Homebrew alternate history

[Desdichado]

OK, I want some feedback. For a d20 Modern game, I'd like to pretend I'm Harry Turtledove and come up with an alternate history setting -- the modern world, but with some key things changed. Here's the crux of my proposal:

WWII kinda fizzled out after Hitler died in 1941-2-ish. The Wehrmacht was able to seize control of the government and they had strategists that were able to hold on to their possessions at this point (Vichy France, much of Western and Central Europe) without biting off more than they could chew with Russia and the US. Although the Nazi ideology was somewhat softened for a long-term survival by the remaining Nazi party, it's core idealism remains in place to this day in a large Teutonic Empire. With the slowdown of Nazi aggression, Japan also pulled back on its own aggressive stance before bombing Pearl Harbor. Therefore, Imperial Japan survives into the modern time period, with holdings in what is currently Russia, Korea, China and much of the South Pacific islands, and they were unchallenged in a "hot" war by the US. This leads to a different kind of Cold War history -- not one in which two superpowers stood facing each other down for decades, but rather one in which four or five superpowers had periods of relative friendship and alliance vs. relative aggression and these alliances shifted and changed from year to year and decade to decade. Imperial Japan, the Teutonic Nazi Empire, the United States and the Soviet Union all stand against each other.

I've got a pretty good idea what will happen in South America. Barred from being able to influence events in Europe as the United States did in real history, the US turns increasingly protective and imperialistic towards Latin America, and their alliance with the shadow of Great Britain and the Commonwealth is also even stronger (without the victory over Germany, Great Britain is extremely hemmed in and paranoid about the Germans.) South America is thus run by a variety of puppet governments, although undercurrents of deep resentment fester in most nations. In addition, instead of being the infamous hiding place of many Nazis, it is ironically the hiding place of many anti-Nazi germans. In fact, most of the Germans who came to Brazil and Argentina came before WWII anyway, so this is a great refuge for those who don't accept the Teutonic Nazi Empire. The US heavily courts this faction, and uses many of them as agents in the Cold War.

Here's what I don't really know about -- what would the Middle East and China look like in this situation? I'm not really familiar with their histories prior to WWII, so I'm not sure how to extrapolate a "high-level" history for these major power blocks given this new version of history. Also, what other wars -- the alternate versions of Russo-Afghanistan, Vietnam and the Korean Wars (for instance) seem likely? I need to fabricate a good 50-60 years of alternate history, and I don't want the world to have been static for all that time. However, I do want to maintain the four main power blocks -- the Nazis, the West (US/Britain), the Soviets and the Japanese, and possibly the Chinese as a fifth world power, or a Middle Eastern leader of some kind who is able to unite the Arab world into a nation of some kind?!?

Anyway, especially for the historians, but anyone else with any ideas, please contribute!

 

[Desdichado]

Oh, and I should mention -- I'm also adding a small dabbling of occult and psychics to this mix -- I'll use some "monsters," probably the Shadow Chasers advanced classes, and I'll cobble together a psychic powers list (and advanced class) from Ken Hood's "Skills and Feats Psi" document.

 

[Paragon Badger]

Well, right off the bat one thing is the Middle East that would change is a lack of Israel. Israel was British land until 1948 when they tried to divide it up as a Jewish and Arabic homeland . Since Britian is cut off from the Middle East by the Teutonic Empire the land Israel now occupies would like be entirely Palestine. Let me think about this impact a bit more.

BTW cool idea!

 

[Paragon Badger]

Ok more conjecture. Since the world is still probably dependent on oil as a power supply the Middle East would become a point of contention. I see 2 possible paths to go here.

1. Since the Middle East is unlikely to want the superpowers walking all over them they'd join to together to form an alliancer of some sort. Possibly a suitable charismatic cleric could swing this toward a Holy Islamic Empire?

2. A shadow war among the superpowers starts in the Middle East with everyone trying to set their own puppet governments up.


