Thank you- this caught me off guard and made me laugh louder than I have in days. I hope that whoever you are, and whatever you’re doing, that you have a wonderful time 💚
You don't have to look too far abroad to realize that politics in general is a dumpster fire regardless of how many factions there are. It's just a matter of finding, and holding onto, the least worst piece of garbage.
I genuinely believe it doesn’t make a difference if it’s a 2 party system like the US or a system like the UK with many parties…. A majority of the people who are attracted by national and even state politics will generally have a…. Certain personality profile…. Which makes them…. Susceptible to certain actions and beliefs…. It’s like Harold Pottoms and the magical rock of big brains… it’s best if the people who acquire power are those that do not specifically want it
@@BlackOpMercyGaming I think it does make a difference because it provides more options and gives a serious platform to ideas that might not even be considered in a two party system like the US. It would allow voters to vote for a politician that more closely aligns with their specific views (so they don't feel like single issue voters) while still being able to support the general goals of one of the two front-runners who may be more likely to win anyway. There *is* nuance amongst the politicians we elect, they may all still be self serving in the end, but they do often try to push for the policies of their voters. So ultimately providing those extra options to the voters is a good thing, even if it doesn't necessarily fix a lot of the major issues with our political system.
@@ValleyoftheLeaf No, because firstly any ideas that would make a third party more popular would already be picked up by one of the two parties because any ideas with any real traction would be used by the Dems or Republicans. Maga trash and isolationism is now part of the GOP and BLM and Environmentalism is now part of the democratic party. Secondly all of these parties coalesce into blocs anyway based on left and right wing politics so it essentially becomes a two party system with extra steps. If 20 parties all join together to form a single governing coalition, how is that actually better than 2 parties?
Then have the ultimate reveal be that the hapless and useless faction is actually great friends with the openly evil faction, and they both support a structure of passive violence and imperial ambition.
You seem to vastly overplay the “great friends” bit…. You are forgetting that, by design, they have to be able to work together… and the evil people, at time of creation, weren’t cartoonishly evil… they were just different
6:42 fun fact about adding more lanes to decrease traffic is that it doesn't really work. More lanes means faster commute means more drivers pick that road means in 30 years tops the traffic is worse than it was before; "induced demand". Counterintuitively you have to focus on all the non-car infrastructure if you wanna reduce traffic long-term. Great video, and you are more than welcome to talk about politics when you cite your sources so well!
The fact that you recognize that you are both dumb and smug actually gives you a leg up on a distinct minority of the population… who are both dumb and smug but think/claim they aren’t
I like how you presented a new way to dismantle the PCs support structure without basically killing everyone off. You can also just make them extremely annoying to work with, so the PCs have no choice but solve the problem on their own or with little help.
May favorite method of motivation…. These people COULD fix the problem for us, but……. Gods they are annoying…. I’d rather do it myself than deal with them
6:50 Just here to point out that building more roads does not reduce traffic in the long term - it makes more people drive, but keeps the same level of congestion. You can look up induced demand if you're interested in learning more. Anyways, interesting video. Definitely one with a point of view. Sending some love and positivity bc I am sure that you'll get some pushback for having a POV.
I remember reading an article one time about how getting rid of a highway actually reduced traffic in the city. Because there wasn't one main thoroughfare, everyone ended up taking different routes so there weren't as many people in one concentrated area
@@SLorraineE That's exactly it! People take the method of transportation that is most convenient. When we build highways through the middle of a city, of course people are going to drive.
Making other transportation convenient AND the reasons people need to use transportation more convenient are the ways to reduce traffic. Having 'walkable' cities, safe lanes for cycling, effective mass transportation, and mixed use zoning (residential + retail + places people can work), like in many European cities reduces the 'need' to have as many automobiles. But... that is far more egalitarian than those who want to other those they want to deem unworthy of whatever.
The advice on ruling NPC attitudes (stubborn/unmotivated ≈ 10:28, and selfish/inconsiderate ≈ 26:08) is genuinely helpful! Thanks for making this video
TL;DR Make ally factions as toothless and bumbling as the Democratic politicians and enemy factions as ruthlessly evil as Republican politicians. Good advice, really.
Totally agree. I mean I sometimes have competent leaders who are just tied up with a dozen other things. "Oh ya I wish I had time to deal with this band of Orcs. But we are in the middle of a literal civil war. Because a Lord who worships Bane has raised an army and is trying to take the Imperial seat." Sometimes it's nice to have good people trying but not having enough resources to do everything. And say a faction leader has to choose which is the most pressing fight and hope someone else (aka the Players) can fix a less pressing problem.
To completely ignore the million tangents about US politics that I cant evenly speak on as a british outsider, the best advice here is just the reminder that some people cannot be convinced, and may not try to outright murder you.
I think an interesting thing to consider in this topic is ‘a good one’ in the faction you’d consider the opposing force. Do you trust and support the one guy on the wrong side that could really change things or will they get pulled deeper and become one of the others you fight against. It can even not be so sinister. Not so long ago there was a time when I, a super left person, considered voting for McCain. He seemed honorable and had actually voted for finance reform (basically getting money donations in politics to be more heavily regulated before citizens United blew the whole thing up with Pacs and money=speech a little later anyway). Bonus! He was considering a woman VP! A fellow woman would know the struggles we face, right? Would have that feminist backbone if they were here with a career in politics surely. Obama…I had never really heard of and was still bummed Hilary hadn’t got the nomination. But then sometime after Palin got the VP spot it was obvious that McCain would be willing to lose what I saw as honorable in order to appeal more to the conservative base and I won’t even mention the bad look Palin gave the whole thing. 😅 it’s shocking to me now that there was a moment I had considered voting republican because I had faith more in the person to do the right thing than what the party wanted. Also a more recent interesting example is one is the young woman who worked with trump and was told to lie but talked with her parents/church and ended up deciding it was wrong and testified against him. I want to be like Yay 👏 she’s but she was there working for trump so how good can she actually be? Come to think of it that’s pretty close to the essek situation…
If I were still a conservative, I would haven't hated this video and not listened to what you said. Fortunately, I have grown up a lot and have changed and I think this video breaks things down really fairly. Good job and you have given me some ideas for my dnd campaign
This is probably the most comprehensive and understandable explanation of American politics I've seen. Now I actually know what's going on over there and I learned from a D&D video.
