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PROPAGANDA CARDS
PERSONAL LOYALTY CHECKS
PERSONAL LOYALTY CHECKS
Override truth. Shape public perception. Blend facts with engineered rhetoric. These 36 cards let you rewrite the narrative to favor you and tank your enemies. Don't get cocky. One roll of the die could mean you overplayed your hand and it backfires.
Card Example:
Mobilize federal agents to inflict random violence against people who look like they fit your marginalized ethnic group and make negative claims about the victims to justify it.
Roll upon picking up this card
1 = back 2
2 - 3 = stay
4 - 6 = forward by energizing your support base.
PERSONAL LOYALTY CHECKS
PERSONAL LOYALTY CHECKS
PERSONAL LOYALTY CHECKS
Paranoia runs deep. Demand absolute loyalty from your staff, your allies, and even your rivals. A failed loyalty check can set you back — or expose someone else's secret. 18 cards.
Card Example:
You initiate a program to determine who senior civil servants on your security council voted for in your last election, or donated to your campaign, and monitor their social media activity. Those who resign are replaced with verifiable supporters.
Roll upon picking up this card
1-2 = 2 spaces back
3 = stay
4-6 = forward 3
ISLAND EXPRESS CARDS
PERSONAL LOYALTY CHECKS
ISLAND EXPRESS CARDS
Every aspiring world leader needs a private network. Deals are made, favors are traded, and personal liabilities can be managed, but only if you are ruthless enough to use them. 18 cards.
Card Example:
You find old photos from your island visits. one is of a competitor exploiting / abusing minors. You get it to someone who ensures they appear in the news.
Roll to select opponent.
You roll to send them:
1 - 4 = back 3
5 = back 2
6 = back 1
DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS
TERMINAL DEMOCRACY RESURRECTION CARDS
ISLAND EXPRESS CARDS
Kept face-down in front of you at all times, your secrets are your greatest vulnerability. Guard them, weaponize them against your opponents, or weaponize your opponents' secrets against them. There are 36, more than enough trouble for everyone.
Card Example:
Your “aid” bills that passed congress included payoffs to foreign officials at taxpayer expense to cover your involvement in money laundering schemes.
Keep this card as it may be later disclosed as a dirty little secret. If so:
1-3 = back 2
4-6 = stay
Return to deck when used
TERMINAL DEMOCRACY RESURRECTION CARDS
TERMINAL DEMOCRACY RESURRECTION CARDS
TERMINAL DEMOCRACY RESURRECTION CARDS
The Enhanced version of the game, Trumpster Fire Octane, contains this additional set of 18 cards. Extending game play and infusing hope for resurrecting and strengthening democracy, these cards give eliminated players the opportunity to jump back into the fray as candidates championing the tenets of a free, democratic republic.
Card example:
Start a grass roots movement teaching how propaganda works. Get into any senior center, civic group, school, wherever allowed.
Roll for bonus:
1-2 = stay
3-4 = forward 2
5 = forward 3
6 = forward 4
Return this card to deck
The board has six sections representing the progressive stages of an authoritarian takeover: charismatic leader appeal, civil division, exploitation of economic grievance, normalization of political violence, and delegitimization of democratic institutions. Play once and you understand history. Play again and you start to see the present.
Designed for families, adults, classrooms, and civic conversations. Discussion questions included. Play it, talk about it, share it.
Help Us Get to the Table
Trumpster Fire can change minds, but has to reach them first
We're launching a pre-campaign fundraiser to do this right. The funds from this first round go directly toward:
- Professional game reviews from independent reviewers who cover educational and civic games, including game cost and shipping to reviewers if necessary.
- Playtesting events at community fairs, libraries, and civic gatherings where real people can play the game and tell us what they think.
- The road to a full Kickstarter launch. With your help, we will bring a production-ready, properly priced game to the world, backed by real community validation. You are critically important.
This round is about something greater than selling you a game. It's about building the movement that gets the game made, a movement that will last hopefully for generations to come.
Every democracy needs its early adopters. Which one fits you best?
Founding Supporter: $15 – Print & Play Edition: the complete basic game as a downloadable PDF, formatted for home printing. Cards are sized for standard Avery business card sheets (available where you get your office supplies) with no cutting required. Meeples (playing pieces) also print on the same cards, but will require one cut and a fold each. You will also get your name listed as a Founding Supporter in the final published game.
Democracy Builder: $35 – Everything in Founding Supporter plus the Field Guide PDF (historical deep-dive on all five mechanics) and the Discussion Facilitator's Guide PDF, both ready for civic group use.
Torchbearer: $95 – Everything in the Democracy Builder tier with an invitation to a private online playtest session with game designer Mark Mills, plus a guaranteed first-edition copy of the physical game fully covered at this price! You will receive no additional charges when the full campaign launches and fulfills.
[Sign up below to be notified when this pre-campaign goes live on Kickstarter.]
An honest note from Mark: at small numbers, each physical game actually costs more to produce and ship than this pledge covers. I'm not getting rich and this is expensive. I'm trying to get this game made. Every Torchbearer backer is taking a leap of faith alongside me, and I don't take that lightly. What changes everything is volume. The more Torchbearers to get on board, the more production costs drop and the closer we get to a launch that reaches the people who need this game. Your game will be produced and shipped when the full campaign fulfills. You will not be charged again.