first elections, solidifying a Suzukian dominated quasi-democratic state. These outcomes are of course subject to change if the underlying fiction changes in Greece or among its neighbours.
Rewards: fate of Greece
Spoiler Natural Disasters :
Spoiler 2010 :
Natural Disasters (Special Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Front Collapses (4 out of 4 Collapse Points)
Changes:
- new World Fact: the Colombian government is resented for its failures and attempted cover-up in the 2010 Nevado del Ruiz volcanic eruption (Short-Term Stress)
Spoiler 2005 :
Natural Disasters (Special Front):
New Changes:
Changes:
New Changes:
- Front Collapses (4 out of 4 Collapse Points), rolled on a table of natural disasters
Changes:
- new World Fact: Central China is in a state of economic crisis and famine due to dam failures and flooding caused by Typhoon Longwang
Spoiler 2000 :
Natural Disasters (Special Front): From earthquakes to hurricanes to volcanic eruptions, from the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs to the Dust Bowl, nature has exacted its capricious whims upon life on earth since time immemorial. Nonetheless, modernity has proved that some disasters are predictable, preventable, and manageable. Hurricanes once killed thousands as they flooded low-lying coastal settlements, but meteorologists can now provide advance warning so that people have time to evacuate, almost eliminating flooding deaths during hurricanes. Proper forest stewardship and firefighting can minimize fires and give people time to evacuate. Even more ambitiously, rocket scientists claim that with more investment they can detect life-threatening meteors and push them off their trajectory with earth, while academics in other fields are eager for funding of technological advances that might end the threat of numerous types of disasters. For now, many of these, from weather control to earthquake dispersion, remain in the realm of science fiction - but perhaps one day they will become reality.
Rules: This Front resolves by GM fiat when the entire player base has collectively developed technologies and worldwide disaster prevention/detection systems that the GM deems sufficient to end the curse of natural disasters; when this Front collapses the GM will roll a 1d20 against a table of natural disasters.
Rewards: None (avoiding bad things is the reward).
Rules: This Front resolves by GM fiat when the entire player base has collectively developed technologies and worldwide disaster prevention/detection systems that the GM deems sufficient to end the curse of natural disasters; when this Front collapses the GM will roll a 1d20 against a table of natural disasters.
Rewards: None (avoiding bad things is the reward).
Spoiler Warming Trend :
Spoiler 2010 :
Warming Trend (Special Front):
New Events:
- Front Collapses (4 out of 4 Collapse Points)
Changes:
- the Europe Stress Front “nationalism” gains 1 Collapse Point
- the Eurasia Stress Front “secessionists and nationalism” gains 1 Collapse Point
Spoiler 2004 :
Warming Trend (Super Worldwide Science Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Front collapses (4 out of 4 Collapse Points)
Changes:
- the India Stress “refugee crisis” adds 2 Collapse Points
- the Indian Tensions Front adds 1.5 Collapse Points
Spoiler 2000 :
Warming Trend (Special Front): Since the late 1970s scientists identified the threat posed to the biosphere and humanity from greenhouse gas emissions in the form of global warming. Average surface temperature relative to the 1800s has risen by the turn of the millennium to 0.75° Celsius, with climate models warning of rising sea levels, longer droughts, more intense hurricanes, and other natural disasters. The economies of the world, through modern agriculture, manufacturing, energy production, transportation and other sources, emit 35 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide and other gases annually. The impacts of global warming will manifest throughout the decades ahead, and the solutions to this global problem will be numerous given its scope.
Rules: this Front resolves by GM fiat when the entire player base has collectively satisfied the GM with numerous energy transition and climate mitigation Fronts of their own diverse choosing; when this Front collapses it’s collapse timer starts again; collapse is recurring
Rewards: none (avoiding bad things is the reward)
Rules: this Front resolves by GM fiat when the entire player base has collectively satisfied the GM with numerous energy transition and climate mitigation Fronts of their own diverse choosing; when this Front collapses it’s collapse timer starts again; collapse is recurring
Rewards: none (avoiding bad things is the reward)
Spoiler The Rise of Azania :
Spoiler 2010 :
The Rise of Azania (Regional Azania Front): Azania’s troubles did not end after the revolution. Although Nelson Mandela and his guerrilla force slash political party of pan-African socialists destroyed apartheid in a people’s war against United States forces, their triumph turned into tragedy when their own policy of land redistribution from whites to blacks in the 1990s caused a famine. Despite this, Azania is a nation of great potential - a vast nationalized mining industry, more industrial capacity than the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa combined, more than 70 million people, and the proprietor of one of the world’s few nuclear weapons programs. Since the 1990s Mandela has tempered the party’s socialism, though he has also become older and frailer, unable to stop polarization among Azania’s elites along environmentalist and Rainbow socialist lines. The radical ecological socialists point out that Africa in-general and Azania in-particular suffer from environmental problems innate to capitalism, from Sahelian droughts to the loss of Lake Chad to destruction of the Congo rainforest to increasing loss of the Veldt biome in Azania itself. They see East Asia as a role model of environmental stewardship and multinationalism uniquely suited to Azania’s situation. The Rainbow socialists meanwhile highlight lack of productive forces and insufficient focus on social inequity as key drivers of Africa’s and Azania’s problems. The Rainbow socialist argue that ethnic animosity still exists between peoples in Africa and Azania, and only through social justice, as well as growth that may come at some environmental cost, can Azania become a regional and perhaps even global leader. The increasingly rudderless Mandela dictatorship and fracturing of the elites has allowed power to concentrate outside of the country’s only legal political party. White supremacist militias still hold onto limited white-majority territories throughout the country, acting out terror from time to time against the government. There are rumours of at least one particularly ruthless party leader who may have delusions of grandeur who, if backed, could lead the country down the path of Peru. Another such rumour exists for the King of the abaThembu people who participated in anti-colonial war as a guerrilla leader and has been known to mix monarchism and socialism in his writings and speeches, likely only tolerated due to his status as a war hero and as Xhosa royalty. Finally there are the younger generation of party members who lean towards the technocratic inclinations of socialism. These elements remain small compared to the big two factions of course. This leaves Azania with a choice: who will succeed Mandela, and will they overcome the country’s gridlock to claim Azania’s place among the Great Powers?