Wow such an amazing video about a tabletop game and absolutely nothing else! I'm amazed how much there is to learn about tabletop games from real life, and absolutely no way that relationship can be reversed to slay the real world dragons that we're facing despite the incompitence and evil of those in charge. Nope, just good old fashioned gaming fun here!
When you come for DnD and instead get an in-depth breakdown of the US political system. Jokes aside, really well put together video. Keep up the good work!
I always enjoy when someone i liked for nonpolitical reasons has good views on politics. Gives me a little more hope and that helps me get through the day. Thanks for that.
Yes ! This is entirely great!! Thank you for making it concise and clear and demonstrating the application of it to our stories. And yet it is a very comprehensive point by point guide to the American factions of politics
I teach History and Social/Political science, and knew already how weird and undemocratic your system is. I had never considered implementing the effect in my games.
Informative, wildly entertaining, and unexpectedly wholesome at the end- thank you for your wonderful and consistently high-quality videos. It was a mistake to watch while making dinner though- I spent more time pointing at my phone across the kitchen and nodding emphatically than I did stirring…
Oh no, I hope the food didn’t burn! That’s what happens when I don’t stir. But hopefully I stirred the pot enough to make up for it 😂 Glad you enjoyed the video!
Well done Mike, i can only imagine this was a hard video to make, and i genuinely hope you dont get too much flak for it. This is a vital exercise and one that all dms can learn from.
Shared this with friends. This is a much better explanation of US politics and the two major political parties than we usually get from the media. I hope WaPo and NYT learn from this, but they probably won't.
Haven't watched it yet, but I'm really glad you put something like this out because I have a (civil) warring nation in my homebrew campaign that could use some guidance.
I love that I didn't live in the United States of America, but in Norway, where I enjoy strong welfare a diverse political spectrum, and don't need to deal with American politics
This is a good video of how easy it is to have an Npc color a players view of a subject, faction, or people due to their bias. A masterclass on being careful what propaganda your Npc's deliver to your players.
I have gotten to the point where I like 👍 your videos before seeing them, because I know you will have a thoughtful discussion, and make your video interesting.
As a reminder, I'm just saying that there are also other democratic systems than the American two-party system. For example, Finland's multi-party system. Or it doesn't even have to be a any modern system, but rather resembles, for example, the ancient Greek system.
Two really fun mental exercises for creating a campaign setting: 1) What weird system of governance can I come up with for this nation/town/village/dungeon? and 2) How can I make sure interacting with the local government is never as effective for the party as actually putting on armor and doing some adventuring to solve their problems?
I think as far as a political game is concerned, I think it would be pretty interesting to have a story with seemingly polarized factions- one seemingly well meaning but inneffectual and the other being ruthlessly power hungry and authoritarian, both coexisting in a sort of 'peace' or political truce of sorts. But then as you dive into the story, recognizing that the political landscape is much more muddy and complex, and where the lines between the factions blur and the players are left questioning if both factions are serving the same corporate... err I mean "sinister" interests. Imagining a big bad who has structured the system to be a political grindstone, meant to grind society to a halt for... some reason or another, idk. Or maybe even just a personification or narrativization of the ratchet effect. Make the phenomenon into a dark ritual of some kind. Like maybe it sucks hope from the residents and spreads disharmony/toxicity to fuel a dark entity's eventual birth.... holy crap that sounds kinda cool...
I wouldn't say they're identical but I think the differences are less than America (closer to center but still varying levels of to the right). The real difference in our politics is that everyone gets a vote and all the little parties pulling away from the major parties, meaning each party is more coherent (if different only in the way different religious groups might be). The republican party might benefit from the separation of ideology if their quest for a speaker is anything to go by.
As a Canadian I often feal that the American news/politics are fictional because nothing is that bizarre in the real world. I can just plug it straight into my games.
When you said stealing the vorpal sword was equal to protest, my immediate reaction was "no it's not" then I paused and realized that a better analogy might not be okay to say.
I agree with most of the things said in this video but I feel like it lost site of relating to DND and tabletop fantasy role playing games. The only thing that struck out to me as take away-able material was that people in power want to maintain the status quo and are not willing to give up any resources and power unless doing will maintain that power.
That's one of two lessons, because only some of them are in the "I'll only do what maintains my power" camp. The others are in the "I have 20 problems on my desk this morning and you're number 18, I'll see you on your appointment next April" camp. Have one of those two attitudes apply to each and every authority in your campaign world and you'll have the party doing all the work in no time. Advanced lesson: have people with either attitude in every single faction in your game, and the world will feel more realistic. The goblin king just wants to hold on to power, while his lieutenant is legitimately trying to figure out how to keep the nation functioning; which NPC the party helps with their actions will have ramifications for the future of that location on the world map. It's another example of worldbuilding advice that seems simple, but has huge implications for how a world feels and a campaign evolves.
Gotta say. I'm stoked to see a creator i follow for hobbiest reasons turn out to have good political takes. Also, the advice here is just solid: modeling ally factions after real-life Democrats is a great way to explain them not just *giving* the PCs everything they want/need, even if it would help them. And modeling evil factions off of Republicans is a great way to explain how a faction so obviously evil on its face manages to have supporters and not instantly be overthrown.
I was going to say I don't have anything to add, but thinking about commenting for the sake of "engagement" got me thinking about the metrics that TH-cam uses and whether they are a good measure of what they want to promote, which got me thinking you could also take corporate attitudes and map them to factions in your game. Basically any corporation could be used as inspiration for the local thieves' guild.
there is an old internet adage "political is anything i disagree with" it might be more accurate to say "political is anything on which the community does not agree". In either case "Stop making political videos" means "stop making videos that inspire discourse" and "agree with me or get off the platform" I dont see why bad faith comments like that warrant addressing
They definitely don’t, but it’s a good excuse to give the audience a sneak peek at my thought process, and let people know where I stand on some vital topics.
WRT the notion of keeping politics out of games: virtually all media is political to some degree. The biggest reasons people overlook that is either the views/themes align with their own views/biases, or they do not look for those things.
even as a player. it doesn't have to be anything nuanced, but even things like "how does my character feel about [thing]?" and what light you choose to portray that send a message.
