Credit to Dutchbag for providing the foundation for this game.



"Laws are like sausages — it is best not to see them being made"
--Otto von Bismarck

Bullet Points:
-- You play members of the US House of Representatives
-- The key to this game is cooperation and working together, not winning the game.
-- Fine, you want to win? Get yourself reelected and make the country a better place. That's the closest to winning you'll ever get.

Setting: United States of America, present day.

Situation: The presidential elections have just finished and a new commander-in-chief is in the White House. With the president comes a new cabinet, a new administration, and a new Congress. It's up to you to help the country by enacting new laws and policies that will benefit the people of America. Keep in mind that every choice and decision doesn't happen in a vacuum There will be resistance from members of the opposition, your own party, and even from the voters. As good as it is to change things for the better, it's also good to get reelected. Will your legacy be one of immense fortune and prosperity? Or one of economic ruin? Will you stand firm against the foreign powers of the world? Or bend the knee in the name of peace? Those decisions are yours to make.

In Character Info: You play a member of the US House of Representatives. The IC thread will be used for House discussions and debates. Each turn will consist of about six months, so we'll go through four turns before you'll need to be reelected. The only stat I'll be keeping track of is approval rating, both presidential and congressional. A higher approval rating from the president means his/her party could sweep a midterm election and make passage of laws and bills through congress easier, a higher congressional approval rating means reelection will be easier for you.

Parties: The two main parties in the US are the Republican and Democratic parties. You can look up details on each, but the incredibly broad strokes are that the Republicans are the more conservative party and the Democrats are more liberal. Within the House there are factions inside the respective parties, from the TEA party and their hardline on the right to the Independent Democrats who take a more moderate approach on the left. You will need to choose your character's party and where they caucus within that party, keep in mind geographical regions will play a part in your character's party. Bleeding heart liberal Democrats very rarely come out of the rural Deep South, and a TEA partier from a big city like New York would be just as unlikely.

Roles and leadership: I want to state right here that I want this game to be mostly realistic. I don't want any Frank Underwoods running around literally stabbing people in the back. This is about politics and there will be chances for intrigue and scandal if we can get this up and running. The majority in Congress will depend on the makeup of the RP. If we have six Democrats to four Republicans, I will take that and extrapolate the makeup of the house to give the Dems a slight majority in Congress. Whatever party is in the majority will get to pick the Speaker from their own ranks. The Speaker will be in charge of keeping debates civilized and calling for votes in pending legislation. My role as GM will to provide scenarios for the House to react to, as well as playing the president, Senate, and Supreme Court as they will be needed. Since this is a democracy, the chance of a higher office will be a possibility with some people if they have a high enough individual approval rating. They can move on and run for the Senate, become a member of the President's cabinet, or even run for the top office themselves. That's something I'm still trying to work out so it's a work in progress.

Sheet

Name
Age (Keep in mind you have to be at least twenty-five to be elected to the House)
District: List of Districts Here
Years in Office: (Not everybody will be fresh-faced Congressmen, so I'd like to see a mix of newer and older members)
Political Party/Faction within that party:
Ethnicity/Religion
Character Background

Definitely interested.

Definitely interested.

I love this, i'm going to brush up my knowledge of politics and try to have a character by today or tomorrow.

Edit: I've got nothing, haha. Nevermind ;-;

If you need any help with anything let me know.

You have my attention, this could lead to a very interesting alternate future.

How the approval rating work for this RP?

Do stuff that helps your constituency and your approval rating goes up. Do something that hinders them, or worse do nothing at all, and it goes down. Congress overall will have an approval rate that depends on how effective they are with moving legislation through the House.

Name: Marcellus Kahnt
Age: 47
District: North Dakota
Years in Office: 10
Political Party/Faction within that party: Republican and Tea Party favorite, although he does not refer to himself by that name.
Ethnicity/Religion: Swedish-speaking Finn heritage, conservative Lutheran.
Character Background: Born to middle-class Finnish immigrants. After graduating Dartmouth, he worked for RAND Corp for 10 years, then ran for state senate, then for the House, where he has remained.

Looks good, boerd. I was worried no one would go with a Republican or a Tea party member. We need at least one of those in the game.

Name:
Joshua Daniels Hoffman
Age:
48
District:
Oklahoma's Second Congressional District
Years in Office:
1st year US Rep/ 3 years Oklahoma State Rep.
Political Party/Faction within that party:
Republican/ Oklahoma Constitution Party and The Heritage Foundation.
Ethnicity/Religion:
Caucasian/Christian
Character Background:
Hoffman is newly elected as the United States Representative from Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district in 2013. Previously he was a state representative in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, representing the 2nd district. Hoffman also serves as a Chaplain (Major) in the Oklahoma National Guard. Born in McAlester Oklahoma, Hoffman is a graduate of McAlester High School. He attended Oklahoma University, where he received a B.A. in Political science and Criminal law, in 1988. He attended the Dallas Theological Seminary, receiving his Master of Divinity in 1996. Hoffman also earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, in 2007.