Changes:
Rewards: a Great Power of your ideological flavour
Changes:
- defunct government Faction: pan-African socialist revolutionaries
- new government Faction: pan-African Rainbow socialists
- new government Faction: pan-African eco-socialists
Rewards: a Great Power of your ideological flavour
Spoiler The Reaction :
Spoiler 2010 :
The Reaction (Special Front): The ideological pendulum swings back, then forth. The global liberal turn of the 2000s has hit a high watermark as of 2010, and although it will take years, the backlash will set in eventually. Many peoples of the world are unconvinced that India represents anything other than yet another empire, filling the void left by the collapse of the United States. The contest is on to discover which corner of the ideological spectrum will present the strongest alternative to India’s liberal capitalism. The war between the Eurasian strongman system and the neo-traditional way of Babylon may yet prove a crucial moment, after which the forces of right-wing counter-revolution and reaction will have only one hegemon to kowtow to. However a peculiar path socialism has taken, from dominating Europe to dominating the heartland of America, its core tenets remain strongly held beliefs across the world and the Rainbow Republic has proven a powerful new model for its spread. The world faces only worsening impacts of climate change, a global problem to which only East Asia champions with its unique mix of ecological socialism and state-led capitalism. The world also faces the ongoing march of technology, including the internet and computers, phenomena that Argentina, and its academic-technocratic system of government, lay their own unique claims to. Should either the long disunity of China or the recent disunity of Azania come to an end, such events could also score a victory for any of the contending powers. The 2000s were the decade of liberalism and democracy - what will become of the 2010s?
Rules: this Front resolves at the end of the 2010s and the winner is determined by GM fiat; the blue ideology (India and Europe) cannot win this Front; other Great Powers will be ranked according to how significantly global geopolitics have swung in their favour and to what extent ideological activities have broadened their ideology’s appeal to a world audience, especially as a contrast to liberal democracy
Rewards: a global wave of enthusiasm for your ideology that will last for a large part of the 2010s and will translate into a) at least one or two revolutions, b) one or two oppositions or governments converting to your ideology, and c) other logical narrative benefits from ideological momentum
Rules: this Front resolves at the end of the 2010s and the winner is determined by GM fiat; the blue ideology (India and Europe) cannot win this Front; other Great Powers will be ranked according to how significantly global geopolitics have swung in their favour and to what extent ideological activities have broadened their ideology’s appeal to a world audience, especially as a contrast to liberal democracy
Rewards: a global wave of enthusiasm for your ideology that will last for a large part of the 2010s and will translate into a) at least one or two revolutions, b) one or two oppositions or governments converting to your ideology, and c) other logical narrative benefits from ideological momentum
Spoiler Sinhalese Separatism :
Spoiler 2009 :
Sinhalese Separatism (India Short-Term Stress)
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Long-Term Stress “gridlock and backsliding” Collapses (8 out of 8 Collapse Points)
Changes:
- India suffers a penalty from having 4 simultaneous Stresses: -4 Economy Proficiency, -Engineering Capability
Spoiler Electrostates :
Spoiler 2009 :
Electrostates (Special Front): Clean technology has become technically affordable, but to scale it up to the size of whole national electrical grids will require vast quantities of minerals, namely copper (a great thermal and electrical conductor) and lithium and cobalt (both necessary for lithium-ion batteries). Much like strategic resources of past eras, these clean tech resources are concentrated in a handful of places. More than half of all the world’s cobalt is located inside the African Copper Belt (also a massive source of copper as the name would suggest), where mineral rights are still up for grabs should any Great Power make a push to dominate the country’s extractive industries divided between Mozambique, Angola, and to a lesser extent Kongo. Australia possesses the next largest share of cobalt, is also the world’s second largest holder of lithium reserves, and is a notable copper producer as well, though its mining industry is well-developed and access to its resources would depend upon good bilateral trade relations. Then there’s Argentina, which is in a league of its own, home to half of the world’s lithium reserves (known as the Lithium Triangle, stretching up Chile and into Peru) and also a historic major producer of copper, also mainly in Chile. Productivity in Chilean copper mines hasn’t increased in a long time, while lithium remains underexploited, though these lands are within the boundaries of a well-recognized Great Power, making any new extraction projects contingent on their agreement. Finally there is China, which has notable quantities of lithium and copper, and the Caribbean Federation, which has the next largest cobalt reserves after Australia. The race for the resources of the energy transition is now underway.
Rules: In-order to achieve decarbonization through emerging clean technologies players must arrange the economic order so as to extract the relevant raw materials at-scale. The speed at which decarbonization can be achieved will be dependent upon both the scale of manufacturing (is only one country the hub of clean tech production, or multiple?) and the scale of resource extraction (how many of the named places have been engaged through Action Point spends into the clean tech economy, and how big are their reserves?). Who manufacturers clean tech and how many places do so, and where resources are extracted from, will have narrative impacts on the nature of the world economy in the future.
Rewards: Decarbonization, inputs for a major boost to economic development from clean tech manufacturing.
Rules: In-order to achieve decarbonization through emerging clean technologies players must arrange the economic order so as to extract the relevant raw materials at-scale. The speed at which decarbonization can be achieved will be dependent upon both the scale of manufacturing (is only one country the hub of clean tech production, or multiple?) and the scale of resource extraction (how many of the named places have been engaged through Action Point spends into the clean tech economy, and how big are their reserves?). Who manufacturers clean tech and how many places do so, and where resources are extracted from, will have narrative impacts on the nature of the world economy in the future.
Rewards: Decarbonization, inputs for a major boost to economic development from clean tech manufacturing.
