California Dreaming: An NCR politics game

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Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

John O'Sullivan
[R - Sac-Town]

Now, now Baron, I agree with most of the things signed on your bill, but I believe that perhaps the seizing of property could be smoothened if we, using the Bounty Bill as a precedent, also include a financial incentive for the surrendering of property as well. I'd like to have the forceful seizure as only a last resort act, for only the most strategically important things that the Republic needs, but I believe most citizens would readily accept an honest deal for their tech... As well as the prohibition for them to sell to any hostile foreign organizations and polities.

[Running for the Repubs! Takanago said he is as well so we could do a joint ticket?]

# ? Jul 28, 2021 13:30

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 23:21

By popular demand: Jul 17, 2007; IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!

Ronwayne posted:

(Santiago, Socialist
VP: Dr. Kayleen Sanchez, FotA)

OOC: This may end up as a crisis point for FotA, They generally stay out of politics

# ? Jul 28, 2021 13:33

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

(Oh, I thought that was just the military. Should she be officially resigning and cutting ties for the duration of any political office then? How does that work. The extent to which the socialists and the FotA are different people is probably fairly hazy. The venn diagram overlap is probably substantial)

# ? Jul 28, 2021 13:34

By popular demand: Jul 17, 2007; IT *BZZT* WASP ME--
IT WASP ME ALL *BZZT* ALONG!

I figure the followers are cool with you running a refugee camp or hospital but if you actually start a career in politics half of them will be like: WTF we don't stand for any organization government or religious creed we're purely humanitarians.

They don't have any hard rules about how things go but they're as close to staunchly socialist anarchist as the fallout world has.

E: not to say a member can't resign on good terms and become an office holder closely associated with FoTA, they just wouldn't be a representative of them.

By popular demand fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Jul 28, 2021

# ? Jul 28, 2021 13:52

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

(Maybe the prospect of those traveling clinics having direct gov't funding and the universities was enough to push one or more toward electoralism? I figure she thinks she can help the Follower's cause even if it means she has to leave it personally. Edited my post.

That said, I haven't really written anything about a socialist primary since my PC kinda just..informed them what was happening. "Wait, we're doing *what* ?" He's kind of been trying to push things along more or less on force of personality and instilling a hope for the future. There is the whole militarism thing and the whole, uh, "pulling people apart like rotisserie chickens in broad daylight with your bare hands" bit that could turn them off, but It'll probably bring in some of the NCR chud votes as compensation.)

Plutonis posted:

John O'Sullivan
[R - Sac-Town]

[Running for the Repubs! Takanago said he is as well so we could do a joint ticket?]

(THIRD (Fourth) PARTY INDEPENDENT MY DUDES :getin:

. If this doesn't end with O'Sullivan getting stabbed and catching a plauge and having his poop piped out through his nose while casually going about public life, what is democracy, even?)

Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Jul 28, 2021

# ? Jul 28, 2021 14:07

Takanago: Jun 2, 2007; You'll see...

Plutonis posted:

John O'Sullivan
[R - Sac-Town]

Now, now Baron, I agree with most of the things signed on your bill, but I believe that perhaps the seizing of property could be smoothened if we, using the Bounty Bill as a precedent, also include a financial incentive for the surrendering of property as well.

"Baron" Joe Worthington
(R-Shady Sands)

The purpose of my bill is to protect people's rights. Frankly, I don't really see the need for the government to get its hand on all the technology it can get, even if it wants to pay for it. If we need it, it's fine to pay for it, but I'm not really sure what adding in a general clause to buy technology would add to my bill. If that's what you want though, feel free to submit your own bill and we can talk about it.

Mycroft Holmes posted:

(Quick question: Who is running for president and for what party?)

Plutonis posted:

[Running for the Repubs! Takanago said he is as well so we could do a joint ticket?]

(Running for President as a Republican here, or as an Independent if O'Sullivan takes the R nomination. As far as I'm aware, O'Sullivan is still running an anti-brahmin-baron campaign so unless he wants to make a big, sudden change to his economic plan, a joint ticket remains out of the question.)

# ? Jul 28, 2021 14:17

Defiance Industries: Jul 22, 2010; A five-star manufacturer

Walter Reynolds
(R-The Hub)

In the event of an emergency we've always got imminent domain to fall back on. And if someone finds stuff and they want to sell it to the NCR, there's already programs in place for that. Doesn't seem like we need to bolt an extra component onto the bill to me.

