Mechanics
Before we get into this, I’d like to give a massive thanks to Firehound15 for giving me permission to use some of his mechanics from Home of the Brave.
Turn times and “orders”
Each turn goes through a week long process, with a five day window for proposing laws and announcing candidacy for party leadership or the Presidency (during elections, of course). One turn is an ingame year. If a player character (PC) becomes a party leader, they have the option to send in orders that represent the party. For instance, one could have their party as a whole court unions or something. There is no set cap for how many orders that can be submitted, but chances of failure and even backfiring increase with each order submitted. 2 is safe, anything more is getting a bit risky.
Governmental positions, elaborated upon
While there is a brief description of the various positions and organizations of the government in the post above, they will be repeated, along with their responsibilities and how player control of them works in a more in-depth manner here.
Reichspräsident, President- The Reichspräsident, or President, is the highest power in the Deutsches Reich, usually referred to as the Weimar Republic or simply Germany. The President serves 7-year terms and is elected directly by all adults older than 20. The President’s abilities within the German government is similar to his American counterpart. He is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and is able to both pass laws without Reichstag approval and temporarily dissolve the Reichstag itself in times of emergency, although it can be overturned by the Reichstag ((GM’s note: The Weimar Constitution is very weird. look it up, this is seriously how it works)). The president at the game’s start is an NPC, whose decisions and roleplaying will be handled by me. A PC President’s ingame responsibilities include directing the armed forces during times of war or violent unrest, as well as working with both his and other parties to combat instability and inflation that plagued Germany at the time. The President can be impeached if 2/3s of the Reichstag vote in favor of it, along with a majority in a popular vote. If the Reichstag votes yes to impeachment but the people do not, the President retains his position and snap elections are called in the Reichstag. The President is given a vote in the Reichstag equal to one deputy’s, but in the event of a tie the president’s vote decides the outcome.
Reichskanzler, Chancellor- The Reichskanzler, or Chancellor, is the head of government of Germany. The chancellor, along with the cabinet, is appointed directly by the president from the ranks of the Reichstag, where they retain their seats. The chancellorship, while a prestigious position, carries very little power in a manner similar to that of the French head of government, at least on a constitutional basis. The chancellor and the cabinet can be disposed via a vote of no confidence from the Reichstag. As implied earlier, the chancellor and cabinet remain in the Reichstag in the event of appointment from the president, and can still vote in the same manner as an average deputy. Despite the chancellor being a relatively powerless figure according to the constitution, they usually were powerful members of their party and could therefore enforce their party’s agenda easier. A PC chancellor mainly answers to the president and spends his time working with the cabinet and Reichstag to pass laws and carry out other affairs.
Der Reichstag, parliament- The Reichstag is the parliament of Germany. Composed of 459 seats with members, referred to as deputies, being elected every 4 years by all citizens older than 20. Proportional representation is used to distribute seats, which sometimes results with parties with only fractions of the popular vote gaining a seat. The Reichstag is responsible for passing laws, drafting the national budget, declaring war, impeaching the president if needed, and ratifying international treaties. All but one of these actions require a majority vote (230 “yes” votes), with impeachment of the president requiring 2/3s majority (306 “yes” votes). In the event of a tie, the president’s vote is the deciding factor of the issue as previously mentioned. If a Reichstag member commits an offense that violates German law, or commits some sort of action widely disapproved by fellow Deputies and the public, a vote can be called by a Deputy to see the other impeached or even arrested (depending on the action) via attaining a 230-vote majority. All PCs (assuming they are part of a seat-holding party) start off as deputies within the Reichstag.
Reichsrat- I’m just going to be honest here and say that this chamber, and the members inside of it really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. This is mainly because dealing with a two-chamber system, especially where one holds much more power than the other is a bit pointless and just gives me more work. Therefore, they exist for IC purposes only ingame. PM me on IRC if you disagree.
Elections, IC’ing, the Budget, and Lawmaking
While terms, elections, and the legislative process were all touched upon earlier, but this section will present you with unadulterated facts, IC’ing and how it can help you, how to go about running, and how you can win, too. Basically, the President goes for 7 year terms, Chancellor gets appointed by the President, and Deputies go for 4 year terms. There are no term limits and Deputies are elected in regards to votes, not states or other geographical partitions. As stated before, gaining and losing seats in the Reichstag is done via a system of proportional representation, this was made to prevent “lost” votes, but it really just sliced up the government to the point of ineffectualness. Anyway, the small paragraphs below will describe how elections are handled from party-level to national.
Elections as a whole work like this: for whatever election the player is running in, they must always publicly announce their intention within the previously-mentioned five day window. Player interaction in this is only required among fellow PC party members in party leadership elections (elaborated below). Election results, along with lawmaking outcomes, will be announced at the end of each week in a (hopefully) timely fashion.
If a leader of a party dies or retires, then a miniature, party-level election will be held to determine a new party leader. You can announce your candidacy for party leader in the manner as mentioned above. The PC will always be opposed, be it from a fellow PC party member or an NPC. Players within a party whose leadership is being contested will announce their intention for whom they are voting for publicly on the thread. As for who the NPC party members (represented by the Deputies of your party) will vote for is based off of the “public opinion” mechanic that will be mentioned later. Party leaders are expected to be the ones to run for presidency and carry more weight in the Reichstag. With the only unlanded party being fascist, how party elections will be handled for the unlanded have yet to be decided and is open to player input.
