Battlefront 2021:The war for America; general thoughts

[Urizen]

I've been recieving some very interesting (to say the very least), comments and emails from people who have taken serious issue with the timeline I introduced.

There have been enough complaints that I have decided to re-think the entire timeline and "go back to formula," so to speak.

This project has been pretty enlightening. It's proving very difficult to write a near-future setting book that doesn't piss_someone_off - so much so that I wonder what this project will look like once I finish it.

The goal is still the same; produce a compelling, gritty look at a war-torn america in a not-so-distant future. But the question is how to get there in such a way that you don't offend everyone?

Based on the feedback I've recieved, I think it's extremely important to take politics (with regards to specific individuals and political parties) and religion out of the equation.

I'll be focusing less on the past and more on the present world climate (terrorism, immigration, and_some_conspiracy theory) in my efforts to build something compelling and, most importantly FUN.

While I doubt I'll be able to please every single person who might buy this product. My hope is that some of you will enjoy it.

More updates to come...

Thanks for your time.

 

[S'mon]

If you want a realistic/plausible approach to future conflict, look at Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilisations (1996), especially the section on the dynamics of wars along civilisational fault lines.

Re the USA, while civil war seems unlikely, the likeliest possibility is as a result of continued mass Latin American immigration (esp Mexican) the USA becomes a 'torn country' divided between Anglo-Western and Hispanic-Mexican civilisations. California is the most likely flashpoint, as noted above. While Mexican/Aztlan separatism is possible, it's equally likely that Anglo-majority areas attempt to secede from Hispanic-majority California, causing internal conflict, and a federal US govt conflicted over which side to support.

"But the question is how to get there in such a way that you don't offend everyone? "

'Everyone'? Obviously you will offend *someone* in today's offense-happy society.

Future war is likely to be low intensity/4th generation - see Martin Van Creveld's 'The Transformation of War' (1991), and http://d-n-i.net/ - not massed armoured formations clashing Kursk or Gulf War I style. Think Yugoslavia in the 1990s, or at a lower tempo the Troubles in my home country of Northern Ireland.

 

[S'mon]

"2009: Having been thoroughly infiltrated by Christian dominionists, the U.S. Air Force declares for the President, believing him to be the founder of a new evangelical state in North America"

This doesn't seem very likely in a real(ish) world setting - remember that the US military swears an oath to the Constitution, not the President. While many members of the US military are Christian evangelicals, this is normally regarded as compatible with obedience to the Constitution. The main conflicting interest for senior military is their hoped for future careers in the private sector part of the military-industrial complex, usually in defense hardware contractors or service suppliers like Haliburton. This makes them reluctant to advocate cut backs in procurement even though most high tech hardware is useless for low intensity warfare.

BTW you might like to take this to eg rpg.net where discussion of religion & politics is ok.

 

[S'mon]

"Based on the feedback I've recieved, I think it's extremely important to take politics (with regards to specific individuals and political parties) and religion out of the equation."

The only way to do that would be to make future war a result of invasion by aliens, beings from the future, or from another dimension. That's a perfectly viable approach. Alternate dimensions are good for human villains, you can face your PCs with a world where eg the Nazi-Japan axis or USSR-Red China conquered the world. Everyone loves fighting Nazis, so they're always a good bet.

 

[Urizen]

Thanks for the feedback S'mon.

The setting is on the back burner for the time-being while I work on other projects. I'm likely going to revise the entire thing.

I'm leaning more towards this being a toolkit with guidelines for building your own setting in a dystopic future world, with a couple of sample campaign models included to get people started.

 

[Urizen]

"Based on the feedback I've recieved, I think it's extremely important to take politics (with regards to specific individuals and political parties) and religion out of the equation."

The only way to do that would be to make future war a result of invasion by aliens, beings from the future, or from another dimension. That's a perfectly viable approach. Alternate dimensions are good for human villains, you can face your PCs with a world where eg the Nazi-Japan axis or USSR-Red China conquered the world. Everyone loves fighting Nazis, so they're always a good bet.

I'm SERIOUSLY considering a "war of the worlds" type of campaign model. I think it might be much more fun to play.