(I'm not running because I'm not only a 40-year congressional veteran, I was also one of the nominees rolled out to get trounced by Tandi 30 years ago.)

# ? Jul 28, 2021 17:23

Takanago: Jun 2, 2007; You'll see...

quote:

A Radio Campaign Ad
To the tune to a certain set of old-world Californian used car commercials...

Here's Joe Worthington, and his cow Spot!

𝅘𝅥𝅮 If you wanna save some money, Vote For Joe! 𝅘𝅥𝅮
𝅘𝅥𝅮 He's an honest Brahmin man, don't you know! 𝅘𝅥𝅮
𝅘𝅥𝅮 If you want your taxes low, if you wanna save some dough, 𝅘𝅥𝅮
𝅘𝅥𝅮 Vote For Joe, Vote For Joe, Vote For Joe! 𝅘𝅥𝅮

𝅘𝅥𝅮 If you like your civil rights, Vote For Joe! 𝅘𝅥𝅮
𝅘𝅥𝅮 He's an honest Brahmin man, don't you know! 𝅘𝅥𝅮
𝅘𝅥𝅮 He's not gonna take your stuff, he thinks the government's got enough, 𝅘𝅥𝅮
𝅘𝅥𝅮 Vote For Joe, Vote For Joe, Vote For Joe! 𝅘𝅥𝅮

# ? Jul 28, 2021 17:59

Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

[OOC] On second thought, Sullivan will be retreating his candidacy. IC I'd be willing to have it as a result of losing to Joe on the primaries and being unwilling to do an independent party run as a first-term congressman... (And still managing to make his profile more known for future endeavors.)

# ? Jul 28, 2021 18:55

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

(Are we first term? I figured we kept winning our seats in incumbent elections unless we write otherwise?)

# ? Jul 29, 2021 00:36

Mycroft Holmes: Mar 26, 2010; by Azathoth

Presidential polls:
"Baron" Joe Worthington (R) 35%
Roger Allenby (D) 30%
Jesse Santiago (S) 35%

Santiago appeals to the union movement, intellectuals, portions of the military, and the poor
The Baron appeals to the wealthy, the middle class, and reactionaries
Allenby is stuck in between and appeals to moderates and those content with the status quo.

Military:
Current military doctrine resembles late WWI, taking advantage of an abundance of rifleman and heavy weapons, as well as primitive tanks. Anything larger than mortars is in short supply and pre-war, so you see entrenchments, machine guns, and short barrages followed by bite-and-hold tactics.
The air corps is mostly observation and CAS. There is no need for strategic bombing and no plans for such machines. Still, there is a small fighter squadron in Shady Springs, guarding the capital. The navy is seeing a heavy propaganda push, and is modeling themselves off Nelson, rather than John Paul Jones. There is a heavy emphasis on exploration within the upper echelons of the navy. When their larger vessels are built, expect proposals for a journey up the coast or over to Hawaii.

Status of New Reno?
Things are in a stalemate, as the nascent unions consolidate and the families rebuild. It is a fragile peace, however.

Status of Medical Care
Cutting edge: Genetic therapy, grown organs, neurosurgery, cure for cancer
Major city: Roughly present day
Rural: 1950s
Frontier: If you have refrigeration, antibiotics, if you don't, sulfa drugs

Malnutrition effects the poorest in society, as does vitamin deficiency. Due to the use of bioweapons in the war, smallpox is back, and most infectious diseases currently controlled by vaccines are threats again. Thankfully, AIDS and HIV are unknown in Fallout, and the New Plague is extinct.

NPCs of note in NCR society:
Gunderson family: Major Brahmin barons and leading voices in deregulation.
General Theodore Roosevelt Smith: Current NCR Chairman of the JCS
"Red" Ted Kaczynski: Major Socialist agitator
The Boneyard Angels: Baseball team

# ? Jul 29, 2021 00:38

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

Meanwhile, at the Green Zone

https://i.imgur.com/N8ot02p.mp4 :science:

# ? Jul 30, 2021 04:11

Captain Walker: Apr 7, 2009; Mother knows best
Listen to your mother
It's a scary world out there

(Wade isn't running for president of anything anytime soon)

# ? Jul 30, 2021 08:04

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

quote:

While Jesse was getting ready to vote and then do a final rush of campaigning, the local parties were putting the results of his previous efforts to good use. Radio ads, newspaper articles, and door to door visits by various Socialist party members detailed when and where and how voting was happening. Trucks bearing folks from both city and rural areas dropped them off at polling stations before making a return trip for more. Cars were there to help some of the more fragile and/or special needs folks, several of them old enough to remember when the NCR was a single village in the wastes.