Spoiler Dutch Elections :
Spoiler 2009 :
Dutch Elections (Regional Netherlands Front):
New Events:
Changes:
* Europe’s +1 FP will become 0 FP per turn should any other Great Power succeed in a roll to boost the pink government; should this Front conclude as a success for the EU and regime change, any other Great Power could still make a roll to win the next election for the pink faction (i.e. the blue faction’s control is not especially secure) and receive a context bonus for doing so
New Events:
- Europe: rolled 14, hard success. +1 FP for election interference
Changes:
- new World Fact: the Dutch labour movement will resist neoliberalization of the Netherlands and could easily help boost the New Left Party back into power in the right circumstances or with the right backing*
- new World Fact: the labour union for the Zuiderzee Arbeiders has significant power inside the company and restricts its use as an asset of non-pink Great Powers
- the Zuiderzee Arbeiders Power Centre’s Proficiencies are reduced by half (or in the case of 0.1, removed altogether) for non-pink Great Powers
* Europe’s +1 FP will become 0 FP per turn should any other Great Power succeed in a roll to boost the pink government; should this Front conclude as a success for the EU and regime change, any other Great Power could still make a roll to win the next election for the pink faction (i.e. the blue faction’s control is not especially secure) and receive a context bonus for doing so
Spoiler Europe in Shambles :
Spoiler 2009 :
Europe in Shambles (Regional West Europe Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- India: rolled 19.8, soft success. +1 FP for reconstructing Europe
Changes:
- new World Fact: ownership of the European economy is unequally skewed towards a handful of powerful oligarchs
Spoiler 2008 :
Europe in Shambles (Special Front): The Soviet Civil War has left Western Europe in a state of widespread destitution. Roads, bridges, power lines, and other infrastructure are destroyed, factories are closed, and cities are hollowed out both by the bombs but also because of the millions of Europeans who abandoned them to Scandinavia and Great Britain, among other safe havens. Despite this, Western Europe has tremendous potential. The victory of the German Democracy Movement has already spurred a steady flow of returning citizens, and despite the capital losses, western Europe still possesses massive latent industrial potential atop its considerable human capital. Moreover, both British and Indian aid and investment could rapidly turn things around.
Rules: Any Great Powers rolling on behalf of Progress cannot generate negative Front Points, and a failed roll will be interpreted as an especially hard success but still generate positive Front Points. Any Great Powers rolling to frustrate European reconstruction represents Regress and rolls as normal. The Target Number for this Front is 4.
Rewards: For Progress, a Power Centre for Europe worth 4 Proficiency Points in a category of Europe’s choice. For Regress, the opportunity to create a Short-Term or Long-Term Stress in Europe and prevent Europe’s rapid reconstruction.
Rules: Any Great Powers rolling on behalf of Progress cannot generate negative Front Points, and a failed roll will be interpreted as an especially hard success but still generate positive Front Points. Any Great Powers rolling to frustrate European reconstruction represents Regress and rolls as normal. The Target Number for this Front is 4.
Rewards: For Progress, a Power Centre for Europe worth 4 Proficiency Points in a category of Europe’s choice. For Regress, the opportunity to create a Short-Term or Long-Term Stress in Europe and prevent Europe’s rapid reconstruction.
Spoiler Hollywood :
Spoiler 2009 :
Hollywood (Regional California Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Union of States: rolled 19, soft success. +1 FP for capturing Hollywood
Changes:
- new World Fact: Hollywood films and television are pushing more left-wing narratives, but they are also not that good and have limited appeal outside California and the Union of States
Spoiler Illiterati :
Spoiler 2009 :
Illiterati (Regional China Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Argentina: rolled 16.6, soft success. +1 FP for corrupting the blue KMT
Changes:
- the China's Warlords Front loses 0.5 Collapse Points
Spoiler Nissan Heavy Industries :
Spoiler 2009 :
Nissan Heavy Industries (Super East Asia Front):
New Events:
Trajectory: East Asia will create and control a Nissan Heavy Industries Power Centre with an arms Capability (accessible when they level-up their Economy Proficiency) by 2014.
New Events:
- East Asia: rolled 25, full success. +2 FP for developing an armaments industry
Trajectory: East Asia will create and control a Nissan Heavy Industries Power Centre with an arms Capability (accessible when they level-up their Economy Proficiency) by 2014.
Spoiler Saddam's Concessions :
Saddam’s Concessions (Regional Babylon Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Babylon: rolled 7.4, failure. -1 FP for appeasing the public
Changes:
- new World Fact: Arab Muslims in Babylon are skeptical of efforts by Saddam to paint his regime as compatible with Islamic and Arab identities
Spoiler Days of Rage :
Days of Rage (Babylon Short-Term Stress)
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Long-Term Stress “corruption and resentment” Collapses (8 out of 8 Collapse Points)
Changes:
- Babylon suffers a penalty from having 4 simultaneous Stresses: -4 Warfare Proficiency, -Missiles Capability
Spoiler Victory or Death :
Spoiler 2009 :
Victory or Death (Special Front): Eurasia and Babylon are two states both mired in deep and long-term social and political unrest - and their soldiers and spies have taken aim at the basic foundations of stability in each others’ lands, fomenting unrest in Egypt and damaging the energy sector in southeast Eurasia. The people of both countries may have issues with their own governments, but a victory by one of these two Great Powers over the other could rapidly fix domestic problems for the winning side - their people could rejoice in nationalistic pride and militants coming out from the shadows would realize their opportunity has passed. Such a victory would need to be clear and decisive, but if achieved, it would solve a lot of problems for the victor.
Rules: This Front resolved by GM fiat. If the GM is persuaded that one of the two participants in the ongoing Eurasia-Babylon conflict is decisively victorious (e.g. they obtain a negotiated settlement that is generous to them, or the other power simply collapses from too many stressors), the GM will remove all short-term stressors as well as reduce the Collapse Points on long-term stressors or remove a long-term stressor altogether (GM’s choice).
