GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

[Astromancer]

When do the Rifts open? It sounds like its a mid-twentieth century thing. But when? If the rifts open durring WWII the chaos could lead to Axis survival. I'd need a date to figure out how society changes.

Example: If an Elf Queen heals FDR, post war politics is radically different in America. We'd be going farther to the left.

How are the rifts distributed? Are some continents left out? Is there an epicenter to the crisis? More details please.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by (E)

Rather than large and tough opponents (trolls) what about small weak cowardly sneaky opponents who breed quickly. A goblin/gremlin infestation could be very hard to permanently remove and could wreck havoc on any infrastructure.

Combine them; gremlins are trollspawn, and if they survive long enough they grow into trolls

[The Colonel]

What does white phosphorous do to trolls? Would something like the handeflammepatronne or einstossflammenwerfer or that squirt-gun from hell the Americans cooked up be amusing?

[kdtipa]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

What does white phosphorous do to trolls? Would something like the handeflammepatronne or einstossflammenwerfer or that squirt-gun from hell the Americans cooked up be amusing?

I didn't build in any special weakness to fire. But I'm sure things like that would be effective.

[kdtipa]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Combine them; gremlins are trollspawn, and if they survive long enough they grow into trolls

I like this idea, and might use it. Baby trolls... heh.

[kdtipa]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

When do the Rifts open? It sounds like its a mid-twentieth century thing. But when? If the rifts open durring WWII the chaos could lead to Axis survival. I'd need a date to figure out how society changes.

Example: If an Elf Queen heals FDR, post war politics is radically different in America. We'd be going farther to the left.

How are the rifts distributed? Are some continents left out? Is there an epicenter to the crisis? More details please.

I imagine the rifts starting in the mid 1950s, just after the Korean War and during the beginning of the Vietnam War. The rifts become more common and do more damage through the 60s. In the 70s is when large migrations from the other world really begin by the civilized people. Trolls have been doing damage sooner as more migrated sooner. But as people have pointed out, I need to update trolls. I'm making them less "horrifying tank monster" and more "horrifying stealth monster" with slightly higher intelligence. I'm also thinking that the population reduction I'm envisioning comes more readily from the rifts doing random damage around the world over the course of the decades.

I think that by the 80s we have the efforts to combine societies.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by kdtipa

I imagine the rifts starting in the mid 1950s, just after the Korean War and during the beginning of the Vietnam War. The rifts become more common and do more damage through the 60s. In the 70s is when large migrations from the other world really begin by the civilized people. Trolls have been doing damage sooner as more migrated sooner. But as people have pointed out, I need to update trolls. I'm making them less "horrifying tank monster" and more "horrifying stealth monster" with slightly higher intelligence. I'm also thinking that the population reduction I'm envisioning comes more readily from the rifts doing random damage around the world over the course of the decades.

I think that by the 80s we have the efforts to combine societies.

A great deal of 20th century population growth came from the relative stability of the 1950's and improvements in medicine getting out to the people. So the rifts showing up when they do would seriously slow down population growth.

The French phase of the Vietnam wars (note the plural) was ending in the mid 1950s. Given the shock of the rifts, the American phase of the Vietnam war might never happen.

Depending on were the rifts occur, you could move society in many different ways. If the rifts in the USA came mainly in the South and the Rocky Mountain West, then conservatism goes into eclipse. If New England California, and the Great Lakes Region, take the hit, America goes hard right earlier.

If the rifts are mainly in Eurasia, the tropes of standard fantasy settings reflecting the myths of those areas of the Earth, the USA gets a huge flood of European immigrants. Many cultural movements would continue unabated. Some, like Cultural Studies, Political Correctness, or the more militant forms of Anti-Imperialism(mainly those concerned with attacking the very existence of the West, rather than seeking an end to imperialism), would never get off the ground.

A world where Eurasia, but not the Americas, Oceana, or Sub Saharan Africa, got hit, would in some ways be more technologically advanced, mainly because those cultures that promoted the anti-tech meme would be in eclipse.

In any case, certain figures would act differently. If Rome wasn't a safe place to take pilgrims, there are Popes (like John XXIII) who'd seek the safety of their flock and move the papal throne to a place of safety for pilgrims. Other popes would think of their safety only. Either way, moving the papacy would have huge cultural effects. Having the Holy See in a Latin American nation would lead to a political crisis, many coming from the more conservative sectors of those societies.

Knowing who went where would show were certain issues followed.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

The French phase of the Vietnam wars (note the plural) was ending in the mid 1950s. Given the shock of the rifts, the American phase of the Vietnam war might never happen.

You mean the French War in Vietnam and the American War in Vietnam?