Social Democracy: An Alternate History
Play as the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1928, and try to stop the NSDAP from taking power. Guide the party through elections and parliamentary politics. Deal with the Great Depression and the spiraling political violence that characterized the late "Weimar Republic".
This is a quality-based narrative game using the DendryNexus engine, which is in turn based on StoryNexus, the engine originally designed for Fallen London.
Originally made for Spring Thing 2024.
Unofficial subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/RedAutumnSPD/
Cover image copyright
This is a collage of 4 images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-13624,_Berlin,_Versammlung_der_Republikaner.jpg. CC-BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arbeiterbew.jpg. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiserne_Front_Symbol.svg. CC-BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LA2-Blitz-0083.jpg Public DomainContent Warnings
References to antisemitism, nazism, period-typical racism, misogyny, and homophobia, obsolete terms for gender/sexual minorities.Download
Development log
- v1.0.1 - Tooltips, bug fixes, advisor actions26 days ago
- V1.0?35 days ago
- v0.19.1 - Small bug fixes47 days ago
- v0.19 - Labor rights and unemployment insurance, more gradual support changes48 days ago
- v0.18.1 - Cabinets, protecting rallies, mod loading, difficulties58 days ago
- v0.18 - Event images, mod loader66 days ago
- v0.17.2 - Fix Popular Front unavailable subtitle76 days ago
Comments
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I could suggest that (at least on easy mode) if you have a cooperative enough judiciary, Hitler wouldn't be allowed to become a German citizen by the time of the presidential elections, and thus, still capable of being deported after said elections (maybe he'd get deported when he tries to get the German citizenship since he's a criminal and a foreigner?).
It's been well over 20 days, Is it's Red Autumnover..?
Updates are still in the works; have some patience…
I played the earliest versions months ago, and it's great to see how fleshed out the game has become in the meantime. It's really impressively researched, and in today's climate feels more poignant than ever.
One change that hasn't happened that I kind of wished I would've seen a reduction in how card-draw dependent the game is. I frequently find myself in positions where I have my economic plan of choice ready to go and I have the cabinet positions necessary, only to never end up drawing what I need. Easy mode and advisor powers help somewhat, but the only real solution in many cases is to simply save and reload, trying out different permutations of draws from either deck, hoping to avoid landmines like "coalition affairs", endlessly cycling between Prussian affairs and enforcing equal pay for women for the fifth time while the Nazis grow in power, advancing a few months and then making a new couple of saves or going back to a previous set. It's a... sub-optimal experience.
As a Fallen London player, I recognize that some of that is just how StoryNexus is at times, but even Fallen London isn't completely deck based, the majority of actions there are spent on storylets and the like. I know it would be a very major rework (worthy of a 2.0 version numbering for sure), but maybe we could one day see something similar in Social Democracy? At least on the easiest difficulty.
I’m thinking of adding a “Cabinet” pinned card for selecting government policies; how does that sound?
“Coalition Affairs” as a landmine is deliberate, btw.
good idea
That sounds like a reasonable change, yeah! Although then I wonder what would be left in the government deck, since that's overwhelmingly cabinet position cards with a few others like Prussian bulwark mixed in.
I dunno. I recognize there are trade-offs, and that the randomness is an important and intended part of the game. I honestly didn't expect my feedback to be noticed, much less accepted. At the end of the day, it's your project. Whatever you think is best probably will be.
Presumably it would also have a cool down period
I didn't think I'd enjoy this game but I ended up loving it. My playthrough was frustrating and anxiety inducing. And because of that, this game did what I value most in games, which is giving me a window into the lives of other people. Thank you for the experience.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17487870.2023.2238107 this paper discusses the effects of revenue-neutral tax swaps on growth; the highest growth comes from shifts from income taxes to consumption taxes, so in the game, in addition to effecting who is hit hardest by taxes, that should boost the overall economy.
This is a controversial subject in economics, one paper is not really proof of anything. More importantly, what the abstract is suggesting is contrary to the Marxist-to-proto-Keynesian economic convictions of SPD of this era and the game is from their perspective.
anyone got introductions on the worker’s council? I wonder how it worked in history
I found a good way to get KPD friendly——allow the mayday march to proceed without police presence.
but that would trigger a no confidence vote
It doesn't trigger the vote if you pay the coalition members, form a Weimar coalition, or don't raise coalition dissent at all prior
Yes it would be nice to have a Weimar coalition first and then form a Popular Front
It's possible to get Weimar coalition from the May 1928 election if you focus on increasing popularity among the working class (and get lucky with card draws in the harder difficulties); increase in middle class support is mostly away from DDP and Zentrum, which is useless in trying to get to 50% total support for the Weimar parties.
The tooltips don't work in mobile (or at least on a mobile browser).
Yeah it doesn't work for mobile browsers
That's a shame.