So, I rarely write comments. I usually don't have the spoons, quite frankly. However, I felt it prudent to thank you for this video. You're sticking your neck out with this commentary, and I applaud that. I agree wholeheartedly in pretty much everything I've ever heard you say, in every video I've watched from you. As a person who is trans, it means a lot to have someone like you sticking your neck out for me and others I consider my own. Thanks, Mike. It means a lot.
For anyone who's as acronym illiterate as me, I've looked up BIPOC. It stands for Black and indigenous and people of colour. I don't think we use the term much, if at all, in the UK but it could just be my ignorance.
This was such a good analysis of US politics, Thank you for mentioning that leftists and liberals aren't the same thing, it's so infuriating when even the "unbiased" sources lump the entire political left and center into one. I'm not a liberal, I'm an anarcho-socialist, and there is a massive difference between those two
Now I'll sneak my commentary under my comment. I'm a leftist. Very far left for the western world. I've used this exact method to create kingdoms and nations. Every single time my players have opposed both. It is definitely painted by my own views, but I make the "Democratic Party" Country very much the helpful good nation, but they are stodgy, ignore the general public, prioritise their financial interests, etc. Every time my parties have vehemently opposed the "Republican Party" Country, by joining the war against them, but also stage revolutions against the Democratic Party Country. Because both parties are reprehensible when you look at them in a vacuum. And when you don't have your very life threatened it's easier to oppose the Democratic Party. Basically, yeah, critical support of the Democratic Party, but they're still capitalist thugs who rule over the common people in order to pad their wallets.
If I am elected, I promise a potion of healing in every house. When I am elected, I will keep my promise. Goons Burn down the houses. Goon 1, "But the torch budget will be bigger than the potions of healing budget. "
One the most key things to remember about Conservatives talking about how it's "against their religion" to allow gays & trans. Google the Civil Rights movement. They had the SAME argument against miscegenation (sexual relationships or reproduction between people of different ethnic groups, especially when one of them is white.)
I am completely leftist and agree 100% with your positions but I was hoping that you would maybe show more adapting real-world politics than your personal views on American politics. I feel it was 85% your views on politics and less than 15% of adapting politics into D&D. That being said I watched till the end because I agree with you 100% and somethings need to be said more. Maybe a second channel where you go outside of D&D topics would be cool. Anyways. I will wait to see what you have to say on Monday and there may be a stronger D&D tie in.
I mean, the lesson was right there. There are always going to be people who see solutions but can't seem to get around to getting progress done toward fixing them, and there are always going to be people who will do terrible things to others to hold on to what they already have and/or gain even more at others' expense. All the rest of it was examples of how it works in real life, right now. To talk about adapting it to D&D beyond saying "do that" requires a specific campaign setting and specific location's political landscape. So Mike had a choice between going for half an hour into, say, explaining the politics of Waterdeep, or instead giving examples that everybody can see in a real-world place we've all heard of on the news. After all, anything in the real world can be adapted to a D&D setting with a little imagination . . . and that's a resource we D&D players are used to mining.
You know, as I was writing this line, I was actively googling to see who in the Democrats had argued against the established policies. And I now regret not going with the alternate version of the line, where I clarified that the Democrats I thought must be out there just weren’t getting amplified by the press. As someone who thinks AOC makes a lot of great points, it’s legitimately messed up that I didn’t know anything about her views on immigration. This might be because of the way the media isn’t interested in changing a system that they can already use for sensational headlines, or it might just be because I failed at Google - it’s hard to say which 😂 Thank you for pointing this out! I’m genuinely relieved to hear that AOC is using her platform for more than I was already aware of, and I hope the views can spread to more Democrats.
Also for the people that are anti-vote. If you are trying to keep people from voting, you are literally anti American. Your position is removing other citizen's civil rights. There is 1 amendment about guns and 5 about voting... weird they "love" the Constitution but only half the 1st and the 2nd. Other countries have compulsory voting.
Excellent video! Thanks for all the work you put into these! Looking forward to the videos to come! Really made me smile to see something like this from a content creator for the hobby I'm into! Happy that there are people who care about important things that also love tabletops! Let's keep fighting the good fight and doing what we love!
Man, I get where you're coming from, but Congress passing a law codifying protections for abortion doesn't mean anything to the Supreme Court unless they have enough control to amend it into the constitution. The S.C. could, and would, just rule the law unconstitutional.
As a conservative I feel your opinions on the republican party are valid when you consider the party itself, but many of us much like leftists deal with their party because it's better than the alternative, and that they can convince the party to move in a way that isn't as evil. I think your biased, but I am too, still a good video.
As someone who has been actively involved in Democratic Party organizing (and politics in general) for several years now, I think your depiction of the Democratic Party is, on the whole, pretty fair.. if we only look at some of the elected leaders with the most seniority or influence in DC. However, it is *really* important to see that, even among elected Democrats and party activists and leaders at every level, they are a group of people, not a monolith. Like any group, Democratic elected leaders and activist leaders are unique and varied. There has been a lot of struggle within the party which has, in many ways, improved it over the last decade or so (still a long way to go, don't get me wrong). And it's insiders and activists within it who have driven that change, along with an increasing number of elected Democrats. So, how do we apply this additional layer of analysis to our games? To add more nuance to our D&D games, if we are up for it, we can develop factions within factions, or at least a couple different NPCs vying from within their own orgs and factions not just to gain more power but to drive the org/faction in different directions. BTW, great video, and keep up the great work.
I thoroughly love this idea! It would be fantastic to showcase within your DND "Dems" like...that one NPC that is genuinely pushing for total anarchy (but who is allowed to stand up and speak), and maybe a couple NPCs who are nominally committed to broad faction goals but who also just don't want [insert metaphorical "power plant" here] in THEIR neighborhood, and maybe even one who is thoroughly so committed to the idea the other side is evil that they've taken to assassination. Contrast that to a few on the "other" faction side who actively have taken steps to help promote welfare - like maybe one is a super wealthy but also super generous man who sponsors a town's holiday and buys all the food. And maybe another NPC on the other side agrees with the first faction about 98% of things but really has a deeply religiously motivated belief on that last 2%. Point is: Democratic Party (I am also deeply involved in organizing in local elections) has it's outliers too, and it'd get really complicated for an adventuring party fast if they're trying to demonize the other faction just because their past experience with that faction in, say, a diff town was completely negative. My bf/dm once had our party get run out of town because our supposedly-LG paladin had detected evil and got us into combat that ended up killed a popular politician. Said politician was a necromancer who was, in fact, getting dead people to vote for him. But he had used it to enact paid sick leave for local farmers. It was a fabulous way to inject politics into this fantasy setting haha that really turned a lot of things on it's head in my mind...
