The character sheet

The character sheet is filled in when a new career begins. It describes the player's life in more detail than the presidency game normally asks for, because a career is lived month by month rather than starting as President on day one. If the career ever does reach the White House, the answers given here carry over automatically into the profile the presidency game uses, so the player never has to describe the same character twice.

The sheet

The sheet sits under the start choice in the character builder and asks:

• Age, from 18 to 90. The player ages as the career runs, and the sheet notes this.
• Education, chosen from the presidency game's usual five options: Ivy League, State University, Military Academy, Top Law School, and Self-Made / No Degree.
• What you do for a living, or, for a desk start, what the player did before politics, chosen from a list of jobs grouped by category. Each job shows its time commitment and its monthly income, and a note beneath it says what kind of activities it opens up.
• At home: living alone, a partner with no children, young children at home, teenagers at home, grown children, or caring for a parent.
• Health: robust, average or frail.
• Who covers the care load, asked only when the household includes children or a parent needing care. The options are handling it alone, family nearby helping out, sharing it with a partner, a partner at home full time, or paid help, which costs $2.8K a month, adjusted for the start year, and frees up the time the care load would otherwise take.
• Savings, from zero up to $50 million, which can be left blank to use a typical balance for the chosen job.

A box on the sheet, headed THE MONTH, itemises the action points the answers add up to. The default sheet describes a 34-year-old state-university-educated teacher for a citizen or legislative start, and a 52-year-old law graduate for a governor or presidential start. A dice button randomises the whole sheet at once, including the party and profile choices the builder already asks for.

Jobs

The job market is organised into groups: No job (which covers full-time politics, being out of work, retirement, staying at home, or being a student), Working, Professional, Institutions, Politics, Media, Money, and Service. Winning or starting in an office — State Assemblymember, State Senator, Member of Congress, United States Senator, Governor or President — also counts as a job, but none of these can be chosen directly from the market. Living off family money is only available when starting a new career.

Every job lists its time commitment, its monthly income and typical savings, and the kind of activities it opens up. Some jobs are only available above or below a certain age, or with a particular level of education. Some only become available once the career reaches a certain point in the calendar. Others depend on the player's own reputation, described at Recognition and favourability: a radio host job needs the state to know the player's name, a lobbyist job needs the party to know it, and the more senior "elder statesman" jobs need the player to have already held office. A job that is not yet available is shown greyed out, with a note explaining what it is waiting for.

The job market can be browsed from the hub at any point in the career. Taking a new job uses up the whole month in which it is taken. Taking an ordinary civilian job changes the background the presidency game would use if the career reached the White House; taking an office does not, so a lawyer who becomes governor still reads as a lawyer if they go on to become President.

Action points

The month's budget of action points is shown itemised in the box headed THE MONTH, and every activity on The board costs some of this budget. The budget begins from a base set by age: eight points up to age 39, seven from 40 to 54, six from 55 to 69, five from 70 to 79, four from 80 to 89, and three from 90 onward. Having a job then subtracts two points for part-time work or four for full-time work. A care load at home subtracts up to two points, reduced according to how much help the player has arranged. Health then adjusts the total: plus one for robust health, no change for average health, and minus two for frail health. If the personal account is empty and the job pays less than living costs, a further two points are subtracted. The total can never fall below a floor of one point, though hiring a paid assistant always adds one point on top of that floor.

Age is a comparatively modest factor in this budget; the job held has the largest effect on how much of the month is available. If the budget shrinks below what a player's running schedule of activities needs, for example because of a new job, a birthday, or an empty account, activities are dropped from the end of the schedule until it fits, and the hub reports this to the player.

Carrying over to the presidency

If a career ever reaches the White House, the presidency game reads its profile directly from the answers given on the character sheet: age, education and background come across as given, marital status is worked out from the household and care arrangements, and home region comes from the state the career lives in. A high enough savings balance can also raise the wealth tier the presidency game uses. This carrying-over happens automatically whenever the sheet changes and whenever the player's age advances, so the profile is always kept up to date without the player having to fill it in twice.