Federal (parliamentary) elections are based more off of the party as a whole and public opinion of them rather than the individual. Particularly savvy and charismatic Deputies, especially party leaders, can influence public opinion from their speeches (IC) alone, and therefore gain new voters for their party. But for the most part, whether or not a party gains or loses seats goes down to what laws they did or did not back, as well as general competence on their part. But I must once again reiterate, individuals can affect the party’s popularity, for good or ill. Federal elections are also the most likely way for a Deputy to lose power, too. For example, Party A has three PC Deputies out of a total of four Deputies in all. If they lose a seat, it’s down to the three PCs. If they lose two seats, then one unlucky PC will become unlanded, and will have to hope his two remaining colleagues gain popularity to get him back into power.
Presidential elections fall back on a hybrid of personal and party popularity. The candidates for presidency are locked to party leaders, although party leaders can also nominate military or public figures (Hindenburg, for example), but whether or not they will accept is in the IC paragraph below. The party leader simply announces his attention to run, and results will come in a timely manner.
IC’ing is an important piece of Der Republik. It is the quickest way to influence the opinions of both NPC Deputies and the public, which makes it very important to both put out popularity-increasing during election season, as well as the whole year/turn round. IC’ing will most likely be speeches in some way or another, but I encourage creativity, within reason. Keep in mind, if you make comments that the German people or NPCs would widely disagree with, you could end up losing popularity, so be careful. You can also IC letters to public figures asking them to run (see paragraph above) or whatever idea you have in mind, and if you are President you can IC letters to other countries. I will simulate the recipient's response with a reply letter.
The lawmaking process shares the same style of doing things as Home of the Brave. Any Deputy can propose a law, one must simply post the law’s name, a brief (or detailed) description of the law’s purpose, the name of the PC proposing it, and the party they are a part of, given that it is within the window of time. All other PC Deputies can vote “Yes/Yea”, “No/Nay”, or “Abstain” within the window, and they should as well provide their PC’s name and party. While PCs votes will of course be concrete, NPC votes will be based off of public opinion, the current political climate, and the ideology of their respective parties.
Each year, the president and the majority party/coalition (I should also mention here that party leaders can form coalitions with other parties if they wish) needs to draft a budget. The budget will divided into six categories of spending: Military, Welfare, Infrastructure and Transportation, Education, Healthcare, and war reparations. Once a budget has been drafted, it must receive a 230-vote majority, and will be conducted in the same way and format as the lawmaking process. If the budget isn’t passed, then the president and majority party must draft another one, perhaps with input from opposition groups that time around, too. State income, deficits, and accumulated debt, among other smaller money-related things will be included in the update along with that year’s budget.
Inflation, the economy, and war reparations
The currency of Germany is the Papiermark (currency symbol ℳ). As of the game’s start, one 1921 U.S. dollar is worth ℳ30. All measures conducted in dollars are set to the 1921 dollar, although the Papiermark’s value will of course fluctuate, especially in the coming years ingame. Inflation itself is based off of the economy, debt, and financial laws, historical or not.
The economy is one of the less fleshed out mechanics of Der Republik. The economy is basically affected by the aforementioned inflation as well as government deficits and commerce laws, and in turn the economy will affect public opinion, as well as the income and expenses mentioned in the budget paragraph.
As of the game’s start, Germany owes 132 billion Gold Marks, around $33 billion 1921 USD. This is ℳ990 billion. While there was no set yearly payments (and is therefore included as an option in the budget), paying little or none of the reparations will piss off the former Entente powers and the German people.
Public Opinion
Public opinion is one of the driving factors of Der Republik. The public opinion system is based heavily off of Home of the Brave’s: A semi-hidden mechanic that basically decides whether or not you and/or your party is successful. Nearly everything you do, from voting on laws to IC’ing affects public opinion to you and your party. In updates, I’ll imply the approval of particular Deputies and parties throughout the updates. Public opinion also applies to the ruling party and president and is based off of government decisions and economic climate. If approval of the ruling party gets too low, the president and other majority members may begin to experience some nasty minis involving said disgruntled population.
Paramilitaries
Paramilitaries, at least in our timeline, became more and more necessary as stability lowered an extremism rose. If this becomes the case in Der Republik, a paramilitary for your party can be established via a party-wide vote amongst the deputies of your party (like in the party leader votes). If it’s passed, your new paramilitary group (give it a name for God’s sake) can enforce “justice and the proper way of governing” on the streets via the party leader’s orders.
ADDENDUM
I have been thinking more and more about the instability of the Weimar period and the myriad of political assassinations during it. Therefore, anybody can now send me secret orders, termed covert operations. This could be planting false evidence, bombings, assassinations, or various other nefarious schemes. The more powerful you are, the higher your chances of success are. But if you are to be discovered, the backlash will most likely spell the end of your political career or even your life.
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