The role of the citizenry vs the role of gov. leadership, size of the government, how leadership is determined, where/how does religion fit into governance, collectivism vs. individualism, and the boundaries of personal property are all great philosophical topics to explore in a RPG. Better still, this is only the surface of political philosophy. I encourage any DM or aspiring GM, to look into these topics if they want to include complex political ideas in their game.
While those are all possible thematic elements to add to a campaign, the point of this video as related to D&D is how to create authority figures in the world who don't prevent adventures from happening. Mike's not telling any DM what to say in their D&D game. Rather, he's explaining how important things can be going wrong in the world, yet even the authorities most likely to be on the party's side can be designed to not just give the party everything they need to win, or even do the job for them. As explained by Mike, it's not about creating unsolvable problems, but about managing the extent to which authority figures are able to, or interested in, engaging with problems in the world that the party sees. That's the specific D&D lesson of the video. Not to imply that learning Poli Sci is in any way an irrelevant life skill, of course!
@@SingularityOrbit I get what you are saying and that content creators have to limit their scope, in terms of content covered in a presentation. I am not trying to be critical of Mr. Christensen or his video. Instead, I am merely trying to add to the discourse, as only a Poli. Sci. nerd can.
If I had to characterize the two parties in broad strokes, I’d say it’s Democrats saying, “there are some problems, and we can fix them,” while Republicans respond, “those aren’t problems, we should keep the status quo.” And I think for an RPG, neither position is particularly compelling, as neutral factions nor as villainous factions, unless they’re blown up to the point of caricatures of those positions. It also doesn’t help that most RPGs, because they are focused on a small group of characters, tends to promote the idea of individual action over collective action. RPGs tacitly say, “a few powerful, motivated individuals are responsible for the change in the world,” when that’s not very consistent with our reality.
We’ll build a dungeon and make the dragons pay for it
Thank you- this caught me off guard and made me laugh louder than I have in days. I hope that whoever you are, and whatever you’re doing, that you have a wonderful time 💚
good to hear@@samedian
Are the dragons sending in all of their murderers and rapists?
I think you've made the case that a campaign with two, and only two, factions would necessarily be a dumpster fire. 😉
You don't have to look too far abroad to realize that politics in general is a dumpster fire regardless of how many factions there are. It's just a matter of finding, and holding onto, the least worst piece of garbage.
I genuinely believe it doesn’t make a difference if it’s a 2 party system like the US or a system like the UK with many parties…. A majority of the people who are attracted by national and even state politics will generally have a…. Certain personality profile…. Which makes them…. Susceptible to certain actions and beliefs…. It’s like Harold Pottoms and the magical rock of big brains… it’s best if the people who acquire power are those that do not specifically want it
I think we we only see "two factions" in the US, we aren't paying attention.
@@BlackOpMercyGaming I think it does make a difference because it provides more options and gives a serious platform to ideas that might not even be considered in a two party system like the US. It would allow voters to vote for a politician that more closely aligns with their specific views (so they don't feel like single issue voters) while still being able to support the general goals of one of the two front-runners who may be more likely to win anyway. There *is* nuance amongst the politicians we elect, they may all still be self serving in the end, but they do often try to push for the policies of their voters. So ultimately providing those extra options to the voters is a good thing, even if it doesn't necessarily fix a lot of the major issues with our political system.
@@ValleyoftheLeaf
No, because firstly any ideas that would make a third party more popular would already be picked up by one of the two parties because any ideas with any real traction would be used by the Dems or Republicans. Maga trash and isolationism is now part of the GOP and BLM and Environmentalism is now part of the democratic party.
Secondly all of these parties coalesce into blocs anyway based on left and right wing politics so it essentially becomes a two party system with extra steps. If 20 parties all join together to form a single governing coalition, how is that actually better than 2 parties?
Then have the ultimate reveal be that the hapless and useless faction is actually great friends with the openly evil faction, and they both support a structure of passive violence and imperial ambition.
You seem to vastly overplay the “great friends” bit…. You are forgetting that, by design, they have to be able to work together… and the evil people, at time of creation, weren’t cartoonishly evil… they were just different
(the real enemies were the capitalism we saw along the way)
6:42 fun fact about adding more lanes to decrease traffic is that it doesn't really work. More lanes means faster commute means more drivers pick that road means in 30 years tops the traffic is worse than it was before; "induced demand". Counterintuitively you have to focus on all the non-car infrastructure if you wanna reduce traffic long-term.
Great video, and you are more than welcome to talk about politics when you cite your sources so well!
This will be a completely rational and respectful comment section.
Eh. I feel like Mikes political views arent exactly subtle anyways so anyone who knows hus videos should know what to expect lol
We're 10 hours in and over 200 comments. So far all the top comments are pretty good. We'll see how long that lasts.
As both dumb and smug, I’m glad to represent the true centrist mindset. (This is a joke before I’m flooded with comments).
Well played!
The fact that you recognize that you are both dumb and smug actually gives you a leg up on a distinct minority of the population… who are both dumb and smug but think/claim they aren’t
so ... further left than the democrats? :D
@@drashnawtf are you talking about? This comment is completely disconnected from anything said here
@@drashna Thread over!! Rat swarm!! 🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀
I like how you presented a new way to dismantle the PCs support structure without basically killing everyone off. You can also just make them extremely annoying to work with, so the PCs have no choice but solve the problem on their own or with little help.
May favorite method of motivation…. These people COULD fix the problem for us, but……. Gods they are annoying…. I’d rather do it myself than deal with them
6:50 Just here to point out that building more roads does not reduce traffic in the long term - it makes more people drive, but keeps the same level of congestion. You can look up induced demand if you're interested in learning more.
Anyways, interesting video. Definitely one with a point of view. Sending some love and positivity bc I am sure that you'll get some pushback for having a POV.