Rewards: removal of all short-term stressors, reduction of collapse points for long-term stressors or removal of a long-term stress
Rules: This Front resolved by GM fiat. If the GM is persuaded that one of the two participants in the ongoing Eurasia-Babylon conflict is decisively victorious (e.g. they obtain a negotiated settlement that is generous to them, or the other power simply collapses from too many stressors), the GM will remove all short-term stressors as well as reduce the Collapse Points on long-term stressors or remove a long-term stressor altogether (GM’s choice).
Rewards: removal of all short-term stressors, reduction of collapse points for long-term stressors or removal of a long-term stress
Spoiler Globalization :
Spoiler 2009 :
Globalization (Special Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Raids of Eurasia “substantially interferes” with global energy markets; from the rules of this Front: This Front does not generate Collapse Points but should players or other Fronts ever substantially interfere with any globalized industry, the GM will trigger a “global economic crisis” with enormous and unwieldy ramifications.
Changes:
- new Front: Coalition of the Willing
- new Front: Global Energy Crisis
Spoiler 2006 :
Globalization (Special Front): Despite the economically destabilizing events of 1989-1991 and their aftershocks in the 1990s, the world economy has remained remarkably globalized. By historic standards trade barriers are low, trade volume is high, supply chains are inter-continental, and markets are robustly globalized, especially in energy and food. Globalization since the 1980s has hugely boosted economic growth and technological dispersion, at the expense of economic resilience, especially around geographic bottlenecks, strategic resources, and key manufacturing hubs. An unexpected shock (e.g. an interstate war, a civil conflict, or a once-in-a-millenium disaster) over any of these linchpins could have unwieldy implications. Although there are globalized markets in many industries, the three most significant are those for food, energy, and consumer goods. Eurasia and the Union of States are the world’s two breadbaskets and whose agricultural restoration after the Autumn of Nations has brought down the global price of food, which itself underpins stability around the world. Eurasia and Babylon meanwhile are the two largest energy exporters, with the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz serving as three crucial export passageways. As energy is an input for everything else done in the industrialized world, an energy shock in either country would have disastrous consequences. Then there is the global market for consumer goods, whether electronics, appliances, furniture, apparel, or automobiles, all heavily concentrated in India, and to a lesser extent China and East Asia. The price of staple goods since the 1990s have remained low or declined alongside increases in quality as these lower wage countries have taken up the bulk of the world’s manufacturing. Together, these three sectors keep the entire world relatively stable - should a disaster strike even one, the second-order effects could be unpredictable and disastrous.
Rules: This Front concludes by fiat when the GM agrees that the world has achieved post-scarcity or the global economy has abandoned trade for autarky. This Front does not generate Collapse Points but should players or other Fronts ever substantially interfere with any globalized industry, the GM will trigger a “global economic crisis” with enormous and unwieldy ramifications.
Rewards: none
Rules: This Front concludes by fiat when the GM agrees that the world has achieved post-scarcity or the global economy has abandoned trade for autarky. This Front does not generate Collapse Points but should players or other Fronts ever substantially interfere with any globalized industry, the GM will trigger a “global economic crisis” with enormous and unwieldy ramifications.
Rewards: none
Spoiler Not in My Backyard :
Spoiler 2008 :
Not in My Backyard (Argentina Short-Term Stress)
New Events:
Rules: If this Stress is not resolved before it collapses, it will transform into a long-term Stress. Resolution of this Stress can be indirect (i.e. as a secondary consequence of an Action on a semi-related but distinct Front) or direct (i.e. making a Front specifically targeting this issue).
New Events:
- Long-Term Stress “inequality and stagnant wages” Collapses (8 out of 8 Collapse Points)
Rules: If this Stress is not resolved before it collapses, it will transform into a long-term Stress. Resolution of this Stress can be indirect (i.e. as a secondary consequence of an Action on a semi-related but distinct Front) or direct (i.e. making a Front specifically targeting this issue).
Spoiler Marea Rosa :
Spoiler 2008 :
Marea Rosa (Argentina Short-Term Stress)
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- Long-Term Stress “Argentine chauvinism” Collapses (8 out of 8 Collapse Points)
Changes:
- Argentina suffers from 4 simultaneous stresses: -4 Science Proficiency, -Social Science Capability
Spoiler The Belt and Railroad :
Spoiler 2008 :
Belt and Railroad (Super Babylon-East Asia Economy/Science Front):
New Events:
Trajectory: Babylon will create World Facts reflecting a moderately sized network of regular railroads through major Babylonian cities by 2013.
New Events:
- East Asia withdraws from the Front (free action); since East Asia’s contribution to the Front is sizable, this downgrades the Front by one success level to a hard success
Trajectory: Babylon will create World Facts reflecting a moderately sized network of regular railroads through major Babylonian cities by 2013.
Spoiler 2006 :
Belt and Railroad (Super Babylon-East Asia Economy/Science Front):
New Events:
Changes:
New Events:
- East Asia & Babylon: rolled 17, soft success. +1 FP for railroading
Changes:
- new World Fact: East Asia’s environmentalist reputation has taken a hit among foreign environmentalist groups in developed countries (e.g. Scandinavia, Buffalo-Caribou) due to the Belt and Railroad partnership with Babylon
- new World Fact: residents along the rail route are being forced out of their homes by speculative investors, increasing homelessness and resentment
Spoiler Shale Revolution :
Spoiler 2007 :
Shale Revolution (Super Economy Front): Underneath the ground in vast tracts of the world are shale formations where natural gas can be found, with huge reserves in the Union of States, China, Argentina, and across Europe, among other locales. Hitherto methods of drilling have not been able to crack these reserves, but this has begun to change. New techniques, from deep earth imaging software to horizontal drilling to hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), have opened up another generation of energy resources. Whereas coal and petroleum have high carbon dioxide emissions, shale reserves are mainly natural gas, a fossil fuel with a considerably lower carbon impact. A significant investment into gas extraction from shale using these new methods could partially displace oil and coal and help in decreasing reliance on dirtier fuels. Fracking could also develop profitable economies in places that really need it, like the “fly over” region of the Union of States, the impoverished interior of China, inner Argentina and Paraguay, wartorn Mexico, and wartorn western Europe. Any of these regions could be transformed into a new energy juggernaut.
