The Raging Storm - Sign Up and Rules Thread

[Lumine]

The Gathering Storm, Redux

Diplomacy, War and Intrigue in the world of 1933

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The Year is 1933.

It has been almost fifteen years since the end of the World War, and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Roaring Twenties, having once held such promise, have collapsed in tears amidst unprecedented global economic strife, with a Great Depression that most nations are still struggling to abandon.

Having redrawn the borders of Europe, the Treaty of Versailles and its associated arrangements remains highly controversial for many, a permanent source of tension between old and new states.

After being on the rise, democracy is under siege as authoritarian - or totalitarian - regimes rise up with unexpected strength.

Once the dominant powers of the world, the colonial nations finds themselves increasingly at odds with their subjects, as the calls for independence are just starting to emerge.

Despite its best attempts, the League of Nations struggles to maintain peace within the international stage.

The future, seemingly, is open to endless alternatives, many of them no longer optimistic.

In such a complex era of strife and chaos, can you and your nation find success?

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An Explanation:

This is a remake of The Gathering Storm, originally set in 1939. Upon careful reflection of the game, I conclude that by setting the start too late into the decade I unintentionally left things a bit too restrictive, making it too easy to benefit from and to avoid hindsight. On the other hand, starting at any point in the decade also risked the same result, since the spectre of our World War 2 and how it developed would be ever present. Thus, I decided to draw some inspiration from a game of mine hosted long ago (The Sword of Damocles). While we will be starting a standard nation game on January 1933, the added twist is that players will be allowed to choose between a historical start or a customized one for their respective countries (realistic and ideally a result of short-term changes), upon request and approval.

Basic Rules:

1. Turns: We will play yearly turns lasting for a week in real time, with a midturn on the fourth day marking the separation between the "Early" (winter and spring) and "Late" (summer and autumn/fall) portions of the year, all starting on January 1st, 1933. The yearly turns will last until the beginning of world-wide armed conflict, in which case we will enter a special war mode with shorter and more intense turns.

2. Messages: The GM must be included on all PM's sent by players, and/or be informed of the internal talks that are taking place. Given the nature of the period, players can request formal international conferences between players or NPCs, which will be simulated (player's choice) via PM, an open discussion thread, or a Discord chat. No formal part of the game will be outsourced to Discord, but the existing Game Discussion Server will be used for information, debates, and rapid questions.

3. Historical Simulation: We will be using the dice system for various player decisions, events and warfare, accounting for advantages or disadvantages if necessary. Although there will be significant room for flexibility, players will be encouraged to remain within the grounds of plausibility, and the GM may override decisions which are found to be too out of character (Example: a USSR-led Stalin calling for immediate, free and fair elections). There will be special events or announcements as certain situations arise, including historical and fictional crises.

4. Hindsight: One of the potential problems associated with the game is having the benefit of hindsight given the wealth of knowledge about the lead up to WWII. Although this cannot be addressed directly, the GM will look carefully at orders or decisions that could only be made with hindsight (Example: a player orders X piece of equipment out of production because it was eventually known to be deficient).

5. Stats and Warfare: The stats for each player will be focused on "Popularity", "Economic Status", and "Mobilization Levels" (the latter of which sacrifices economic standing in favor of military readiness or efficiency), which are fairly self explanatory. Warfare will be abstract as opposed to forcing players to micromanage their armies with specific numbers, but players may be as detailed as they wish with their orders.

6. Declaring War and Real Time Simulation: This is IMPORTANT.

• A. Declarations of War or Invasion orders are processed and executed immediately, with a corresponding event stating that X country has invaded Y. This will force players to react within the turn, as opposed to a "gambit pileup" of sorts taking place on the end of turn. This, however, does not prevent countries from being overrun with a successful invasion like in RL.
• B. Players may not order an invasion of another player within the last 24 hours of a turn, to prevent people from being unable to react to an enemy invasion or strike.

6. Game Over: Game Over can come in four ways: Surrendering or being deposed by another player in an invasion, being deposed in a coup or revolt, being assassinated without a clear designated heir, or losing an election. Players in democratic nations may be able to continue playing after the voluntary resignation or term-limit of their original character, if the designated successor wins the election or retains the parliamentary majority.