I remember reading an article one time about how getting rid of a highway actually reduced traffic in the city. Because there wasn't one main thoroughfare, everyone ended up taking different routes so there weren't as many people in one concentrated area
@@SLorraineE That's exactly it! People take the method of transportation that is most convenient. When we build highways through the middle of a city, of course people are going to drive.
Making other transportation convenient AND the reasons people need to use transportation more convenient are the ways to reduce traffic. Having 'walkable' cities, safe lanes for cycling, effective mass transportation, and mixed use zoning (residential + retail + places people can work), like in many European cities reduces the 'need' to have as many automobiles. But... that is far more egalitarian than those who want to other those they want to deem unworthy of whatever.
"We know because of facts" is a line I will now steal forever thank you
Its always funny how the idiots who spout "facts over feelings" are the ones who ignore evidence and facts.
This was a more competent condensed explanation of American politics than a lot of the political channels I follow are able to do.
agreed!
The advice on ruling NPC attitudes (stubborn/unmotivated ≈ 10:28, and selfish/inconsiderate ≈ 26:08) is genuinely helpful! Thanks for making this video
TL;DR
Make ally factions as toothless and bumbling as the Democratic politicians and enemy factions as ruthlessly evil as Republican politicians.
Good advice, really.
Totally agree. I mean I sometimes have competent leaders who are just tied up with a dozen other things. "Oh ya I wish I had time to deal with this band of Orcs. But we are in the middle of a literal civil war. Because a Lord who worships Bane has raised an army and is trying to take the Imperial seat." Sometimes it's nice to have good people trying but not having enough resources to do everything. And say a faction leader has to choose which is the most pressing fight and hope someone else (aka the Players) can fix a less pressing problem.
I’m here to support by commenting and liking, because I know that making a video outside your typical content can tank really easily.
I’m adding The vorpal sword of the house of pelosi to my d&d game.
To completely ignore the million tangents about US politics that I cant evenly speak on as a british outsider, the best advice here is just the reminder that some people cannot be convinced, and may not try to outright murder you.
I think an interesting thing to consider in this topic is ‘a good one’ in the faction you’d consider the opposing force. Do you trust and support the one guy on the wrong side that could really change things or will they get pulled deeper and become one of the others you fight against. It can even not be so sinister.
Not so long ago there was a time when I, a super left person, considered voting for McCain. He seemed honorable and had actually voted for finance reform (basically getting money donations in politics to be more heavily regulated before citizens United blew the whole thing up with Pacs and money=speech a little later anyway). Bonus! He was considering a woman VP! A fellow woman would know the struggles we face, right? Would have that feminist backbone if they were here with a career in politics surely. Obama…I had never really heard of and was still bummed Hilary hadn’t got the nomination. But then sometime after Palin got the VP spot it was obvious that McCain would be willing to lose what I saw as honorable in order to appeal more to the conservative base and I won’t even mention the bad look Palin gave the whole thing. 😅 it’s shocking to me now that there was a moment I had considered voting republican because I had faith more in the person to do the right thing than what the party wanted.
Also a more recent interesting example is one is the young woman who worked with trump and was told to lie but talked with her parents/church and ended up deciding it was wrong and testified against him. I want to be like Yay 👏 she’s but she was there working for trump so how good can she actually be?
Come to think of it that’s pretty close to the essek situation…
I raise a glass of mead to your courage. You bravely went where few have gone before.
If I were still a conservative, I would haven't hated this video and not listened to what you said. Fortunately, I have grown up a lot and have changed and I think this video breaks things down really fairly. Good job and you have given me some ideas for my dnd campaign
but you're supposed to... "get more conservative as you get older?" ...Right? ;-p
@@williamschar2959 Ha Ha Ha 🤣
This is probably the most comprehensive and understandable explanation of American politics I've seen. Now I actually know what's going on over there and I learned from a D&D video.
Wow such an amazing video about a tabletop game and absolutely nothing else! I'm amazed how much there is to learn about tabletop games from real life, and absolutely no way that relationship can be reversed to slay the real world dragons that we're facing despite the incompitence and evil of those in charge. Nope, just good old fashioned gaming fun here!
I can comment WHATEVER I want?
“Whatever I want.” Mission accomplished!
Now that’s politics
When you come for DnD and instead get an in-depth breakdown of the US political system.
Jokes aside, really well put together video. Keep up the good work!
I always enjoy when someone i liked for nonpolitical reasons has good views on politics. Gives me a little more hope and that helps me get through the day. Thanks for that.
Yes ! This is entirely great!! Thank you for making it concise and clear and demonstrating the application of it to our stories.
And yet it is a very comprehensive point by point guide to the American factions of politics
I just wish you had spent more time talking about how you incorporate these views into D&D. Still a good video.
3m 54s of actual dnd advice in a 30+ min video
I teach History and Social/Political science, and knew already how weird and undemocratic your system is. I had never considered implementing the effect in my games.
There is a difference between political themes and "my villain is the cartoon character version of (person I don't like)".
Informative, wildly entertaining, and unexpectedly wholesome at the end- thank you for your wonderful and consistently high-quality videos. It was a mistake to watch while making dinner though- I spent more time pointing at my phone across the kitchen and nodding emphatically than I did stirring…
Oh no, I hope the food didn’t burn! That’s what happens when I don’t stir. But hopefully I stirred the pot enough to make up for it 😂
Glad you enjoyed the video!
good one! @@SupergeekMike
This is cool and important. Thank you for making this video, I hope everyone is nice about it!
Well done Mike, i can only imagine this was a hard video to make, and i genuinely hope you dont get too much flak for it. This is a vital exercise and one that all dms can learn from.
Shared this with friends. This is a much better explanation of US politics and the two major political parties than we usually get from the media. I hope WaPo and NYT learn from this, but they probably won't.
Haven't watched it yet, but I'm really glad you put something like this out because I have a (civil) warring nation in my homebrew campaign that could use some guidance.
Finally finished the video and DAMN is it spicy! Love the content, keep up the good work
Mike, you are great, hope you don't receive many threats.