The Followers had been extremely split on aiding the campaign. Some, following Dr. Sanchez's example, had resigned for the duration of any political activity. Jesse had made several anarchists willing to take a shot at electoralism and he didn't want to waste it.

O'Sullivan and the Baron splitting the republican ticket had come as a relief, and, quite frankly, so had the former's dropping out. If a cattleman was president, yeah, a lot of Jesse's programs might be slowed down, but the worst thing that'd happen would be that maybe things could not improve fast enough. From what he could tell, Jesse and the Baron agreed on at least two things: It was time for the young(ish) to have a say in the future of the NCR, and that more government guns inside the internal NCR wasn't a good thing. Of the defining features of the NCR, among the best was there was now a core of civilians that didn't have to constantly fight for survival. Although critters and the occasional rear end in a top hat raider might threaten them, a growing amount of people could in general live without fear of constant war. People like Jesse, well, that was what the frontier was for, a place for people like him to get sent to either die or learn how to calm down and be civilized. Jesse hadn't been a fan of O'Sullivan's plan on Baja. He was fine with finding the destroying the raiders, but unless the situation was entirely grim and unsalvagable, like that horde of poor ferals they had to put down in San Diego, Jesse did not want the solution to be boots on the ground, kill the locals, and take over. If they wanted Baja to stop raiding they needed to put down the mad dogs but give the civilians a reason to not become raiders and just replace them.

Quite frankly, his plan for the Brotherhood was a variant on that, Jesse was sick and done with them waving heavy weapons around in the heart of the NCR. That was the Bad Old Days, something Tandi spent her entire adult life trying to keep a lid on. Santiago wanted to give the Brotherhood every possible chance to come to the table and join. Two civilized, educated people killing each other and burning a chunk of rebuilt civilization was, well, a sin. The Enclave had been a bunch of reavers with high tech gear, Jesse didn't feel too bad about them being rolled, but if he won, he did not want to be the one to give the orders to send men and women into a bunker to be butchered en masse.

The NCR military had done the calculations, and the estimated force needed to take the Lost Hills bunker with a direct assault was over a thousand men, and expect to lose at least half. The loss of life would be made worse by the loss of all that tech and knowledge. The bit about the autodoc had disturbed Jesse, he was fine with getting rid of plasma guns but medical gear had to be distributed en masse. If O'Sullivan's speculation was true, that there was an entire warehouse in that bunker full of old medical gear, just sitting there never to be used, then every day the Brotherhood held onto it was another day of preventable sickness and death.

Whatever happened after election day, the Work had to continue. Just surviving isn't enough anymore, people needed the means to thrive, and that can't happen when there isn't safety and trust. Also more vehicles, new shining cars and trains roaring down the roads and rails in defiance of god and common sense.

Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Aug 3, 2021

# ? Aug 2, 2021 23:46

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

(OOC: just checking in, everyone doing alright?)

# ? Aug 9, 2021 15:20

Siegkrow: Oct 11, 2013; Arguing about Lore for 5 years and counting

(I was waiting for anyone else to react to the Maxson rep with something more or something different before posting)

# ? Aug 9, 2021 21:21

Mycroft Holmes: Mar 26, 2010; by Azathoth

(I'm waiting on people to :justpost:

)

# ? Aug 9, 2021 21:29

Siegkrow: Oct 11, 2013; Arguing about Lore for 5 years and counting

THE WANDERER
_{a New California Explorer's Society sponsored magazine

Issue 27}

In this issue, we have reports from Tom Manning, currently in the San Diego Liberation camp, waiting for a a lull in the feral numbers, including interviews with Thomas "The Green Man" Wayne, elected representative of Broken Hills (Currently on break) and corporal Jason Robertson on the camp walls.
In this issue we include a holotape with music from the newly discovered "Music Vault of John Ramos", a fortified store one of the troops took refuge in during one of the assaults (now turned into an FOB)
On the northern front we have the next issue of Earless Joe's travelogue, "Into the unknown", arriving to the northernmost frontiers of NCR affiliated territories, New Arroyo, and his preparations to go farther north into the old Pacific Northwest.
We have an interview with Johan McSnake, member of the Arizona Desert Rangers and their survival methods in one of the driest wastelands of the New World.
Big McLarge Huge continues his path south of old Mexico into the jungles of The Whip, in his attempts to rediscover the lost continent of "South" america.
Members of the Brotherhood of Steel have invited some of our reporters to explore one of their many civilian bunkers in the state of Maxson.
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!

