Role Play Cafe: General Discussion and hang out about RP itself.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

I would kind of need to know more about the storyline. What would our characters be and what would be their role in the story? What would they have the power to do?

Seconding this

So this is the rough idea that I have bouncing around my big, beautiful brain.

Washington, D.C. has been a hive of activity ever since its establishment, with politicians, special interests, government employees, and foreign agents all working feverishly to advance in the rough and tumble town that is the capital of the United States of America.

Not even the outbreak of the Second American Civil War, between the "legitimate" administration of President Charles Curtis, a left-wing regime headed by journalist-turned-politician Jack Reed, and a populist government led by Louisiana Senator Huey Long could stem the flow of information and favors that characterized business in the capital. In fact, with the renewed interest in the North American continent, foreign diplomats and spies increased the scope and brazenness of their activities, clandestinely supporting whatever side they believed would provide the most benefit to their own country's interests.

Once the Kingdom of Canada closed its borders and those of its protectorate, the puppet state of New England, to Americans fleeing the savage three-way war, Washington, D.C. found another purpose: as a gathering place for refugees from all over the eastern seaboard.

After all, there is no way that the Feds would let the capital fall to Long's Unionists or Reed's Syndicalists, right?

As fighting grew closer and closer to the capital, a stray airplane managed to break through the city's air defenses and bomb the White House, killing President Curtis and much of his cabinet. With the Vice President visiting the front, General Douglas MacArthur stepped in, believing that only his firm hand could guide the United States to victory over all foes, domestic and external. The general decided that D.C. is impossible to defend with the forces that he has available and ordered a total evacuation.

When the last boat departs to begin a perilous journey through the Unionist blockade to Texas and then to the newly proclaimed capital of Boulder, Colorado, tens of thousands are still trapped in the city. With the sea route unavailable, the lands to the far north blocked off by the royal Canadian mounted police, and hostile forces closing in on all sides, the only chance to make it through the war in one piece seems to be on the West coast, where the still-neutral Pacific States of America have promised sanctuary and peace for all Americans. The only trouble is crossing the length of the continental United States to get there.

This is when the RP would begin.

The RPers play as one of those left behind in the shelled and abandoned Washington, D.C., someone with reason to travel west. This does not have to be due to being a scared civilian looking for refuge, however! There are still plenty of spies, both from the various American sides and from overseas, mixed in with the legitimate victims of war, and they all hold different objectives. The industrial and military strength of the Pacific States is, while not dominating, nothing to sneeze at, and if that government can be convinced to throw its weight behind one of the other American governments, that could very easily turn the tide of the war. Otherwise, MacArthur's capital lies on the way to California. Plenty of powerful people would like him dead, because he poses a threat to American democracy, because he stands the best chance of actually beating the rebel factions, or both.

The idea in my mind is to have a truly motley collection of civilians, soldiers, and spies with a wide variety of allegiances trying to conceal their true nature from one another, craft alliances, discover rats, and all that good stuff, while also having to work together to make it through the obstacles, both natural and man-made (like bandits, military units, frightened locals, etc.) on the way to their goals.

Basically, "Grapes of Wrath" meets "Ten Little Indians".

To answer your specific questions, er, specifically, Neo:

"What would our characters be?"
Your characters would (ideally) be a wide variety of people with varying skills, ambitions, and loyalties; Americans and foreigners, civilians and soldiers, refugees and spies, Unionists and Syndicalists. Nobody would be in a supremely important leadership position like governor or general, but more "ordinary" folks in extraordinary circumstances.

"What would be their role in the story?"
Stories about war can be told in either one of two ways, in my opinion: large, overarching documentaries or snapshots of particular events or people that flesh out the details of the conflict. With this RP, I would like to go more the Saving Private Ryan route than the History Channel documentary route. The primary focus of the RP is going to be on the good, the bad, and the weird of traveling with people who you might not be able to trust, but have to, for now, at least. While there are larger events going on outside of the immediate storyline, with NPCs making mention of significant events going on (e.g. the fall of Atlanta, the start of a war between France and Germany, etc.), that would have effects on what the characters encounter (and I would delight in the RPers broadening the world as well).

"What would they have the power to do?"
That being said, despite the scope of the story being smaller than grandiose movements of troops and maneuvers by professional diplomats, beyond their personal foibles, the players can have a very significant effect on how things play out in a big picture way, with the life of Douglas MacArthur and the allegiance of the Pacific States of America providing two targets, as mentioned above. Ends related to those plot points, or others, can be accomplished either through assassination, persuasion, personal heroism, or a thousand other actions that I have not even imagined yet. Essentially, a small group of people can play an out-sized role in the outcome of a large-scale conflict if they are focused, skilled, and lucky enough.