Now you have me intreagued if there were Soviet originating RPG or something of that kind back in the day, sounds liek a Search Quest to embark upon :3
 
The first most popular comment is a cliche about the undesirability of RPGs because of "totalitarianism". 🤦‍♂️
Well you know:
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But honestly having worked IT for a few years I've seen things that let me question humanity on a daily bases in just a few months, including having some people arrested for the ollegal shit they have openly on their PC like it was normal, not going into detail ehre, just knew most of it was f-ed up more then a nromal mind could imagine or comprehent and that I am certain that if a place like hell exist these people go straight there for what they do to living things who are helpless against them. Then again most shit you see when working for the government aint better either, just f-ed up on a more non personal level, with not as much direct crime because as a public figure you have to hite more of your shity criminal activity, but it there belive me...
 
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I'm gonna ignore the whole military stuff since I'm not that familiar with them so I'm gonna be focusing on civilian side of ideas.
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So here's a few of the ideas I was thinking that, after the alt-WW2, we create a sort of mega mall that's similar to Mall of America, of course with our supervision on how it's run and introduce our version of Dungeon and Dragons and other table top board games as it'll keep our population entertained and as a way of escapism from the alt-Cold War.
I was thinking about the non-military side of things recently and I had a realization;

Moscow could become the new Amsterdam for tourism.

I mean this in two ways:

1. Basically Moscow is able to offer historical visits and a deep sense of culture but at a cheaper price point compared to Western Europe, and a way we can encourage this is by running cheap commercial flights to Moscow and Leningrad as well as building hotels, allowing others to see our countries growth as well as give people an opportunity to sample the local culture, so even if the flights are in the red, we'll make up for it in other areas where tourists will spend money.

2. This is the more fun example and one which our rural citizens will be able to directly interact and benefit from compared to the urban exclusive one of reason 1.

Weed.

I was thinking about how us having Rykov as our leader would have a knock on effect, as I imagine that he'd make his more teetotaler stances part of our public health initiatives and maybe even keep his increased tax on vodka going.

These two factors combined, as well as the fact that we've got more market freedom under the NEP as well as knowledge that the Soviets grew it makes me think that Soviet citizens would grow and smoke Marijuana as a recreational drug and a cheaper alternative to vodka.

We even know that the Soviet leaders smoked it:

' They say that the weed grown in the USSR under Stalin was some of the most potent ever known to man. Under the guidance of Trofim Lysenko, Stalin assembled a crack team of growers whose marijuana was known for its intense body high and clarifying mental effects. In his personal diaries, Nikolai Bukharin writes, "Joseph [Stalin] came to me one night as I was struggling to finish the final edit of an issue of Pravda. He handed me an ounce of marijuana that reeked of skunk, The smell alone was enough to make me tremble. 'This is a gift from Lysenko and I' he said, and left almost immediately. I smoked that weed and I was never the same." '
- Reefer Madness: A History of Marijuana, Larry "Ratso" Sloman, pg. 194.

If we legalized we, studied it and promoted as a healthy alternative to alcohol and I can imagine that that we see increased economic growth for farmers, an increase in tax revenues and an increase in tourists who are more interested in Soviet "Low Culture" (as opposed to the "High culture" embodied by our Museums and Art galleries.)


I also imagine that the drug war in the US will now be fuelled both by a mixture of racism like OTL but now with an additional red scare layer with conservatives claiming that weed is a plot to make god fearing Americans into Weed smoking communists.

Below is a pin that was awarded to those who grew weed / industrial hemp.
 

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While not a bad idea wouldn't Saint Peterburg more be like Amsterdam and a tourist hotspot? It has a much more interestign scenery, is much easier to reach from the West even by cruise ships and so on ... ?
 
While not a bad idea wouldn't Saint Peterburg more be like Amsterdam and a tourist hotspot? It has a much more interestign scenery, is much easier to reach from the West even by cruise ships and so on ... ?

True, I guess the only similarities between Moscow and Amsterdam would be that they're capitals lol.

In that case, we shall make Saint Petersburg the Tourist Hotspot of Eastern Europe.
 
