GAME CHARACTERS and Important Definitions

HISTORICAL SITUATIONS AND MAIN ISSUES

While playing this game, you will experience a situations loosely based on actual events in the history of Greece. Whether you, your team, and your Polis are successful will be determined by how these issues play out at the END of the game. Therefore you’ll want to think about the “Big Picture” issues in order to succeed.

1. Government Participation: How should we determine voting rights? Who all has the right to make the decisions for the good of the Polis?
2. Social Welfare: Is the Polis ultimately responsible for the well-being (health, income, safety) for all of its members? When and how should the Polis take care of them if at all?
3. The Polis Design: How should we design the city of Athens? What do we want the design of our city to say about us as a people?

GAME CHARACTERS and Important Definitions

THE ASSEMBLY OF CITIZENS (Ecclesia) - This is the government of the city. Each full citizen has a vote in the assembly. Teams can also gain “popular votes” which can be used to add a vote to a specific issue. Once used, however, a popular vote is gone.

NON-CITIZENS – Some teams in the game may have campers that are playing the roles of non-citizens, such as former-slaves, Metics (foreigners), and Athenian women. At the beginning of the game they have no voting rights, although they are allowed to attend Assembly. These non-citizens still hold unique resources that other teams will need.

TEAMS (Factions): This is your main group, your team, known as a FACTION. Each political faction of the Polis has their own unique identity, with individual motivations, agendas, and resources.

1. The Democrats – Dedicated to the ideal that all citizens should have equal say in their government, the democrats may now have the political push to vote their ideals into reality.

2. The Oligarchs – Once the lone rulers of Athens, the old and “true” nobility of Athens have continually seen their power lessen to increasingly popular ideas of Democracy. These nobles may still have enough political power and votes to drive Athens in another direction, however.

3. The Aristocrats – consisting of the wealthy and high-status citizens of the Polis, the upper class of Athens provides a majority of the money for many of Athens most ambitious projects. This faction sees wealth and status as equal to ruling power.

4. The Merchants – The tradesmen of Athens who provide a majority of the resources and transportation for the cities’ civic projects. This group has historically made their alliances based on the possibility for profit.

5. The Commoners – the farmers, laborers and other lower class workers that build and maintain the city-state. The availability of work and safety has tended to determine their allegiance.

6. The Artisans – The skilled technicians of the city with the vision and ability to make the Athens the envy not just of Greece but also of the entire Mediterranean.

7. The Philosophers – The philosophers of Athens who believe that Athens should be ruled over by only the wisest and most gifted citizens.

VICTORY OBJECTIVES: Remember that this is a GAME. Each faction has their own set of goals that they want to achieve by the end of the game. This chart is based upon the key issues of the game. Your team “wins” if at the end of the game your faction has achieved a high point total.

PATRON GODS – These will be 7 group advisors (Peace Corps volunteers) who will guide an assigned faction. Patrons guide their group toward their goals and provide council to the group when asked. They punish the group for poor citizen behavior by taking away votes (a patron will only punish his or her group).

GAME MASTER – Determines game rules and resolves game issues. It will be the game master’s main job to make decisions on unpredictable issues that will most certainly arise within the game. Game Master also serves as the facilitator, the Archon, for the day’s Assembly. When a trial is requested, the GM decides whether the trial will be held and is also the facilitator of the trial.

ASSEMBLY AGENDA AND PROPOSALS –Assembly must discuss and provide proposals on certain key issues relating to the historical situation. Furthermore, citizens have the right during the Assembly to bring up ANY other civic topic for discussion. All proposals that pass will be posted as law in the Ecclesia for the viewing of the entire Polis.

CREATION OF LAWS -Any citizen may propose a law, decree or action. All laws should be submitted in writing and visible for all to see.

CITIZEN’S VOTE –A citizen’s greatest power is their ability to vote on ANY issue presented during the Assembly. At the beginning of the game, only full citizens (native born Athenian men of at least 18 years) have the right to vote. The requirements for citizenship and full voting rights can be changed by a majority vote in the Assembly. It is also important to note that a citizen’s vote will be lost if they are punished for poor citizen behavior, ostracized, or suffer in-game death (execution, war, disease).

POPULAR VOTE – These are “public support” votes provided to factions based on their popularity. Factions can be awarded popular votes for participating in daily competitions, good behavior, or excellent portrayal of their factional identities (dressing and acting in character). These popular votes can be taken away, however, for poor citizen behavior.

AFTERNOONCLASSES -We will have optional classes that mirror Sunday competitions and provide valuable material for Evening Assembly. There will be 2 one-hour periods for voluntary classes. You may choose which classes you attend. As active members of Athenian society, you are expected to attend these optional courses. Failure to participate in these classes may result in loss of votes or resources.

DRACHMA - A silver coin used for Ancient Athens’s monetary system. For the purposes of the game, each faction will have resources available to them expressed in a certain amount of drachmas. For all Assembly proposals, you will want to refer to all money expenses in Drachmas.

TRIAL (Dikasteria) -At any point during the Evening Assembly, a member may be put on trial for political motivations or for poor citizen behavior.With the Archon’s approval; the assembly will immediately switch to a trial. Accusers will state their case followed by a defense by the accused. Then the assembly will take 1 or 2 votes. The first will determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. A majority is needed to find someone guilty. The second vote, if necessary, will determine the punishment. The Archon’s veto power does not apply in this situation. Possible punishments may include ostracism, execution, cleaning duty, or?…

OSTRACISM (exile) – In the game, any citizen may be exiled for political motivations or for poor assembly behavior. If the Assembly does vote to ostracize a citizen, this person loses their citizen’s vote.

EXECUTION – If a citizen is put on trial for political motivations or poor assembly behavior, they may be punished with In-Game death. If a person is executed, they lose their citizen’s vote.

IN-GAME DEATH – NO! No one actually dies! If a citizen dies within the game, however, (execution, war, disease) they lose their citizen vote. If a non-citizen dies, they lose their unique resources.

NON-PARTICIPATION PENALTY – At the beginning of the game, each camper controls some type of resource within in the game (a vote, money, supplies, man-power, etc). This is with the belief that these campers are leaders, and will participate in camp activities (speaking in assembly, participating in classes or competitions). Any faction member who fails to participate adequately in Assembly or camp activities may suffer the punishment of loss of their resource.

PUNISHMENT FOR UNNECESSARY TRIAL – Athenian law provided protection against unnecessary, or useless prosecutions. Therefore, in the game, if prosecutors fail to persuade 20 % of the Assembly to vote guilty in the trial then the prosecutor(s) will automatically lose all of his or her votes for one camp day.

FATE - There will be certain situations in the game that will be out of the hands of the Assembly, such as the outcome of a war or an epidemic. In this case, just like in life, fate will decide. The Game masters will roll a dice to determine the outcome of these situations. However, the failure or success of a proposal may be influenced by the percentage of votes it had in the assembly (a low favored proposal may pass in Assembly but may not be fully supported in realty, such as a war), or how well prepared the proposal actually is (A war that needs to be fought on the sea may not be very successful if the Assembly fails to vote to build a navy)

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