Ways and Means (1994) is the Washington DC sourcebook for Underground and offers a different style of play from the core Los Angeles setting. It was written by noted Canadian, Robin D. Laws (I mention that in the jokey “hey, a Canadian writing satire about American politics” way, but I also think that the perspective of someone living outside the system they are writing about is a valuable one).

Where LA is all explosions and chaotic gunfights in the streets, DC is, well, about politics. In the Game of Thrones sort of way, if GoT had super powers and large caliber guns. DC as we know it is a slum, with the country’s political power center now residing in a floating city in the sky. As metaphors go, this isn’t subtle. Life in DC is paranoid, with power being gained through blackmail, insider deals and piles of cash. Every political party is a rival faction; all the federal agencies are embroiled in an ongoing cold war; lobbyists and special interest groups curry favor. I know this sounds like the real world, but trust me, there are way more explosions.

Change is the point of Underground, and the mechanism for change in DC is the voting booth. Democracy is broken, but still exists, and the way for PCs to effect major change is to get average folks to believe in the system enough to get to the polls. That’s the big goal, but along the way, the game is about finding and applying leverage to further your goals, like acting in a way to influence the media to put pressure on legislators. The main thing standing in the way of success, aside of all the corruption and apathy, is the National Anti-Socialist party, a nascent fascist movement that preys on economic anxieties of the middle class while scapegoating pretty much everyone to gain support for their fascist agenda.

I swear I am describing a roleplaying game written in 1993. Also, go vote.