Too Much "Political Intrigue," Not Enough Politics

It's pretty impossible to play TTRPGs for any amount of time without hearing the phrase "political intrigue." It's at the core of Baldur's Gate 3. It's rampant in popular actual plays (Critical Role, Worlds Beyond Number, a number of Dimension 20's seasons; I could go on). It's the looming shadow behind many indie darlings, from Blades in the Dark to Spire: The City Must Fall. Play long enough, and it seems harder to find a game that isn't somehow dabbling in a little intrigue here and there. Or, at least, it feels hard to find one that isn't claiming to.

And, to be fair, there's really nothing stopping them from claiming it! Because what exactly is political intrigue? Who knows? Isn't this just the ever-present issue in talking about genres: it's a little impossible to define what exactly the thing we're invoking is. I think, if we try to draw out the borders of where "political intrigue" starts and ends, we would have all the luck of the generations of nerds who've argued about what science fiction is. They haven't succeeded yet, so why would we?

Here are the few consistencies I think we can confidently pin down without argument: player characters' choices affect the political and social realities of their world, a number of NPC "factions" are trying to simultaneously influence that shared world, and those factions have put events into motion that will have widespread consequences (the players are usually initially unaware of what these are). Trouble is, these parameters still make it hard to find a game that doesn't fall into the genre, rendering it a largely useless term. To borrow some Pixar, when everything's political intrigue, nothing really is.

Which is a shame, I think. It makes sense that many of the games we play deliver a power fantasy where we impact the world's sociopolitical landscape without having to engage in any established political processes. The world’s in flames around us. Leaning into political participation often feels like a great way to get burned, if you’re afforded the choice of leaning in or out. But I am of the opinion that, in avoiding political procedure at our tables, we rob ourselves of good games, good times, and great narratives. As Battlestar Galactica, West Wing, Succession, Game of Thrones, and so much else shows, there's delicious drama and suspense inside of governing and bureaucratic systems. On top of that, there's an alternative power fantasy to the one offered by most "political intrigues": one where your specific participation in the political process dramatically changes the world.

This is the aim of my game Ivory Tower: a game where you sit at the levers of power and, for better or (more often) worse, decide the fate of your city. Come, try a game where one of the most defining mechanics is, effectively, a particularly overpowered city council meeting. Establish political coalitions with your friends, then betray all your alleged principles when the chance to grab at power presents itself. For once in your life, rule the world.

Ivory Tower: World's End Edition, a Resistance system game by RiftKid Games, is currently funding on Gamefound. The campaign will end on October 15th.