Such a great video. Mike, you are awesome 🙌
Oh, so that wasn't a joke in the last video
*Oh*
Nope, it was really something I planned to discuss
I love that I didn't live in the United States of America, but in Norway, where I enjoy strong welfare a diverse political spectrum, and don't need to deal with American politics
Thank you for this video, Mike! ❤
Well done, Mike. Great video.
This is a good video of how easy it is to have an Npc color a players view of a subject, faction, or people due to their bias. A masterclass on being careful what propaganda your Npc's deliver to your players.
thank you for being such a great human being
I have gotten to the point where I like 👍 your videos before seeing them, because I know you will have a thoughtful discussion, and make your video interesting.
As a reminder, I'm just saying that there are also other democratic systems than the American two-party system. For example, Finland's multi-party system. Or it doesn't even have to be a any modern system, but rather resembles, for example, the ancient Greek system.
Two really fun mental exercises for creating a campaign setting: 1) What weird system of governance can I come up with for this nation/town/village/dungeon? and 2) How can I make sure interacting with the local government is never as effective for the party as actually putting on armor and doing some adventuring to solve their problems?
I think as far as a political game is concerned, I think it would be pretty interesting to have a story with seemingly polarized factions- one seemingly well meaning but inneffectual and the other being ruthlessly power hungry and authoritarian, both coexisting in a sort of 'peace' or political truce of sorts. But then as you dive into the story, recognizing that the political landscape is much more muddy and complex, and where the lines between the factions blur and the players are left questioning if both factions are serving the same corporate... err I mean "sinister" interests.
Imagining a big bad who has structured the system to be a political grindstone, meant to grind society to a halt for... some reason or another, idk.
Or maybe even just a personification or narrativization of the ratchet effect. Make the phenomenon into a dark ritual of some kind. Like maybe it sucks hope from the residents and spreads disharmony/toxicity to fuel a dark entity's eventual birth.... holy crap that sounds kinda cool...
You couldn't do this with Australian politics because both parties are almost identical. American politics is bloody terrifying.
You’d be shocked with how many people here STILL declare democrats and republicans to be the exact same
I wouldn't say they're identical but I think the differences are less than America (closer to center but still varying levels of to the right). The real difference in our politics is that everyone gets a vote and all the little parties pulling away from the major parties, meaning each party is more coherent (if different only in the way different religious groups might be). The republican party might benefit from the separation of ideology if their quest for a speaker is anything to go by.
Australian politics is a battle for the centre. The most boring leader usually wins.
@@mwhearn1 What would you call Tony Abbott then
@@Kedai610unusual?
All I can say is great video? Looking forward to your next Crit-recap.
As a Canadian I often feal that the American news/politics are fictional because nothing is that bizarre in the real world. I can just plug it straight into my games.
“So the political leaders of the two factions are Triden and Bump. What? No they are entirely fictional, why would you think otherwise?”
real-life politics and dnd is a fun crossover episode
When you said stealing the vorpal sword was equal to protest, my immediate reaction was "no it's not" then I paused and realized that a better analogy might not be okay to say.
I agree with most of the things said in this video but I feel like it lost site of relating to DND and tabletop fantasy role playing games.
The only thing that struck out to me as take away-able material was that people in power want to maintain the status quo and are not willing to give up any resources and power unless doing will maintain that power.
That's one of two lessons, because only some of them are in the "I'll only do what maintains my power" camp. The others are in the "I have 20 problems on my desk this morning and you're number 18, I'll see you on your appointment next April" camp. Have one of those two attitudes apply to each and every authority in your campaign world and you'll have the party doing all the work in no time. Advanced lesson: have people with either attitude in every single faction in your game, and the world will feel more realistic. The goblin king just wants to hold on to power, while his lieutenant is legitimately trying to figure out how to keep the nation functioning; which NPC the party helps with their actions will have ramifications for the future of that location on the world map. It's another example of worldbuilding advice that seems simple, but has huge implications for how a world feels and a campaign evolves.
This is so well said!
29:50 Whatever your reason for doing this, you're ensuring I remain a subscriber. 🙂
Gotta say. I'm stoked to see a creator i follow for hobbiest reasons turn out to have good political takes.
Also, the advice here is just solid: modeling ally factions after real-life Democrats is a great way to explain them not just *giving* the PCs everything they want/need, even if it would help them. And modeling evil factions off of Republicans is a great way to explain how a faction so obviously evil on its face manages to have supporters and not instantly be overthrown.
Wow. I'd be worried if America was a real place. I'm glad it's just on tv.
Snarf. Snarf. Snarf.
I was going to say I don't have anything to add, but thinking about commenting for the sake of "engagement" got me thinking about the metrics that TH-cam uses and whether they are a good measure of what they want to promote, which got me thinking you could also take corporate attitudes and map them to factions in your game. Basically any corporation could be used as inspiration for the local thieves' guild.
There was almost a version of this script where I introduced the secret third faction: corporations. Maybe a sequel video… 🤔
yes, yes, yes! i want that please. @@SupergeekMike
I typically try to avoid irl politics in my game. I dont think I'm clever enough to make it not cringe.
You say that like real world politics has no cringe.
“POKÉMON GO TO THE POLLS”
this! so much this. Like, some folks are very good at tracking politics and shiz, but that man is not me.
@gatonegroloco I mean like how as the DM, I would be cringe for doing allegory for irl politics because I would probably do it poorly.
@@zippomage my man gets it
there is an old internet adage "political is anything i disagree with" it might be more accurate to say "political is anything on which the community does not agree". In either case "Stop making political videos" means "stop making videos that inspire discourse" and "agree with me or get off the platform"
I dont see why bad faith comments like that warrant addressing
They definitely don’t, but it’s a good excuse to give the audience a sneak peek at my thought process, and let people know where I stand on some vital topics.
I appreciate you making these often times algorithmically poor videos. I like them and they are very helpful
Anow that I got to the end of the video, Very Well said. Thank You
^^ that's supposed to say And Now, I'm not just making words up
The stone cold stare into the camera after the comment at 28:58 has me losing my shit. Great video.
Brilliant vid Mike!
First off, bravo very touchy topic, I have to say that (democrat/local hierarchy) is a great idea.
WRT the notion of keeping politics out of games: virtually all media is political to some degree.
