[Infinite Worlds] Running a Taft-1 natives campaign

[Michael Thayne]

I've been thinking about running a Infinite Worlds campaign featuring PCs who are natives to a worldline that doesn't know the Secret and get to gradually discover it. After looking through the options, I'm coming to like Taft-1 a lot for these purposes—the Cold War setting makes it good for "wilderness of mirrors" type campaigns, and it has access to a nice mix of worldlines—Homeline, Centrum, Caliph, Orichalcum, Merlin-1 (through a nexus portal), and even echos—imagine the hijinks that could ensue from the PCs stealing a conveyor without understanding what it is and stumbling into an early 20th century echo. But the description of the worldline in Worlds of Horror is brief enough that there's a lot of gaps to be filled in.

A major question is what exactly Stalin has gotten out of all his Yog-Sothothery. A quick Communist victory in Korea in 1950 is just what happens without US intervention. This is less obviously true in Vietnam—I don't know that US disengagement necessarily changes the outcome of the Geneva Conference, but it's not too implausible. Nasser's greater success was confusing to me at first, but I think the logic is that with no US coup to oust Mosadeq from Iran, the Soviet Union is more able to effectively support Nasser. The most puzzling thing, I think, is that the Soviet Union conquered Afghanistan without too much trouble. Maybe it would make more sense if I knew more about Afghan history? But even without the US arming anti-Soviet forces, Afghanistan's terrain is known for being unfriendly to invaders. Maybe Afghanistan is divided, as a result of Stalin concentrating his forces on magically significant locations no one else understands the value of? OTOH the idea of Mi-Go pouring over the mountains of Afghanistan is amusing, and would give Stalin a payoff beyond "Truman dies and Stalin doesn't".

The other issue is finding a premise that let's the PCs encounter their share of both local and cross-time weirdness. American (or British) spies posted to Berline might work—it would give them a chance to cross paths with the Infinity Patrol. And I guess they could mistake local Mythos weirdness for the work of enemy spies? Or maybe a globetrotting campaign that gives the PCs an excuse to visit New England, the Middle East, and Indochina? Thoughts?

[Tyneras]

Access to assassins from the 4th dimension would be a pretty big benefit. Having critical enemy leadership fall in an impossible direction into the mouth of something hungry can turn the tide, and spies that can walk past 3 dimensional defenses to steal secrets is pretty useful.

[fchase8]

Stalin's brutality and centralized power could explain how he succeeded in Afghanistan where the British didn't and Homeline Soviets later wouldn't. But it could also be that his 'conquest' is incomplete, just controlling key locations like Kabul and some weird old caves. The hinterland is still the home of this world's Mujahideen - who could be allies of the PCs. Indeed, maybe these ancient guerilla warriors know why those weird old caves might be of interest...

What if the PCs are (unknowingly) hired by the Patrol, either in Berlin or through the CIA office in Boston? With limited agents, Homeline would want to act through locals as much as possible. This could enable a group of PCs who think that they're working as part of some off-the-books local CIA/MI-5 operation, with very limited support but lots of freedom of action.

Or hired by Merlin-1's CIA. Those magic-wielders wouldn't share their magical knowledge with locals, but would send them to investigate weird places that Stalin's UPUL goes.


Oh, and what makes you think that Caliph or Orichalcum could be involved? Is it just that the world is on Quantum 6?

[awesomenessofme1]

Yeah, Caliph is very pointedly not a player in parachronics, and it's a major plot point that both Centrum and Homeline are doing their best to keep it that way. There's nothing about native parachronics in the description of Orichalcum either. The only canonical confirmed worldlines with parachronics are Homeline, Centrum, Reich-5, and Merlin-1.

[Michael Thayne]

My thinking on Caliph and Orichalcum is that it would be easy for criminals with a stolen conveyor to accidentally or intentionally introduce some elements from those worlines into Taft-1.

[awesomenessofme1]

Caliph is a Class Z2 world, and it's "a top internal secret of the Patrol and UNIC". You always have to keep in mind that even though we know all of this stuff, that doesn't mean people in-universe will have the same knowledge. If a criminal with a stolen conveyor had knowledge of Caliph, they'd either end up dead or imprisoned (if they were discovered) or in possession of unimaginable wealth (if they actually were able to steal advanced tech and get away with it). In either case, they're not going to end up on a backwater (as far as they know) like Taft-1.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

The most puzzling thing, I think, is that the Soviet Union conquered Afghanistan without too much trouble. Maybe it would make more sense if I knew more about Afghan history? But even without the US arming anti-Soviet forces, Afghanistan's terrain is known for being unfriendly to invaders. Maybe Afghanistan is divided, as a result of Stalin concentrating his forces on magically significant locations no one else understands the value of? OTOH the idea of Mi-Go pouring over the mountains of Afghanistan is amusing, and would give Stalin a payoff beyond "Truman dies and Stalin doesn't".

Stalin is willing to kill a lot of Afghans and take a lot of losses. He also has more of a technology and logistics advantage than the British did in the nineteenth century, and doesn't have a third party supplying the Afghans in the way that the Soviets did in the 1980s. He also seems to have quite serious magic on his side.

[AlexanderHowl]

I honestly think that such criminal organization would be more likely to use the advanced technology to increase the power of the other nations so Stalin's special powers do not really matter. TL10 semi-portable fusion reactors and TL10 sensors supporting TL10 laser cannons would change the balance of power quite a bit, especially since they could not be reversed engineered using Taft-1 technology.

Imagine every major city in the West being protected by two dozen such devices and Stalin's nuclear weapons become meaningless. While the network would cost $60 million in Caliph, it is old technology, but they could easily go for the equivalent of $1.8 billion in Taft-1, so it would be a lucrative venture. Just choose a small state as the access point in Caliph, use local factors on both ends, and make sure that no one catches on.

In Caliph, you would just be purchasing military surplus, so it would likely not be that big a deal. In Taft-1 though, you would need to claim that you were an alien government to explain the technology. Heck, you could even recruit true believers to act as your factors and tell them that the alien governments oppose Stalin but cannot become directly involved due to galactic law. Infinity might become suspicious if they start seeing TL10 laser cannons in the USA, but they might not notice because of the weirdness coming from the USSR.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Iconfusing to me at first, but I think the logic is that with no US coup to oust Mosadeq from Iran, the Soviet Union is more able to effectively support Nasser. The most puzzling thing, I think, is that the Soviet Union conquered Afghanistan without too much trouble. Maybe it would make more sense if I knew more about Afghan history?

Conquering Afghanistan is easy. It's occupying it long term that turns into a pain.

[Cornelius]

Try reading "Declare" by Tim Powers.

I think that the novel plot could be easily mined for your campaign