Crisis Committee Preparation

So you decided to choose the pressure cooking, nerve frying experience of crisis. Congratulations! Never again will you ever sleep through a speakers list, because there isn’t one. And there definitely won’t ever be nothing to do. If a GA is 100 people cooking a fine dish, crisis is ten people trying to make 10 at the same time with no agreement and no time. 

A crisis committee is smaller, moves faster, and features individual and joint delegate actions, all of which contribute to a very different feel and flow of debate. Unlike other committees where the end goal is a resolution, in a crisis committee the end goal is a specific outcome. This means that delegates will be more focused on using committee resolutions as a tool rather than the final achievement.

Personal vs. Portfolio Powers

Always be sure you understand your character’s portfolio and personal powers in committee. What’s the difference?

When representing a character in a crisis committee, the background guide will frequently refer to your portfolio powers: essentially, what your title allows you to do. An example might be an Attorney General having the authority to run legal proceedings, or a member of the Pakistani military establishment having authority over a certain part of the military. Outside of these, however, your character can also obtain/use personal powers. This might be my character conducting informal discussion with a longtime friend in another country. The difference is that portfolio powers use a job title or bureaucratic position, whereas personal powers employ your character’s personal connections and abilities to perform specific tasks.

In order to be sure you understand both, first be sure to research the power of the office you hold, especially if you’re representing a character not in the US government. Then research your character specifically to find out what connections and background you might be able to use. If your character doesn’t have much information or you weren’t assigned a specific character, be creative! Come up with connections you may want to build when you get to committee.

Backroom: Crisis Arcs

Since the outcome of a crisis committee is the fundamental goal, it’s important to think about how you will use your crisis notes to drive an element of committee toward a certain direction. Instead of submitting individual notes, it’s key to submit multiple, connected notes that gradually build and expand on each other. This is known as a crisis arc, and it’s important if you want to use the backroom to significantly alter an aspect of the world. Earlier crisis notes may be more focused on developing certain powers, whereas later you may focus on using those powers toward a specific need. To prepare a crisis arc, think about what personal achievement your character might want to see. Is it a promotion, greater influence, or maybe significant government reform? Either way, balance that personal goal with the committee goal to get the best possible future for your character.

Front room: Controlling Committee Resolutions

The crisis backroom is unique to crisis committees, but it’s not the only thing that changes. The rapid pace of crisis committees accelerates the passage of resolutions, but more importantly alters the way resolutions are used. Good crisis directors will respond proportionally, meaning that a whole committee directive will have more impact than your individual notes. Crisis debates will often dive into operational specifics, propose short solutions and feature a rapid format. Most debates will center around various solutions to ongoing crises. If the solution is contentious, you may want to argue in favor of the action overall, then move to an unmod to draft a resolution with your allies. Otherwise, try to offer those specifics in your speeches, whether it's about where to deploy troops from, how to conduct prosecution or the best messaging strategy to the press. The less grandstanding you do, the more you can write your specific solutions into committee resolutions and move the world in your favor.

Between writing notes and debating resolutions, how do I do both? Which is more important?

Crisis is a balancing act; focus too much on the backroom and committee resolutions may completely block your plans, but focus too much on the front room and you’ll be outmaneuvered. The key is effective multitasking and making every backroom note count. Don’t submit notes that you don’t need, and try to write your notes during moderated caucuses so you can listen to speeches at the same time. Don’t count on unmoderated caucuses for extra time, because you will need that time to build and coordinate alliances and draft joint directives. If you’re ever in doubt whether you’re writing too many or not enough, think about how many times in the last ten minutes you’ve spoken, and how many notes you’ve submitted. If you’re submitting more notes, you should probably debate more. It’s perfectly fine to submit one note in 30 minutes, as long as that one note is well thought out, detailed, and concrete; you’ll see more results from the backroom that way.

While a few articles are unfinished articles (denoted with an asterisks), this wiki is updated weekly so feel free to come back and take a look.