The biggest reasons people overlook that is either the views/themes align with their own views/biases, or they do not look for those things.
even as a player. it doesn't have to be anything nuanced, but even things like "how does my character feel about [thing]?" and what light you choose to portray that send a message.
I always have a Republican Party in my settings. It’s called the Thieves’ Guild!
Great rapid-fire summary. I agree with almost everything you said. :)
So, I rarely write comments. I usually don't have the spoons, quite frankly. However, I felt it prudent to thank you for this video. You're sticking your neck out with this commentary, and I applaud that. I agree wholeheartedly in pretty much everything I've ever heard you say, in every video I've watched from you. As a person who is trans, it means a lot to have someone like you sticking your neck out for me and others I consider my own. Thanks, Mike. It means a lot.
to specify; someone like you, meaning "a person who has a larger audience than i", no disrespect meant!
None taken! ☺️
For anyone who's as acronym illiterate as me, I've looked up BIPOC. It stands for Black and indigenous and people of colour. I don't think we use the term much, if at all, in the UK but it could just be my ignorance.
thanks, i live here & i both, didn't know & didn't look it up. thanks again.
I find it really interesting to hear what people outside the political space think of politics.
Thanks!
Thank you!!
What a brave video 😮 I can’t even imagine what the comment section will look like. Hopefully that will be a money maker due to engagement 😂.
This is a good channel. I like Mike.
This was interesting, love seeing the real world being incorporated into DnD.
This was such a good analysis of US politics, Thank you for mentioning that leftists and liberals aren't the same thing, it's so infuriating when even the "unbiased" sources lump the entire political left and center into one. I'm not a liberal, I'm an anarcho-socialist, and there is a massive difference between those two
Timestamps for quick reference:
00:00 - 00:17 | Thesis
00:17 - 00:21 | "I'm going somewhere with this and it is related to D&D, I swear"
00:21 - 00:36 | Engagement bait
00:36 - 00:54 | Good mental health advice
00:54 - 02:08 | Holy hedging, Batman
02:08 - 02:28 | Bias disclosure
02:28 - 04:01 | Disclaimers (cont.)
04:01 - 04:10 | Section structure
04:10 - 09:25 | Propaganda
09:25 - 09:53 | Biden on "defund the police"
09:53 - 10:22 | Propaganda
10:22 - 10:40 | Actual advice
10:40 - 10:52 | Propagandistic segue
10:52 - 11:42 | Actual advice
11:14 - 11:35 | Political stagnation complaint
11:35 - 13:27 | Actual advice
13:27 - 13:47 | Propagandistic preamble
13:47 - 13:55 | "I'm going to be as fair as possible"
13:55 - 25:40 | Propaganda
25:40 - 26:06 | Admission of never speaking to Republican voters
26:06 - 26:20 | Actual advice
26:20 - 26:32 | Mix of actual advice & propaganda
26:32 - 26:52 | Back to propaganda
26:52 - 27:20 | Actual advice
27:20 - 27:54 | Back to propaganda
27:54 - 28:10 | TTRPGs are a creative outlet
28:10 - 28:35 | Back to propaganda
28:35 - 28:39 | "All politicians are villains from Spielberg movies" (based)
28:39 - 29:26 | Back to propaganda
29:26 - 29:38 | Wholesome
29:38 - 30:35 | Outro
"anything i disagree with is propoganda"
@@bye1551 presenting an admittedly slanted view in order to promote a specific political ideology is, by any definition, propaganda
I’m glad you liked the Spielberg joke 👍
Very well and respectfully articulated!
*Sneaks in very thorough of explanation of American politics under the guise of TTRPGs*
I see you Mike, and I appreciate you.
Now I'll sneak my commentary under my comment.
I'm a leftist. Very far left for the western world. I've used this exact method to create kingdoms and nations.
Every single time my players have opposed both. It is definitely painted by my own views, but I make the "Democratic Party" Country very much the helpful good nation, but they are stodgy, ignore the general public, prioritise their financial interests, etc.
Every time my parties have vehemently opposed the "Republican Party" Country, by joining the war against them, but also stage revolutions against the Democratic Party Country.
Because both parties are reprehensible when you look at them in a vacuum. And when you don't have your very life threatened it's easier to oppose the Democratic Party.
Basically, yeah, critical support of the Democratic Party, but they're still capitalist thugs who rule over the common people in order to pad their wallets.
Super Geek "Balls of steel" Mike
really good video. thumbs up
🚩Lich Lords against universal mental healthcare!🚩
If I am elected, I promise a potion of healing in every house.
When I am elected, I will keep my promise. Goons Burn down the houses.
Goon 1, "But the torch budget will be bigger than the potions of healing budget. "
One the most key things to remember about Conservatives talking about how it's "against their religion" to allow gays & trans.
Google the Civil Rights movement. They had the SAME argument against miscegenation (sexual relationships or reproduction between people of different ethnic groups, especially when one of them is white.)
You did a great job distilling the politics down to the most relevant parts. I'm quite impressed. This must have taken you forever to write!
Great video Mike! Go off!
very interesting video!
also, i love thinking about the hate commentator who recently said mike was "leftist slime" watching this video 😂
I am completely leftist and agree 100% with your positions but I was hoping that you would maybe show more adapting real-world politics than your personal views on American politics. I feel it was 85% your views on politics and less than 15% of adapting politics into D&D. That being said I watched till the end because I agree with you 100% and somethings need to be said more. Maybe a second channel where you go outside of D&D topics would be cool. Anyways. I will wait to see what you have to say on Monday and there may be a stronger D&D tie in.
I mean, the lesson was right there. There are always going to be people who see solutions but can't seem to get around to getting progress done toward fixing them, and there are always going to be people who will do terrible things to others to hold on to what they already have and/or gain even more at others' expense. All the rest of it was examples of how it works in real life, right now. To talk about adapting it to D&D beyond saying "do that" requires a specific campaign setting and specific location's political landscape. So Mike had a choice between going for half an hour into, say, explaining the politics of Waterdeep, or instead giving examples that everybody can see in a real-world place we've all heard of on the news. After all, anything in the real world can be adapted to a D&D setting with a little imagination . . . and that's a resource we D&D players are used to mining.
Mike plays with fire at a snowflake convention 😊
Direct, siccinct, easy to understand. And also some DnD stuff too.
