d20 Modern Parallel Universe Idea

fenzer

Librarian, Geologist, and Referee
I want to through this idea out to you. I am interested in any feedback you may have.

When Pinnacle released their Wierd War II: Blood on the Rhine d20 game, I can up with this idea. But now that d20 Modern is out I am thinking of using it instead.

Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think.

Das Fenster

The course of world history changed at 17:31 hours GMT August 3, 1940. A German outpost stationed in Corte, Corsica investigated a strange seismic anomaly 5 miles north of Monte Cintu. The German military had discovered the wreckage of an extra-terrestrial craft.

Six months later the Germans had constructed a self-contained facility at the crash site. Deep underground, German scientists and physicists where stripping down the wreckage and learning it’s secrets. While the Germans were able to salvage incredible technology – energy weapons, advanced propulsion, alien metallurgy, it was “Das Fenster” or “The Window” that changed the world.

On August 3, 1941, exactly one year after the crash discovery, Hauptmann Grosse Von Stern became the first human to break the boundaries of time. “Das Fenster” was the name given to the device by the German scientists. It was a portal, a device that allowed biological matter to travel forward or backward in time. The Germans had no way of knowing if Von Stern would go forward or backward through time. His journey took him forward 50 years.

To those on this side of the Window, he was gone only few minutes. For Von Stern, his tenure in the future lasted 344 days. His orders came form the Fuhrer himself. He was to obtain whatever intelligence he could to help further the Reich. He was to return to the exact geographical locus 344 days, to the minute, from his arrival. He was to encode the data and transmit it as a radio signal through the gate and then pass through himself.

Von Stern and the scientists learned first hand of the limitations inherent in the alien technology. Das Fenster allowed temporal transport but only in one direction. It would seem that a particular biological mass could only pass through a given portal once. While the radio transmission was unaffected, Von Stern did not fare so well. He returned to his proper time and place a steaming mass of tissue and quite dead.

While the loss of Von Stern was a set back, the information he obtained was more than even Hitler had imagined. Von Stern had managed to acquire the information necessary to construct a nuclear device, not just any device but a hydrogen bomb.

On December 4th 1942 the United States of America surrendered unconditionally to the Third Reich. While British, American and even German scientists and physicist worked feverishly to accelerate the Manhattan Project, it was too little too late. The US was unable to defend its boarders. The entire eastern seaboard became a ravaged nuclear wasteland.

Three months earlier, the United Kingdom had been reduced to a glowing pile of dirt and the war in Europe disappeared. The Soviet Union lasted only a few weeks longer. The Orient surrendered peacefully shortly thereafter.

Adolf Hitler declared himself Emperor and world ruler on January 1st 1943.

The year is now 2007. With the exception of small pockets of resistance, the Kingdom of a Thousand Years rules the world. As far as our records indicate, roughly 500,000,000 people died by the end of WWII. Another 300,000,000 perished in the frozen post-nuclear hell that followed the war. It took another 10 years but the Jewish race was made extinct. The continent of Africa was made one large concentration camp. Today, all minorities are either enslaved or killed, as are any sympathizers.

With the artifacts obtained from the crash site, the Reich has made great strides technologically. And while the Reich has gone to great lengths to find others like the dead residents of the crashed space vehicle, there has been no contact with any extraterrestrial life.

Today we fight the good fight. We fight for mankind and freedom. And it would seem that the gods have smiled upon us. Group Asia, our rebel cell in Moscow, has managed to get their hands on one of the Reich’s temporal prototypes. It would seem that after the Von Stern accident, the Germans were never able to get Das Fenster operational again. Multiple attempts destroyed the original artifact. For the last 50 years German scientist have tried desperately to duplicate the alien technology and have failed.

By the grace of God, sheer luck and stolen German technology, our boys in Asia have made an operational prototype. There are whispers of hope and renewed determination in the wake of this fantastic news.