Rules: the top two rolling powers represent Progress and Regress in a contest to establish a “shale revolution” in whatever region they choose that contains major shale reserves; World Facts for second place
Rewards: a natural gas Power Centre and World Facts reflecting a world-class energy production hub
Rules: the top two rolling powers represent Progress and Regress in a contest to establish a “shale revolution” in whatever region they choose that contains major shale reserves; World Facts for second place
Rewards: a natural gas Power Centre and World Facts reflecting a world-class energy production hub
Spoiler An International Space Station :
Spoiler 2007 :
An International Space Station (Super Science Front): During the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union both launched several of their own national space stations, but by the end of the Autumn of Nations both of these superpowers’ space programs weren’t even located inside the territory of their major successors. NASA was inherited by the Southern Republic, while Baikonur was left to independent Turkestan. Although the prospects appear slim, there is still scientific merit in putting yet another space station into orbit, perhaps this time a joint effort by all the space-faring nations so as to maintain the station for a much longer time period. Such a project would still be a massive undertaking costing over a hundred billion pounds or more, and undertaking it without either of the estranged space programs of the former Soviet and American regimes would be tricky - but one can dream can’t they.
Rules: Progress represents a concerted effort to launch an international space station among the Great Powers that participate. Regress represents any individual country’s effort to launch a space station of similar scope without the assistance of other powers. Possessing either NASA or Baikonor or both will greatly improve the odds of success.
Rewards: an international space station (note: not a Power Centre, but still pretty cool)
Rules: Progress represents a concerted effort to launch an international space station among the Great Powers that participate. Regress represents any individual country’s effort to launch a space station of similar scope without the assistance of other powers. Possessing either NASA or Baikonor or both will greatly improve the odds of success.
Rewards: an international space station (note: not a Power Centre, but still pretty cool)
Spoiler Drones :
Spoiler 2007 :
Drones (Super Science Front): Computer science and aerospace technology have advanced to the point that “unmanned aerial vehicles” appear to be scientifically possible in the near term. There were some tentative investments made by the United States and the Soviet Union in the late 1980s but those were forgotten in the Autumn of Nations and its aftermath. A lot of technical innovation and cost reduction is still necessary for military drones to become a significant component of any armed force, and every major military is working on the problem to some degree or another - but should any of the Great Powers prioritize research in this field, they could obtain a ten-year head start in technological supremacy in the field of military drones.
Rules: the top two rollers are Progress and Regress in a contest for establishing themselves as the foremost developer of military drones; negative and positive points won’t “cancel out” - that is, it’s just a race to get generate Front Points equal to the Target Number; World Facts awarded to second place
Rewards: a Power Centre representing a drone-based military production and innovation hub, World Facts reflecting top-notch drone technological supremacy
Rules: the top two rollers are Progress and Regress in a contest for establishing themselves as the foremost developer of military drones; negative and positive points won’t “cancel out” - that is, it’s just a race to get generate Front Points equal to the Target Number; World Facts awarded to second place
Rewards: a Power Centre representing a drone-based military production and innovation hub, World Facts reflecting top-notch drone technological supremacy
Spoiler Mass Surveillance :
Spoiler 2007 :
Mass Surveillance (Super Science/Espionage Front): Globalization, the internet, the use of computer chips in everyday appliances, the universalization of telecommunications, the spread of the “smart phone” - all of these have combined together to create an unparalleled opportunity in espionage and intelligence gathering. Most telecommunications at present are tapped or spied on in an ad hoc, as-needed basis by the world’s premier intelligence services - but in an era of universal technology, some intelligence officials have prodded their governments about a different approach: what if we collected and stored every communication or piece of data by default. Some would say that such a program would be a massive violation of privacy, but fewer and fewer people in the know are saying that it couldn’t be done.
Rules: top two rollers represent Progress and Regress in a contest to establish a mass surveillance program for worldwide telecommunication and technological tracking; second place gets World Facts
Rewards: an intelligence agency Power Centre that performs mass surveillance
Rules: top two rollers represent Progress and Regress in a contest to establish a mass surveillance program for worldwide telecommunication and technological tracking; second place gets World Facts
Rewards: an intelligence agency Power Centre that performs mass surveillance
Spoiler Internet Platforms :
Internet Platforms (Super Worldwide Science/Economy Front): New business opportunities on the internet are being pitched to investors the worldover now that Web 2.0 has fully come together. Startups promising utopian ideas of universal connection to friends, an online store for everything, an all-online bank, cloud-computing, among numerous other possibilities are being described not just in the new Silicon Valley of Buenos Aires, but in other countries as well. Which internet startups will triumph in these emerging industries shall be decided by competition, but one way or another the idea of “network effects” are starting to entice investors to founders talking about e-commerce, big data analytics, social networking, digital transactions, video streaming, among other business ideas.
Rules: The top two rollers are Progress and Regress. First place and second place will both get Power Centres (the first place Power Centre being stronger), dividing up the internet industries available in this phase. I encourage players to describe which internet businesses they want to capture and give me company names (feel free to go beyond the categories I wrote about in the above paragraph, but focus on companies founded between 2000 and 2015).
Rewards: A Power Centre for internet platform enterprises.
Rules: The top two rollers are Progress and Regress. First place and second place will both get Power Centres (the first place Power Centre being stronger), dividing up the internet industries available in this phase. I encourage players to describe which internet businesses they want to capture and give me company names (feel free to go beyond the categories I wrote about in the above paragraph, but focus on companies founded between 2000 and 2015).
Rewards: A Power Centre for internet platform enterprises.
Spoiler Revolt of Small Numbers :
Revolt of Small Numbers (Eurasia Short-Term Stress):
New Events:
Rules: If this Stress is not resolved before it collapses, it will transform into a long-term Stress. Resolution of this Stress can be indirect (i.e. as a secondary consequence of an Action on a semi-related but distinct Front) or direct (i.e. making a Front specifically targeting this issue).
