January 19, 2005
Ire #9: Inauguration
I debated heavily the topic for this week's IRE, since I have two equally good, although very different choices. Perhaps next year I will go with the good Dr. King's birthday as the subject of an IRE.
This year, this week, however, I am going to go with the Inauguration. Tomorrow, January 20th, is the quadrennial American Presidential Inauguration, and the subject of this week's IRE. I think we can broaden it to include things like coronations and the like, too...
A pretty broad canvas for this week's IRE, and my choice is going to be a space opera esque sort of setting (Traveller-esque, if you like).
The player characters and their ship arrive at a planet not long before the inauguration of the planet's new President. The possibilities for threads and storylines in the midst of this is enormous.
Assassination attempts? Intrigue? Romance at one of the Inaugural Balls?(those offworlders can be, um, alluring to the local folk of the opposite (or, to be fair, same) sex.). A whole raft of gaming material for several sessions can revolve around this. With the inauguration, the actual business of the PCs might be put on hold, since everyone is wrapped up with preparations for THE local event. Thus, like it or not, the PCs might get mixed up in Inauguration events, like it or not.
The style and types of scenarios run on this larger framework depend really on taste. I might have the PCs discover a plot to assassinate one of the new President's cabinet (or the new President herself!). Throw in some heroics at one of the celebrations, and the PCs reputation on this backwater world could go up indeed. Of course, this might lead to the PCs returning to this world time, and again, and I might have to detail it to a greater degree as it becomes a focal point in their travels.
But it would lead to some great stories, no?
Posted by Jvstin at January 19, 2005 7:28 AM