# ? Aug 22, 2021 23:17

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

A slow news week at the Golgatha Gazette posted:

Like many of our best articles, this one arrived wrapped around a brick thrown through our window. While we really aren't sure what its about, it certainly seems exciting, also I didn't have to pay anyone for this. Abridged and edited for space -ed

FUTURESHOCK MANIFESTO
- by A. Mann

We went up to the three snorting machines to caress their breasts. I lay along mine
like a corpse on its bier, but I suddenly revived again beneath the steering wheel - a
chain knife - which threatened my carapace. A great sweep of madness brought
us sharply back to ourselves and drove us through the streets, steep and deep, like
dried up torrents. Here and there unhappy lamps in the windows taught us to
despise our mathematical eyes. `Smell,' I exclaimed, `smell is good enough for wild
beasts!'

And we hunted, like young deathclaws, death with its black fur dappled with pale crosses,
who ran before us in the vast violet sky, palpable and living.

We drove on, crushing beneath our burning wheels, like shirt-collars under the iron,
the watch dogs on the steps of the houses.

Death, tamed, went in front of me at each corner offering me his hand nicely, and
sometimes lay on the ground with a noise of creaking mandibles giving me velvet glances
from the bottom of puddles.

`Let us leave good sense behind like a hideous, shed shell and let us hurl ourselves, like
fruit spiced with pride, into the immense mouth and breast of the world! Let us feed
the unknown, not from despair, but simply to enrich the unfathomable reservoirs of
the Absurd!'

As soon as I had said these words, I turned sharply back on my tracks with the mad
intoxication of puppies biting their tails, and suddenly there were two patrolmen on bikes
disapproving of me and tottering in front of me like two persuasive but contradictory
reasons. Their stupid swaying got in my way. What a bore! Pouah! I stopped short,
and in disgust hurled myself - vlan! - head over heels in a ditch.

Oh, maternal ditch, half full of muddy water! A factory gutter! I savored a mouthful
of strengthening muck which recalled the gloriously filthy spawning pools of my birth!

As I raised my body, mud-spattered and smelly, I felt the red hot poker of joy
deliciously pierce my heart. A crowd of farmers and slack jawed university students
crowded terrified around this marvel. With patient and tentative care they raised high
enormous grappling irons to fish up my car, like a vast relative that had run aground.
It rose slowly leaving in the ditch, like scales, its heavy coachwork of good sense and
its upholstery of comfort.

We thought it was dead, my good Shark, but I woke it with a single caress of its
powerful back, and it was revived running as fast as it could on its fins.

Then with my face covered in good factory mud, covered with metal scratches,
useless sweat and celestial grime, amidst the complaint of staid farmers and angry
students, we dictated our first will and testament to all the living sapients on earth!

And so forth, and so on, -ed

Jesse Santiago
(S - New Reno)

Jesse Santiago looked up from his bedframe which he had kicked over and was using for cover. He was getting his daily, restful 4 to 6 hours of nightmare riddled sleep in the back room of the New Reno Socialist Party's office when the sound of something massive and loud crashed through the front. The light machine gun hung on the wall, labeled "Official use only", was now pointed at the door. Thankfully the staff were aware of his natural instincts and one of new members, some recent grad from Broken Hills called out before hand "Sir? Mr. Santiago, I'm gonna knock and the door and then enter, please don't shoot." A nervous 20 something staffer walked in, a plume of smoke and burning ethanol following him. "Um. Sir, you might want to take this one personally. He's very insistent on talking with you and he's wrestling with Mr. Heinz right now and I can't tell who's gonna win."