7. Intelligence: Players may make use of their respective intelligence services for intrigue or espionage purposes.

[Lumine]

Customization:

As outlined in the introduction, and based on The Sword of Damocles, players will be able to select nations to play them under a historical start, or a "customized one", based on short-term changes to our history to result in a different leader, within reason. What I would ask, however, is that said requests are as close to 1933 as possible in terms of changes to the timeline. The point of this is to add greater flexibility and reduce the chances of hindsight being too much of a problem. Though the early start date should certainly help, the option is there if someone wants to take it. Here are a few suggestions that might be allowed:

Examples:

-German Reich: A player may choose to play historical (Hitler), or perhaps a different Hindenburg appointed Chancellor (Papen, Schleicher, etc.), among other options.
-United States: A player may choose to play historical (FDR), or a different President just recently elected in the 1932 Presidential Election.
-UK: A player may choose to play historical (MacDonald), an earlier succession by Stanley Baldwin or a plausible Conservative (National Government), or as a Labour PM in a world without a National Government.
-France:A player may choose to play historical (Daladier), or a different PM based on the 1932 French election.
-Japan: Japan is a special case given the complexity of how its government worked, giving a player alternatives between leading one of the major factions, or roleplaying the Emperor (with less direct input, but longer term stability).

Players and Countries:

First Tier:

(Nominally open to all players)

German Reich: Chancellor Alfred Hugenberg (RGM2609)
United States of America: President Franklin D. Roosevelt (NewYorkExpress)
Empire of Japan: Emperor Hirohito (Devout Centrist)
British Empire: Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald (S019)
Republic of France: Prime Minister Edouard Daladier (YPestis25)
Soviet Union: General Secretary Josef Stalin (GoTfan)
Kingdom of Italy: Duce Benito Mussolini (KaiserDave)
Republic of China: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (Kuumo)

Second Tier:

(Open if previous nations are taken)

Republic of Turkey: President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (OBD)
Dominion of Canada: Prime Minister R. B. Bennett (DKrol)
Czechoslovak Republic: President Tomáš Masaryk (JacksonHitchcock)
Union of South Africa: Prime Minister Jan Smuts (Ishan)
Spanish Republic: President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora (Hijodeagua)
Kingdom of Hungary: Regent Miklós Horthy (AverageFoodEnthusiast)
Kingdom of Yugoslavia: King Alexander I (Mr. X)
Republic of Poland
Kingdom of Romania
United States of Brazil
Chinese Communist Party
Imperial State of Persia
United Mexican States
Argentine Republic

Third Tier:

(Upon special request)

Chinese Warlords
Republic of Austria
Relevant individuals
And/or others

[RGM2609]

Germany please?

[NewYorkExpress]

I'd love to rejoin this one again. Since Hitler is now taken, I'll take FDR.

[Devout Centrist]

Requesting Japan

[S019]

I would like to reserve Great Britain

[DKrol]

I’d like to go back to Canada, if possible. If I have to take a Tier One nation at this point, I’d like the US and FDR.

[OBD]

I’ll tentatively take Turkey. If Ishan wants to displace me then I’m down to move to Spain or reprise my role as Yugoslavia.

[NewYorkExpress]

I’d like to go back to Canada, if possible. If I have to take a Tier One nation at this point, I’d like the US and FDR.

I think I beat you to FDR.

[YPestis25]

I'd love to play as France with Daladier if possible!

[PSOL]

Give me Peron now

[Lumine]

Give me Peron now

You can certainly have Argentina, but Peron's too obscure at the moment to lead it, sorry.

[Lumine]

RGM2609 will be playing as Chancellor Alfred Hugenberg (Germany).

All other claims granted thus far, as the historical leaders.

[Devout Centrist]

RGM2609 will be playing as Chancellor Alfred Hugenberg (Germany).

All other claims granted thus far, as the historical leaders.

Is it okay if I play as Hirohito? Sorry, I forgot to clarify that in my post

[Lumine]

RGM2609 will be playing as Chancellor Alfred Hugenberg (Germany).

All other claims granted thus far, as the historical leaders.

Is it okay if I play as Hirohito? Sorry, I forgot to clarify that in my post

Sure!

[GoTfan]

I would happily take Stalin and the Soviet Union. Perhaps make things a little less genocide-y

[PSOL]

I would happily take Stalin and the Soviet Union. Perhaps make things a little less genocide-y

Your going to get murdered by Bukharin and Yezhov in a year, tops.

[NewYorkExpress]

I would happily take Stalin and the Soviet Union. Perhaps make things a little less genocide-y

Your going to get murdered by Bukharin and Yezhov in a year, tops.

Not if he has Bukharin and Yezhov killed first.

[KaiserDave]

Benito Mussolini please.

[Lumine]

We now have the vital nations covered. I'll leave a couple of days for more players to join in, and we'll start on Friday.

[GoTfan]

I would happily take Stalin and the Soviet Union. Perhaps make things a little less genocide-y

Your going to get murdered by Bukharin and Yezhov in a year, tops.

I said 'a little'.

I will do what I must to ensure the success of the revolution, you decadent capitalist.

[Orwell]

Czechoslovakia

[RGM2609]

Will there be turn prompts like in the last version?

[Kuumo]

I'll rejoin as Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China.

[Continential]

I’ve been reading a history book on South Africa while traveling so them and I would like them to be led by Jan Smuts.