Communism (& Socialism) in RPGs

[Felix]

Fantasy Druid society. All they need are hackey-sacks and they'd have fit in at Berkeley.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

PARANOIA has it. Kinda, sorta

 

[STARP_Social_Officer]

Communism in RPGs: You have two cows. The government tries to take both. The government fails their grapple check. Roll for initiative.

 

[Pramas]

I seem to recall that the dwarves of the Chainmail! game that WotC released were communists. I never actually had the game, so I'm not certain how accurate this is, however.

This is true. I designed the Chainmail setting, the Sundered Empire, and I wanted to do something a little different with the dwarves. I figured no one would be more likely to found a workers' state than dwarves. Thus was born the People's State of Mordergard. An article I wrote with the Mordengard background appeared in issue 291 of Dragon Magazine.

 

[AnonymousOne]

Communism? Dwarves?

They may be industrious, but they aren't stupid.

In all seriousness, I applaud and relish the use of political factions opposing one anther in the story arch.

 

[Nifft]

Communism -- really any form of egalitarianism -- requires that large groups of relatively unskilled people be more potent in combat than skilled, elite individuals.

D&D has the opposite mechanical bias.

Sorry. There's a King, and he's 18th level.

Cheers, -- N

 

[hong]

Most of the games out there are pseudo-medieval fantasies. Communism calls for an industrial base that the games don't have.

But Maoism doesn't....

 

[jdrakeh]

But Maoism doesn't....

And, in medieval society, the peasantry is the labor force (i.e., they're responsible for a feudal unit's food/grain production). So. . . basically, the five points of Marxism become four points. The lack of modern (i.e., mechanical) industry does not preclude communism.

 

[shilsen]

Communism -- really any form of egalitarianism -- requires that large groups of relatively unskilled people be more potent in combat than skilled, elite individuals.

D&D has the opposite mechanical bias.

Sorry. There's a King, and he's 18th level.

Cheers, -- N

So the Mob template from DMG2 was the advent of communism in D&D?

 

[Xer0]

Fantasy Druid society. All they need are hackey-sacks and they'd have fit in at Berkeley.

I can agree with that, but hippies do not always communists make. Just usually.


For an example of a pseudo-medieval communist/socialist society in literature, I submit the Imperial Order, from Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels. In particular, Faith of the Fallen.