Close your eyes and think of [insert country here]

After having just finished two Greg Rucka books, this is very interesting to me: The National Security Decision Making Game.

The NSDM Game recreates real-world international crises of the present or immediate future. Ideas for scenarios are taken from current headlines and developing trends. Players take the parts of national leaders, dignitaries, ambassadors, military leaders, and political groups and are given the opportunity to try and solve all the world’s problems.
At the opening of the game Controllers will select a scenario appropriate for the number of players present. Players are assigned places within a Country or Organization cell, typically representing major world powers like the US, Russia, China, Japan, Great Britain, France, Germany, Iran, Israel, etc. and organizations like the international media, the UN, NATO, and the EU. Available player cells change with each game, and not all countries are represented in each scenario. In some games countries will be played by Controllers.
Each player is assigned a role and a set of motivations and goals. The object of the game is to play your role well and to accomplish your assigned goals. In some cases players have conflicting goals, just like in real life. As a player you spend time negotiating with allies and enemies, making deals to gain you or your country more power, more weapons, more food, or a national chain of convienience stores. Some players will have roles which require them to set a national budget for the country they represent, in order to fund actions of the military, state, intelligence, research, and business players. Other players, both within and outside of your cell, may be working with you or against you in order to further their own goals. Your opportunities are limited only by your imagination and ambition.

Strikes me as something between a LARP, Diplomacy, and that Scavenger Hunt we did in NYC a few months back. Cool. (Also: read the quotes page.)