New Events:
- Long-Term Stress “secessionists and nationalism” Collapses (8 out of 8 Collapse Points)
Rules: If this Stress is not resolved before it collapses, it will transform into a long-term Stress. Resolution of this Stress can be indirect (i.e. as a secondary consequence of an Action on a semi-related but distinct Front) or direct (i.e. making a Front specifically targeting this issue).
Spoiler A North America Treaty Organization :
A North America Treaty Organization? (Regional North America Espionage/Administration Front): Having seceded from the United States during its collapse, the ex-American states were never members of NATO, which in any case was effectively abandoned in the 1990s. With significant left-wing unrest emerging in California and the Southern Republic, both accusing the Union of States of foreign influence and hostile objectives, the small nations of North America have begun a flurry of military and intelligence cooperation discussions. The differences between these countries are vast - from Utah’s Christian theocracy to the South’s racial supremacy to Buffalo-Caribou’s quasi-Suzukianism, there’s enough disagreement among one another to frustrate and prevent unity in the face of a common foe. Moreover only some of these states possess nuclear weapons - would such a treaty extend a nuclear umbrella across the continent? Whether these negotiations terminate in a NATO for the next millennium or collapse into ideological recriminations is yet to be seen.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to create a military alliance of North American states other than the Union of States, Regress represents efforts to prevent such an alliance from forming.
Rewards: World Facts related to military commitments between North American countries.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to create a military alliance of North American states other than the Union of States, Regress represents efforts to prevent such an alliance from forming.
Rewards: World Facts related to military commitments between North American countries.
Spoiler A Smart Phone :
Spoiler 2005 :
A Smart Phone (Super Worldwide Science Front):
New Changes:
Changes:
New Changes:
- Argentina: rolled 16, soft success. +1 FP for touchscreen innovation
Changes:
- new World Fact: Motorola’s leadership believes in consumer privacy
Spoiler 2004 :
A Smart Phone (Super Worldwide Science Front): The cellular revolution of the 1990s was stalled in its progress towards the universalization of mobile telecommunication due to the volatile world economy. Nonetheless, slow technical progress in the background has begun to inspire confidence in some mobile phone companies that a breakthrough is on the horizon in touchscreen technology that might allow for a revolutionary new type of phone. As of today none of the big phone makers are devoting serious resources to the idea, though should Ericsson (Scandinavia), BlackBerry (Quebec), Nokia (Baltofennia), HTC (China), or Motorola (New England) get significant foreign investment they might be able to take the lead. Alternatively, perhaps a young company in a dynamic tech hub like Buenos Aires would be better suited to disrupt the phone industry.
Rules: top two rollers are Progress and Regress
Rewards: a smartphone manufacturer Power Centre
Rules: top two rollers are Progress and Regress
Rewards: a smartphone manufacturer Power Centre
Spoiler Olympomachy :
Olympomachy (Super Worldwide Social Control Front): The decline into obscurity of the Olympic Games came about before the Autumn of Nations. After a brief detente, the Soviet Union and the United States boycotted each others’ games, and games hosted by their allies all the way until 1991, when the world order completely reorganized and the games simply stopped aside from a paltry version hosted once by Australia. Technically the International Olympic Committee still exists, and those few private patrons that want to see the games revived are hoping that the Great Powers of the world can come together to unite people with sport.
Rules: Progress represents the creation of an international sporting super-event that happens every four years, rotating between players and NPCs as per the agreed upon terms of the players. The hosting player in any given year will generally be conferred a bonus (+1 or +2) if they carry out an action that they can persuasively convince the GM will be benefited from the sporting super-event (e.g. using the Olympics to improve your national image in a Social Control action, or using the Olympics to bring in investment money for other projects as an Economy action). Regress represents efforts by the highest rolling player to create a politically subordinate sporting super-event that is controlled by their own state as a Power Centre.
Reward: Either a rotating Social Control bonus or a Power Centre worth at least 0.8 Social Control, 0.4 Economy, and 0.1 AP.
Rules: Progress represents the creation of an international sporting super-event that happens every four years, rotating between players and NPCs as per the agreed upon terms of the players. The hosting player in any given year will generally be conferred a bonus (+1 or +2) if they carry out an action that they can persuasively convince the GM will be benefited from the sporting super-event (e.g. using the Olympics to improve your national image in a Social Control action, or using the Olympics to bring in investment money for other projects as an Economy action). Regress represents efforts by the highest rolling player to create a politically subordinate sporting super-event that is controlled by their own state as a Power Centre.
Reward: Either a rotating Social Control bonus or a Power Centre worth at least 0.8 Social Control, 0.4 Economy, and 0.1 AP.
Spoiler Petropolitics :
Petropolitics (Super Worldwide Economy Front): Born in Baghdad, OPEC died in Baghdad. The era of co-operation between oil producers that helped them control the price of oil and use it to threaten oil dependent countries ended dramatically when Saddam Hussein made the decision to simply annex the oil rich regions of OPEC’s Middle Eastern members. The oil cartel was abandoned in the 1980s but since the double-collapse and the stabilization of a multipolar world order, politicians in oil rich countries like Babylon and Eurasia have begun to promote the idea of a new OPEC for a new era. These politicians point out that if just the top six oil producing countries were to band together (Babylon, Eurasia, Colombia, Scandinavia, and Buffalo-Caribou), they would command more than half of the entire world’s oil output, allowing them to control the price of oil, or even threaten or actually enact oil embargoes to get their way against governments that depend on energy imports.
Rules: Progress represents the creation of an international oil cartel. The nature and makeup of this organization are up to the founding players. For every Great Power that participates (i.e. spends 1 AP), the organization will possess 0.1 AP as part of a special Action pool. Whenever the organization accrues 1 AP, it can enact a petroleum trade-related action that the participating players agree to by the organizations decision mechanisms (voting, rotating leadership, etc.). This can be used to allow players to carry out multi-state actions without each having to individually spend AP to carry it out (e.g. instead of 3 players spending 1 AP each to “hike the price of oil” or “enact an oil embargo against x country”, the oil cartel spends 1 AP and all the players’ relevant agents act on that 1 AP expenditure). Regress represents efforts to crush the creation of an international oil cartel and/or to create an international energy market that cannot be unduly influenced by any one state.