I was thinking about the non-military side of things recently and I had a realization;

Moscow could become the new Amsterdam for tourism.

I mean this in two ways:

1. Basically Moscow is able to offer historical visits and a deep sense of culture but at a cheaper price point compared to Western Europe, and a way we can encourage this is by running cheap commercial flights to Moscow and Leningrad as well as building hotels, allowing others to see our countries growth as well as give people an opportunity to sample the local culture, so even if the flights are in the red, we'll make up for it in other areas where tourists will spend money.

2. This is the more fun example and one which our rural citizens will be able to directly interact and benefit from compared to the urban exclusive one of reason 1.

Weed.

I was thinking about how us having Rykov as our leader would have a knock on effect, as I imagine that he'd make his more teetotaler stances part of our public health initiatives and maybe even keep his increased tax on vodka going.

These two factors combined, as well as the fact that we've got more market freedom under the NEP as well as knowledge that the Soviets grew it makes me think that Soviet citizens would grow and smoke Marijuana as a recreational drug and a cheaper alternative to vodka.

We even know that the Soviet leaders smoked it:

' They say that the weed grown in the USSR under Stalin was some of the most potent ever known to man. Under the guidance of Trofim Lysenko, Stalin assembled a crack team of growers whose marijuana was known for its intense body high and clarifying mental effects. In his personal diaries, Nikolai Bukharin writes, "Joseph [Stalin] came to me one night as I was struggling to finish the final edit of an issue of Pravda. He handed me an ounce of marijuana that reeked of skunk, The smell alone was enough to make me tremble. 'This is a gift from Lysenko and I' he said, and left almost immediately. I smoked that weed and I was never the same." '
- Reefer Madness: A History of Marijuana, Larry "Ratso" Sloman, pg. 194.

If we legalized we, studied it and promoted as a healthy alternative to alcohol and I can imagine that that we see increased economic growth for farmers, an increase in tax revenues and an increase in tourists who are more interested in Soviet "Low Culture" (as opposed to the "High culture" embodied by our Museums and Art galleries.)


I also imagine that the drug war in the US will now be fuelled both by a mixture of racism like OTL but now with an additional red scare layer with conservatives claiming that weed is a plot to make god fearing Americans into Weed smoking communists.

Below is a pin that was awarded to those who grew weed / industrial hemp.
So if he had positive influence in OTL in this matter, do we make comrade Lysenko head of Soviet weed industry? Could be interesting to see how TTL version of Lysenko would manage in completely different political climate I think. Perhaps he could become a head of some insitute dealing with development of weed?
 
So if he had positive influence in OTL in this matter, do we make comrade Lysenko head of Soviet weed industry? Could be interesting to see how TTL version of Lysenko would manage in completely different political climate I think. Perhaps he could become a head of some insitute dealing with development of weed?

This would be perfect and a win-win on all fronts!

It means that we could see his skills used to their fullest and it would allow him to test out any of his theories on a crop (that for the most part) is non-essential.

I demand we table a motion to see Comrade Lysenko become head of the Soviet Bureau of Marijuana!

(OOC: I imagine in this timeline, Lysenko is gonna be seen an eccentric genius. One who created the Soviet Weed industry and maybe even what weed culture itself looks like in the USSR, but one who clearly had his flaws and his own weird crackpot theories.)

Do you think we could see people passing a joint around a smoke circle as an example of model stoner behaviour for a Soviet citizen?
 
This would be perfect and a win-win on all fronts!

It means that we could see his skills used to their fullest and it would allow him to test out any of his theories on a crop (that for the most part) is non-essential.

I demand we table a motion to see Comrade Lysenko become head of the Soviet Bureau of Marijuana!

(OOC: I imagine in this timeline, Lysenko is gonna be seen an eccentric genius. One who created the Soviet Weed industry and maybe even what weed culture itself looks like in the USSR, but one who clearly had his flaws and his own weird crackpot theories.)

Do you think we could see people passing a joint around a smoke circle as an example of model stoner behaviour for a Soviet citizen?
Seconded, an also I table a motion to make Magnitogorsk a new capital city of USSR, where comrade Lysenko will lead a Soviet Bureau of Marijuana.

