The purpose of Superpower is for the players to take place as the legislature for a new country. Who will vote to form a more perfect country. The game will take place in stages which build up slowly. The first stage will mark the start of the new country. Where players will vote on new bills that will hopefully be passed by a majority vote. Then, once the bills are finalized, Phase 2 will begin. In Superpower, the player will vote for any bill he or she wishes. The moderator of the game will then tally the votes and post the short term effects of the bill. Over a long period of time your choices will have a dramatic effect on your country. In later stages, you move out from your country to others as you and the other players decide what to do on a global scale. Will you fight for resources? Will you oppress the minority? Will you expand through a vicious blitzkrieg of military campaigns? The Game master will throw everything at you from local events to global disasters! It's your job to form a perfect nation!
Phase One Rules
Any player may introduce a possible bill. If two (2) players support a bill. The Game Master will take it to a vote. Players must decline or accept the bill to be counted in the tally.
To support a bill, simply say I support this bill, the bill name, and highlight the text in green. (Note this is to support the bill, not to vote for it)
To vote for a bill, simply say I vote for a bill and PM the Game Master. The purpose of the game is to debate bills, look at the consequences of previous actions, try to act on that.
To pass a bill, the Game Master needs a 51% or higher majority.
Bills may not be contradicted unless they are being amended.
In Stage One, players may only pass bills.
At any time the players are allowed to finalize the Phase One and move onto Phase Two.
The Game Master needs an X% majority to move onto Phase Two.
To amend a bill, just pass a bill as usual, but let it state that it clearly amends a previous bill.
Bills in Phase 1 are suggested to do with the rights of the citizens
Rules may add rules, they may not remove or change them, excluding amendments.
All bills may be declined at any time for various reasons. (Already existed or impossible to enforce)
Once the players move to phase 2. All rules from Phase 1 are also part of Phase 2. This is because you can still work with bills in the second phase of the game.
Phase Two Rules
All Phase 1 Rules apply to the second phase as well.
Decisions will occur every game-master update. All congressmen are strongly recommended to participate in the voting. Since these decisions will affect later progress towards becoming a superpower.
Decisions run from small to large. The effects of the bill will be posted in every game master post passed the first phase. Which will give a rundown of local, nation, and international problems.
The possible decisions are up to the congressmen, just like the first phase. Come up with your own solution and hope it is voted on like a bill. There are no amendments, but later on you can fix the problems you've caused with another action taken by congress.
As with the first phase, all custom decisions are able to be scrutinized by the game-master. Unlike the first phase, these custom decisions are given a lot more freedom. I ask that they just be within the country's power.
The game automatically goes from Phase 2 to 3 once a set number of actions and congressmen are reached.
Phase Three Rules
All Phase 1 Rules apply to the third Phase.
All Phase 2 Rules apply the the third Phase.
In this phase, information on territories unowned, owned, military forces, taxes, and production are all given at each game-master post and are updated to the opening post ever update. The goal is to moderate these things, send out military companies, settle civilian disputes, moderate taxes and vote on whether local laws are constitutional. The phase does not take place solely on numbers. Rather, the numbers are the superficial results. The phase is more alike to Phase 2 where there will also be consequences for each action taken by congress. The effects of any of these things will be given.
Military Campaigns are likely to take multiple turns to complete, or pages, the game isn't about world domination but sometimes military deployment is required.
Real world problems will also show up. Things such as dependency on energy will be a problem, uprisings in other parts of the world.
Some things are not directly controlled depending on the actions from Phase One. You can directly violate your own laws, so try to come up with clever ways to control them indirectly, (For instance, you can't create jobs from nothing, or attract companies by advertising, you can lower taxes on certain industries to attract those types of industries. Taxes is a great way to control the country.
Phase 4 begins at any time the game-master chooses.
Area: Creation of Bills Author: Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite The bills must be free of glaring grammatical errors. The bill is to be within spoiler tags, with the title in the spoiler's title. Quote this post to see how if you don't know. They must state what general area they influence, the author, and the period of influence. Then comes the actual body. Clauses within the body are to have a return between each other. Sections must have two. The Gamemaster will keep all approved bills in the first post for clarity, as well as the votes and author. Unapproved bills will appear in the first post as well, but in a different section as well as with a vote counter outside the spoilers.
Area: Creation of Bills Author: Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite No earmarks, they are banished, and every bill following containing an earmark is considered null and void by this bill.
Area: Creation of Amendments Author: Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite If an amendment occurs, it must solely be on its own, not included in another bill unless the passing of the other bill requires it. The amendment will clearly state what it amends. Amendments will still be voted separately even if included in another amendment. The amendment will state that it is an amendment in the title. A bill with an amendment included will state it includes an amendment in the title. If an amendment is passed, the old version is struck out and modified. A version to put in place of the original bill is to be clearly shown for the convenience of the Gamemaster. Additions are italicized. Strikeouts are for deletions. One may not amend a bill while a vote takes place, as this will restart the vote and make things more complicated. Amendments may occur before voting begins, by either the author or somebody else; in the event that somebody else wants to amend it, they need only the consent of the author.
