Designing an open 2020 setting

[PTTG]

What research or resources would be useful for playing a game set in 2020 USA? Of course, if I was starting this thread on a BSS in 1999, the answer would usually be "ultra-tech," but being realistic we should probably shoot for firmly TL-8 stuff.

That said, I've given the players freedom to create 300-point characters with limited disadvantages and, while supernatural traits are disallowed, semi-cinematic ones are fully accepted (For instance, while a highly cinematic "bottomless magazine" advantage would not be allowed, I do presume they will all purchase Luck). The setting will adapt to fit these characters into the group, which might be a bit of a contrivance.

The fantasy will arise in the political side. Note that in order to avoid a civil war on the forums, I will not use proper names. The story is that the 2020 presidential election is highly controversial, and in the end both sides claim victory, the point of contention being clear evidence of vote tampering in key southern states. The conflict grows deeply divisive, and while police forces clash with protesters from both sides throughout the nation, the US' armed forces are compelled to back one government or the other.

While the Army backs the incumbent, the Air Force broadly backs the challenger, and the Navy splits, with Pacific admirals broadly backing the challenger and Atlantic admirals, the incumbent. National Guard units tend to favor the same person as the state they originate from.

The naval split in particular provides an opportunity for secessionists throughout the western regions of the nation to push for separation. At the time of the game's start, everything remains in the "cannot confirm or deny" stage, but a 300-point character in the right place at the right time pull the nation back from the brink, or push it over.

With all that in mind, I have to construct the next four (or more) years of history, including, ideally, a few tweaks to make the potential game as interesting as possible. Suggestions, personal insults, or corrections are quite welcome, but I ask that everyone avoid using proper nouns when discussing the political individuals so as to avoid starting a fight that should happen only in-character for this setting.

[Phantasm]

Depends on whether you want it to be a realistic TL8 setting or a cinematic TL9 cyberpunk setting, I'd say. Even so, just slipping in a few pieces of TL9 or TL9^ equipment (monowire, for example) while keeping the rest TL8 could make it believable as a "near-future" setting to players who didn't grow up during a time when 2020 was not "in the next few years".

Perhaps just add a few cybernetic prosthetic limbs on veterans making the transition from "experimental" to "limited production"?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by PTTG

The fantasy will arise in the political side. Note that in order to avoid a civil war on the forums, I will not use proper names. The story is that the 2020 presidential election is highly controversial, and in the end both sides claim victory, the point of contention being clear evidence of vote tampering in key southern states. The conflict grows deeply divisive, and while police forces clash with protesters from both sides throughout the nation, the US' armed forces are compelled to back one government or the other.
.

This is the part that needs a lo0t of work. To get to any sort of "Who does the military back?" you have to induce a _total_ failure of the legal system.

What you've got above would only justify several months of litigation. Although perhaps more intense than in 2000. If the evidence of the vote tampering is all that clear it might be less intense.

You also have to completely overcome the apolitical tradition of the US military. I can't see off-hand what would c0onvince all the military that it had to intervene much less split them on who to back.

You also have to induce a strong belief that this might be the last election for the forseeable future. Normally an unsatisfactory President is only a 4 to 8 year problem. You have to change that.

[PTTG]

Phantasm: Frankly, things like self-driving cars and trucks, or from a combat perspective, the widespread use of drones and microdrones, seem a bigger consideration than materials science and nanotechnology. Come to think of it, I imagine that virtually nothing that isn't being prototyped today would be widespread by 2020. That still leaves a bunch of cool stuff on the table, though, and the prototypes of 2020 would be interesting stuff indeed.

An idea of how to stat self-driving cars or a 400-unit antipersonnel drone swarm would be appreciated.

Fred Brackin: You're definitely right. I'll try to build a stronger casus belli. To add to the earlier statements, no formal declaration has been made as of the start date, and indeed anyone with authority will outwardly deny any political position. Rather, the "support" the various armed forces provide is in the remote, ideological kind. The idea is that if things came to blows, the men of Pacific Navy are more willing to support the challenger than the incumbent, while the Atlantic Navy has more crewmen from southern states and backs the incumbent.