Obvliously the choice of Magnitogorsk is my small homage to TNO XD
 
I all for legalizing/allowing weed into the medical market but we should work on reducing the addictions so we don't run into the problem along with making sure none of the cartel/criminal made weed doesn't come inside our nation so it doesn't become a problem for us as it does for the US.

I was thinking we could also have Rostov-on-Don as another tourist city since it's next to the Black Sea and we could create and use a tourist variant of the airships that travels to different cities and tourist locations for those who wants to be in the air for much longer and enjoys the view from the sky.
 
I all for legalizing/allowing weed into the medical market but we should work on reducing the addictions so we don't run into the problem along with making sure none of the cartel/criminal made weed doesn't come inside our nation so it doesn't become a problem for us as it does for the US.

I was thinking we could also have Rostov-on-Don as another tourist city since it's next to the Black Sea and we could create and use a tourist variant of the airships that travels to different cities and tourist locations for those who wants to be in the air for much longer and enjoys the view from the sky.
leningrad for "cultered torism" Rostov-on-Don for comen tourism?
 
Shouldn't we make it about Drugs and Medicine in general?

also let lysanko do one thing rite and be our weed guy lol
I fourth this idea, I think we should create a Drugs & Medicine division, with Lysenko as it's head; they'll be in charge of the production and regulation of substances within the USSR (both medicinal and recreational), and have the full co-operation of our Medical and Agricultural departments.
I all for legalizing/allowing weed into the medical market but we should work on reducing the addictions so we don't run into the problem along with making sure none of the cartel/criminal made weed doesn't come inside our nation so it doesn't become a problem for us as it does for the US.

I was thinking we could also have Rostov-on-Don as another tourist city since it's next to the Black Sea and we could create and use a tourist variant of the airships that travels to different cities and tourist locations for those who wants to be in the air for much longer and enjoys the view from the sky.

Making sure there is no criminal element when it comes to drugs is exactly why I'm suggesting a path of legalization. Most criminals make a solid amount of their income by dealing in drugs; but if we can provide the people with drugs that are clean, uncut and at a fair market price with the workers getting a fair compensation, then we've essentially stopped the problem of cartels before they can even exist.

Granted I want to make clear to other comrades that I'm not some sort of Anarcho-capitalist. I still think while we should legalize weed and look at it as a more positive and holistic relaxant than Alcohol, I don't think we dive head first into legalizing everything under the sun.

I'm not super positive of the specifics of what late 1920s views of coke and heroin are; but if they are still seen as a form of medicine then they should be treated as such, with drug addicts / addiction seen as a societal / medical issue rather than a straight forward criminal issue as this means that people are more likely to seek help as they wouldn't fear the punishment and shame other wise.

Another way we should see them as medicine is to make sure; with research and guidance from our new "Drugs and Medicine division" how much would be prescribed when it comes to suffering from "x illness for x person" and relay that to police so they know what to pursue and what to drop.

(For example, a bureaucrat caught with a vial of Heroin in his jacket that he says was prescribed for insomnia is probably telling the truth, but a shopkeeper caught with 8kg of cocaine hidden around his store probably doesn't have Narcolepsy.)

Also, I feel that in the same way that the old imperial Russian state rose money and an international profile through its state run vodka distilleries, we should do the same with Marijuana farms, after all, why should it only be Kulaks that rake in the profits?


To leave the drug policy discussion aside and move on to the tourism stuff, I think that breaking up our advertising abroad into the different styles of tourism a person would want is the best way to handle it.

I also love the airship idea and think that giving our nation a unique flair, even going into the future when it starts to seem even more anachronistic will be a great selling point.

Also, if I may add another suggestion for a city to advertise, I suggest Almaty.

We should make sure that it isn't just the European parts of our union that are seeing the benefits that tourism can bring and extend it to the more Asian parts as well.

I think we could sell Almaty as a Historical/ Adventure destination where people can come and ride horses, engage in falconry lessons and eat the foods that would've been eaten by Genghis Khan and his men when Kazakhstan was part of the mighty Mongol empire.
 
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