What I Learned About Political Intrigue from Watching House of Cards

Political intrigue is one of my favourite genres. From the outside, it might look reserved and placid, but when you get into it, and get to know the characters, you realise just how tense, how brutal, and how damaging the smallest actions can be.

I recently began watching House of Cards for the first time, and by doing so my mind started ticking with ideas for roleplaying games (incidentally, this is my benchmark for whether a TV show is good, so add my stamp of approval to HoC). My main brainwaves came as a revelation on how 'attacking' can work in political intrigue, so below I've listed out a few examples of what I noticed.

Note: This post has some super-minor spoilers from Season 1, though I've left character names out of it and am replacing them with placeholders (let's say, Sam and Jean). I'm also obscuring the sequence of events and the specifics, so you should be fine if you haven't seen the show yet. Also note, I'm using Fate Core Skills for the skill/characteristic examples. Luckily, Fate is so broad it should be very easy to translate them into appropriate examples for your chosen system. However, if you are playing Fate, you could just as easily use all these instances to Create an Advantage.

Example 1

Sam sits down across from Jean in her house. Jean is framed by a beautiful and expensive couch, with walls surrounding them featuring their accomplishments.

Here, Jean could 'attack' Sam using Resources - her wealth, reach and prestige - to make Sam feel invalidated or out of his league. Sam would resist with Will to see if he is swayed by these trappings.

Example 2

Jean offers Sam a drink of very fine and aged Whiskey - an incredibly potent and sophisticated variety.

Here, Jean could be setting a passive obstacle for Sam to overcome, with Sam needing to test his Physique to not cough and splutter when he takes a sip. If he does, he'll show his unsophisticated palette! (Heaven forbid he do so!)

Example 3

After taking the sip, Sam wants to unhinge Jean by mentioning something they're ashamed of in their - or their parents' - past.

Here, Sam 'attacks' with Lore, attempting to remember dirt he learned long ago, or perhaps to flashback to some research he did before the meeting (in a manner similar to Blades in the Dark's fine Flashbacks). Jean resists with Will to prevent herself from being put out by this remark.

Example 4

Jean's partner walks into the room, and Sam decides to use this chance to cut the meeting short. He stands - and being a rather handsome and 'well made' individual - makes a subtle yet provocative twist of his waist to show his posterior to Jean.

This, believe it or not, is an attack! Sam attacks with Provoke, and Jean resists with either Will - to resist the temptation to sneak a glance - or Stealth - to sneak a glance without being noticed. Her choice. Either way, if she fails, then her partner will notice and become jealous - a vulnerable position to be in!

Conclusion

As you can see, in political intrigue games, the concept of an attack becomes a lot more free form - essentially, anything that gets your opponent, or any one for that matter, to start doing something differently counts.

I hope this list has been valuable and useful for GMs and players alike! If you have any more examples you'd like to share, especially from other media sources, please let me know in the comments section below.