There is a call out for volunteers, people who are willing to take on the greatest threat to mankind. People who are willing to grant humanity an escape from the hell forced upon us, to right history and avenge the deaths of so many innocent souls.

Do you have what it takes to traverse time and vanquish the Reich?

The idea is to have our heroes go back in time to occupied France and keep the Germans from the alien tech. I wrote this originally as a small one or two game idea but I was wondering if it would work as a campaign setting either in the past, trying to get back home or set in the future living with the changes, positive or negitive, from the choices made to the past.

I have more details than what I have written here. This is just the preface I put together for the game.

Thoughts?
 

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Whoa... man, that sounds like an awesome setting :)
I'd definately like to play in that!

As for questions, how would modern technology influence the past?
 

It sounds like a fascinating idea for a setting.

Make sure to do your homework -- while Hitler did have the whole Master Race thing going, I recall that he was actually not hugely opposed to black people, provided said black people were into segregation and separation. So I'm not sure about your African stuff.

Also, I can understand how the technology would enable folks to create a bomb, but why would it enable them to ravage the easten seaboard? I'm skeptical of the ability of one set of information, with no allowance for Q&A, to get those kind of results. Basically, what I mean is that the guy who goes to the future would have to know pretty much every technological bit of data from 1940 as well as every bit of data from 1990 in order to ensure that he doesn't send back a plan that fails because the German rockets of 1940 couldn't handle the payload required, and he didn't think of that. Also, even with the technology, the Germans would still have to gather a bunch of radioactive material -- the technology doesn't make that any easier (although it might let uranium be used more efficiently), so I don't see them having a TON of bombs in 1941. In 1990, of course, it's a different story.

All that said, this sounds like a GREAT campaign world. If you can come up with plausible answers for people who are going to ask those questions (ie, the alien technology showed how to synthesize plutonium from common heavy metals or something) , you've got yourself the makings of a fantastic adventure.

-Tacky
 

Thanks for the feedback.

First, I stole a page from The Terminator and the heroes are sent to the past naked, only biological matter goes. Our heroes will have to scrounge what they can from the past. This makes it easy, I'll admit.

Takyris, you might be right about Hitler and black people. I will check that out. As far as delivering the nuke to the US, it was always my thought that he would use aircraft, the ho229 or flying wing, to be exact. It had the range and speed and carrying capacity to make the trip to the east coast, a one way trip mind you but it could have been done. With the help of the alien tech, it was assured. As far as short range missiles used on Europe and the USSR, I figured the metallergy and propullsions systems scrounged from the UFO were backward engineered and encorporated into current tech. This would include finding and purifying and using uranium.

I concure completely about the number of bombs available at the time. I had figured somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 12. Europe and Russia receive the majortiy while the US gets just enought to bring surrender. Hell, he probably used them all and was scrambling to make more while the world was surrendering.

In the alternate future, the Reich has thousands. It also uses energy weapons, advanced armour, etc. How to incorporate all this will be a challenge but fun. I will probably use Star Wars for most of the advanced tech.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.
 

I'm not sure that Britain would get bombed into nothingness. I have a feeling that they would probably get a Bomb dropped on London and on one other city before surrender. The British were high on Hitler's 'purity' list, and could expect some leniency, I think, when it came to surrender. The Russians, on the other hand, would likely suffer a horrid fate.

If the information sent back included Historical (and possibly even Alternate Historical, which may have been of great interest to Von Stern as to how the Reich might win the war) data, Germany might go for a peaceful joining of the Reich and the Empire, making World Domination a much easier task since now most of Africa, the Middle East, the Far East (under joint British-Japanese control) and Oceania are under Axis dominance.
 