What if the evidence of tampering is strong (and the tampering localized mainly in the rural west), but incumbent politicians refuse to acknowledge it and actively work to suppress investigation? Of course, it would be spun as a fraud by their side and advanced by the other side. With the party in power capable of obstructing the investigation for months, or quashing it entirely, supporters of the challenger would be hard-pressed to turn "strong evidence" into "a supreme court case capable of unseating the President," especially if that president appointed three SC judges.

If the incumbent takes this sort of course and fails to address the evidence, then it would be reasonable to believe that future elections would be as corrupted if not more so, providing the belief in a long-term disenfranchisement.

The challenger themselves would have to be charismatic and have strong connections. Since there is no strong, young politician in a position to be the opposition candidate in 2016, we'll have to invent one. This candidate's traits would by necessity need to be liberal to win the support of western states, but yet moderate enough to afford affability to even strong conservatives... all while not being such a clear choice that vote tampering in the incumbent's favor would be unconcealable. Ideas about this figure are welcome, too.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

You keep in mind that 2020 is only 3 (three!) years away? :-)

In 2020, we will celebrate the 100th birthday of Isaac Asimov, the Summer Olympics of Tokyo and maybe the completion of the Jeddah Tower, the first building that is more than one km high.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020

So, IMO, until then no big technological leaps forward, just small improvements of the staff we have now - smartphones with (slightly) larger and faster processors, more apps, more drones in the pubilc etc. Maybe we have some new social media that bring down Facebook and Twitter. No commonplace high-speed trains, caseless ammo or space tourism.

As for the politics - until then, Great Britain is no more a member off the EU. Chinas economy looks good at the moment, but it is not growing as good as in the past, and more and more Chinese People complain about corruption and pollution. The next presidential elections in Russia will be in 2018 - with a probably predictable result. And only God knows what will go on in the Middle East - it is probably getting worse.

As for the situation in the US - will the tensions between minorities and the not-more majority ease in the next years? Or will it grow worse, when disappointed voters of you-know-who march on Washington and demand that the promises that were made will be fulfilled, now and on the spot?
What if they and the other side clash in the streets, so that Ferguson and Baltimore will pale in comparison? Add a few fanatics with ANFO and guns to the mix, and you can have something like a minor civil war.

Every presidential candidate will promise to stop the violence. And even if the rumors of foreign intervention in the 2016 elections are not true, other powers would be tempted to try it this time for real. What if China, Russia, India, the EU (and GB as a lone wolf) tray to back up different candidates?

[Fred Brackin]

It occurred to me last night that "research" that might help would be to look at this as if it were a paranoid fantasy of 1972 as seen from 1968. This is really, really out there.

Other issues:
_How_ would the US military intervene in domestic politics? Especially how would the services with lots of important but inapplicable hardware like the USAF and the USN do it? The USAF can't threaten to send much in the way of troops into the streets.

I don't think that local politicians _can_ really interfere much in important court cases. I'm still not seeing why this can't be resolved in the courts. Supreme Court Justices are also notoriously unbeholden to whoever appoints them too.

Also as to vote fraud I have to point you towards the big cities. That's simply where the precincts are crowded and the system is stressed. Trying to do much of anything with Wyoming's single Congressional district is going to run into practical difficulties. It'd be hard to hide fake addresses for non-existent voters when there's nothing else around but tumbleweeds.

You might be able to have a scheme where one side makes the other side's big city voters disappear. The local politicians actually wouldn't try and interfere with investigating that but you might ascribe shenanigans to somebody of the other side in the State Capitol.

Maybe you can get by with just having the PCs not question the credibility of the setting. As I said a lot of this is really, really out there.

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

It occurred to me last night that "research" that might help would be to look at this as if it were a paranoid fantasy of 1972 as seen from 1968. This is really, really out there....

Funny you mention that, the seed of the idea was the 1975 novel Ecotopia, which posited that the west coast split off in 1980, and made it stick with the threat of "nuclear mines" planted in key Eastern cities. The action of the book is set in 1999, when the first American journalist is allowed across the demilitarized zone....

The 2020 setting is my attempt to update the idea and, if not make it more realistic, to add some more fishing line to better suspend disbelief.