Area: Creation of Amendments Author: Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite Any bill that modifies original rules must have a 3/4ths majority rather than a 1/2 majority. That applies to this bill as well. An 80% vote is required to move on to the next phase. In modifying normal bills, a normal 50% rule applies.
Your bills are nowhere near the 'correct' bill format that Congress actually uses, but it would be a pain to use that format anyway. Anywho, these bills are all well thought out; not very detailed, but the message is clear; therefore, I most likely will vote yes to all.
Area: Voting on Bills Author: mdog95 Period: Indefinite A bill is only to be voted on after three days' time has passed since the last amendment has been voted on and no more amendments are proposed. If no amendments are proposed, the bill will be voted on three days after the bill is proposed. A bill will be voted on over the course of five days. If less than five people have voted on the bill by the end of five days, the voting will be extended until five people vote on the bill. No amendments may be proposed during voting. If one has missed the designated time to propose amendments (did not post at all on this thread during the three days), he may create his own bill amending the original if and when the original passes. Normal bills require a simple majority (50+% vote). If and when the bill passes, it goes on to stage two where the moderator can veto, item veto, or pass the bill into law.
If we want to make things more complicated, we can add a supreme court to determine if laws are constitutional by the terms of the United States Constitution :3
Post by Anonymousperson5 on Jan 24, 2012 3:05:13 GMT
Screw the correct format. This is a lot easier and all we really need. Also, we don't really have a constitution. The closest thing we have is the original set of rules.
The supreme court might be a bit biased any we can't afford to have people come off of this, so the Gamemaster should do this and this is just a veto anyway.
I'd also like to propose an amendment to mdog's bill, Voting on Bills. This is only additions, you have my express support on this bill.
Area: Voting on Bills Author: mdog95 Amenders: Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite A bill is only to be voted on after three days' time has passed since the last amendment has been voted on and no more amendments are proposed. A proposed amendment will need only the author's consent to be incorporated. If no amendments are proposed, the bill will be voted on three days after the bill is proposed. A bill will be voted on over the course of five days. If less than five people have voted on the bill by the end of five days, the voting will be extended until five people vote on the bill. No amendments may be proposed during voting. If one has missed the designated time to propose amendments (did not post at all on this thread during the three days), he may create his own bill amending the original if and when the original passes. Normal bills require a simple majority (50+% vote). If and when the bill passes, it goes on to stage two where the moderator can veto, item veto, or pass the bill into law. The gamemaster has express jurisdiction over any bill, and any veto completely overrides all votes. In case of tiebreaks, the gamemaster will also act as a tiebreaker. It is the gamemaster's responsibility to show dates of the stopping of voting. However, it is the duty of the author to state when the bill will be taken to voting. Dates are in DD/MM/YY to prevent confusion. Will be taken to Voting 27/1/2012 at 2:04 AM FST.
Post by Anonymousperson5 on Jan 24, 2012 5:03:38 GMT
I was afraid of that too.
Also, I believe that since it's your bill and it hasn't even been passed, I think that amendments made BEFORE the bill is voted on are allowed with only the consent of the Author; I have changed this accordingly and if you agree, then it will be incorporated.
Eh, some people might take that as "I can write whatever I want and nobody can change it". How about we say the author decides if he likes the amendment, but a 2/3 vote from at least three people against his decision can override it.
Post by Anonymousperson5 on Jan 24, 2012 7:05:41 GMT
Okay, but remember that this is only concerning amendments BEFORE the vote, so it's just revisiond before being sent off to the vote. So I find it doesn't really make sense to require a vote to revise the bill. I suppose this is mainly for the second opinion.
Area: The United States of America and the Internet. Author: Lamar Smith Period: Infinite The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Provisions include the requesting of court orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to the sites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers to block access to the sites. The law would expand existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyright material, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Author: Anonymousperson5 Amenders: Elmach Period: Indefinite The bills must be free of glaring grammatical errors. The bill is to be within spoiler tags, with the title in the spoiler's title. Quote this post to see how if you don't know. They must state what general area they influence, the author, and the period of influence. Then comes the actual body. If the bill influences a specific sub-area of the general area, the author of the bill may denote the sub-area by placing the general area, followed by a space, followed by two hyphens, followed by a second space, followed by the sub-area. This process can go on ad infinitum. Clauses within the body are to have a return between each other. Sections must have two. The Gamemaster will keep all approved bills in the first post for clarity, as well as the votes and author. Unapproved bills will appear in the first post as well, but in a different section as well as with a vote counter outside the spoilers.
