"Inglorious Basterds" as an AH for GURPS IW

[Qoltar]

I just saw the back 50% of the movie "InGlorious Basterds" on cable.

Its two Years old.....however ....









*SPOILER SPACE *






At the end of the movie we definitely have the start of an Alternate History or Alternate timeline. After all, Hitler and his three top commanders are dead becvause of the theater explosion.
If you were going to put this in the GURPS Infinite Worlds setting - what Quantum level would you it in?

What would the 'current' year be when your players stumble across the timeline?


- Ed Charlton

I put this in General Chatter - because its a fairly twisted little film.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

I put this in General Chatter - because its a fairly twisted little film.

And I moved it to GURPS because you're asking a GURPS-related question, which makes this post off-topic for GenChat.

[sir_pudding]

Does the film exist in Homeline, and therefore it's a myth parallel? If not there are probably a few parallels where Hitler was assassinated.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Does the film exist in Homeline, and therefore it's a myth parallel? If not there are probably a few parallels where Hitler was assassinated.

With 17 planned attempts on his life in six years? More than likely, yes.

[David Johnston2]

The real question of course is what difference it would make. Who would be next in line?

[Flyndaran]

There would have to be some infighting among top officials.
Maybe the winner would try to consolidate Germany's holdings rather than continue aggression.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

There would have to be some infighting among top officials.
Maybe the winner would try to consolidate Germany's holdings rather than continue aggression.

It was 1944. By then Nazi Germany had done all the aggression it was going to do. Perhaps the most significant change would be averting the death of Rommel in October. Maybe if he launched a successful coup d'etat in the confusion he'd then be able to surrender Germany under terms that didn't involve the Russians getting a quarter of Germany.

[Þorkell]

Just out of curiosity because I have no intention of seeing the film, who were the three top commanders the Klingon mentions?

[David Johnston2]

Wikipedia mentions Goebbels and Hitler himself but nobody else.

[Miles]

Here's a quick crack at writing it up. I took a few (okay, many) liberties with extending the plot out from the end of movie.

Beck-2
Quantum 3
Low Mana
TL: 7
Infintity Class: P9
Current Year: 1956

Beck-2 is used as a classic example of the snowball effect in Infinity classes. It appears to have diverged sometime in the late 19th century, but maintained a close parallel status for decades. There were a number of people with no parallels on Homeline, and some differences in pop culture, but nothing major. This changed around the second world war, which did in fact happen on schedule, albeit with slightly different officers.

One of the divergent American officers was given permission during 1943 to form a guerrilla squad, with which he cut a bloody swathe across Germany, racking up a number of war crimes and striking fear into the hearts of the soldiers of the Wehrmacht. On the German side, one Hans Landa, a depraved but distinguished SS officer, was also an anomaly. In July of 1944, these two figures collided with a third, a Jewish woman pursuing an assassination plot against Hitler himself. While the details are sketchy, Hitler and much of his immediate staff where killed that night, along with many other top German figures.

In the immediate aftermath of the debacle, Heinrich Himmler, who had not attended the fateful movie screening, seized power. However, the distrust that the professional military class had towards the Nazi Party boiled over, and a short civil war broke out. When the dust settled, Himmler was executed for treason, and Germany negotiated terms with the Allies. Ludwig Beck,

Germany came out considerably better from these negotiations. Their claims over Austria, Sudetenland and Danzig were recognized, although they failed to get Alsace-Lorraine. Germany dropped the remainder of it's territory, minus a few antebellum colonies. The Nazi party was officially barred from politics, and an international court was set for war criminals.

The High Court, while far from perfect, was a fair success. Many people on all sides were investigated, including Aldo Raine and his platoon, who were given varying sentences, but none receiving less then twenty years. The Russians refused to allow any of their troops to be put on trial, but the German Government mostly managed to put forth the full horror of the Holocaust, although the dirty deeds on the dead and politically disgraced were presented in far more detail than that of those still active in the military and government.

The presence of Germany as a great power has significantly altered the balance of power in the cold war. Officially neutral, the government is known to be more sympathetic to the United States, but there is a powerful Communist minority party, that can't be ignored.

Globally, things haven't changed much on the surface. China went Red, and the Korean War was fought to a stalemate, although thanks to German aid, the border was set along the 40th parallel instead of the 37th. However, the Cold War as a whole is significantly tamer than our's. President Kefauver and Chairman Malenkov are both peacefully inclined, and there has been less
nuclear escalation. Both sides fear that the other will ally openly with Germany, while Germany itself is simply pursuing the nuclear weapons and regrowth it needs to establish itself as more than a second rate super power.

This could change however. President Kefauver has bungled his handling of the McCarthy situation, and the Wisconsin senator is currently in the midst of a furious battle for the Republican nomination. With the President's approval ratings in the toilet, it's unlikely that he can win in November. While the Republican establishment is reluctant to nominate him, there are no guarantee he won't succeed, and they are likely to propose a compromise candidate, who probably wouldn't be much better than McCarthy. Berlin and Kremlin are both nervously eyeing America's internal politics, but there's not much they can do.