It might get fixed later
does anyone have any tips how to not loose public support in the 1933 election? Even with economic betterments I always seem to miss out on being able to form a coalition.
influence the center let Joseph joos be the patry president
ah ok, thx. Will try that next time
by the way how to form a popular front?
Conciliators in KDP or Joos in Zentrum makes that's easy. The most hard part — get a good moment to drop DVP out of coalition.
Spy in Comintern will give you boost to KDP without hate from Center. Also use advisors for relationship
thx i managed one
it is so difficult to form a coalition with KPD…
I find it more of a problem to also maintain good enough relations with the Zentrum for a popular front coalition
the same
i find it interesting that (atleast on easy) it is completly possible to win by ignoring government action or election campaign, by simply investing all into the reichsbanner
Is there still a plan for a steam release? I think that would be really cool.
how to form a progressive coalition?
Theres a progressive coalition?
KPD+DDP+you+SAPD=51% in Reichstag . With that you can make abortions legal. Even if KPD hostile to you
Yeah since there all progressive and support women's rights
You can't necessarily form a progressive coalition government and its only function is for passing — you guessed it, progressive reforms.
Don't quite the game during trumps term if that was 1.0? Meant. I doubt trump would be able to anything substantial but still its a good educational game on the issues that plagued Germany before the rise of hitler and a good way to learn how to stop fascism from rising again.
Autumn never really said that she would quit the game though, she just said that there's really not much content to add (or at least that she wants to add for now).
They kinda of said that they lost hope since trump won.
I struggle a lot with historical mode because I don't know how to get spd away from centrism and get into action instead.
Nvm, I figured out why, I used Hilferding once thinking he would rrduce dissent but all it did was to strengthen the centrist wing.
March 1931 was a pretty eventful month.
The Nazis couldn't stand a Second Popular Front being formed.
No, they can. And KPD wiil demand improved relations with the USSR
How did you turn on dark mode?
Edit: The civil war started after I attempted to form another Popular Front after already having formed one.
1. Dark mode — https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dark-reader/eimadpbcbfnmbkopoojfekhnkhd...
https://darkreader.org
2. The civil war will start, if you do too much progressive reforms and dont do investigations of the far-right
A lot happened in this match.
Wow.
That wasn't really that difficult. It just took me two tries.
Gotta thank Passionario for making the Schwarz-Rot-Gold achievement easier to earn 🙏.
How do I get the conciliators to lead the KPD?
put a spy in the Comintern early
Use paul levi to reach out to kpd, have high relations with kpd, put spy in comintern, choose not to reveal the Wittorf Affair, have the foreign ministry to reach out to the soviet union and give them free money, then ask them about the wittorf affair. Then, continue to maintain high relations while ensuring the the soviet union think the spd are 'communist enough'. This can be done by choosing the left as the main party direction and attacking the bourgeoisie parties. Then, the event for the conciliatory to take over kpd will fire at one point.
I never get the option to ask the Soviets about the Wirtoff Affair.
Did you provide aid without asking for the Reichswehr support? Was that after the wirtoff affair event?
Edit:Was that also before the affair ended?
Thank you for the advice. It worked.
You need the neorevisionists and to pass enough judiciary reforms.
I don't remember, but you can see if you can pass it if you have Gustav Radbruch as an advisor.
Skill issue.
Skill issue
Do tariffs raise support of the old middle class and rural support? If they do not they should because tariffs increase prices for for agricultural goods and also increases price for goods like what artiasans make.
Yes, they do.
Oh cool. Tariffs are the best.
AdolfHitler420Methlord is back!
Bug report?
I got the Nazis in crisis event and the march on Berlin at the same time, but was able to cancel the march on Berlin by clicking the Nazis in crisis event.
Edit: This won't happen viceversa if you manage to defeat the march on Berlin without facing a civil war, the Nazis in crisis event will still be present.
New update! Nice!
Reichswehr content is quite lacking/not quite as impactful now. I think we need huge negative events related to the military, especially if we ignore them lmao.
idk how historically reichswehr is involved in the whole events, but surely they're powerful enough, no?
I've managed to scrape by the skin of my teeth to the end of 1933 a few left-runs where I wonder how the at-most divided reichswehr general staff would feel about germany going down a socialist path!
Suggestion: If strife gets too high/goes over a certain limit. The public starts to demand you to restore order if you are in government and/or control Prussia and failure to do so (You doing nothing or your actions fail to restore order) results in decreased SPD/republic support.
For examples of those actions can be something like:
-Use interior ministry to ban/persecute a paramilitary
-Increase police presence/patrols
-Use loyal reichswehr to enact martial law(?)
My examples aren't super thought out but I hope it gets the point across.
Does anyone have any idea of how to get the Mädchen in Uniform achievement?
