Hello, everybody. I am Canadian_95_RTS, and I am GM of a forum game called Secret Hitler. Secret Hitler is a card game for 5-10 players designed by Max Temkin, Mike Boxleiter, and Tommy Maranges, not dissimilar from Resistance.
Secret Hitler is a dramatic game of political intrigue and betrayal originally set in 1930's Germany. Players are secretly divided into two teams – liberals and fascists (Trump Supporters). Known only to each other, the Fascists coordinate to sow distrust and install their cold-blooded leader. The liberals must find and stop the Secret Hitler before it’s too late.
Each round, players elect a President and a Chancellor (Vice President) who will work together to enact a law from a random deck. If the government passes a fascist law, players must try to figure out if they were betrayed or simply unlucky. Secret Hitler also features government powers that come into play as fascism advances. The fascists will use those powers to create chaos unless liberals can pull the nation back from the brink of war.
This game will be set in an alternative version of the 2016 election and its aftermath, with several dangerous characters coming into the public eye. Will democracy prevail? Will an evil tyrant come to power, throwing away rule of law and democracy to satisfy their own nefarious ends? Will America ever be great again? That, my friends, is up to you.
The Rules
STRATEGY NOTES
For this third game, this thread will act both as the signups and the game thread when the game starts. I will start in three days or when we have 12 people. If we have a large amount of interest, I may start another game. If we have less than 7 in two days, I will probably not start this for lack of interest, but I don't believe that will be a problem. Please feel free to tell me if you see something wrong with the rules, I mostly copied and pasted from last game.
Secret Hitler is a dramatic game of political intrigue and betrayal originally set in 1930's Germany. Players are secretly divided into two teams – liberals and fascists (Trump Supporters). Known only to each other, the Fascists coordinate to sow distrust and install their cold-blooded leader. The liberals must find and stop the Secret Hitler before it’s too late.
Each round, players elect a President and a Chancellor (Vice President) who will work together to enact a law from a random deck. If the government passes a fascist law, players must try to figure out if they were betrayed or simply unlucky. Secret Hitler also features government powers that come into play as fascism advances. The fascists will use those powers to create chaos unless liberals can pull the nation back from the brink of war.
This game will be set in an alternative version of the 2016 election and its aftermath, with several dangerous characters coming into the public eye. Will democracy prevail? Will an evil tyrant come to power, throwing away rule of law and democracy to satisfy their own nefarious ends? Will America ever be great again? That, my friends, is up to you.
The Rules
At the beginning of the game, each player is randomly assigned to be a liberal or fascist, with one player assigned as Secret Trump. The Trump Supporters, at the beginning of the game, know who Trump is, and know who their fellow Trump Supporters are, but Trump does not know who the other fascists are.
The objective of the liberal team is to pass five liberal policies or assassinate Secret Trump.
The objective of the Pro-Trump team is to pass six fascist policies, or elect Secret Trump after three fascist policies have been passed.
Each round, a Presidential Candidate is selected from a predetermined order. The Presidential Candidate selects a Vice President. The chosen Vice President may not be a person from the previous ticket. Then the whole table votes "Aye!" or "Nay!" on their ticket; if a majority of players vote “Aye!,” the elected President and Vice President take the following actions to pass a new policy:
If a majority of players did not vote "Aye!", the next presidential candidate in sequence is given a chance to create a ticket. If three successive tickets fail to get voted in, the public takes matters into its own hands and enacts the policy on the top of the policy deck.
If a fascist policy passes, the President gains a new power that she must use immediately. These are dependent on the number of players, and depending on the track used, some may be used more than once, or not at all..
These are
Investigate Loyalty
The President investigates a player's party membership.
Call Special Election
The President chooses the next presidential candidate. The election process proceeds as normal, with the next person who would have been the candidate if the special election had not been called becoming the next presidential candidate.
Policy Peek
The president examines the next three policy cards.
Execution
The president executes one player.
Veto Power
Instead of enacting a policy given to him by the President, the Vice President may choose to veto the agenda. If the President consents, both policies are discarded and the and the Presidency passes as usual. If the President does not consent, the Vice President must enact one of the two policies.
The objective of the liberal team is to pass five liberal policies or assassinate Secret Trump.
The objective of the Pro-Trump team is to pass six fascist policies, or elect Secret Trump after three fascist policies have been passed.