Post by Anonymousperson5 on Jan 26, 2012 23:48:58 GMT
Ah shoot. The bill Voting on Bills conflicts with the original rules. I'll amend it. This takes into consideration both; however, it still changes original rules. You see, the original rules say after 2 endorse, and mdog's say after three days. I've amended it to say three days after 2 endorse it. This will clear things up:
Area: Voting on Bills Author: mdog95 Amenders: Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite A bill is only to be voted on after three days' time has passed since the last amendment has been voted on and two people endorse the newest version of the billno more amendments are proposed. A proposed amendment will need only the author's consent to be incorporated, unless two-thirds of the community vote otherwise. If no amendments are proposed, the bill will be voted on three days after the bill is proposed. A bill will be voted on over the course of five days. If less than five people have voted on the bill by the end of five days, the voting will be extended until five people vote on the bill. No amendments may be proposed during voting. If one has missed the designated time to propose amendments (did not post at all on this thread during the three days), he may create his own bill amending the original if and when the original passes. Normal bills require a simple majority (50+% vote). If and when the bill passes, it goes on to stage two where the moderator can veto, item veto, or pass the bill into law. The gamemaster has express jurisdiction over any bill, and any veto completely overrides all votes. In case of tiebreaks, the gamemaster will also act as a tiebreaker. It is the gamemaster's responsibility to show dates of the stopping of voting. However, it is the duty of the author to state when the bill will be taken to voting. Dates are in DD/MM/YY to prevent confusion.
Section: Amending Bills Author: Anonymousperson5 To combine two bills, the two are merged leaving a single one. The one who proposed the merge also submits a final copy of the merge as a bill. The merge is voted on normally. One must provide a reason for the merge, stated before the actual merge's spoiler. The merge can have its own title, but it must be followed by what bills it combines, e.g. "The passing of Laws, Voting On Bills+Creating Bills" (not that I support this, this would be very long)
The people must endorse only the newest version of the bill, thus the only bills that should be taken to vote are: Format of Bills, Remaining Germane, Rules for Amendments, Modifying Original Rules, Relevancy of Bills
Under the original rules, they should be up for vote right now. ELTONEYES Y U NO UPDATE THREAD
Eh, some people might take that as "I can write whatever I want and nobody can change it". How about we say the author decides if he likes the amendment, but a 2/3 vote from at least three people against his decision can override it.
Phase 1 is the phase where the country, which I now dub as an island nation south of Cuba, as the forming of the country. I'm going to let a lot slide.
For now, I will not accept bills that are based on previous bills, excluding general ones (Sorry SOPA.)
In any case, the country isn't even formed yet so we have to work on the general bills first.
In any case, I think amendments are bills that amend bills already passed. No bills have passed yet so I would rather the congressmen argue it out, and make revisions of those bills. Good so far. Here is a tally of the acceptable bills, now that I have time during my weekend to run the game.
Format of Bills, Modified with sub-areas - Originally proposed by ○☺○ - 2 Votes.
Oh man, that isn't a lot is it...
Well, let me apologize and explain by standing. And let me add a few more rules to the original post. No bill is allowed to break the original rules for balance reasons. You cannot vote for two of the same bill or more. For example, if you vote for a bill and it's revision, both bills cannot possibly be accepted. So in this case, I take Modified with Sub-areas. Now this bill doesn't change the rules, it merely adds some, and makes me do more work. Which I'm willing to do because being a game master isn't difficult at all.
To also illuminate the mystery behind by weekly absences. I am unable to get onto my PC or any other computer during the weekdays. So the updates and and actions of the forum game will be updated on a weekly time frame. On the weekends though, if major activity occurs, I can update the thread multiple times.
If I missed anything, tell me in a later post and I will amend it immediately (except during the weekdays unfortunately). Also, to be precise, proposing the bill is the same as voting for it. So you only need one other person to vote for it to be accepted as a bill. BUT...
From now on, I am going to lay some ground rules on the new bills. It's quite simple to follow.
Proposing a new bill, it must either add something new to the country, amend an old bill, or add rules to the phases of gameplay.
All bills are subject to scrutiny from the gamemaster. And may be denied at any time. This is because I cannot allow bills that are based on infrastructure which the country not yet has. SOPA for instance deals with the USA (Not the country), and the Internet (Which is something our country does not have because it is not fully formed yet).
During Phase one, bills are suggested to deal with the rights of civilians. Since these will come up later in choices.
The game members are not entirely congressmen later in the game. For instance, congressmen in this game simply mean an indirect democracy. The member of the forum game will vote on multiple things which have to do with the entire country.
If there are any glaring problems, tell me about them and I will fix them. If anyone disagrees with me, if I get an overwhelming disagreement with my changes. I will take them into consideration (strong consideration).