Rewards: The creation of an international oil cartel, or the frustration of such a cartel and the establishment of a global apolitical free market for oil.
Rules: Progress represents the creation of an international oil cartel. The nature and makeup of this organization are up to the founding players. For every Great Power that participates (i.e. spends 1 AP), the organization will possess 0.1 AP as part of a special Action pool. Whenever the organization accrues 1 AP, it can enact a petroleum trade-related action that the participating players agree to by the organizations decision mechanisms (voting, rotating leadership, etc.). This can be used to allow players to carry out multi-state actions without each having to individually spend AP to carry it out (e.g. instead of 3 players spending 1 AP each to “hike the price of oil” or “enact an oil embargo against x country”, the oil cartel spends 1 AP and all the players’ relevant agents act on that 1 AP expenditure). Regress represents efforts to crush the creation of an international oil cartel and/or to create an international energy market that cannot be unduly influenced by any one state.
Rewards: The creation of an international oil cartel, or the frustration of such a cartel and the establishment of a global apolitical free market for oil.
Spoiler An Assembly of Nations? :
An Assembly of Nations? (Special Front): The threat of nuclear annihilation between the communist east and capitalist west was tempered during the Cold War through a small diplomatic club composed of the superpowers and their entourage: the Soviet-American Security Council (SASC). Although nowhere near as ambitious as proposals for a League of Nations or a World Court that were briefly in vogue during the 1920s and 1940s, the SASC had become the world’s best vehicle for military de-escalation before it disintegrated with the Autumn of Nations. In a world of escalating conflicts, institutional internationalism is fashionable again, with lawyers, diplomats, and academics across many countries promoting the idea of a global forum of nations that could vote on matters of war and peace and would be provisioned with the resources and authority necessary to enforce the will of the world’s sovereign states. Should the contemporary Great Powers participate and encourage the creation of some sort of assembly of nations, it might be capable of finally bending the arc of history toward peace and security.
Rules: Progress represents the creation of an effective international peace and security organization (i.e. a United Nations with teeth). The nature, makeup, focus, and authority of this organization are up to the founding players. The resources and strengths of this organization will be based on what Proficiencies players use to create it. For every Great Power that participates (i.e. spends 1 AP), the organization will possess 0.1 AP as part of a special Action pool. Players may put forward resolutions they wish to see enacted and if they pass (dependent on the players’ voting structure, e.g. one vote per country, one vote per Great Power, something else), the organization will pursue those goals, rolling against its own stats. Regress represents efforts to create an alternative global body or to frustrate and dispel the dreams of any global body of this nature. Only the winning side will get the bonus Action Point pool and resolution passing mechanics.
Rewards: The creation of an international peace and security organization with its own stat block that can accrue and spend Action Points on resolutions agreed to by its members.
Rules: Progress represents the creation of an effective international peace and security organization (i.e. a United Nations with teeth). The nature, makeup, focus, and authority of this organization are up to the founding players. The resources and strengths of this organization will be based on what Proficiencies players use to create it. For every Great Power that participates (i.e. spends 1 AP), the organization will possess 0.1 AP as part of a special Action pool. Players may put forward resolutions they wish to see enacted and if they pass (dependent on the players’ voting structure, e.g. one vote per country, one vote per Great Power, something else), the organization will pursue those goals, rolling against its own stats. Regress represents efforts to create an alternative global body or to frustrate and dispel the dreams of any global body of this nature. Only the winning side will get the bonus Action Point pool and resolution passing mechanics.
Rewards: The creation of an international peace and security organization with its own stat block that can accrue and spend Action Points on resolutions agreed to by its members.
Spoiler China's Warlords :
China’s Warlords (Super China Warfare Front): After the KMT took control of China half a century ago, the country returned to a state of decentralization and corruption over years of mismanagement. Today’s China is governed by numerous minor cliques and warlords that orbit four major factions, one in the east, north, south, and west of the country. Although there are no open clashes, since the 1990s the ideological splits have become so profound that a new conflict between the warlords could be sparked by any minor slight. If a truly unified and reinvigorated China were to emerge, it would rival the other Great Powers in the world. (see NPC description for China for factions of this decentralized society)
Rules: best two rolling players will promote the military expansion of their chosen faction, eliminating other factions with no backer or worse rolls; if a hegemon emerges, a new player may be invited to the game to play them
Rewards: unification of China under your preferred warlord
Rules: best two rolling players will promote the military expansion of their chosen faction, eliminating other factions with no backer or worse rolls; if a hegemon emerges, a new player may be invited to the game to play them
Rewards: unification of China under your preferred warlord
Spoiler Amazon Conflict :
Amazon Conflict (Super Brazil-Colombia-Peru Warfare Front): The war in the Amazon has gone on for decades. Once upon a time, communists were in-charge of Brazil, and then Peru, appearing to dominate the continent, until Argentina invaded and ousted the Brazilian communists and the Peruvians turned on themselves and forced their enemy leftists into the jungle where they began cultivating cocaine that they could sell for cash to buy guns. These formerly Guevarist communist have turned to Suzukianism as a unifying force across numerous groups, and as a means of cementing their ties to indigenous peoples of the Amazon river basin. The low-grade civil conflict stretches between Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, with no obvious end in sight.