Sleeping in your clothes in case you're attacked also works well for appearing professional..ish at all times and so, LMG still pointed forwards, Jesse made his way to the front of the office and saw a shiny new sportscar now buried halfway into the side of the building. In a testament to good old american style construction, the steel frame was unbent and the paint barely scratched, he could see where the driver had gone clean through the windshield though, judging by the broken glass and hole on the other side of the room leading out into the street. The staff was still a little shell shocked as they picked themselves up from the floor, but no one appeared to have died yet, so he was still in a talking mood.

Peering through it, he could see his supermutant bodyguard wrestling with...something in the middle of the street, neither seemed to have the upper hand but the stranger seemed to have a lot more of them.This didn't bother Jesse, some folks like ghouls had spare parts like that. What did bother him was he almost the height of Heinz and twice as wide. "ALRIGHT, BOTH OF YOU KNOCK IT OFF. Stranger, you said you wanted to talk, so start doing it." Jesse was aiming down the sights waiting for his bodyguard to get clear as the newcomer stood to his feet in an alarming, sideways, shambling way. He was dressed in old world business attire, an enormous coat hiding his features, and a sharp little hat that somehow had not gotten knocked off in the scuffle, and he was wearing sunglasses, at night.

Massive arms completely hidden inside sleeves and gloves moved the hat back into place at a slight, jaunty angle. "Yes, Representative Sssantiago," the voice was both mechanical and...moist. In the shadow under the hat, Jesse spotted one of those bionic speech boxes the Followers handed out for folks with talking impediments. Seeing his old CO with one of those in his throat after a cancer related tracheotomy was what had gotten him to quit smoking. "I am Adam Mann, and I'm very excited for your campaign, but you're misssing something important, which is why its good I showed up, just in time!"

"It's 2am."

"The best work is done outside of the hateful glare of the Day Star, Representative. Also you hu- some people are nightblind, so they never see you coming."

"I see, why, exactly, are you here?"

Mr. O' Sssullivan had many great ideas, a future of blood and sssteel across the wasteland and I was saddened when he dropped out. The Baron is a disgrace, a secret communist ploy to take over the NCR, while you, Mr. Santiago are an overt and obvious communist plot to take it over, and I applaud the honesty!"

"I- "

"You're a pillar of the community, Ranger Santiago, but you need an inssside man, one who knows about things just under the surface, and, quite frankly, the Families are bit players compared to the things I've done and seen."

"None of this is making me like you. Ten seconds, why should I hire you?" Jesse's trigger finger tensed and his security detail, already having drawn and taken cover, had done likewise.

"I can get you votes, there is no one who can get around quicker than I and the Shark, SPEED, KNOWLEDGE, AND DEATH ARE ALL FORMS OF POWER!"

"Okay that sounds really scary and hosed up, but sure."

"I can get around faster than those flying things of yours. A mere 120 miles per hour! Pah!"

"Okay, fine, I got a load of posters that need to go to the Boneyard, can you get there in two days?"

"I can get there in two hours."

"Alright, sure, let's do a thing I guess, but if you were stoked for O' Sullivan, why do you want me to be president?"

"All roads lead to carcinization, Mr. Santiago, one day, we will all go into the sea."

"Welcome...aboard?"

Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Sep 3, 2021

# ? Sep 3, 2021 00:12

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

Mycroft Holmes posted:

(I'm waiting on people to )

Any chance of a rerecruit? Otherwise I was thinking of turning the thread into a creative exercise/THE ADAM MANN EIGHT FISTED MAN-EQUIVALENT OF ACTION hour.

# ? Sep 14, 2021 20:48

Mycroft Holmes: Mar 26, 2010; by Azathoth

Ronwayne posted:

Any chance of a rerecruit? Otherwise I was thinking of turning the thread into a creative exercise/THE ADAM MANN EIGHT FISTED MAN-EQUIVALENT OF ACTION hour.

I'm actually working on something else.

# ? Sep 14, 2021 22:11

Ronwayne: Nov 20, 2007; That warm and fuzzy feeling.

I saw, I was wondering if they could be ongoing within the same time period. I guess comms would be limited to screaming over some ludicrously overpowered radio/satellite connection.

# ? Sep 14, 2021 23:04

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 23:21

Mycroft Holmes: Mar 26, 2010; by Azathoth

I've rebooted this game on discord.
https://discord.gg/DeYz6YVwkm

# ? Jan 12, 2022 06:02

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > California Dreaming: An NCR politics game

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