In any case, the proposed Format of Bills/Subareas bill is now under vote. PM me with your vote and if I have a majority vote it will be accepted. (And due to the bill rules, the accepted bills and vote tick table will be added to the original post, it's a good change I would do right away but that would nullify the purpose of the bill without due process. In order to keep immersion, I'll let the congress vote on it, although I am certain it will pass.)
Post by Anonymousperson5 on Jan 28, 2012 2:53:36 GMT
Ok, I see now. Thx for clarifying. When I get back (I need to go soon), I will revise every bill to make it compatible with these rules. Clean slate. Then Elton can take them to the vote. I hope this gets off the ground soon.
Post by Anonymousperson5 on Jan 28, 2012 7:49:48 GMT
K, that one is satisfactory anyway. For summarizing what I did to the bills was clear stuff up, and also deleted relevancy of bills because Elton put it in the original rules. These are all that are left. Let'sa go (BTW, shouldn't Remaining Germane be up for vote?)
Area: Creation of Bills Author: Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite Every bill following containing an earmark is considered null and void by this bill.
Area: Creation of Amendments Author: Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite The amendment will clearly state that it is an amendent, as well as what law it amends in the title. If an amendment is passed, the old version is modified to show what changes have been made. A version to put in place of the original bill is to be clearly shown for the convenience of the Gamemaster. Additions are italicized. Strikeouts are for deletions. One may not amend a bill while a vote takes place, as this will restart the vote and make things more complicated. Amendments may occur before voting begins. These are not strict amendments, but more like revisions. A revision requires only the consent of the author to be incorporated.
Area: Voting on Bills Author: mdog95, Anonymousperson5 Period: Indefinite A bill will be voted on over the course of five days. If less than five people have voted on the bill by the end of five days, the voting will be extended until five people vote on the bill. No amendments may be proposed during voting. If one still wishes to propose amendments he may create his own bill amending the original if and when the original passes. If and when the bill passes, it goes on to stage two where the moderator can veto, item veto, or pass the bill into law. The gamemaster has express jurisdiction over any bill, and any veto completely overrides all votes. In case of tiebreaks, the gamemaster will also act as a tiebreaker.
Section: Amending Bills Author: Anonymousperson5 To combine two bills, the two are merged leaving a single one. The one who proposed the merge also submits a final copy of the merge as a bill. The merge is voted on normally. One must provide a reason for the merge, stated before the actual merge's spoiler. The merge can have its own title, but it must be followed by what bills it combines, e.g. "The passing of Laws, Voting On Bills+Creating Bills" (not that I support this, this would be very long)
...that is all. These are all the new versions and I agree to them. Remember to highlight any endorsements. Thank you and good day.
Name: I dun get it Summary: make the rules less complicated Body: OMFGWTFIDONTKNOWTFISGOINGONHEREQQPLEASEHELPMEIMSOGODDAMNLOSTIDONTGETATALLWHATTHEHELLTHISGAMEISABOUTANDWHYISITCALLEDSUPERPOWERSWHENTHEREARENOSUPERPOWERSACTUALLYINTHEGAMEIMMEANREALLYTHATSPRETTYMISLEADINGIMAGINEIFANEWMEMBERCAMEONANDHEWASLIKEOHLOOKSUPERPOWERSILOVETHISGAMEANDHELOOKSATTHETHREADANDITSABUNCHOFFUCKINGTEXTWALLSANDBILLSANDVOTESUNLIKEQWERTYSWHICHACTUALLYINVOLVESSUPERPOWERSANDISAGAMETHATSSOFARFUNOMGWTFBBQ
Long story: If you don't know how to play, don't post "omgzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz dis game so BORRRRRRRING!!!!!!!!!! we dont even haf SUPERPOWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 imean so DUMMMMM!!!1" without even contributing when you can actually read the text. Because at this level, you look like a noob from the PGCB. THE FUCKING PGCB. Especially when the textwall you just posted took THE SAME TIME TO READ AS THE RULES RIGHT THERE IN YOUR FUCKING FACE. IF YOU ACTUALLY READ SOMETHING, MAYBE YOU WOULD REALIZE THAT YOU LOOK LIKE AN IMBECILE AND THAT NOBODY IS GOING TO READ THE RULES FOR YOU AND SUMMARIZE THEM SO YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO PLAY A BELGIUM-ING GAME YOU DON'T LIKE, JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO LAZY TO READ THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. TEN SENTENCES OF BELGIUM-ING ENGLISH. Short story: You look like an idiot. Shut up and leave.
I've never been to the PGCB so that really doesn't offend me, plus, it took much less time to read it than the rules, not my fault if you can't read without spaces/punctuation.
You need a summary of the rules. As of phase one, you vote on bills for a state which is about to come into existence. In phase two you will deal with the problems of these actions.
Ah, so, I just make a law, then everyone votes on it? Then, if it passes, we deal with its effects? So, how does that work? Do we RP as citizens or something?