Non 9/11 Parallel Earth?

[Qoltar]

Is there a way to get some GURPS mechanics or stats into this?

Or has it really turned into more of a Gen Chsat thread like someone suggested in an ealier post?


- Ed Charlton

[pawsplay]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

Is there a way to get some GURPS mechanics or stats into this?

Or a story seed. Or a hook to some specific campaign element that would make this useful to a GURPS player...

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I don't know about that. Regular citizens are getting fingerprinted at the drop of a hat here.

For foreigners it's currently two fingerprints and a photo of you eye (either one) every time you enter the US.

[carllarson]

Which means we need game mechanics for defeating the eye and fingerprint systems, doable for GURPS Action.

[Ragitsu]

Or hack into the computer system.

[Qoltar]

How about some IW-relevent templates maybe?

- Ed Charlton

[Ashavan]

I don't think there's much question that al-Qa'ida would keep trying for another big terrorist attack on US soil if the 9/11 operation had been thwarted. It might take them years to succeed, though, which would mean they'd have those extra years in Afghanistan to recruit, train, and deploy new operatives, build their networks in the Middle East, maybe get some sympathizers in Pakistan to slip them some nuclear components or anthrax, etc. Especially if the Bush Administration found a pretext to invade Iraq even without 9/11--you can bet al-Qa'ida would be all over that and use it as a recruiting draw.

By the time their next big attack on US soil did succeed and the US went into Afghanistan, al-Qa'ida could have evolved into an even tougher, scarier threat, with a WMD capability and enough grassroots support to topple vulnerable governments like Pakistan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. Where would we be then?

I think you could make a very playable GURPS IW parallel out of this. Jihad-3, maybe? The year is 2009, 6 years after the US invasion of Iraq and 4 years after the al-Qa'ida nuclear attack in Manhattan, and the US is tied down fighting a massive insurgency in an arc of failing states and makeshift jihadist "Islamic Emirates" stretching from the Sinai Peninsula to the Indus River.

Might cut a little too close to home for some people, though.

[Ragitsu]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

How about some IW-relevent templates maybe?

- Ed Charlton

Are there security measures if a "native" of another world steals a Jumper Gadget? If not, I have an idea.

[TheGnome]

The big thing I keep thinking about it what if the method of attack changed. Here is a scenario...

The terrorists set off "dirty bombs" in New York and DC. Do to radiation several miles of these cities are evacuated. Now the war and all still happens but you would have 2 cities that are scared and uninhabitable for generations. And you would have hundreds if not a few thousand people with radiation poisoning as a reminder of the event.

Another alternate reality idea is what if hard evidence was found linking Bush to 9/11 was brought to the public early into the war?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by TheGnome

The big thing I keep thinking about it what if the method of attack changed. Here is a scenario...

The terrorists set off "dirty bombs" in New York and DC. Do to radiation several miles of these cities are evacuated. Now the war and all still happens but you would have 2 cities that are scared and uninhabitable for generations. And you would have hundreds if not a few thousand people with radiation poisoning as a reminder of the event.

That's actually not a realistic performance for a dirty bomb. Hundreds of people with radiation poisoning is plausible, if difficult. Enough long lived but still high emitting radioactive material to render someplace uninhabitable for years, let alone generations, and which also somehow will not wash away in the first few rainstorms, is not.