Rules: Progress represents destruction of the guerrillas, Regress represents the guerrillas push out and takeover one of the three affected states, and entrench their position in the other two
Rewards: stabilization of the Colombia, Brazil, and Peru regimes, or the collapse of one of those regimes to Suzukian rebels
Related Fronts: The Drug Trade
Rules: Progress represents destruction of the guerrillas, Regress represents the guerrillas push out and takeover one of the three affected states, and entrench their position in the other two
Rewards: stabilization of the Colombia, Brazil, and Peru regimes, or the collapse of one of those regimes to Suzukian rebels
Related Fronts: The Drug Trade
Spoiler Kongo-Sudan Conflict :
Kongo-Sudan Conflict (Regional Kongo-Sudan Warfare Front): The interior of Africa between Kongo, Uganda, and Sudan has suffered numerous social breakdowns due to post-colonial ethnic conflicts, exacerbated by its isolation and the lucrative mines that dot the interior. Hardened by these conflicts, a Dominionist Christian militia movement emerged around a charismatic and unusually erudite soldier who, taking Ivory Coast, Angola, and Argentina, as well as the Lord thy God, as his inspirations, has rallied thousands of rebels into a sprawling insurgency between southern Sudan and eastern Kongo. Religious extremist groups have fought low-grade conflicts since the late 1980s, but only in the latter half of the 1990s did disparate insurgencies organize into a more unified rebellion of Domionist technocrat worshipping rebels. The bizarre ideological mixture makes some suspect the leader of the rebellion could be swayed to a wildly different ideology, should it be politically expedient.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to displace either the Sudanian or Kongolese government with Domionist rebels, Regress represents the crushing of the Domionist rebels
Rewards: the toppling of one or the other afflicted regimes or the destruction of their oppositions
Rules: Progress represents efforts to displace either the Sudanian or Kongolese government with Domionist rebels, Regress represents the crushing of the Domionist rebels
Rewards: the toppling of one or the other afflicted regimes or the destruction of their oppositions
Spoiler Blockbusters :
Blockbusters (Super Worldwide Social Control Front): If there was one front of the Cold War the United States dominated, it was entertainment. The Hollywood studio system, from big budget films to Walt Disney’s pioneering animation, delivered American-made pro-American media with gusto and panache to the entire world. The breakup of the United States and the dislocation of Hollywood under ever more repressive Reaganite censorship has left a gap in the international film and television market, as well as the markets for music and other forms of entertainment. In large part, people have turned to local film and television with smaller budgets, weaker production values, and relatively stagnant cinematography and storytelling. This leaves the market ripe for a Great Power to restore the golden age of international pop culture.
Rules: top two best rollers are Progress and Regress, new entrants replacing Regress and starting from zero; a close finish will split the pot between the two sides
Rewards: the creation of a Power Centre representing a major cultural export of your country (e.g. K-Pop, superhero movies, manga, etc.)
Rules: top two best rollers are Progress and Regress, new entrants replacing Regress and starting from zero; a close finish will split the pot between the two sides
Rewards: the creation of a Power Centre representing a major cultural export of your country (e.g. K-Pop, superhero movies, manga, etc.)
Spoiler The Drug Trade :
The Drug Trade (Super Worldwide Espionage/Social Control): The 1990s were a boom period for the international illicit drug trade centred on the world’s three big production hubs in Afghanistan-Persia, Southeast Asia, and inner Latin America. The vast majority of the world's opium is made by farmers in the Golden Crescent in Afghanistan, where the Khan government turns a blind eye to poppy cultivation. Heroin is largely produced with the tacit support of the Buddhist regime in Burma and corrupt KMT officers in lands saddling the rainforested borders of Thailand, Indochina, Burma, and southwest China. Meanwhile cocaine is cultivated by left-wing insurgents in the Amazon, Colombia, and Peru. The illicit drug trade promotes addiction in buyer countries and strengthens criminal networks along their supply routes, especially North America and Europe, though increasingly also to Argentina, India, and East Asia.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to clamp down on global drug trade operations, Regress represents harnessing these criminal forces to serve the interests of your state; collapse is recurring
Rewards: end of the drug trade (and resultant economic/political effects on other Fronts, regimes) or creation of a Drug Trafficking Power Centre worth 1.6 Espionage, 0.4 Social Control
Related Fronts: Amazon Conflict
Rules: Progress represents efforts to clamp down on global drug trade operations, Regress represents harnessing these criminal forces to serve the interests of your state; collapse is recurring
Rewards: end of the drug trade (and resultant economic/political effects on other Fronts, regimes) or creation of a Drug Trafficking Power Centre worth 1.6 Espionage, 0.4 Social Control
Related Fronts: Amazon Conflict
Spoiler Untouchable Global Elite :
Untouchable Global Elite (Worldwide Super Social Control/Administration Front): In the shadows, moving from corporate board rooms to fancy estate to ski resorts, there have always been the Eloi, the haves, the untouchable elite whose wealth you don’t even see. They can enter countries without a passport, hide their true wealth behind numerous shell companies, and have powerful connections everywhere that matters. This globalized power class hails from every nationality and knows no borders, but should they see one of the Great Powers as serving their interests, they might be inclined to do them favours in-exchange.
Rules: best two rollers are sides Progress and Regress, replacing the losing side if they join in after two sides are established
Rewards: a geographically unlocated Power Centre representing the power elite and the wealthy 0.01% worth 0.1 AP, 0.8 Economy, 0.4 Espionage, 0.4 Social Control
Rules: best two rollers are sides Progress and Regress, replacing the losing side if they join in after two sides are established
Rewards: a geographically unlocated Power Centre representing the power elite and the wealthy 0.01% worth 0.1 AP, 0.8 Economy, 0.4 Espionage, 0.4 Social Control
Spoiler HIV/AIDS & Malaria :
HIV/AIDS & Malaria (Africa Super Science/Administration Front): Two diseases haunt Sub-Saharan Africa, one ancient and one modern. Malaria, spread by mosquitoes in equatorial climes, kills 800,000 people annually, while HIV/AIDS has pulled down societal life expectancy by 10-20 years in the most afflicted areas in East Africa, Azania, Mozambique, and Equatorial Africa. Although drugs have been developed to manage HIV/AIDS and cure malaria, they are not distributed widely in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Rules: Progress represents efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria
Rewards: none (it’s just a nice thing to do)
Rules: Progress represents efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria
Rewards: none (it’s just a nice thing to do)