Sixchan, my thoughts behind destroying England were that it was the primary staging ground for allied armies and destroying it destroys the allies only real foot-hold in Europe. I agree that England would have surrendered and maybe this idea needs to be looked at. I agree to that the Solviets would have taken a beating but that there were too many of them over to great a land mass. Hitler could do more to shock the world and bring it to surrender with the total destruction of England. Our history shows that Hitler was an emotional leader and that his emotions lead to poor choices. His failure to capture/subdue England (wanting revenge for attacks on German cities) and his choice to use the Me 262 as a bomber (again for revenge) and not an intercepter are just a couple of examples. Those jets could have really made things difficult on our bomber groups. Would the War have ended differently if these and other choices had been different? Who's to say. But I wanted to show that Hitler is moved by emotion and destroyed England because of it.

As far as Von Stern using "historical" data from the future, I had not really thought of that. I may have to review my thinking there. Thanks for the idea.

Anyone else have a thought?
 
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fenzer said:
Sixchan, my thoughts behind destroying England were that it was the primary staging ground for allied armies and destroying it destroys the allies only real foot-hold in Europe. I agree that England would have surrendered and maybe this idea needs to be looked at. I agree to that the Solviets would have taken a beating but that there were too many of them over to great a land mass. Hitler could do more to shock the world and bring it to surrender with the total destruction of England. Our history shows that Hitler was an emotional leader and that his emotions lead to poor choices. His failure to capture/subdue England (wanting revenge for attacks on German cities) and his choice to use the Me 262 as a bomber (again for revenge) and not an intercepter are just a couple of examples. Those jets could have really made things difficult on our bomber groups. Would the War have ended differently if these and other choices had been different? Who's to say. But I wanted to show that Hitler is moved by emotion and destroyed England because of it.

As far as Von Stern using "historical" data from the future, I had not really thought of that. I may have to review my thinking there. Thanks for the idea.

Anyone else have a thought?

He only destroys England? Fire away then! It'll solve all that bother come 1966...;)

If he was to send Historical Data back, I have a feeling that Germany could have the Bombs as a last resort, since many battles could be predicted and won easier. Also, modern Firearm data could be sent back. Have you read Guns of the South?
 
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Sixchan said:


He only destroys England? Fire away then! It'll solve all that bother come 1966...;)

If he was to send Historical Data back, I have a feeling that Germany could have the Bombs as a last resort, since many battles could be predicted and won easier. Also, modern Firearm data could be sent back. Have you read Guns of the South?

I hate to say it, Sixchan but my idea was for the whole island. You Scotts are damn good fighters. He couldn't leave you around to turn around come back and kick his a@@. :)

Again, this is my own interpretation of what Hitler was after. But my feeling is he would try and end things as quickly as possible. Dragging things out conventionally does not seem Hitler-like to me.

However, data on modern firearms is something that would make a difference in the long run. Implementing these advances during the war would have been a hard thing. Maybe some special troops running around with these weapons but I feel the war would have been over before wide spread implementation could occure. Hitler was putting all his money and resources into the Bomb.

I have seen Guns of the South but have not read it. However, the idea of modern weapons during the Civil War is a great idea. I love the concept.
 

fenzer said:
Thanks for the feedback.


Takyris, you might be right about Hitler and black people.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

I think if the Nazis had been able to conquer the world or Europe with any semblence of ease, their expansion into Central Asia and Africa would have been disastrous for those populations, especially in Subsaharan Africa.

Although the Nazis made some "compromises" about race in their drive to conquer Russia(letting so called non Aryans in the SS, making pacts with some Muslims ethnic groups), any conquest of Africa would have been closely followed by the SS, concentration camps and genocide.

For a frightening vision of this world I suggest Philip K Dick's The Man in The High Castle, for a technolgically advanced, victorious Third Reich.

To get back to the point, I like your ideas Fenser.
 
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Daiymo said:

For a frightening vision of this world I suggest Philip K Dick's The Man in The High Castle, for a technolgically advanced, victorious Third Reich.

To get back to the point, I like your ideas Fenser.

Thanks for the info Daiymo. I have not heard of the book but I am interested.

I tend to agree with you about the SS's push through Africa. Hitler was after a pure race and I feel he would have eventually turned on these peoples.
 
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