Since the USA is not likely to get Alaska from Russia they'll need an oil source even more. Possibly an increased interest in the Gulf of Mexico results and the US may try to accquire Mexico. Mexico could also be useful as a gateway into South America. With so much increasing interest Mexico is likely to be a much stronger nation (or state) than it is IRL.

 

[Paragon Badger]

Some interesting info about China. Mao Zedong and Communism came in during the civil war (1946-1949). Depending on your preference some events could happen.

1. Mao Zedong uses the Japanese invasion to push he takeover ahead. Most of unnoccupied China becomes a Communist state, perhaps with Russia's support?

2. The old goverment maintains it standing, so you have a mainland government much like Taiwan.

I have another interesting question. What is the Vatican doing during all this?

My suggestion is under pressure from the Teutonic Empire they annoited the leader of the Empire, Holy Roman Emporer and succesor to Charlemange. I except the ruler would create a family tree tying himself into Charlemange's line

One more thing to worry about is what happens to Australia.

 

[Desdichado]

OK, PB, great suggestions. I went to a meeting just now in which I had little to contribute and less need to listen (sometimes folks around here just think the buyer needs to be involved in everything) so I thought some more about this.

It looks like you corroberated my half remembered history of communist China congealing from the gestalt of a defeated Japan and a supportive Russia. With Japan and Russia glaring at each other as rival superpowers on either end of China, I suspect that a strong Chinese government would have difficulty forming. Likely, Mao would still create his unique breed of communism, but be very anti towards any of the superpowers. Japan maintains territory that is actually now Chinese, and Russia probably chomps on the heels of Mongolia and Xinchiang, thus China is unable to annex (or at least maintain control of) any of those areas and possibly Tibet as well. The West (the US/UK "axis") maintains a strong presence in Hong Kong, and Australia being a part of the Commonwealth as it is, very likely might be a staging point for US bases and ICBM silos, much as Western Europe was in actuality. This actually makes China and Asia a hotbed of intrigue and covert operations, although China would still probably be a vacuum that would suck resources out of any overt agressor like there's no tomorrow.

I also like your idea of a great Muslim crusade -- a political/religious/ethnic ruler that unites most of the Arab Middle East. However, rather than be a aggressively militant, these guys would be pretty savvy aggressive economists, mainting strict neutrality and balancing the oil needs of the four superpowers against each other to maintain its own stability. Again, this would turn the Middle East into a hotbed of intrigue and covert operations, but overt action in the area would be unlikely.

A few other details -- the US barely tolerated a communist Cuba as is, under this new scenario there's no way in heck they would. Covert operations to otherthrow Castro would have been more intense and ultimately successful, leading to a tight-lipped stand-off between the Soviets and the West. However, pressure from the other superpowers to maintain the status quo would have prevented open warfare most likely. This would have made the US hegemony over the Americas more complete, which probably would have stepped up Germany's efforts to destabilize and work covertly amongst the large german populations of South America in particular.

 

[Desdichado]

A couple more things -- didn't the US have Alaska before WWII? I know there were US bases in the Aleutians. I know Alaska wasn't a state at that time, but it was already US territory, I believe. I'll have to double check that.

Also, great idea with the Vatican/Holy Roman Empire. Also gives Germany a chance to try and seize power from fascist Italy!

 

[Paragon Badger]

Cool. What are you planning for PCs in this campaign? Are they covert ops for one of the superpowers?

 

[Paragon Badger]

Your right. Alaska was purchased in 1867 for 7.2 million. This could provide an interesting complication. With the Bering Strait being just a tiny gap of water relatively you could have some conflict in Alsaka / Siberia between the US and Russia.

Here's a plot idea. Prisoners of a glouah (Sp?) in Siberia manage to break out and capture the prison. Perhaps the US is aiding the rebels by sending supplies across the Bering Strait. I need to look up some more info on Stalin's prison in Siberia before I can flesh this out more.

A little more...
the Trans-Siberian Railrod was finished in 1905 and Siberia was developed for mineral resources after WW2. Maybe the Us would like to prevent these resources. Sabotage the railroad?

 

[Paragon Badger]

Off to class. Check back later.