Ring of Consumer Financial Protection +3
Holy shit, I love this video. Time for a Leftist Slime 2nd channel?
Are you saying that AOC isn't a prominent Dem publically calling for immigration reform?
You know, as I was writing this line, I was actively googling to see who in the Democrats had argued against the established policies. And I now regret not going with the alternate version of the line, where I clarified that the Democrats I thought must be out there just weren’t getting amplified by the press. As someone who thinks AOC makes a lot of great points, it’s legitimately messed up that I didn’t know anything about her views on immigration.
This might be because of the way the media isn’t interested in changing a system that they can already use for sensational headlines, or it might just be because I failed at Google - it’s hard to say which 😂
Thank you for pointing this out! I’m genuinely relieved to hear that AOC is using her platform for more than I was already aware of, and I hope the views can spread to more Democrats.
Also for the people that are anti-vote. If you are trying to keep people from voting, you are literally anti American. Your position is removing other citizen's civil rights. There is 1 amendment about guns and 5 about voting... weird they "love" the Constitution but only half the 1st and the 2nd.
Other countries have compulsory voting.
Excellent video! Thanks for all the work you put into these! Looking forward to the videos to come! Really made me smile to see something like this from a content creator for the hobby I'm into! Happy that there are people who care about important things that also love tabletops! Let's keep fighting the good fight and doing what we love!
I tried to hang in there but I can't make it through this endless disclaimer.
There are timecodes in the description if you’d prefer to skip ahead
Man, I get where you're coming from, but Congress passing a law codifying protections for abortion doesn't mean anything to the Supreme Court unless they have enough control to amend it into the constitution. The S.C. could, and would, just rule the law unconstitutional.
If you want to adapt something like this in-game, you could show it as a government hampered by old institutions that people have lost trust in
Oh this is going to go well
Damn, Mike spitting facts. Love it.
You brave soul. Brilliantly said, but I fear for your comments section lol. Keep up the great work Mike
As a conservative I feel your opinions on the republican party are valid when you consider the party itself, but many of us much like leftists deal with their party because it's better than the alternative, and that they can convince the party to move in a way that isn't as evil. I think your biased, but I am too, still a good video.
Nice video! Love the content!
As someone who has been actively involved in Democratic Party organizing (and politics in general) for several years now, I think your depiction of the Democratic Party is, on the whole, pretty fair.. if we only look at some of the elected leaders with the most seniority or influence in DC. However, it is *really* important to see that, even among elected Democrats and party activists and leaders at every level, they are a group of people, not a monolith. Like any group, Democratic elected leaders and activist leaders are unique and varied. There has been a lot of struggle within the party which has, in many ways, improved it over the last decade or so (still a long way to go, don't get me wrong). And it's insiders and activists within it who have driven that change, along with an increasing number of elected Democrats. So, how do we apply this additional layer of analysis to our games?
To add more nuance to our D&D games, if we are up for it, we can develop factions within factions, or at least a couple different NPCs vying from within their own orgs and factions not just to gain more power but to drive the org/faction in different directions.
BTW, great video, and keep up the great work.
I thoroughly love this idea! It would be fantastic to showcase within your DND "Dems" like...that one NPC that is genuinely pushing for total anarchy (but who is allowed to stand up and speak), and maybe a couple NPCs who are nominally committed to broad faction goals but who also just don't want [insert metaphorical "power plant" here] in THEIR neighborhood, and maybe even one who is thoroughly so committed to the idea the other side is evil that they've taken to assassination. Contrast that to a few on the "other" faction side who actively have taken steps to help promote welfare - like maybe one is a super wealthy but also super generous man who sponsors a town's holiday and buys all the food. And maybe another NPC on the other side agrees with the first faction about 98% of things but really has a deeply religiously motivated belief on that last 2%.
Point is: Democratic Party (I am also deeply involved in organizing in local elections) has it's outliers too, and it'd get really complicated for an adventuring party fast if they're trying to demonize the other faction just because their past experience with that faction in, say, a diff town was completely negative.
My bf/dm once had our party get run out of town because our supposedly-LG paladin had detected evil and got us into combat that ended up killed a popular politician. Said politician was a necromancer who was, in fact, getting dead people to vote for him. But he had used it to enact paid sick leave for local farmers. It was a fabulous way to inject politics into this fantasy setting haha that really turned a lot of things on it's head in my mind...
The role of the citizenry vs the role of gov. leadership, size of the government, how leadership is determined, where/how does religion fit into governance, collectivism vs. individualism, and the boundaries of personal property are all great philosophical topics to explore in a RPG. Better still, this is only the surface of political philosophy. I encourage any DM or aspiring GM, to look into these topics if they want to include complex political ideas in their game.
While those are all possible thematic elements to add to a campaign, the point of this video as related to D&D is how to create authority figures in the world who don't prevent adventures from happening. Mike's not telling any DM what to say in their D&D game. Rather, he's explaining how important things can be going wrong in the world, yet even the authorities most likely to be on the party's side can be designed to not just give the party everything they need to win, or even do the job for them. As explained by Mike, it's not about creating unsolvable problems, but about managing the extent to which authority figures are able to, or interested in, engaging with problems in the world that the party sees. That's the specific D&D lesson of the video. Not to imply that learning Poli Sci is in any way an irrelevant life skill, of course!
@@SingularityOrbit I get what you are saying and that content creators have to limit their scope, in terms of content covered in a presentation. I am not trying to be critical of Mr. Christensen or his video. Instead, I am merely trying to add to the discourse, as only a Poli. Sci. nerd can.
@@aattrpg3199 Oh, I'm not being critical -- I think every one of your suggested topics would be good topics for videos in their own right!
If I had to characterize the two parties in broad strokes, I’d say it’s Democrats saying, “there are some problems, and we can fix them,” while Republicans respond, “those aren’t problems, we should keep the status quo.” And I think for an RPG, neither position is particularly compelling, as neutral factions nor as villainous factions, unless they’re blown up to the point of caricatures of those positions.
It also doesn’t help that most RPGs, because they are focused on a small group of characters, tends to promote the idea of individual action over collective action. RPGs tacitly say, “a few powerful, motivated individuals are responsible for the change in the world,” when that’s not very consistent with our reality.
Nice video, Mike. You made some very good points all around.