Hoffman worked as an intern for Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole, before working as a salesman selling hazardous material safety products from 1994 to 2005, Hoffman was also senior pastor at Christian Fellowship Church, while co-owning a Bookstore with his wife, Alysia, Hoffman worked as a lawyer, and has been a managing partner at the Hoffman and Howell law firm since 2010.Since late 1980s, Hoffman has served in the Oklahoma National Guard, as a Army-Chaplain, Major Hoffman was deployed to Balad Air Base for five months in 2008, during the Iraq War.Hoffman served three terms in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, representing Oklahoma's 2nd district from 2007 to 2013. After the Republican incumbent state representative decided he would run for the Oklahoma State Senate, Hoffman announced he would run for the vacated seat. He won in an uncontested primary, and wasn't challenged in the general election.

Looks good. Alright, that's two conservatives. Hopefully we can get a few dems to even things up.

Name: Herbert Forward
Age: 37
District: Iowa's First Congressional District
Years in Office: 9
Political Party: Democratic Liberal
Ethnicity/Religion: White persian mix, atheist
Character Background: Came from a lower middle class family in central Iowa before graduating from Hershaw University. After that he got his political start by running in local politics in Moscow, Iowa, eventually getting enough support to run for State Senate.

Name
Justin Stork.

Age
Thirty.

District
California's 8th Congressional District.

Years in Office
First year in the United States Representative/ Four years in the California State Legislature.

Political Party/Faction within that party
Republican/ United States Marijuana Party.

Ethnicity/Religion
Caucasian/ Christian.

Character Background
Born within the High Desert, Justin's father was a mayor of Ridgecrest and he wanted to be in politics. He grew up around politics and gained a seat in the State Legislature. Then he went to the Representative to make his family proud of him.

Legalize it, cool. Finish up that background and you'll be good to go. If we can get a few more than we can start the game.

Name: Tommy Pollaxes

Age: 39

District: Missouri's 6th District

Years in Office: 12

Political Party/Faction within that party: Republican, Moderate

Ethnicity/Religion: Generically Evangelical. Somewhat cloudy affiliation.

Character Background: Born to the politically active Pollaxes family of North-Eastern Missouri, Tommy is associated with the political machine in his district and is not as intensely ideological as many of his fellow politicians. Unique to the Pollaxes, Tommy was born with Dwarfism, but it has done little more than endure him to his constituency in ways that allow him to succeed politically where members of his somewhat controversial old-guard family cannot. Tommy has taken to heart the family legend that they are descended from the ancient Gaulic king Vercingetorix, and as such has a passing interest in things related to the ancient Gauls and Romans. Wears and impressive horseshoe mustache.

The Imp of the House, I can dig it. Looks like we'll have a pretty solid Republican majority, in the House. One of the Republicans will act as Speaker and I'll probably compensate by having a Democrat as president. I'll create a chatzy room sometime in the next few days for us to use, expect the game thread either tomorrow or Wednesday.

This RP is freaking brilliant. From the first paragraph, I was sold.


Name: Richard "Dick" Duncan
Age: 56
District: Tennessee's 1st Congressional District
Years in Office: 8 Years
Political Party: GOP
Ethnicity/Religion: White, Southern Baptist
Character Background: Dick Duncan has served as a career politician within the Republican Party since the mid-Eighties. As a product of the neoconservative movement of 1980, Duncan has served the Republican Party loyally in a variety of Tennessee state offices. In 2010, Duncan ran for the Senate, but the party chose to support the younger, quarter-Latino Jack Delito in an effort to attract younger and Hispanic voters. Duncan was offended by the party's decision, feeling that the Republican leadership owed him the Senate race on account of his years of loyalty to the party.

Richard Duncan is a staunch conservative and his platform revolves around family values, limiting the scope and authority of the federal government, and minimizing taxes. He rails frequently against taxes against businesses to "subsidize lazy folks on the dole". His liberal opponents tend to target the fact that Duncan votes overwhelmingly in favor of corporate interests and has proposed several bills aimed at protecting Appalachia's withering coal industry. He is largely unpopular with younger voters who mock his backwards opinions, particularly his staunch denial of evolution and his belief that "vaccines... give kids autism".

I was hoping we'd avoid cariacatures...

I'm alright with it as long as it's not too tongue-in-cheek. The House has had its share of nuts that's for sure. The congressman in my old home district, who was a doctor that practiced medicine for years, once said that things like evolution were "Lies straight from the pit of Hell"