Each round, a Presidential Candidate is selected from a predetermined order. The Presidential Candidate selects a Vice President. The chosen Vice President may not be a person from the previous ticket. Then the whole table votes "Aye!" or "Nay!" on their ticket; if a majority of players vote “Aye!,” the elected President and Vice President take the following actions to pass a new policy:
- The President draws 3 policies from a random deck.
- The President discards 1 policy and passes 2 to the Vice President.
- The Vice President discards 1 policy and enacts the final one as law.
If a majority of players did not vote "Aye!", the next presidential candidate in sequence is given a chance to create a ticket. If three successive tickets fail to get voted in, the public takes matters into its own hands and enacts the policy on the top of the policy deck.
If a fascist policy passes, the President gains a new power that she must use immediately. These are dependent on the number of players, and depending on the track used, some may be used more than once, or not at all..
These are
Investigate Loyalty
The President investigates a player's party membership.
Call Special Election
The President chooses the next presidential candidate. The election process proceeds as normal, with the next person who would have been the candidate if the special election had not been called becoming the next presidential candidate.
Policy Peek
The president examines the next three policy cards.
Execution
The president executes one player.
Veto Power
Instead of enacting a policy given to him by the President, the Vice President may choose to veto the agenda. If the President consents, both policies are discarded and the and the Presidency passes as usual. If the President does not consent, the Vice President must enact one of the two policies.
STRATEGY NOTES
- Everyone should claim to be a liberal. Since the Liberal team has a voting majority, it can easily shut out anyone who reveals he is a Trump Supporter. Liberals who claim to be Trump Supporters put their team at a significant disadvantage.
- Although they have a majority, it’s extremely hard for the Liberals to win. They need to establish trust with one another and use their voting power to prevent the Trump Supporters from getting elected and using the special powers of the President.
- Pay careful attention to the position of players around the table and who’s going to be President next; you don’t want to be forced into a situation where you have to vote for a fascist ticket. The “special election” Presidential power is very powerful - make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands!
- Trump Supporters should find a way to secretly signal their loyalty to Trump - this could include nonverbal communication or gameplay that protects Trump.
- In most cases, Trump will want to play as a staunch liberal - that way; the group will be amenable to installing him as Vice President later in the game.
- Trump Supporters want to investigate Trump early and name him as a liberal - this prevents a liberal President from outingTrump as a fascist. (GM NOTE: Because people are aware of this, this may also result in more suspicion put upon this person, so use with care.)
- After the third Fascist policy has been enacted, the Trump Supporters are poised to win the game by getting Trump elected Vice President. This is a very dangerous stage of the game for the Liberal team - the only way to know definitively if a player is Trump is to elect them Vice President and see if the game ends.
- If a Trump Supporter is president when the “kill” power is activated, he can eliminate a Liberal player under the guise of confusion. The Trump Supporters can win the game this way by gaining a voting majority and installing Trump as Vice President, or by rejecting Candidates until the board fills with fascist policies.
- Although they have a majority, it’s extremely hard for the Liberals to win. They need to establish trust with one another and use their voting power to prevent the Trump Supporters from getting elected and using the special powers of the President.
- Pay careful attention to the position of players around the table and who’s going to be President next; you don’t want to be forced into a situation where you have to vote for a fascist ticket. The “special election” Presidential power is very powerful - make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands!
- Trump Supporters should find a way to secretly signal their loyalty to Trump - this could include nonverbal communication or gameplay that protects Trump.
- In most cases, Trump will want to play as a staunch liberal - that way; the group will be amenable to installing him as Vice President later in the game.
- Trump Supporters want to investigate Trump early and name him as a liberal - this prevents a liberal President from outingTrump as a fascist. (GM NOTE: Because people are aware of this, this may also result in more suspicion put upon this person, so use with care.)
- After the third Fascist policy has been enacted, the Trump Supporters are poised to win the game by getting Trump elected Vice President. This is a very dangerous stage of the game for the Liberal team - the only way to know definitively if a player is Trump is to elect them Vice President and see if the game ends.
- If a Trump Supporter is president when the “kill” power is activated, he can eliminate a Liberal player under the guise of confusion. The Trump Supporters can win the game this way by gaining a voting majority and installing Trump as Vice President, or by rejecting Candidates until the board fills with fascist policies.
For this third game, this thread will act both as the signups and the game thread when the game starts. I will start in three days or when we have 12 people. If we have a large amount of interest, I may start another game. If we have less than 7 in two days, I will probably not start this for lack of interest, but I don't believe that will be a problem. Please feel free to tell me if you see something wrong with the rules, I mostly copied and pasted from last game.
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