If I am not wrong, you need toni sender as an advisor and use her organising woman ability. And then arm the reichsbanner until a certain militarisation and the option to have women in the reichsbanner will appear. Choose the option.
Damn I suck at this, I keep losing around 1931 or 1932 every time
RNGsus hates you.
Nah I think I just suck lol, I've only played about 3 or 4 times, but I always keep steadily losing votes and just cant seem to find a good strategy.
Did you at least try to enact a public works program?
Fastest NSDAP speedrun (At least unemployment is reduced, according to the game)
How did you get absolutely no support for the SPD?
At the start of the game, take the shuffle leadership card, fire everyone, hire everyone from the left faction, fire everyone from the left faction, hire everyone back from the left faction, repeat until very high for dissent for the left faction, repeat for each faction, so everyone—centrist, leftist, labour, and reformist—resigns, causing a collapse in the polls as the SAPD gets very large. Then, pick only bad cards, such as enforcing party discipline, increasing fundraising, and decreasing Reichsbanner funding. After each election, always pick no governing majority. Repeat until after the great depression and Hitler will be the chancellor. For the Young Plan event, do not campaign for either side. Remember not to pick the right-wing coalition after every election. Now, only 1% of Catholics and 0% of everyone else like the SPD. 1 seat SPD is now formed.
Shout out to that single catholic still supporting the SPD.
I've decided to try that as well.
The new update is fire!
What do you need in order to kill Hitler?
With the Two Steps Forward, One Leap Below mod.
You need a militarized enough Reichsbanner and an armed police to deport Hitler with extreme prejudice, which will kill Hitler.
ok thx.
You're welcome.
very fun, I wonder if a cheat mode will ever be introduced, want to see what is possible if I just go ham
Just curious, is it possible to get the Neorevisionists movement without having an election at all? How exactly do I get the movement without having any elections?
Nazi support needs to be around 15% or higher
A bug I found (but didn't manage to record) was that I got handed the Economic Democracy card while not controling the Finance Ministry.
Do you control the economic ministry? If so that's why you'd get the eco democracy card.
I just controlled the Justice, Foreign, Labor and Interior ministries.
that’s probably due to the Labor
Welp. Getting the Heidelberg Program achievement wasn't really that difficult. It took me less than five tries to get it.
If your willing, any tips for getting it done?
You should have the Foreign Minister, Pfülf and Wels, Juchacz or Schumacher as advisors — Rudolf to form the EU, Pfülf for the women's rights and Wels, Juchacz or Schumacher just for the Emergency Fundraising.
I'd suggest that there could be an achievement from signing the Concordat between Prussia and the Vatican (through the Prussian affairs card) and the Concordat between Germany and the Vatican (through the foreign affairs card).
I just noticed the timeline of the Weimar Republic until 1928 in the library and I'm curious to know in which update it was added.
This was added in v0.18, I forgot to put it in the devlog.
Thank you for letting me know. I found it interesting — and even though it's a small change, it's an important one for those who want to learn about the history of the Weimar Republic and/or the historical context of this game. A small suggestion I have is making it accessible at the starting menu as well instead of only the library.
On another thing, the "current government details" in the library is a crucial addition for those who forget which ministries they control. It could be a menu of the Status sidebar (or topbar in the mobile UI) for it to be more easily accessible.
I think it would be cool if the player had to click through some dire warnings from the Social Democratic leadership about the costs of civil war, their uncertainty about the workers' willingness to stand against the anti-republican forces, their pessimism about avoiding liquidation, let alone victory -- anytime the option is presented to resist the prussian coup or hitler's appointment.
I really like the narrative voice of the game. Admittedly, I'm not sure how this suggestion would fit with what's there. Tangent: My favorite scene was a placeholder from a really early version of the game when you got relations high enough with the communists that you were able to march with them on May Day: "This is hard." I really, really like the current version, but there's something about what I read as astonishment coming from the game's quasi-omniscient narrator that I keep coming back to. Maybe the first realization that history can be changed.
In any case, I do really like the writing. Thank you for making this game and all your subsequent work.
I finally managed to get a majority government! I tried that for so long and finally managed to get a majority government!
wow how did you manage that?
You need to enact the WTB plan and make everything about it (the rallies and the iron front), and try to get as many cards which increase your popularity as possible (political rally, media, campaigning, etc).
thanks i followed your advice and managed a 48%
Close enough. In another playthrough, you might get a majority. Keep trying.
Bug: The foreign ministry negotiation with Vatican is still available even after signing concordat
In fact, it's only available after signing the Concordat though the Prussian Affairs.
Edit: The reason of why the Concordat can only be signed through the foreign affairs after signing it through the Prussian affairs is because the latter is a Concordat between the Free State of Prussia and the Vatican while the former is a Concordat between Germany and the Vatican.